Will Jardell revamped his training plan to get back into flying shape

Will Jardell always had to consider the “fit” part of finding his next job, and he had no trouble doing it.

Model and reality star, 35, remembers many years ago, while appears America’s Next Model, he was in great shape and felt fantastic.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2021, when Jardell went to bed and woke up the next morning with excruciating back pain and suddenly unable to move, his whole world came crashing down.

“I woke up and I couldn’t walk and my back was crazy tight, which actually caused me to be unable to be active for about a year,” says Jardell. Muscles and fitness. “I spent about a year trying to figure out what was going on (and) really just a sedentary lifestyle. And then another year after finding out I have arthritis in my lower back at 34, which is crazy. To figure out how to get stronger and what kind of physical therapy, strengthened my core to ease some of that initial pain which I had on my back.”

The doctors were also surprised Jardel about what exactly happened and after what felt like every test under the sun, some bleeding helped lead to some answers on how to fix arthritis.

“It’s genetic in my family,” Jardell says of her diagnosis, which took more than two years to receive. “I actually took care of it for about a year, so I’ve been doing physical therapy all through 2024 and like minimal exercise, but really focused on physical therapy to try and strengthen my spine muscles so my back pain goes away.”

However, despite diagnosis and months of PT, permanent relief was still not available.

“I tried everything,” continues the former dance teacher. “Chiropractic, injections, acupuncture, massages are always trying to relieve some of the pain. And everyone would say, ‘Do you feel better?’ And I said, “Honestly, no.”

A 40-pound wake-up call

As a lifelong athlete and dancer, the emotional toll was hard on Jardell.

“I was practicing all the time, and then suddenly we have a point“says Jardell. “It really affected those endorphins that you get from being physically active, and just turning them off. And so I was really just struggling mentally. I’m in so much pain that I can’t do anything that really brings me joy, and so it’s affected my mental health, it’s affected my diet. I didn’t exercise at all and so it had a huge impact on my life. “

Due to the lack of any stable activity, ex Amazing race the competitor lifted an unwanted 40 pounds and bumped his normally healthy weight up to 250, a number Jardell never thought he would see on the scale.

“I had a very active lifestyle and so when all of this happened, it was really hard, really hard not being able to move my body,” says Jardell. “I was struggling with everything, how I looked and how I felt, I couldn’t move, but when I was able to go back to the gym, because I was playing sports and people were teaching me, I was like, ‘I need someone to tell me what to do, because I really don’t know what to do.’

Even though he had the diagnosis, Jardell admits he still didn’t make working out a priority for a while. A full body scan showed that not only was her weight high, but so were things like her cholesterol, and she got a wake-up call that things needed to change.

“I think I was really managing the pain, but I was still gaining weight in those veins,” says Jardel. “And then I did another round of blood work a few months later, really focused on a full body panel, and it was like, ‘You have to focus on this pain, yeah, let’s manage that, but also let’s try and work out and be physically active to get our cholesterol right, lose weight, little cascading effect.’

Rediscovering his sport required retraining and nutrition

After deciding he needed to find his inner athlete again, around his 35th birthday, Jardell turned to him for help. Chris Evans and Transforming fitness for weight loss.

“I was kind of scared of getting old,” Jardell admits. “To start with, we really focused on, ‘What are your goals?’ Where do you want to be? and I really want to just get back to the weight I was, but one of the things that is important to me is strength and feeling stronger because I know that when I get stronger, it helps with my pain and the alignment of my spine. And I focused on the exercises as much as I could to strengthen those muscles.

Evans helped Jardell develop a workout plan that he could follow consistently by combining cardio and strength training to target the entire body.

“I love bending, which is crazy,” says Jardel. “I have some really strong legs. I think it’s because I’m a dancer. I love alternative dances. I’ve got to do arm and chest exercises. These are my least favorite, but I love them more because they’re more in my workout routine than they used to be.”

To accommodate his increased strength in the gym, Evans also increased Jardell’s overall training schedule.

“When we started, I was doing three workouts a week at the gym. I was doing two HIIT classes a week at Orange Theory and then I was also doing a class at Solid Core, so I was actually training six days a week to kick it into high gear.”

By executing the plan, Jardell committed to following Evans’ every instruction.

“At first I told him that I am a good student,” he says. “If you tell me to do something, I will do it and I will not disappoint you.” And so we really started working out six days a week and focusing on my calorie intake to make sure I was getting enough nutrition but still able to lose weight.”

The reality TV star also adjusted her eating habits by focusing on lean protein, which also came with some setbacks.

“The problem for me is that I’m a vegetarian,” says Jardell. “I think in those past years when I was gaining weight, it was difficult to find food that was high in protein and not the comfort food that I was focusing on. And so I really focused on getting plant-based protein and reducing the amount of carbs and calories from the food that I was eating.

To make up for this protein gap, he decided to become a little more flexible with his long-term vegetarian approach.

“I’ve added fish to my diet, so I usually have some kind of fish to get a high protein meal during the day. But honestly, I’ve probably doubled my protein intake because I personally had a hard time getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet. So we’ve opened up to eating fish now.”

As of November 2025, Jardell has lost 30 pounds. and dropped one shirt and three pant sizes. While the scale says she needs to lose another 10 pounds to get back to her pre-diagnosis weight, she’s focused on something else.

“I know I’m gaining muscle,” says Jardell. “I think I’ve gotten to a point where I’m still losing weight, but I’m still losing that fat, but I’m also gaining muscle, and so I’m really proud of where I am right now. Honestly, you only have one body. You only have the facilities that you’ve been blessed with and so when you make a commitment to your health. The ripple effect of that commitment is worth tenfold and so protecting it.” the one body you have, the rewards are endless.”