I have been pretty active my entire life. I grew up playing volleyball, basketball in junior high and did track and field. I wasn’t the best athlete by any means, but I loved it. I loved the competition and I loved being active. Once I got to high school, I knew I didn’t want to spend all of my free time at practice, (oh heyyyy social life, I’m lookin at you) so I picked up running. I always wanted to run in the morning before school, because, duh, I also cared about how my hair looked and I didn’t want to get ready for the day just to mess up my hair, but because it was dark outside and my parents didn’t want me running by myself, my dad committed to running with me! (Give it up for Cobe G.!) Looking back now that I am a parent, I LOVE that my dad promised to do that with me! It would have been so easy for him just to say no, because hello, parenting is exhaauuusting! But he didn’t!!! I still remember the very first time we ran, I had to sit down in the middle of the alley next to a dumpster because I was about to throw up. ;) Ahhh, good times.

Once I graduated, moved out, got married and worked full time, running was still a part of my life, but I wanted more. So I bought workout DVD’s, and started training at home. Pilates, Billy Blanks Tae-Bo (Where there’s a will, there’s a way), Yoga, Chalene Johnson, Buns and Abs of Steel, Denise Austin and Yoga Booty Ballet, juuust to name a few. I tried a ton and loved them!! Fast forward a few years after I had my first son, I still kept running, but my body was different. It had gone through SO much carrying and delivering a baby, that running and videos just wasn’t the ONLY thing that my body needed. It needed something different to make it adapt. Fast forward again a few more years after I had my second son, and I met a girl who loved fitness like I did, but she looked FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. (You know I’m talking about you Paige)! So like any normal person, I picked Paige’s brain and BEGGED her for help. I wanted her to show me the missing pieces that would make the difference in my SHAPE like it did hers. And she did! She introduced me to lifting weights, and not being afraid of lifting heavy. So I incorporated lifting, and my body started changing! I also had a TON to learn about nutrition, and when that FINAL piece fell into place (after a bajillion emails to Paige asking her a thousand questions), my shape changed faster than it ever had!! I fell in love with all of it - nutrition, lifting, form, the best way to lift, the endless amount of exercises, and most importantly - I fell in love with the way I felt!! Physically AND emotionally.

Having had that experience in my own life, when all the pieces fell into place, I KNEW I wanted to do it forever. I wanted to help people the way Paige had helped me. I wanted to be the person that helped unlock the doors for people so that they could have that same feeling of confidence!! There is really and truly nothing like being healthy and taking care of your body. It is the only body God has given us, so learning how to make it work for us is one of my biggest joys!

Have you ever had that moment? That experience where you finally felt like you had figured out all the missing pieces of your health and started seeing a difference?? I wanna hear about it!! 

- Darby