Teen motivates and entertains

Jake Giesey poses after a workout. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Jake Giesey uses social media to entertain and motivate people with content ranging from fitness to vlogging.

“I just want to make people's day,” he said. “Give them something to enjoy and maybe they can learn something or motivate them to get in the gym.”

Jake, 16, of Ohio described his content.

“It is a YouTube channel based mostly around lifting, but I also do other stuff,” he said. “I do mukbangs a lot. Sometimes, I just do day-in-a-life vlogs and I show my school, hobbies, lifting, eating and everything.”

Jake, who boasts an impressive physique, explained why fitness is important to him.

“I've always been smaller,” he said. “I'm real short. I wanted to get bigger, so I started putting effort into fitness and gaining muscle and size.”

Jake credited his commitment for being able to enhance his strength and build to such a degree.

“Being consistent and locking in,” he said. “Focusing a lot on not just the lifting part, but also making sure you're getting enough sleep, getting the right food in your body, the right amount of water and even taking the right supplements. I take creatine and that helps a lot.”

Jake rotates his fitness content.

“If I decide I want to film that lift, I just go and do it,” he said. “I have split where I do certain muscles on certain days. If I haven't posted that muscle group in a while, I'll record that muscle group so I can post showing off that.”

Jake mixes in lighter days.

“Some weeks, I'll take rest days and some weeks, I'll just have a day where I go light, usually Sunday,” he said. “Sometimes, I'll rest completely or sometimes, I'll go for a run or just go to the gym, but take it easy.”

Jake prefers to set his schedule before considering whether to film or not.

“I just live my life,” he said. “If I'm doing something interesting or that I think might be enjoyable, I decide to record because I hope other people can also enjoy it. Kind of share that.”

Jake, a high school junior, recalled when he decided to start working out.

“When I was in eighth grade, I was at a basketball practice,” he said. “We were all talking about my height, just messing around, not being mean or anything, all jokes. One of the older kids said since you're so short, the only way anyone will ever respect you is if you get jacked. I took that as a sign to start working out.”

Jake wasn’t consistent from the start.

“Not really at the beginning,” he said. “I started to really be consistent about this time last year. My friends started to get into it so I could work out with them and that makes it a lot more fun.”

Jake’s channel Jakegeesee is roughly two years old.

“I posted the first video maybe nine months ago,” he said. “It’s getting close to a year that I posted the first video.”

Jake started by vlogging.

“We were going on a family trip,” he said. “My brother thought it would be fun to vlog it, so I vlogged it and I uploaded it. When I got home from that trip, I started to record my lifting sessions.”

Jake’s followers have their preferences regarding content.

“They like the upper body workouts the most and the challenges,” he said. “They don't like the leg days or mukbangs as much as they like the other stuff.”

Jake said it’s important for content creators to show their personalities.

“The viewers definitely are more engaged that way,” he said. “I like to show how I really am and show the true me because I feel like it brings me closer to my audience and gives us a connection like a family.”

Jake plans to pursue trade school following high school if needed.

“It would be great if I could get this big enough to where I could keep pursuing it,” he said. “But if not, I'll probably try and get into some kind of trade because that's still some physical activity to keep me a little fit. I'll continue to go to the gym forever, probably.”

Jake set goals for his channel.

“I have it written down to have 10,000 by the day I graduate is my current goal,” he said about followers. “I just hope to get my name out there and inspire people and be known.”

Jake said being fitter improves a person’s mental health.

“I'm definitely a lot happier after starting lifting, especially at the beginning,” he said. “When I first started, it always was something I looked forward to at the end of the day. It always cheered me up, lifted me up if I was having a bad day to get in there and lift weights.”

Jake said one reason he works out is for his future physical health.

“That's another thing that drives me to do it is the benefits, not just now, but farther down the line in life,” he said.

Jake said being stronger comes in handy in daily life.

“Just moving stuff around,” he said. “Everything's easier than before, even bringing in groceries. That's a lot faster now.”

Jake advised people to start working out sooner rather than later.

“For the most part,” he said. “I would say there's a point where you're too young because you don't want to hurt yourself and then not be able to get into it later when you're more developed. I would say start young so you can get all the benefits. There's no reason to wait, really.”

Jake said even if a person is too young to hit the gym, that individual can do body weight exercises.

“Stuff where it's hard to hurt yourself,” he said. “I don't see how you can hurt yourself doing a push-up, sit-ups or anything like that, but just stay active. It's important.”

Jake doesn’t rest on his laurels for creating content as the ones close to him keep him motivated.

“I would say the keep uploading part would mostly be my friends and family,” he said. “They always get on me and tell me I need to post another video if it's been a while. And the viewers, they'll come to my comments and tell me to come back and they tell me that they're ready for a new video.”

Jake doesn’t need any reminders to work out, though.

“The lifting part ever since I started, I never really struggled too much to be motivated,” he said. “But I would again say my friends and the viewers. If I'm not lifting and getting bigger, then why would they watch me? So I gotta keep working for them.”

Jake always was athletic.

“I played basketball most my life, but I quit that when I started lifting,” he said. “I think I'm gonna do track starting this year.”

Jake encouraged those considering starting a YouTube channel to do so.

“Do it,” he said. “Nothing bad can come out of it, only good. If you really want to and you really put your all into it, people are going to watch, and when people are watching and commenting, it's a good feeling, even if it's not a lot.”

Jake’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@jakegeesee

Jake’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakegeesee

Jake poses with buddy Kyer Eagon.