Jake Steinfeld may be known as an exercise guru who wanted to scissor your abs, but the heart of an entrepreneur beats under that Spandex. Not only did he help turn personal fitness into a bankable industry, he also created Fit TV, which he sold for 500 million. Unsatisfied with being the Jack La Lanne of his generation, Steinfeld wants to train you how to be a street-savvy businessperson.

While struggling to make ends meet as a personal trainer in Hollywood, Steinfeld’s services were given to Stephen Spielberg as a birthday present. Not only did the two become buddies, Spielberg helped Steinfeld become the trainer to Hollywood in the 1980s, counting Terri Garr, Harrison Ford and Morgan Fairchild among his clientele.

One day while walking around Santa Monica in 1978, then the mecca of professional bodybuilders, Steinfeld was spotted on the street by a representative for Casablanca Records and he was later whisked to the Santa Monica Civic Center where The Village People brought him onstage to pose to the tune of “Macho Man.” His father responded to his son’s newfound fame with the advice “Go back to college!”

Jake grew up a fat kid in Baldwin, Long Island, with a head full of hair that would have made ‘Welcome Back Kotter’’s Juan Epstein jealous. Not until his Dad gave him a set of weights when he was a young teenager did he start to see the worth of exercising. Now he lives with his family in Los Angeles and is a founder of Major League Lacrosse and the Don’t Quit organization (which donates fitness centers to inner city middle and high schools).

 

 Interview with Fitness Icon Jake Steinfeld of Body by Jake: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download