Burlesque dancer, trainer Melanie Jackson thinks workouts should be fun – Houston Chronicle

Exercise shouldn’t be drudgery. In fact, Melanie Jackson wants her clients to look forward to working out.

That’s why she named her business Geisha Fitness. A geisha, she says, has often been misconstrued as a courtesan. Instead, they were Japanese entertainers, singing, dancing and playing musical instruments.

“A lot of people don’t think of personal trainers as entertainers,” Jackson said. “But we are.”

Her job, as she sees it, is actually to make exercise fun. “My mission is not to make you always grind and be serious,” she said. “I want you to not even think about that when you’re training with me. I want you to be like, ‘I can’t wait to work out.’”

Inspiring individuals to become healthier is her goal.

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In addition to being a competitive body builder, Jackson is a burlesque dancer and drag king — a female performance artists who dresses in masculine drag.

“When I step onstage, it’s to entertain and to inspire people to be a better version of themselves and follow their dreams, so they don’t feel stuck,” she said.

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She’s not one to stay in one place, after all. She adapts and pushes herself even in the most challenging situations.

Jackson says she was an active child growing up in Houston, playing basketball, doing track and field and running cross-country. When she went to college, however, she let that sports mentality go.

“So that freshman 15 hit,” she said. “My activity level went down. And dorms aren’t friendly when it comes to cooking your own food.”

Jackson was also still holding onto the idea that she could eat whatever she wanted and simply burn it off, the way she did in high school.

Not paying attention to food resulted in weight gains through college, after pregnancy and in her early days working as a paralegal.

Then, she discovered that the law firm where she was working offered a free bootcamp. She took advantage of the opportunity.

“I started to see results,” she said.

Jackson dropped 75 pounds.

“Working out tends to get you thinking about your health in general,” she said. “You become more self-conscious of what you put in your body.”

For example, she started drinking more water and added protein shakes to her diet. She became more mindful of her portions.

“I was just changing habits,” Jackson said. “You have to builds toward it. And after I lost the weight, I felt better than I did in high school. You cannot train on a poor diet. I always ate whatever in high school, but now, I’m an adult, and I know better.”

Jackson decided to go the next step and train for bodybuilding competitions.

“I knew how to use machines and how to work out, but as far as defining my body to be on stage competing, I was around the gym like a chicken with my head cut off,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘I need to get a trainer.’ And that’s exactly what I did.”

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She eventually earned her own personal training certification.

When the law firm had layoffs in 2017, Jackson lost her job. To make matters worse, Around the same time, Jackson divorced and became a single mother as her husband struggled with addiction. She dove head first into fitness.

“The gym was my saving grace,” she said.

But the gym wasn’t working for everyone, she noticed. She felt like some trainers were misinforming their clients; others focused on financial gain.

“I’m not that way,” Jackson said. “I want people to love this. It’s not about the money for me.”

Jackson started competing at body building and winning; she was also gaining a reputation as a trainer.

“I started to build clientele slowly and surely,” she said. “More and more, people wanted to train with me.”

Last year, she decided to start her own business. She’s based in Manvel but travels around Houston to offer personal training to clients.

She also holds bootcamps in Manvel for Camp Gladiator, a group fitness program.

“You don’t have to go to a gym to work out,” Jackson said.

The camps, she said, are an ideal way to stick your toe in the water and start working out. Her her personal training sessions are more results-driven.

She offers a weekly “Fit Tip Clip” on Facebook Live, where she gives viewers tricks and advice for diet and exercise.

Becoming fit and healthy means making lifestyle adjustments, Jackson said.

“Our culture is about right here, right now,” she said. “This is not one of those things. Habits have to change. And some people need accountability. They need a hand to guide them.”

Tim Winfrey met Jackson at a Pride event last year. He was immediately struck by how fit she is.

“I introduced myself,” Winfrey said. “I’ve been trying to work out, and I wanted to know her secret.”

He found out that she had struggled with weight loss personally — and that she had become a professional trainer.

“After seeing her pictures of where she was and where she is now, I was floored,” Winfrey said.

He set up a three-month training program with Jackson. Later, she helped him sign up with Camp Gladiator at a session near his home in Bellaire.

“She genuinely wants to help people achieve their goals,” Winfrey said. “And she continues to do that.”

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