Biography of JJ Virgin, C.N.S., C.H.F.I.

As a 20 year veteran of the health and fitness industry, JJ Virgin has worked extensively both in the business side and the performance side of the industry. She began as a dance teacher and aerobics instructor and quickly moved up to running and owning gyms and aerobics departments, hiring and training other instructors, making videos and teaching and training internationally.

In the mid 1980's she became one of the first personal trainers in the country. After graduating from UCLA in 1986, she went on to do her graduate studies at CSUN in biomechanics, taking one year off to study Sports Medicine at University of Miami. She went on to do PhD work in exercise physiology, nutrition and aging at USC. During her PhD work she discovered that she really wanted to pursue the nutritional field and left USC to focus on nutrition research. After 5 years of independent study, she joined the Masters Program at the University of Bridgeport and then shifted to her current program of study at the American Health Sciences University in Colorado.

JJ is currently certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health and Fitness Instructor with enhanced qualifications in nutrition, advanced personal training and exercise for the older adult. She is a Certified Nutrition Specialist with the American College of Nutrition and a Certified Nutritional Counselor with the American Association of Nutritional Consultants and an Associate Nutritionist with the Designs for Health Institute. She is a member of MENSA, the UCLA Alumni Society, the American College of Nutrition and the American Nutraceuticals Association.

Throughout her career, JJ has spoken for groups as large as 500 on fitness and nutrition, has appeared on TV and radio and has been featured in magazine and newspaper articles. JJ is the health correspondent for The Healthy Living Show and a medical host for the Wellness Hour, appearing regularly on TV with health updates and medical minutes and contributes to the affiliated website www.thewellnesshour.com. She is currently the nutritionist for Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge and appears frequently on his nationally syndicated program Dr. Phil and contributes to his website www.drphil.com.

She recently produced a series of exercise videos with Dr. Diana Schwarzbein author of the highly touted Schwarzbein Principle 1, 2 and companion cookbooks and is working on a second series with Dr. Schwarzbein. JJ has had nutrition and lifestyle coaching practices in Rancho Mirage, Ft. Lauderdale, Dallas and Beverly Hills for many years which she has recently discontinued to focus more on lecturing, television and writing.