Beauty And Strength
This is dedicated to all the beautiful, strong, hard working ladies at Southwest Strength!
Thinking about the women that attend our gym, got me thinking, “man there are some super strong girls that come here” they can throw tonnes of weight over their heads, or squat it, or do so many strict pullups. But, then I got to thinking less about how much weight they lift or how fast they run and thought of just how genuinely strong and fabulous every one of our ladies are. We have girls ages 11-80 that attend our gym, and each and every one has some quality that makes them so incredibly special.
It’s been such a pleasure to see how far our ladies have come, from doing things they couldn’t even do in gym class when they were younger, or having the confidence to take their shirt off in our gym when they are working hard. I wish I would have documented all these milestones for everyone, and there are so many to try to remember all at once, and too many to write them all down, but I will never forget the feeling I get from seeing someone accomplish something they have worked so hard for. I almost want to tear up thinking of all the great memories and hard work that have happened in our gym, and how thankful I am for this to be my career. I am also grateful for the amazing women that attend Southwest Strength. We have created such a positive, loving environment, who welcomes anyone from any walk of life, any age, any fitness ability.
I feel as if women have kind of been pinned against each other for as long as I can remember, constantly comparing ourselves to one another, and competing against each other for things that probably don’t even matter, and you just do not see this at Southwest Strength. Everyone here wants someone else to succeed just as much as they want to themselves. We really build one another up, motivate each other, and genuinely care about the people in our Southwest Strength family.
I also think that it’s so great that our younger female members have so many wonderful women to look up to in our gym. For example, Skyla Louttit sees her mom Amy, and countless other ladies working towards being stronger and healthier, and she is wanting to follow in their footsteps. Courtney Skelton sees her older sister Rienna being able to lift all this weight, and now she wants to work towards doing the same. As a coach, I would like to think I am viewed as someone our members look up to, but I want you girls (and guys) to remember, that people in our gym (and our community) look up to each and every one of you too.
Someone will see how hard Karen Beauchamp works and how consistent she is, and be inspired to do the same. Someone will see how much Carolyn Arndt has changed over the last few years, and be motivated to keep working. A girl who is just starting a family will see how Danielle Wood works full time, has a family and a 1 year old baby, and still takes time for herself to workout and live a healthy lifestyle, and they will be reassured they can do the same. They’ll see Marcie Greenley running 400m and skipping, (something’s she said she had struggled with when she was younger) and know that they can make all these improvements themselves with hard work. I could go on and on about the awesome ladies in our gym and how they are huge role models and how they not only inspire me, but everyone else inside and outside the gym. More than you guys probably realize. So I want you to always remember, that there are lots of people who look up to you!
We teach people that being strong is a good thing, and to fuel your body in a way that helps you do all these cool things in and out of the gym. I feel it teaches body confidence, and also overall confidence because we focus more on what our bodies can do, rather than what it looks like. I know there are days when I’m feeling not so good about how my body looks, but honestly, any doubt quickly goes away when I start thinking about all the things I am able to do because of it, and it changes my attitude. My body is pretty amazing, I’m able to run, jump, squat, walk on my hands, the list goes on, and that makes me feel good about myself, because it should, and not just for me, for every one of you girls too. You don’t need 6 pack abs, or 5% body fat to do these things, it also doesn’t make you a better person if you look a certain way, or make you any less of a role model to someone else. Your body is not amazing by how it looks, it’s amazing because of all of the things it can do!
It’s fun to see how people change their goals once coming to Southwest Strength for a while. I can’t even count how many people would say, “I want to lose 20lbs, that’s my goal”, the first week they are in the gym. Fast forward two months, and their goals have now changed to, “Now I want to back squat more. I really want to do a pullup. I want to run a 5k.” They aren’t even worried about that 20lbs anymore. In my opinion, those goals just make your health and fitness journey more enjoyable, it makes your whole life more enjoyable. You’re not constantly stressing about stepping on a scale, or over analyzing everything you eat, you’re just enjoying the process of becoming more fit.
I just cannot stress enough how thankful I am to have all of these amazing ladies be apart of Southwest Strength. Wonderful, smart, funny, hardworking women who inspire me and motivate me daily to be a better coach and a better person, and to always do my best to provide them with the knowledge and help they need with their health and fitness journey. You guys are the reason I love my job and my community so much. It would not be the same without all of you.