Will Jardell has always had to look the part of \u201cfit\u201d in order to get his next job and had no trouble doing so.<\/p>\n
The model and reality star, 35, recalls that many years ago, while appearing on America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> he was in great shape and felt fantastic.<\/p>\n Fast forward to Thanksgiving in 2021, when Jardell went to bed and woke up the next morning with immense back pain and suddenly couldn\u2019t move, his entire world came crashing down.<\/p>\n \u201cI woke up and couldn\u2019t walk, and my back was just insanely stuck, which really caused me to not be able to be active for almost a year,\u201d Jardell tells Muscle & Fitness.<\/em> \u201cI spent about a year trying to figure out what was going on [and] really just kind of living a sedentary life. And then, spent another year after figuring out that I had lower back arthritis at 34 years old, which is insane. Figuring out how to get stronger, how to do physical therapy that strengthened my core that would relieve some of that initial pain<\/a> that I had in my back.\u201d<\/p>\n Doctors were just as puzzled as Jardell<\/a> as to what exactly happened, and after what felt like every test under the sun, some bloodwork helped get some answers on how to address the arthritis head on.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is genetic in my family,\u201d says Jardell of his diagnosis that took over two years to receive. \u201cI really dove deep for about a year, so all of 2024 into physical therapy, and like minimal exercise, but really focused on physical therapy to try and strengthen those spine muscles for my core to help my back pain go away.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet despite the diagnosis and months of PT, lasting relief still remained out of reach.<\/p>\n \u201cI had tried everything,\u201d the former dance teacher continues. \u201cChiropractor, injections, acupuncture, massages all the time, really just trying to relieve a little bit of pain. And everybody was like, \u2018Do you feel better?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Honestly, no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n As someone who played sports and danced his whole life, the emotional toll it took on Jardell was difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cI was working out all the time, and then all of a sudden we have a full stop<\/a>,\u201d says Jardell. \u201cIt really impacted those endorphins that you get from being physically active, just shutting them off. And so I really just struggled mentally. I am in so much pain that I can\u2019t do any of the things that really brought me joy, and so it impacted my mental health, it impacted my diet. I wasn\u2019t working out at all, and so it had a lot of cascading effects, on just my life in general.\u201d<\/p>\n Due to lack of any sustainable activity, the former Amazing Race<\/em> contestant put on an unwanted 40 pounds, bringing his usually healthy weight up all the way to 250, a number Jardell never thought he\u2019d see on a scale.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve lived a very active lifestyle and so when all of this happened, it was really difficult, it was really challenging to not be able to move my body,\u201d says Jardell.\u00a0 \u201cI was struggling with all of it, how I looked and how I felt, not being able to move, but once I was able to get back in the gym, because I\u2019ve played sports and people had coached me, I was like, \u2018I need somebody to tell me what to do, because I don\u2019t really know what to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Even though he had a diagnosis, Jardell admits he still didn\u2019t prioritize working out for some time. A full-body workup revealed his weight wasn\u2019t just what was high, but so were things like his cholesterol, and he had a full wake-up call that things needed to change.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was just really managing pain, but in that vein, I was still gaining weight,\u201d says Jardell. \u201cAnd then I did another round of blood work a couple of months later, really focused on a full body panel, and so that was like, \u2018You need to refocus of like the pain, yes, let\u2019s manage that, but also, let\u2019s also try and work out and be physically active to get your cholesterol right, get your weight down, little cascading effects.\u201d<\/p>\n After deciding he needed to find his inner athlete once again, right around his 35th birthday, Jardell enlisted the help of Chris Evans<\/a> and Transform Fitness<\/a> to begin shedding the weight.<\/p>\n \u201cI got kind of scared about aging,\u201d admits Jardell. \u201cTo start off, we really focused on, \u2018What are your goals? Where do you want to be?\u2019 and I really wanted to just go back to the weight that I was, but one of the things that\u2019s important to me is strength and feeling stronger, because I know that when I am stronger, it does help with my pain and my alignment of my spine. And so focused on the workouts that I could do that really built the strength of those muscles.<\/p>\n Evans helped Jardell formulate a workout plan he could consistently follow by doing a mix of cardio and strength training to target the entire body.<\/p>\n \u201cI love to squat, which is crazy,\u201d says Jardell. \u201cI have some really strong legs. I think that\u2019s because I\u2019m a dancer. I love an alternating lunge. I had to force myself to like doing arm and chest exercises. Those are my least favorite, but I started to love them more because they\u2019re more on my workout plan than before.\u201d<\/p>\n To match his growing strength in the gym, Evans also increased Jardell\u2019s overall training schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we started, I was doing three gym workouts a week. I was doing two HIIT classes a week at Orange Theory, and then also was doing a class at Solid Core, so really working out six days a week just to get it in high gear.\u201d<\/p>\n With the plan in place, Jardell committed to following every directive Evans laid out.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning, I told him, \u2018I\u2019m a good student,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you tell me to do something, I will do it, and I will not let you down.\u2019 And so we really hit the ground running for six days a week, and focusing on the calorie intake just to make sure that I was getting enough nutrition, but being able to lose the weight as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The reality television star also adjusted his eating habits by focusing on consuming more lean protein, which also came with some obstacles.<\/p>\n \u201cA challenge for me is that I am vegetarian,\u201d says Jardell. \u201cI think in those past years where I was gaining weight, it was a challenge to find food that was high in protein and not comfort food, which is what I would gravitate toward. And so really focusing on getting plant protein and reducing the amount of carbs and calories from the food that I was taking in.<\/p>\n To close that protein gap, he decided to he needed to become a little more nutritionally flexible with his longtime vegetarian approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve added in fish to my diet, and so I usually have some type of fish to get that high protein meal during the day. But honestly, I\u2019ve probably doubled my protein intake since working with Chris, just because I was personally having a hard time getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet. So we\u2019ve now opened ourselves to eating fish as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Since November 2025, Jardell has lost 30 pounds. and dropped one shirt and three pant sizes. While the scale says he has 10 more pounds to lose to get back to his weight before his diagnosis, he\u2019s focused on something different.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that I\u2019m gaining muscle,\u201d says Jardell. \u201cI think that I\u2019ve hit a spot where the weight that I\u2019m at, I still see that fat loss, but I\u2019m also gaining that muscle in return, and so I\u2019m really proud of where I\u2019m at right now. Honestly, you only have one body. You only have the facility that you\u2019ve been blessed with, and so when you commit to working out, commit to yourself and keeping the healthiest version of you. There are so many cascading effects that that commitment is worth it tenfold, and so protecting your one body that you have, the rewards are endless.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nA 40-Pound Wakeup Call<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>Rediscovering His Athleticism Required a Training and Nutrition Rewiring<\/h2>\n
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