What do you get when you cross a celebrity fitness trainer and a “Walking Dead” series producer in an Atlanta farmers market? If their daughters are school friends who make a beeline for one another, you get conversation about film, fitness, time constraints and the need for personal accountability to hold it all together. Then, you get on a mission. That’s precisely how it happened for professional fitness trainer Jill “J” Charton and film and TV producer Meredith Meade-Kew.
Credit: Michelle Rose
Credit: Michelle Rose
“You have to put the time toward yourself,” Charton tells her clients in the film, music and professional sports industries through her Atlanta-based business, iFourLife.com. “Lots of moms (like Meade-Kew in the film and TV industry) have guilt, but you have to fill up that cup for yourself and do something that you love that makes you the best version of yourself.”
“I’m on set,” Meade-Kew notes, “or sitting all day long on Zoom calls. But Jill’s been giving me the tools to do things at home, telling me what to do, and even when I’m off-camera from Zoom calls, I use a little gym set up in my office.”
Before Charton started training Meade-Kew and giving her activities to incorporate into her schedule around the film industry, Charton was getting cast and crew members of “The Walking Dead fit” — actors, producers and assistant directors on the series.
But when do they find time to think about a workout when they’re on set for 12-hour days?
“I step into my clients’ shoes and find out what their day looks like,” Charton says, regarding the process of helping her clients become and remain healthy and fit. “There’s no consistency in the film industry in terms of . . . nutrition, hydrating or getting sleep, and all that affects your hormones and mood — everything.”
When you’re dealing with a high-stress job, she says (drawing from her own husband’s job as an air-traffic controller), you need an outlet. And to put into perspective how a one-hour workout can actually fit into an incredibly busy, highly demanding day, Charton notes that a person only needs to give 4% of their time. “Four percent is equivalent to one hour per day,” she says.
For Meade-Kew, she has found what works for her. “I try to meet with Jill twice per week. She starts early, and she’s flexible,” she says. “And my two kids want to see what new things I’ve learned, and it’s been fun teaching them.”
In addition to physical moves to keep her fit, Meade-Kew says Charton has opened her eyes to how nutrition plays its role in overall fitness. With both nutrition and fitness, Charton has shown the producer the importance of consistency over time.
“On days I train with Jill, I’ll sometimes wake up and see emails,” Meade-Kew admits. “I’m supposed to go train with her, and I’m not up for it; I have so much work ahead of me.” But then the producer shares, “I go ahead and go in, and we spend the hour, and I feel so good and positive and ready for the day. I have to remind myself how important it is, and I know I’ll feel better all day long.”
Stunt actors are naturally an ideal fit with Charton’s offerings as well; their very ability to work depends upon their fitness level, including strength, flexibility and resilience.
“I started to train a lot of stunt performers who came to Georgia during COVID,” Charton says. All she’d known previously of stunt work came from working with a lead actress on the Netflix blockbusters “Stranger Things” and “Enola Holmes.”
“They put their bodies through hell,” she says of the daredevil, athletic, multi-talented breed of actors who perform challenging feats repetitively on a film set.
She adds, “It’s important for them to be able to bulletproof their bodies. Their joints have to be in the best shape, and their bodies have to be mentally strong, as well as physically. It’s fun to work with them; they have such a ‘let’s bring it, let’s go’ mentality. They have to keep their bodies in tip-top shape.”
The high-energy aptitude of a stunt performer is actually something Charton can relate to. Growing up, while her sister sat and beautifully played piano, honing her work into an impeccable art, Charton was hyperactive and bouncing off the walls. Thus, her parents realized that little J would need an outlet all her own.
“They stuck me in every sport to try and wear me out,” she laughs. Her sports efforts paid off because she wound up competing in both volleyball and cross country at the college level.
Credit: Michelle Rose
Credit: Michelle Rose
Today, Charton reflects on training the leads in Marvel Studios’ “She-Hulk” and her more recent time spent in Canada and Colombia, training actors Tiffany Boone and André Holland on the set of the film “The Big Cigar.” She also expresses gratitude for the opportunity to train musicians and help them through the demands of a major tour — TLC’s T-Boz before a European tour, and singer-songwriter Zak Abel, as examples.
She also gives thanks for the opportunity to train professional athletes, whose abilities utterly blow her mind. Take 6′10″ professional NBA basketball legend Dwight Howard — combine his natural talent and agility with the training of Jill Charton, and that’s yet another major score for the city of Atlanta.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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