I don't talk nearly enough about my clients. But I should. Because they're some of the best and most interesting people I've ever met.

Below is a client spotlight I wrote for our company blog and I'm reposting here. You'll also note that Sara has her own snarky comments bolded below. Enjoy her story - she deserves it!

There are people that see fitness as a hobby. There are others that see it as part of their lifestyle. For client Sara J, it's definitely the latter. [Probably not OK to use the word "compulsion" in a client spotlight? But seriously, if anyone had said that about me two years ago, I would have thought they were talking about someone else - and there are so many Sara Js in the world, that could've been true... Things have sure changed!]

Sara and I with her (now outdated) deadlift PR. — Sara and I with her (now outdated) deadlift PR.

Few people have seen such drastic changes as Sara since she started in November 2014. Suffering from back and hip pain, her goals were to lose weight, get stronger, and move better. But having scored a 6 on the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) - with a score of 14 being optimal - she understood it wouldn't be a quick fix.[At the time, I only vaguely knew how much work there was to be done. I knew I wanted to "feel better" but I didn't fully grasp how much better I would eventually feel, or how long it would take! And thanks, Alex, for gently keeping me in the dark about that for awhile, because if I had known in the beginning, I might have run away - and you know I don't run ;) But it's been so completely worth it]

Over the past 19 months Sara has been one of the hardest working clients I've met, and her dedication, work ethic, and overall technique are all qualities to be admired. [Thanks to my parents for the work ethic, and the technique is all your doing, Alex!] Initially starting with personal training and then joining our group training program, TRAC, Sara can boast a string of accomplishments:

-She no longer has regular hip or back pain. [All the other stuff below is great and all, and I'm really excited about it, but this is the biggest one for me, no contest. Going through normal life without hip or back pain is pretty awesome. I knew I had "some" pain when I started, but I didn't realize until it went away how much of an impact it was having on my life]

-Regularly deadlifts over her bodyweight for reps, with her sights set on the 200 pound marker in the near future. [How did you know that was my next goal? And DOING A PUSH UP. I WILL do a push up!].

-Can perform a Turkish Get-Up with a 16k kettlebell on command. [Still pretty excited about that one, too]

-Squatting is finally pain free. [And, it can actually be called a proper squat now! Before it was just sort of hovering my butt toward the ground and hoping for the best...]

And about those original goals? Sara has lost 7% body fat and vastly improved her movement, evident by improving her score on the FMS to 13! She's become a staple of the TR, and it's no surprise that Sara's TRAC group that is among our most tightly knit. [I really do have to give some credit to the Tuesday-Thursday 7:30 group here! We might not be the awesomest at getting through everything on time or paying attention/being appropriate, but when it comes to supporting each other, we are the best :) I couldn't - and probably wouldn't - have made it this far without their encouragement as well as the beer outings after class that I probably shouldn't mention since I'm in a fitness spotlight...]

Whether she's hitting new deadlift PRs or providing the sole laughter for my many lame jokes [That may say more about me than anything else written here.....], Sara has made me one proud coach [except when I add unnecessary apostrophes to the stuff on the white board when you're not looking....].