Are you satisfied with how you look and feel right NOW?
Rhonda wasn’t living the life she had envisioned.
She had always known she wanted to be a wife and a mother. But years of making easy food choices and inactivity led to weight gain. It wasn’t just about the numbers on the scale – she had very little energy, her joints hurt, and she knew she wasn’t making the best food choices for her family. She wasn’t living her best life.
This reality became painfully obvious after spending a summer morning in tears and feeling humiliated.
Rhonda and her family were big fans of Roller Coasters. In 2015, when she tried to get on the roller coaster at Six Flags with her family, the attendant told her that he was sorry, but he couldn’t strap her in. She had to leave the ride and was unable to ride with her family for the rest of the day.
She spent the day crying under her sunglasses. She was embarrassed and shocked. How had she let herself get this out of shape and unhealthy?
Rhonda knew she had to make a change. She started her weight loss by changing her diet. She dropped some weight, but knew that exercise should be part of her life. Four years later she will tell you that it has been consistency and commitment that made the difference.
Everyone knows that being consistent and committed to change is what produces change. But how did Rhonda put that into action? She made big changes and is STILL improving after two years.
How is she succeeding where so many others with the best intentions have failed?
Even $9.99 a month is too much.
Rhonda’s journey is a lot like many of our members.
Rhonda had a membership at the local gym and had been a member of one gym or another all her life. She was paying just $9.99 a month… but even that was too much money since she didn’t get anything out of it!
She’d start to go more frequently and with the best of intentions. ‘This time will be different,’ she thought, ‘I’ll go more often and burn lots of calories.’
She’d walk miles on the treadmill and then move some weight around on a couple of machines. It was the same thing she did every time she went. She wasn’t sure what else to do. The personal trainers were too expensive and there was no accountability. She’d bail out without feeling challenged or feeling like she accomplished much.
She’d start to go less often and then realize it had been weeks… then months… since she went to the gym at all.
Over the years she spent hundreds of dollars on gym memberships. At that same time, she gradually gained weight and lost who she wanted to be.
She was spending money and going backward. It was a good thing that it was only $9.99 a month, but even that much is too much money to waste each month over years!
Try a free class, they said. Anyone can do it, they said. Just jump right in! Sounds good, right? NOPE.
A friend invited Rhonda to join her for a FREE trial functional fitness class. It has been life-transforming for many – just hop right in!
Although this is the method Rhonda uses for training now, sadly, you’d be wrong if you thought this was her breakthrough moment.
Throughout her free workout, Rhonda kept looking for the defibrillator. Afterward, she lay on her couch for THREE hours to recover. She knew THIS wouldn’t work, who had time to recover for three hours?!
- There was no assessment to determine her individual goals.
- There was no discussion with a coach to find out her past athletic experience.
- There was no discussion about any past injuries or surgery.
- There was no instruction about what she was supposed to do.
- No one followed up with her to see if she was OK after the class.
- No one called her to see if she wanted to join the gym!
This experience left Rhonda deflated and defeated. It took her a long while to consider that type of workout again!
Unfortunately, Rhonda’s experience at this functional fitness gym, was fairly typical. It left her with a bad taste in her mouth and did not set her up for success.
There is a better way to get new athletes moving!
Looking back, Ronda can see how that FREE trial class, cost her valuable time and actually did her a disservice.
Time passed. Another friend told Rhonda about our gym, Southern Strength and Conditioning. Her friend told her it was different and could really help her. It was right around the corner from her house.
Rhonda and her husband, Reece, drove by the gym and thought about it. What would be different than that last experience in a functional fitness class?
Rhonda and Reece, came to the gym on bikes one evening. They and talked to a coach and some of the members there.
She called the owner and they talked about getting started.
- Just like the other gym, he said anyone could do it.
- Just like the other gym, he said that they offer a free class.
But that was where the similarities ended.
The owner told her NO.
Rhonda was surprised to find out that the owner wouldn’t allow them to join classes right away.
Their free class was just the two of them with Dan, the owner.
- He asked them about their goals.
- He talked to them about what they did for activity in the past and asked them about past injuries or surgery.
- He instructed them on fundamental movements. Even though they only performed bodyweight movements that day, there was a level of detail she hadn’t heard before.
Her first workout was short and was adjusted differently for Rhonda and Reece and their current individual abilities.
Reece, a former bodybuilder, left feeling challenged. Rhonda left feeling successful.
Dan followed up with them to find out how they felt after their first workout. He asked them if they wanted to learn more.
Over the next several weeks, they learned all the movements and completed workouts. It was just the two of them with Dan.
Rhonda was surprised how much they learned before they went to their first class with other members.
Looking back, Rhonda reflects on how this set her up for success. We met her at her current ability level and adjusted the workouts for her.
It’s not easy, but YOU are worth it.
Like many of our members who have undergone a transformation, it hasn’t been easy for Rhonda.
Day after day, she’s had to put in the work. Day after day, she’s had to make better choices.
But day after day, she sees progress and change.
She gained a group of friends that she didn’t even know she needed but they notice when she isn’t there and encourage her in every workout. Being around people with the same priorities help keep you making good choices day after day.
She’s lost 60 lbs so far. It’s been gradual progress. Consistency and commitment to change has been what has made the difference.
Rhonda and Reece have never looked back!
When asked what her life might be like If she hadn’t found us, she says, “my life would the same… I would be unhealthy, overweight, lazy. And I’d just would be in that mode of going ‘I want to change but I don’t know how.’ “
We all think moving more and moving well should be easy. We do it ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, right?
- It isn’t just about moving more NOW, it’s about more movement over a long period of time.
- It’s about finding out where you are now and meeting you there.
- It’s about an effective daily dose of movement that leaves you able to do it again tomorrow.
- It’s about moving better so that you can stay injury-free as you get older.
- It’s not about restrictive diets, it’s about making better choices.
- It’s not about making huge wholesale change, it’s about making the next small change into a habit.
We’re sure you’ve heard this all before.
You’ve seen countless other fitness ads, saying the same thing: ‘We get results, try us for free!’
Why should what we are saying be any different?
Lara Sturm, SSC Co-Founder
We know how to change others because we’ve lived it ourselves. We are not a big corporation.
We are a small group of dedicated professional coaches who became coaches to change lives because movement changed our lives.
Dan and Lara left the corporate world to open a gym and change lives. We’ve changed hundreds of lives along the way.
We have no long-term contracts. Our members stay training with us month after month because they get results and make life-long friends along the way. We are a community.
DIFFERENT BECAUSE WE ARE. Sounds like Yoda would say that.
In the fitness industry, one year or more contracts are typical. The industry standard for retaining a new member over a year is 66%. Since most gym members get locked into a contract that renews without them noticing, that shouldn’t be very surprising.
But what if we told you that most of our members stay with us FOR YEARS. Not because they HAVE TO but because they WANT to?
More than half of our members have been training with us for OVER THREE years without a long-term contract! In fact, many of our members have been training with us for over FIVE years.
Imagine how much better would you look and feel if you trained consistently for over five years? Then imagine yourself still improving, getting stronger, faster and engaged in improving your own life since we are all works in progress.
But don’t just take our word for it. Come in and ask any of our members.
We get results. Come in and talk to any of our members; but be warned they may talk your ear off! Our members are our biggest fans!
We teach you how to move well.
When you are new at going to the gym, you’ll see big changes in the beginning. That’s called the Novice effect. Athlete’s frequently plateau when they get past the novice stage. But most of our members continue to improve well past the novice stage.
Our athletes keep learning and keep string for more. We believe coaching and personal attention make a big difference.
As a bonus, we have a community second to none. You’ll gain friends you didn’t even know you needed!
We don’t want everyone. We just want the right people.
Everyone – whether they are new to functional fitness or just new to how WE do it – is required to schedule an Intro class. This might seem like a barrier to entry – don’t we want everyone? The answer is No; we don’t!
We need to know that we are the best people to help you. We need to make sure you understand the detailed plan of action we want to take with you. We can’t want you to change, more than you want to change.
If you want to jump right into a class, we can point you to other gyms that will allow you to do that.
The Free Intro Class is how we see if you are a fit for us and that we are a fit for you. There is no sales pressure and nothing to sign at the end!
It helps us get to know you. We need to gather info about you, and your current capabilities and limitations. This helps us customize what we do while keeping you safe.
Trying to help you move well without this picture first is like trying to put a building on an unknown surface. It might be ok? …or it might be a really bad idea that hurts someone, namely you.
What do you get as part of your free Intro? You get:
- A one-on-one discussion with a coach all about YOU.
We need to know you and your background. What have you done in the past? What worked and didn’t work? What do you want to change and WHY you want to make a change from what you are doing now. If we don’t think we can help you, we will refer you to someone who can. - A free body composition measurement.
Our Inbody unit is a clinical grade body composition tool that lets us how much of your body is lean mass, water weight and fat mass. Your bathroom scale is an incomplete measurement of what’s going on and is not a great tool to assess changes made through exercise and nutrition. - A free nine-point mobility assessment.
This allows us to can gain insight into how your body can move through various range of motion exercises. Once we pass out of toddlerhood, mobility issues arise. Seriously! We ALL have them! - A personal roadmap to how to best get you ready for group classes.
We don’t have a set number of classes to teach you what you need to know, it’s all based on you! - A no-BS talk plan to help you identify what small changes you can make today.
You want to make a difference in how you look and feel as soon as you can. We’ll help you identify the small things you can do that can make a big difference quickly and set you up for success. - A short, sample workout, customized for you and your current ability level.
You’ll want to get a feel for what we do. We’ll give you a minimum effective dose of movement that will challenge you while still allowing you to function tomorrow!