Where Are They Now? Anna Woods (First appearance – Episode 2) is back!
An interview with the amazing Anna Woods, founder of SheStrength.
As mentioned in the Episode, the Importance of Core Stability, called Dynamic Neuromuscular Stability, – Anna learned it through rehabbing her own shoulder with Dr Jared Shoemaker, InMotion Spine Muscle Joint —www.inmotionsmj.com
Her story:
“I am a wife and mom of 3. We have 2 girls and a boy. We adopted my son, who rocks an extra chromosome in 2011 from Ukraine, through Reece’s Rainbow. My online training with adults with special needs changed my world so much that it lead us to the adoption of a child with special needs. Shortly after adopting him, my oldest daughter was diagnosed with high-function asperger’s, sensory processing disorder and anxiety. Which leads me to my passion for home fitness. I have always been an athlete and after tearing my ACL my last year of college softball I had to learn how to “train for life,” and not train for whatever my coach told me we should do. And first that was physical therapy…from there I attended a Strong Women’s conference and learned about the amazing affects strength training could have on the elderly and frail adult woman..and my life was changed! I changed my degree to Exercise Science from Art…and the rest is history.
“I opened my own fitness business online and in my basement in 2007, after we moved to rural Kansas. I had worked in a gym setting all through college and after but knew I wanted to stay home with my kids more than anything, so entrepreneurship was the only way I saw to do it all. That lead to working in retirement communities teaching my strength training programs I designed and that lead to working with adults with special needs in their homes and day service provider’s. And eventually I, myself, got into CrossFit, powerlifting, olympic lifting, and built my own garage gym from scratch metal, buy sell, trade sites, Craig’s list, and garage sales. I started competing heavily in this region and was winning alot. But people couldn’t believe I trained at home by myself…so they dubbed me the name “home gym.” And it stuck. People didn’t know the struggles I had to deal with at home, relating to stress with a husband who worked crazy hours leaving me a single mom most days and nights…dealing with out of control behavior’s with asperger’s, and physical and emotional struggles with a child who spent his first 2 year’s in an orphanage. I NEEDED to workout. I NEEDED something just for me. And I HAD to workout at home when I could find time. Or needed an escape. My workouts became so much more for me than a quest for a banging bod.
“And I began to form this concept in my head of empowerment. That we have to give ourselves permission to take time for us. That we have to make ourselves a priority. And that we need accountability to that. And in all of my 14 years of working in this industry I had never seen such a promotion or product. So I made my own: sheSTRENGTH.
“A journey to empowerment. Mindset training. Community. Vulnerability. Strength. Belief. Courage. And so much more. But I want women to know its okay to want more for themselves in life.
“And so that is my mission now. To help women find their sheSTRENGTH. Most usually the unlikely athletes, who don’t feel they deserve to feel and look better, who are so far lost in their lives, kids, family, and needs of others they have lost sight of who they are and what they love.”
Photo: Justin Lister Photography
Follow Anna and sheSTRENGTH on Social
Web: www.shestrength.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/shestrength
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnaWoodsFitness/
Image: Justin Lister Photography