March Fitness Profile: Jamal Fielder

While you were sleeping in, Jamal Fielder was sharing his love of fitness with others.

Jamal is a sophomore nutrition major at the University of Texas at Austin. He started playing sports at a young age and has a passion for exercising and personal fitness training. Currently, he has started a boot camp class Sunday Mornings at 8pm at Clark Field.


Q: What made you want to be a nutrition major?

A: “Well, I’ve been into nutrition since high school and I figured that I can learn exercise training on my own. There’re a lot of exercise manuals out there. But I think that going through school as a nutrition major is more beneficial as a physical trainer. Nutrition has helped my own diet – I know how to count calories and eat enough to balance how much I burn off when I exercise.”

Q: What are you involved with?

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A: “I work at the Rec Sports center1, I’m a few scholarship organizations, and I intern at a gym called Onnit, they sponsor different UFC fighters. I train other people there and clean up the gym.”

Q: How did you get interested in training people?


Jamal with students from his fitness class

A: “I am passionate about helping others. I actually came in as a biology major cause I wanted to do physical therapy. Last year, I started training for the marathon and I got really interested in training. I realized how bad nutrition was here in America and I saw this as an area to help others. I learned by watching Youtube videos and talking to other trainers about this.”

Q: You started a free boot camp on campus, what motivated you do that?

A: “It’s relatively easy for a trainer to help someone who already works out, but I wanted to help people who wouldn’t otherwise work out!”

Q: How would you start training someone who has never worked out before?

A: “I would start out with body weight training – like squats, pushups, lunges, etc. This gets the body used to certain movements. The correct form is also important. The main reason that people get hurt is because the body isn’t used to certain movements.”

Q: What is your goal for the boot camp?

A: “I would like to get 10-15 consistent people. There haven’t been too many people probably cause it’s Sunday morning [laugh]. I want to be able to change their lives. For example, I’m currently training someone for the Longhorn Run2. It’s so satisfying watching her improve. She’s never run more than like a mile before and in two weeks she’s gone from 1 to 3 miles!”

Q: How do you plan to continue inspiring people to exercise?

A: “I actually want to start uploading more Youtube videos. I currently have one called ‘Persistence Fitness’. One day I’d also like to start a gym and continue reaching out to others to train them.”


Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who is looking to become healthier or more fit?

A: “Have fun with it! If you don’t, you can easily stop. Remember the reason you’re trying to do this.”


1: The Rec Sports Center is a gym on campus.

2: The Longhorn Run is a run that university students can participate in. They can choose to run either 5K or 10K.


To check out Jamal’s youtube channel, click the icon below:


~Written by Jenny Xu


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