This week Jillian Michaels's reputation as a fitness trainer was called into question by a much-buzzed-about Los Angeles Times op-ed.
Jillian responded to those allegations on Wednesday, telling UsMagazine.com: "Apparently I'm an actress. Shame on the Los Angeles Times for saying I'm a fraud and not a trainer. I currently own two certifications, one of which doesn't expire. I developed my own continuing education program for trainers, with sports medicine doctors. I've been a trainer since I was 17 years old for 19 years."
(Neither the bio on Jillian's website nor her "Biggest Loser" bio at NBC.com list information about the certifications.)
Michaels also told Us she plans to take legal action: "I'm going after them," and added: "They didn't do any of their homework. They flat-out [lied]. It's defamation, it's libel, it's full-on."
Jillian Michaels built her fitness empire on the success of her tough-love persona on NBC's "The Biggest Loser" and "Losing It with Jillian," where the personal trainer teaches desperately overweight contestants how to lose weight The Right Way: Eat less, move more.
As her many happy reality-TV contestants can attest, her method certainly seems to work. But still some are skeptical as to whether Jillian's way is truly the best way.
A damning op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calls into question Michaels's qualifications as a trainer, painting the reality-TV star as a hypocrite who misleads fans to make a buck. In the article, writer James S. Fell -- a certified health expert based in Canada -- zeroes in on her new workout DVD, "Shred-It With Weights," her guide for novices on how to burn fat using cannon-sized weights called kettlebells. He writes:
"I don't know much about proper kettlebell techniques. Neither does Jillian Michaels. I have an internationally respected fitness certification and 17 years' experience with free weights, yet I lack the audacity to pretend I am qualified to teach kettlebells. Jillian Michaels, on the other hand, is lacking in shame. At least that's what I thought until I realized Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer -- she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs."
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Among Fell's allegations: Michaels's technique is shoddy and her routines unsafe, leading her target audience -- obese men and women looking to shed pounds without crash diets -- to work out The Wrong Way. While a blurb on the kettlebell DVD claims users can "lose up to 5 pounds in a week," Fell breaks it down, calories and all, leading him to conclude that an inexperienced user would need to do four hours of kettlebells per day to fulfill Michaels's weight-loss promise.
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So, who is the writer behind this anti-Jillian screed? He's a certified strength and conditioning expert who wrote a book with his family-practitioner wife, Dr. Heidi Fell, called Body for Wife: The Family Guy's Guide to Getting in Shape. His regimen relies on the fitness basics of cardio, weightlifting and a healthy diet.
On top of that, he cites several personal trainers who slam her kettlebell teachings, calling foul on her form. One of those trainers, Mark Cheng, is a specialist at Kettlebells Los Angeles, and he had this to say:
"Her technique is appalling," Cheng told Fell. "What she says in the video and what she demonstrates are two different things. She doesn't break things down into manageable pieces that prompt people to get the correct form, so instead she is enabling bad form ... I would not recommend this from a safety perspective."
Other trainers have taken to the internet to vent their frustration with what they say are Jillian's mistakes in kettlebell training.
David Whitley, a kettlebell aficionado and self-described fat-loss coach, applauds Jillian's efforts at introducing the world to his chosen fitness method, but says she has "no idea how to use kettlebells." He wrote on his Iron Tamer website: "Celebrity/TV trainers of the world: I know you are trying... You just need to get some instruction on how to do it. I just want to you to demonstrate correct form."
Brad Nelson, a Russian Kettlebell instructor with a lengthy fitness resume, had even harsher words, saying on his Bradrants blog: "Jillian, you should be ashamed of demonstrating something you obviously have yet to learn how to use yourself."
When contacted by Yahoo!, Michaels's representative Ashley Sandberg declined comment on the Los Angeles Times story, but said she would make Michaels available for questions on the "Shred-It" DVD.
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In recent months, Michaels has been sued four times over her dietary supplements. The latest lawsuit came in August, when an anonymous plaintiff filed a $10 million suit alleging that the fitness guru's product "Triple Process Total Body Detox & Cleanse" contained dangerous ingredients.
Last February, two women separately sued Michaels for false advertising on a diet pill she endorses, "Jillian Michaels Maximum Strength Calorie Control."
Michaels responded by calling the suits "baseless" and standing by the supplement and its maker, ThinCare International, which is based in Utah. She told the Associated Press: "My reputation and credibility are of the utmost importance to me."
Janet Helm, a writer, registered dietitian who has appeared on the Today show, Good Morning America, and CNN as a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, also called into question Michaels' fitness credentials when the trainer started hawking her Quickstart Rapid Weight Loss System. Quickstart, she pointed out, relies heavily on caffeine and Yerba Mate, an herbal supplement some claim can aid weight loss.
"A review of existing studies on weight loss supplements in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that Yerba Mate (along with several other dietary supplements) is not effective for reducing body weight," Helm wrote in an essay on her site, NutritionUnplugged.com.
Jillian's supporters say it's not her workout and diet prescriptions that are the most important pieces of her fitness equation -- it's her psychological approach.
An essay on Yahoo TV's sister site, Shine, points out: "When things get tough once Jillian shows up, these people have a million excuses: I'm alone, I'm tired, I don't have any help, it's the way I've always done it. But, of course, Jillian blows those excuses to smithereens. Life isn't happening at you, she says; you are happening to life."
