Danielle Wood has been training with Sara and I for over a year now. She really has been a pleasure to coach and have as part of our team here at Southwest Strength. She has been very consistent in training, moves CRAZY well and has a crazy good aerobic engine. The best part about having Dani train with us is her attitude towards fitness, her own personal goals and her ability to understand her “why” behind her training. People like Danielle really do make Sara and I’s job easy, as fitness really is a journey, results take time and the only way your going to reach your goals is if your having a good time DOING IT!
“The easiest part of working out for me is putting on the workout clothes and “showing up”. The best part about the fitness programming that I have been doing with Nathan and Sara is that when I arrive the work is half done. The programs are made, the equipment is simple to understand and utilize, and I just have to go through the motions. Now I make it sound easier than it is, probably because it is such a routine part of my life now, but for me half the battle was not knowing what movements and weights and reps to do to get the results I wanted to see for myself. I started my journey on my own at home because I was embarrassed about how I looked and how I had let myself go. I told myself that I needed to give three solids months of effort to see if I could change my “big bones”. I saw results right away, the weight seemed to melt off like it was nothing. After that first 3 months my progress began to even out and I was not seeing as big of changes but there was still some progress. About a year and a half into my new lifestyle there were no more changes and my progress completely leveled off. I was showing up and trying so many different things, asking people for advice but nothing was happening.
In talking with Sara a couple times she encouraged me to come try a workout with her and Nathan. The automatic response was – but I don’t want to bulk up. I was all about weight loss and not about becoming “big”. With a little coercion and the promise that I wouldn’t be alone I gave it a shot. It was definitely not what I was expecting – but that was the best part about it. It was simple movements that you could scale to your level and work up to, giving me a new set of goals with every workout. The harder I worked the more often I could do everything they were asking me to do. I really appreciated how the workouts were prepared for me and was not having to think about that anymore. The workouts are consistently different, there is a theme but you will never do the same things over and over.
I have been able to change my thinking – with Sara and Nathans constant education on what I value for myself. I want to be strong and I want to be healthy. My goals have now changed, I don’t look at the scale for self-worth I look at what fitness goal can I strive for next. I need to show up and be consistent with my workouts and I need to eat well to achieve my goals and that is all on me, no one else. They have taught me some basics on how to live the healthy lifestyle I want for myself and have encouraged throughout this entire process. My journey has been a long one and I’m not done; that is the best part!”-Danielle Wood