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Jackie Peacock & Camie Cragg: Fitness, Fun & Friendship

Sep 10, 2017 09:47PM

Finding Life in Fitness

Jackie Peacock and Camie Cragg-Lyman Embody Fitness, Fun and Friendship

by Meghan Ochs


Fitness is life and life is fitness. The two are undoubtedly intertwined. If life is a long journey, with an ever evolving destination, you can see why fitness is the same. Fitness is not a specific exercise, move, length of time, number of reps, or weight in one particular movement. True fitness is a feeling of overall health, in both our mental and physical well-being. Our daily lives, and all that they encompass, require constant movement and maintenance. Stagnation kills progress. Adaptation and the need for evolvement is constant. Fitness is the same.


I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time around many strong, active, physically fit women. Yet, I have never met two women who embody and embrace the marriage between life and fitness as well as Jackie Peacock and Camie Cragg-Lyman. Camie is the Owner and Founder of CCF (Cami Cragg Fitness) and Jackie Peacock is the founder, creator, and an instructor of BODYpow and BODYpow LIVE! Camie and Jackie are both NSL (Nspire Sports League) athletes. Both women are entrepreneurs, wives, and mothers with incredible personalities, full of energy and light. Contrary to what many might think, given they are business owners in the same industry within the same market, they are also incredibly close friends. The two became friends three years ago and bonded over their love of fitness, health, family, and a mutual affinity for the Greek Goddess Aigle. Aigle is the goddess of radiant good health. Listening and observing these two women interact, it is easy to see why they would relate to a goddess, especially one of sound health. Cami and Jackie would never say it themselves, but by any modern standard they are goddesses of good health and arguably other attributes as well. Yes, they are both incredibly fit, but they are clearly empowered in multiple ways and their enthusiasm and passion for life and to help others along the way is contagious.


Cami's background has always been in athletics. In her youth, Cami played volleyball, basketball, track, and even showed horses. For a period of time, Cami turned to running marathons and competitive 5k's. She also played competitive beach volleyball. Her active lifestyle endured despite multiple physical challenges, including breaking her back at the young age of 14. Ten years later she was diagnosed with Graves' disease. Instead of letting these physical challenges hinder her athleticism, she used them as fuel to become more fit, healthy, and physically active. Athletics and fitness have always provided Cami with an outlet, and in her words: "I aim to provide an avenue to others, to share my love and confidence and enable others to have more self worth to be the best version of themselves." Cami enjoys the phrase “I can and I will.” It is emblazoned all over her fitness facilities. For 16 years she has been helping people live this mantra as a group fitness instructor. However, five and a half years ago, she took it to the next level by opening her first gym in Reno. She now has two locations: her original location in South Reno and the new location downtown. Her brand, CCF, has been around for 13 years; in Northern Nevada her name is synonymous with fitness and personal training.


Jackie Peacock has also been in the fitness world for a long time. At one point, Jackie was a group instructor at a fitness chain, while also having a career as a school counselor. She worked in the school system for eight years, even earning her graduate degree in that field. Her real passion, though, was always movement. She was a swimmer in college and ran marathons throughout her 20's. She has always loved kickboxing, which is apparent to anyone who has taken a BODYpow class. After having her children, she found herself in between careers. This is when Jackie created BODYpow. It was the fall of 2012 and then the following winter she began offering classes. She now offers BODYpow in South Reno, Incline Village, and online anytime with BODYpow LIVE! While she does have one instructor who also teaches classes, Jackie prefers to instruct herself as much as possible. "BODYpow is my center, my sanctuary. If it all ended tomorrow, I would still do it in my bathroom." Ironically, her bathroom is exactly the place where she created BODYpow.

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In regard to their own personal and daily fitness, Jackie and Camie have different routines and workout styles, but both ladies insist that their preferences are complementary. I took a class with both Cami and Jackie; I believe them.


BODYpow is an hour long conditioning class with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) designed entirely by Jackie with bodyweight movements only. The entire class is scalable, meaning no matter your current fitness level, there is a way to get your BODYpow on. Jackie stresses the importance of mind over body and teaches all of her classes as if she has a weight in her hand. She never does. Looking at her, you would never know. She has eliminated all of the 'cheat' moves. Jackie's goal is to ensure every interval and combination is tough and effective. They are. To maintain her level of fitness and physique, BODYpow is all Jackie does, 5 days a week for an hour each day. There is no doubt her method is effective, and now, it's flexible with BODYpow LIVE! It should be noted: it is a lot of fun too!


Cami's fitness facilities are in line with what most people would think of as a modern gym. There are free weights, barbells, machines, various pieces of other fitness equipment, and a group instruction area for classes. Cami emphasizes that her gym and training regiments are based on a client's personality, finances, and schedule. The class I took with Cami was a unique blend of movements combining weights, plyometrics, body weight exercises, short jogs, and other activities in a series of intervals to get the heart pumping and fitness levels up. It was unique and challenging. Cami also works out during her classes. I got a kick out of her voice seemingly coming out of nowhere to offer encouragement. Turns out she was in the corner, on the stepper, getting her own intervals in. Like Jackie, Cami does not work out as much as one might guess. Cami's workouts take place in 10 minute increments 8-12 times a day.


Spend any time with these women and there is no doubt that they are incredibly supportive of each other. Both fully endorse the other's methods and now are officially working together and referring their clients to cross-train. While they are both incredibly knowledgeable, and their methods glaringly effective, Cami and Jackie fully admit that they do not alone have the golden ticket. "Your fitness profile doesn’t have to look like just one thing," says Jackie. They understand that the world of fitness is always evolving. Personally and physically, they are both always learning to be better. Fitness, like life, is a work in constant progress. Cami agrees: "It is about progress not perfection. It is not how you get below the line, but how you get back above it." To those who chose to engage in fitness, it is proof that the body is capable of amazing things. The surprise for most is that it can also remind us of what we are capable of in other ways. Jackie refers to this as “internalized empowerment.”


If internalized empowerment is our full awareness of our abilities, in both mind and body, Cami and Jackie are living, breathing examples of this. Both are keenly aware of their purpose and are avid in their pursuit of helping others find theirs. Cami says she has seen far too many people who are not loved enough and she sees it as part of her job to help them feel loved; to be both an outlet and servant to her clients and help them achieve their goals. A lot of people may read these words and wonder how it relates to fitness, or why a personal trainer and gym owner would have these goals for their clients. Cami and Jackie understand that fitness is functional in both mind and body. If good health enables us to live life to the fullest, then exercise becomes useful in our everyday lives when we can move, breathe, travel, live, and enjoy life to the fullest due to our physical health.


Beyond their everyday fitness, both women have an abundance of hobbies. Cami loves photography, scrapbooking, reading, and writing. She has written two e-books and also loves making new memories with her family. In her free time, Jackie too, is all about her family. Her kids often come to classes with her while she instructs BODYpow. As a family, they also enjoy skiing. Neither Cami or Jackie are shy about those who have helped them with their success. They clearly support and rely on each other, despite being “competitors” in the same local industry. Additionally, they both also stress the importance of their significant others in their success. Both are couple driven, as they like to say, and are thankful for the support their husbands offer behind the scenes.


I can admit I was initially intimidated by the thought of meeting, interviewing, and even working out with Jackie and Camie. However, both women were so welcoming and warm; they have a way of making you feel comfortable and relaxed. Despite their appearances, they are a constant reminder that fitness is not a specific way to look, a thing to obtain, or one specific goal to accomplish. It is not solely about the end destination. Cami explains, "Not all fairytales are fairytales from beginning to end. We have to be open to the nightmare." This is true about life, and fitness. Both are about the journey, because it is in the ongoing maintenance that we learn the most about ourselves. Jackie loves to remind her clients that a "strong body comes from a strong mind and we are all mentally stronger than we think we are." One lends itself to the other in our lives both inside and outside the realm of fitness, health, and exercise. If this is true, of which I have little doubt, then both Cami and Jackie are incredibly strong and insanely fit, well beyond their physiques. Cami Cragg-Lyman and Jackie Peacock are two modern day Aigles, doing their thing, each and every day while radiating health, beauty, love, and joy. Both are more than happy to bring along anyone else who wishes to join them on their intertwined journey of fitness and life. I hope many will. and

Meghan Ochs

Meghan is passionate about many things: animals, skiing, fitness, travel, the outdoors, coffee and good food and her friends and family too. The order of these interests depends on the day. In between all of these things she occasionally finds time to put her thoughts to paper.