A lot of people know me as one of the founders of Southern Strength and Conditioning and multi-time World Champion powerlifter, Lara Sturm. But it wasn’t that long ago that I was a different Lara Sturm, a suburban Atlanta housewife who was a little overweight, and not in a good place physically or mentally.
Sometimes the ‘book’ is better than the movie though, so here’s the full story…
I grew up without much in the way of athletics in my life. I was the last kid picked for kickball, and I was known for being clumsy. I vividly remember being shocked in 6th grade when my 50-yard dash time was one of the faster times. Maybe I had a little athleticism after all?
How mean girls started my long path to becoming a World Champion Powerlifter
Some girls gave me grief on the bus in high school, and I started lifting weights so that maybe they would leave me alone. I got my first weight set for Christmas that year. The weights were filled with sand, and there wasn’t much to follow in the way of instruction, but I used a book and got started. When I look back on that time, I remember I really enjoyed how powerful it made me feel.
I was encouraged in high school to join track, but quickly lost interest in both track and lifting weights. My teenage years involved a lot of drinking, and at the age of 21, I reached a place where I knew I didn’t want to drink anymore. I got sober and never looked back on that part of my life; at this writing, I’ve been without a drink for over 29 years. I wouldn’t get back to lifting weights seriously until I was in my 40s.
I continued to make some bad choices, and when I was 34, I found myself with two small children in an unhappy marriage. I felt overwhelmed by being a mother and trying to keep house for a man who always told me my best efforts were not good enough.
Around that time, it seemed like everyone in my mother’s side of the family started having health issues. I saw that I would be in the same place in no time if I continued without changing how I was living. I was 20 to 30lbs overweight, but more importantly, I was unhappy with my life. I felt trapped and needed an outlet.
Everyone in my family was having heart issues – I was looking at where I would be in 20 years if I did nothing about it.
A small personal training studio opened near my subdivision, and some of the moms in my neighborhood raved about it. I went in to give it a try and enjoyed working with a trainer on that very first day. It reminded me of how powerful I felt when I lifted weights as a teen.
I quickly started training with a trainer two to three days a week and got into it! I changed my diet to embrace a low carb lifestyle, and I lost 25lbs in about six months. I had a new-found energy, ability to focus, and I felt like I had ME TIME, which made me a better mom and better able to cope. I felt great!
I wanted to get in better shape, but I kept losing my Personal Trainer. I decided to do something about it.
The problem with working with a personal trainer, was that it seemed like it was only a matter of time before that trainer was gone. Turnover at the gym was constant, and it was frustrating. I decided to take the issue into my own hands and took what would end up being my first steps to enter the fitness industry – I got a personal trainer certification.
With my new knowledge and confidence, I also wanted to start to compete. I chose to compete in Figure – think bodybuilding but more feminine and not uber huge muscles. I knew that if I wanted to win, I needed a Coach’s guidance. I went to a local bodybuilding show and saw who won and contacted her coach!
I trained hard under my new coach with a team of strong women. He used a high-intensity and high rep routine and pushed all of us hard. I also got on a restrictive diet to achieve that look of a Fitness competitor. I competed in Figure for five years and placed well at shows and chased an elusive pro-card. I kept my trainer’s certification current but didn’t train others yet.
I found energy, focus, and my own inner strength to make significant changes in my life.
In 2009, my life got to a turning point. My marriage was OVER. Having grown physically stronger over the last five years, I was mentally stronger and ready to jump into the unknown to get out of the emotionally abusive marriage that I had allowed to go on for far too long. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew whatever it was, it had to be better!
I started working as a personal trainer in a local “Just Fitness 4 U” gym. Although I did not have much experience training others, I quickly found out that I was a natural at it. My clients lost weight, felt better, and came back for more!
I was newly single and met men who were doing CrossFit, but I didn’t know what that was! I had heard of it, but most of the fitness professionals and athletes I knew would talk about it and wrinkle their noses like they smelled something bad. Everyone talked about it as a good way to get hurt. My curiosity was piqued, and I had to know what it was all about. I could not fathom what movements that they were doing that I wasn’t already doing?
It was around that time when I might be done competing in Figure. The competitive dieting and having the outcome being based on how you looked was getting to me. I was an athlete and was judged on my hair and makeup?! Although I did well in the shows, I felt like there was no real standard to work for; the judges’ opinions would change from show to show, and being in a bikini on stage was not who I wanted to be. I started looking for a new sport.
How an online dating site is responsible for getting Johns Creek professionals fit?!
A guy I dated a couple of times owned a CrossFit affiliate, and I asked him to put me through a CrossFit workout. I did my very first CrossFit workout solo at his gym. It was hard, but do-able, and a lot of fun!
I wanted to learn more, but I also didn’t want him to think I was THAT into him. I called a guy I had met online, Dan, to learn more about CrossFit. I knew he was a CrossFit coach and seemed like he knew his stuff. We decided to meet as just friends and train together. After a little bit, we also started dating.
A handstand formed our coaching philosophy at SSC
I wanted to get more exposure to this new way of training, so I tried training at a couple of different affiliates to give me exposure to more movements. I remember going to my first workout at one affiliate being told to “just” kick up to a handstand and do a push-up while on the wall. I remember being very intimidating as I had not been in a handstand in probably 20 years!.
I never questioned if it was a good idea or why I would want to do a Handstand Push-up on my first day. In hindsight, that would have been the prudent thing to do. But what could I do with everyone looking at me? I kicked up and did a couple of handstand push-ups. I will never forget that feeling of being crazy-intimidated and not enjoying being put on the spot like that. Later, as a coach, I would vow to teach new skills in a better way to do my best never to make someone feel like that.
Not long after that experience, I went to a class to get my first CrossFit Level 1 Trainer certificate. Dumbbells and machines were a useful tool for bodybuilding, but I felt like the good stuff is in the full-body movements with a barbell. I wanted to get a pull-up! There was so much to learn; it was an exhilarating time.
A new chapter, enter CrossFit Johns Creek!
Dan was getting out of his corporate position and wanted to open a CrossFit affiliate. I wanted to help athletes get stronger since getting stronger had transformed my life. We wanted to help others experience that feeling of being strong enough physically and mentally to do whatever they need or want to do!
We put in our application essay and waited anxiously, and soon enough, we had our Affiliate! We named it CrossFit Johns Creek, and we ran it out of Dan’s garage. Our first clients came in, we started training people regularly in a small group, and I wrote the programming. We grew out of Dan’s garage, then into my garage, then in the winter months, my basement.
We started looking for a commercial space and found a suitable space at a reasonable price near Butler Tire on Jones Bridge Road in Johns Creek. CrossFit Johns Creek opened in February of 2011! We grew fast and started building a reputation for helping people lose weight and get in the best shape of their lives, WHILE having fun doing it! The fun part has always been key – our thinking is that what we do is hard, and if it isn’t fun, you aren’t going to keep doing it!
In the meantime, Dan and I got married. Our blended family merged households. Dan’s level head and calm demeanor brought order out of chaos for me. He has been my rock ever since we met!
In the same month that we were married, I started training to compete in my first Powerlifting meet. I had a knee injury from my bodybuilding days that would ever allow me to compete in CrossFit, and I was itching to compete in something! Why not try Powerlifting? I won gold medals and set state records at my first meet. I was hooked and started my journey into Powerlifting.
But on with the story of the gym…
In our first year, our membership numbers outgrew our space. We knocked down a wall into the next space but then… [insert the sound of a needle scratching on a record]. We were surprised by constant harassing phone calls from our Landlord. He was calling us to tell us to stop dropping weights and sent us a notice that we violated our lease. We were stunned – we hadn’t changed what we did one bit since we opened. We had a noise declaration in our original lease a year and a half earlier.
But wait: Children were waking out of anesthesia thinking monsters were coming?!
Due to the complaints, we investigated and realized that the vibration and noise of the weights was affecting all of our co-tenants of the strip mall. Children were waking out of anesthesia of the pediatric dentist next door, thinking that monsters were coming! Restaurant goers eating dinner five stores away – on the opposite end of the strip mall – were not able to enjoy a quiet meal. Our co-tenants hated us. Our landlord insisted that we stop making noise. We tried and found we couldn’t meet the demands of our Landlord and co-tenants. We negotiated our way out of the lease and found a new space.
Pizza fanatics came to order pizza and left, defeated.
Our members used their functional fitness to pack us up and move us one mile south on Jones Bridge Rd to the former home of Bassano’s Pizzeria. We had to remove the pizza oven and ice cream parlor. Our members worked hard alongside Dan to put our new flooring and rig in place.
Our current location opened in August of 2013! At first, we had people still coming in to order pizza, thinking our space was still a pizzeria. Boy, were they shocked to see that instead of making pizza, we were exercising! Many people left with the strangest look on their face as if they were busted trying to get pizza when they knew they should be exercising!
I just went from a suburban mom to winning a World Championship as an underdog?
What started as an urge to compete became a discovery that I could be really good at powerlifting. I started chasing American Records and wanted to see if I could compete at the highest level: Nationals and World Championships. The first time I qualified to compete at the World Championship, I wasn’t expected to win. I was nominated 3rd with my biggest competitor, having beat me several times by a lot at Nationals. But I trained hard and was able to put together a solid 8/9 performance in the Czech Republic and won the title on my last deadlift. I won my first Master’s World Championship in September of 2014!
I have since won three more World Champion titles and have swept two of them receiving a Gold medal in all four events. My proudest moment was during the World Championships in Mongolia in 2018, where I was awarded the title of Champion of Champions, having the best overall score of all women across all weight classes and age. Talent and hard work came together.
Now we are bigger and stronger than ever as Southern Strength and Conditioning.
Since we moved in 2013, we have grown our staff to include more coaches, several of them coming up as athletes in our gym themselves. We know from our own experience that there is more than one path to fitness.
In 2019, We rebranded our gym to become Southern Strength and Conditioning – over the years we started to offer more than CrossFit, aka Functional Fitness training. We have Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Open Gym time, personal training, and our popular ‘Where’s the Cardio At?’ class. Will always be changing and evolving to what our members want to keep it fun and allow them to enjoy what they are doing.
Community like no other. Besties have met each other here. Couples have met, married, and even named their firstborn after us!
Our community of athletes is second to none! We have helped each other in times of need, and celebrated with each other for birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and more. Our members have formed relationships they would never have had. Strong friendships have forged. Couples have met and had babies together. One couple even named their firstborn after Dan!
Along the way, we helped our athletes lose hundreds of pounds of fat, gain hundreds of pounds of muscle, and create stronger people, both physically and mentally. We are proud to have the opportunity to serve the community of Johns Creek over the last nine years and know that we are still just getting started!
If you would like to write your own story, come in and check us out! Schedule your first visit here.
