Celebrating 10 Years of Coach Cub with Jon Fischer

Jon Fischer, who celebrates 10 years as Coach Cub this March, joins us to discuss his coaching practice, the bear community and how we can learn to better love and care for ourselves.

It’s hard to believe Jon Fischer, better known as Coach Cub, has been helping bears to maximize their potential through self-love and finding community for ten years! Through coaching and organizing international wellness retreats for bears, Jon has been hard at work creating a community that is focused on friendship, connection, and growth as opposed to the heavy partying and sexuality featured at other bear runs and parties.

By taking the emphasis off of sex and hooking up, Jon is providing bears with the opportunity to truly dig deep within themselves and the ability to connect with other bears on a deeper and more fundamental level. Lear more about him and his unique approach to wellness below.

I found my first bear client in the spring of 2015, and it went quite well. His testimonial is still on my website because it was so heartfelt. Success with one client was all I needed, and I began sharing my services in places like Growlr. To my surprise, I was getting a lot of responses. Turns out, folks were interested in my approach since it wasn’t solely focused on weight loss and building muscle. It was about a well-rounded version of wellbeing including sleep, joy, movement, and mental health.

It was at this time my brand name Coach Cub [www.coachcub.com] was created. It was also the time where I turned a gay men’s picnic meetup group, I was running in Brooklyn into what is now The Belly Club, which offers virtual and in person classes as well as a private Facebook community called The Belly Club [https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebellyclub].

I’m someone who struggled with mental health issues and social anxiety and have spent the last 20 years working on myself – through therapy, courses, and coaching. I think I’ve essentially created a business and the supportive community that I subconsciously needed. And luckily lots of others want or need it too.

To combine all of my services into one, I now run wellness retreats and food tours called Bear Hug [www.coachcub.com/retreats]. We started with one retreat in Portugal in 2022, and now we offer 5 retreats per year. 

This year, I will run a retreat bringing guys to Lisbon Bear Pride in May, a food tour with Chef Jonathan Harrison (Next Level Chef, season 1) in Maine, a Wine Tour in the Douro Valley in Portugal in August, a Summer Getaway in Lisbon in September, and a wellness retreat in Upstate NY in October (details to come).

These are small-group getaways where everything is taken care of for the guests. We help you let your guard down to make deep connections and friendships and to have meaningful travel experiences.  

My main goal is to make sure everyone feels welcomed and supportive. Once that’s in place, people start to blossom. On our first retreat in 2022 one of our guests took his shirt off at the beach for the first time, which still makes me tear up thinking about it. For other guests, our retreat was the first time traveling internationally or first time opening up in a group of queer people.

It’s also been special to see folks connect and bond so quickly at the retreats. Usually within the first day or two people already feel like they’re close friends. Seeing everyone at meals sharing their food, laughing, and supporting each other is what it all about for me.  And even after the retreats end, our group chat stays active for years. I think we’re all craving this type of connection right now. 

---

JH: How is working with bears different from working with other people?

Coach Cub: I honestly think all humans have more in common than we think. We all want to feel safe and loved. We all want to feel good in our bodies. So although I work exclusively with bears now, it doesn’t feel any different than 10 years ago when I worked with women too.

If anything, bears find working with me more beneficial than working with a general therapist or coach because I understand the bear experience. And because of that, they don’t feel judged or like they need to explain themselves. Whether it’s about their sexual or romantic relationships, their desire to be a gainer, their fear that losing weight will affect people’s attraction to them – or their own identity. 

I am also aware of the trauma that comes with being queer or having a big body.

JH: What would be your best wellness tip for bears?

Coach Cub: I stay away from general tips because everyone is different. But a recommendation that I think is universal is to seek out help and support when you need it. Find a therapist or a coach (or both), find a supportive community and friends who will listen and hold space for you.

We are social beings. Cultivating self-love seems to always be the goal, but it’s not something we can easily do ourselves. We need others to validate, vindicate, and support us.

If you don’t feel good about the spaces you are in, seek out new ones. You deserve it.

---

JH: What is the secret to body neutrality and acceptance?

Coach Cub: The secret is that there is no secret or silver bullet. It’s very complex. It’s an ongoing process. This is why I’m building an entire course around these topics right now that will be launched in May 2025.

It all starts with awareness. Understanding what messages you received about your body and about your value. And then being aware of how you feel, what your thoughts are, and how they impact your view of yourself in different situations and environments.

When it comes to body neutrality, you can bring awareness to what your body does, not how it looks. Take an inventory of your body parts and how they help you function.

If you’re still feeling critical of your body, then fall back on body acceptance which understands that negative feelings are all part of having a relationship with your body. Try not to judge yourself for feeling poorly about your body – instead find ways to accept that those feelings will come up.

The good news is that I’ve seen in my own life and with clients and retreat guests that our relationships with our bodies can improve over time.  Just keep going, keep trying and practicing, and don’t be afraid to reach out to people for help. 

I offer a complimentary breakthrough session if anyone wants immediate support or those who want to begin making a plan to improve their body image. This is a consultation where I help you get clear about where you’re at, what you want, and what hurdles are in your way. We end with formulating a simple plan for you to try out. 

JH: Are there any other classes or workshops you’d want to incorporate into your practice as Coach Cub?

Coach Cub: Good question. As I mentioned, I am in the middle of creating an online course on body image. It will be released in May of this year, and I will offer live Zoom calls alongside it.

I also have my Belly Club community on Facebook that is growing fast. We have nearly 2K members. It’s a supportive group that’s free to join. But I am going to launch a subscription membership that will provide online classes like movement and meditation as well as community events to help folks bond and connect. Stay tuned!

Then lastly, I am putting out new Belly Talk podcast [https://open.spotify.com/show/04vq7Xw4zh11cs1Ldcdnfv?si=eaac25afe4544e37] episodes with my co-host Johnny Bear every month. We’ve had guests on the show like Dr. Carlton, Roy Belzer, and Janusz Domagala (Great British Bakeoff, season 13). I’m excited to release our newest episode with musician Tom Goss this month. 

JH: How will you celebrate the 10^th anniversary?

Coach Cub: I hadn’t really thought about it. But the anniversary coincides with my 40th birthday. So right now I am enjoying it in Buenos Aires. I connected with a bear club down here and have been playing soccer with them.

If anything, I am just focused on continuing to grow my community and to offer ways for people to connect, to know they’re not alone, and to find ways to heal and grow.

JH: Anything else you’d like to mention?

Coach Cub: Just that I am beyond grateful for all the folks who enjoy my community, who come to the classes and retreats, and all the people who’ve supported me over the last 10 years. It takes a village, so people like Marcelo Viana who co-hosts the Camp Bear Hug retreats, our group mama bear and my spiritual coach Joline Seavey, Johnny Bear who’s injected love and kindness into the community and who co-hosts my podcasts and helps moderate the Facebook group – and many many more.

Lastly, a call to action for all of us in the bear community is to help build each other up. Kindness and support goes a long way. We’ve all been through so much trauma and stress in our lives with coming out of the closet and dealing with things like homophia and fatphobia. From the work I’ve done over the last 10 years, I know how much struggling goes on behind the scenes for people. So when you have the capacity, please be kind.