An Interview with Jessica Biel's Trainer
by Nate Green

Hollywood personal trainers are notorious for taking the "functional" craze to an embarrassing level and it seems there's hardly any room left for the trainer who prefers deadlifts and hard sprints to the BOSU balls, balance boards, and bands.

But T-Nation and MWA can rest easy knowing Jason Walsh is setting people straight while banishing the phrase "tone your tummy."

MWA: All right, hot shot. Who are your primary clientele?

Jason Walsh: Anyone who's willing to change. From A-list celebrities like Jessica Biel, Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Garner to professional athletes and the common housewife.

The common housewife. Wait... nevermind.

It's great to hear compliments on Jess and her body, but I get just as much gratification or more when I help someone lose 35 lbs. and completely change their life through training and nutrition.

Jessica Biel

Training Jess is like getting a highly recruited athlete destined to go pro and taking all the credit for them making it to the majors.

She works hard, she listens, she's dedicated, and she has great genes!

MWA: Damn straight! Give us a little background on the way you 'came up' through the ranks in the fitness biz.

JW: I paid my dues and worked for peanuts, but was willing to do it and learn as much as I could along the way.

In my last year at UNC (University of North Carolina), I began working with nationally renowned head strength coach Greg Gatz at Olympic Sports. During my two and a half years there I helped oversee more than 440 Division I athletes.

After that I moved to Tempe, Arizona to work under world-renowned coaches Mark Verstegen and Luke Richesson at Athletes Performance. I had the opportunity to help out with the 2006 Combine Group, ultimately producing the number one draft pick Mario Williams and first round draft pick Vernon Davis. Oh, and I have my CSCS and NSCA-CPT.

Vernon Davis

MWA: What's your training philosophy? Are you more Boyle and Cressey or Hilton and Richie?

JW: I try to keep an open mind when it comes to the latest and greatest, but I can't help but smile at some of the stuff I see.

I'll use some of the "functional" movements for warm up, but old school lifts for progression are primary. I need to get a lot done in a short amount of time and old school is more bang for the buck.

I happen to hold Mike Boyle's opinion in the highest regard. I mean, for someone to know as much as he does and admits when he's wrong or is able to change his mind shows a lot of character. He seems to constantly change and is not afraid to try a new approach. That's why I find what he has to say so interesting.

MWA: When we talked earlier you mentioned trying to transition to more of a 'body sculptor'. What did you mean by that?

JW: Body sculpting to me just means that I need to listen to what the client's problem areas are and keep that in the forefront of my mind while addressing the whole body and bringing out certain muscle groups while leaving some alone.

We may use a set or two more or less on secondary exercises, but I never really stray far from the core of my workouts.

Walk through most gyms in America and you'll find it to be a single joint work-o-thon. I can't say that I didn't do that when I was trying to figure it out at a young age.

T-Nation readers should consider themselves lucky to have better info at their disposal. All I had was really bad bodybuilder magazines and watching the dude with the biggest chest and arms. It's our duty as people in the know to change that and educate them.

I primarily want to make all my clients stronger and improve health and career longevity and that remains the goal. I believe the aesthetics come as a side affect.

MWA: What's Jessica's typical training routine look like?

JW: Well, I'll tell you what she's doing right now, and you guys will hate me for it.

We're going catabolic!

It sucks, but that's what she needs for the new role. Don't worry, though. It's not all going away. We just have to bring it down a bit.

It's all pretty intensive with a 3:1 work ratio. It hurts me to watch. We do a lot of single leg squats, stair hopping, planks, med ball throws, and sprints.

MWA: Let's say Jessica is preparing for a photo shoot. Can you give us a sample template of the type of training you'd go through?

JW: Sure, but I want to point out I made this specifically for Jess, her body type, and goals, so everyone should always figure out what works best for them before beginning. That said, many people will benefit from this style of training. In terms of Jess, she already has the physique so we just have to tweak it a bit. I've also been working with her for well over a year, so I know how her body responds to certain stimuli.

I primarily focus lifting with heavier loads and higher volume toward the lower body and leave the upper body to relative strength and low volume. The upper body still gets stimuli from holding the weights, planks or bridging, MB throws, and punching. All this combined with a greater focus of burning through higher cardiovascular time has helped give the desired result you see today.

We start off every day with foam rolling before our active warm-up.

Here's what our week looks like:

Day 1:
Circuit # 1

3 sets of each — 30 seconds for each exercise

Mini band lateral walks for 30sec each way (put the band around your ankles)

Sumo Squat Jump with Medicine Ball

PB Planks (Push up position with elbows bent). This is great for full body stimulation.

Circuit #2

3 sets of each

Front Squats (3:1:0 tempo with band around knees) for 10 reps

Reverse Crunch (on incline bench) slow and under control for 15-20 reps

Kneeling Cable Chop for 10 reps each

Circuit # 3

Five 50 yard resisted runs with 30 second rest periods to keep the heart rate up

Circuit # 4

Manual Stretching

Day 2:

Track Day.

Usually sprints ranging from 200m at 75% to 100m at 100%. We do 6-8 sets depending on how she's feeling from the day before.

We'll sometimes end with some hops up stairs (single and double leg) and I'll let her recover to 120 BPM (beats per minute) to get better output during each rep.

Day 3:

Regeneration: A ton of foam rolling!

Day 4:

3 sets of each — 30 seconds for each exercise

Mini Band Lateral Walks

Linear Bounds

Side Bridge

Circuit # 2

3 sets of each exercise

Single Leg Squat (holding medicine ball) for 10 reps each leg.

Single Leg Romanian Dead Lift for 10 reps on each leg. (holding 20-25lb dumbbells)

Decline Stick Roll Ups for 15 reps (slow and controlled)

Circuit # 3

2 sets of each exercise:

Quadruped Opposites (2:5:2 tempo) for 8 reps each side

Chin-ups for 6 reps. (just enough for the upper body without building too much muscle)

Circuit # 4

Two 300 yard Shuttle Runs. I'll let the HR (heart rate) drop to 120bpm between sets because of fatigue.

Circuit #5

Manual stretching. We'll do a bit more today since it's toward the end of the week and she'll be tight.

Day 5

One hour of hitting and kicking combos. We do 3 minute rounds with one minute rest periods. This is killer stuff.

Day 6

Recreational sports

The whole program is designed to bring her to peak shape in the last two weeks. Jess works out with a HR monitor during every workout and after each circuit we will bring the HR down to 120 BPM.

We always try to end our sessions with some sort of intensive cardio heart and lung thrasher whether its 50-100 yard sprints or hitting the pads for awhile.

We all know by now that we're most anabolic within 45 minutes after the workout and should ingest a mixture of protein and carbs. Well, I don't let her have that until 1.5 hours after the workout to keep the body utilizing a bit more of the protein. But that's only during these two weeks.

MWA: Are you pretty strict with diet and nutrition year-round or are you more relaxed with carb consumption, etc.?

JW: I don't consider myself strict at all with diet. If I'm hungry, I eat. I tell Jess and all my clients to do the same. Good nutrition and eating habits have been a part of my life for so long that it's habitual. My client's food selection is wide and I encourage them to cook at home, go organic, get lots of veggies and protein, and eat lower glycemic carbs.

I like Ezekiel products like the cereal and bread because it's whole grain and low glycemic. For snacks, I eat Kashi products because they have a lot of snack-type foods that are also whole grain. If you have to snack, like most of us do, you might as well get the benefits of fiber.

Also, eating a cleaner better fuel will give your body what it needs for higher performance because it won't be so bogged down with all the preservatives found in most food!

Personally, I supplement with Biotest Flameout and use aminos during workouts or any time of the day to give my body a shot of BCAA's.

Jessica has adopted great eating habits that I've shared with her, but she knows its okay to slip once in a while - she definitely earns it!

MWA: Good stuff, man. Thanks for the inside look! Where can people go to learn more about you?

JW: My pleasure, Nate. They can go to www.jasonwalshtraining.com.

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