Whether you know him from his Body by Jake line of fitness products, or from his sitcom, “Big Brother Jake,” or the films “Coming to America,” “Tough Guys” and “Ratatouille,” you know Jake Steinfeld. While he’s inspired millions to get in shape, Steinfeld wasn’t always the broad-shouldered, motivational über-achiever we know today. At one time he was the opposite — a self-professed fat kid — which makes his noteworthy list of achievements all the more impressive. Now 50 years old, Steinfeld isn’t done yet. Fueled by his Body By Jake lifestyle, he’s just launched Don’t Quit! Music, the world’s first digital fitness music label. What does that mean? Read on.

» I was a fat kid with a bad stutter growing up. I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Baldwin, Long Island. My dad got me into  weights when I was 13 years old, and it changed my life. And the rest, as they say, is history.

» Becoming fit and strong totally turned my life around, from being that out-of-shape kid with no confidence to an energetic go-getter. My original goal with lifting was to become Mr. America, and although I didn’t fulfill that dream, it did get me to California and set me off on an amazing path in my life.

» I began to gain fame by association as I trained people like Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Bette Midler, Warren Beatty, Barbra Streisand, people like that. I would bring up these names not to show off, but to say that here was this kid from Long Island who’s all of a sudden hanging out with these movie stars, to show what’s possible if you believe.

» All those celebrities are just like the rest of us except they had a dream, and they never stopped following it. They don’t take “No” for an answer.

» Ted Turner gave me my spoT doing the “Fitness Break” on CNN starting in 1982. We then parlayed those into a syndicated “Body by Jake” television show on ESPN, and from there it became books and videos and the infomercial business. Then I started something called FitTV in ’93, which I sold to Rupert Murdoch in ’98. About four years ago I started Exercise TV, which is an on-demand fitness service that’s in about 35 million homes today, giving the Body by Jake brand a global reach.

» I’m a huge believer in passion. When passion leads, everything else follows.

» I’m passionate about music. It gets me extra motivated during my own workouts, and I’ll listen to anything from Frank Sinatra to Kanye West.

» When it came to fitness programs,  music always seemed to be an afterthought. It was all cover artists and it sounded canned. So about a year ago I decided to get involved in the music end of things. I went to Universal Music Group and pitched them my idea of a digital fitness label, and we launched Don’t Quit! Music this past January.

» I train at 3:45 in the morning, six days a week, and my workouts are a combination of strength and cardio training. My workouts take 42 minutes and they give me all the energy I need to last the rest of the day.

» I get stopped on the street all the time by people saying they saw me on TV or asking me fitness advice, but I love it. I get great joy out of being able to answer people’s questions and inspire them to be the best they can be.

Get a free music mix courtesy of Jake by logging on to DontQuitMusic.com. Check out Jake and a host of other trainers at ExerciseTV.tv.