Client Testimonials
Dan Feldman:
I approached Coach Sarah with the desire to lose weight and get stronger. Suffice to say, under her coaching, I was able to succeed vastly in both those aspects - my lifts went up significantly ( squats up 60 lbs, bench up 30 lbs, and deadlifts up 80 lbs ) while losing 28 lbs over the course of 4 months. In addition, she was incredibly kind and sensitive of my own issues around weight loss. Would highly recommend to anyone.
Sammie Stanley:
I am an avid gym goer/lifter and personal trainer of 5+ years. When I came to Sarah for coaching I was at the lowest point I had ever been in my lifting career and honestly – maybe one of the lowest spots I had ever been in my life. I had been left by a previous coach that I had hired to help me with body building. Not only did that coach make me feel worthless but they ghosted me 4 weeks out from my first event. The entire last month leading up to my event I cried every day at the gym. I never wanted to go. I didn’t want to look at the weights and I didn’t want to look at myself. I had reached out to Sarah as a friend for support during this time and she stood by me and encouraged me through it, even though I hadn’t hired her. She reminded me that I was tough and that I could do it and when it was over and I still didn’t want to go to the gym - she reminded me that it was okay and that if I needed a break I should take one.
I took her advice and after a week out of the gym and resting I started to get the itch again (just like she said I would.) In June 2019 we started working together and the experience has been nothing short of amazing. In a few short months, Sarah not only helped me build back up my bench, squat, and deadlift but she helped me build myself back up. She helped me recognize why I am tough. She helped me recognize why I am awesome. And she helped me get back to a good place with food again.
It only took a week of working with Sarah when I started hearing, “You look so happy” from everyone around me. Despite having worked months on my physique and dropping weight and hearing how good I looked… It was “You look so happy” that meant more to me than anything else. I felt happy and I got to feel like myself again.
It certainly didn’t hurt that she got me eating like a strength athlete again and my numbers, though they had suffered through my cut, started to roll back up quickly! In 12 weeks we added 20lbs to my back squat 1rm, 10lbs to my bench 1rm, and my deadlift is the strongest it’s ever been at 280lbs!
Sarah always worked alongside me; where I should be focusing, how to manage my aesthetic goals with my strength goals, and how they should be prioritized. Sarah was always and kind, understanding, and compassionate. I’m not one to make excuses to miss a workout - but I am one to force myself to do too much when I should sit back; Sarah helped me manage that.
Sarah is truly a coach who knows how to get results for her clients. But, more importantly, she is a coach who cares about people. Anyone can plug in numbers. It takes a truly talented and balanced coach to see the person they are working with, beyond their athleticism, so that they can be their best. That is exactly what Sarah does and it is exactly why her clients will always thrive.
Chris Pope
I started working with Sarah a few months ago, after searching for weeks for a knowledgeable coach. I had been stuck, losing motivation and wanted a push to get back on track. I was a little nervous at first as I was new to her programming style. But after just a month working with her I noticed huge changes. I was quickly making improvements in my strength. After comparing progress pictures, I was noticing vast improvement in my physique.
No matter what questions I had, she was more than willing to, not just answer them, but make sure I understood. She did more than just coach, she motivated, she pushed me to do better, she praised the work being put in, and when needed, she would give me a kick to get me back going. She regularly checked in if I forgot. She made it personal. One of the first things I told her was I didn’t want an “Instagram coach” and she laughed. In the end, she was so much more than just a coach.
Sione Lister
“Sarah was my first powerlifting coach after transitioning from a general gym personal trainer. From the beginning, I would describe Sarah’s programming and coaching style as evidence based and as a mutual agreement. She definitely listens to what you want, your goals, how things feel, etc. and makes adjustments as needed. As an online coach, she is available as little or as much as you’d like her to be. From an organization standpoint, her programs are easy to read, follow and always done in a timely manner.
She creates personal connections with her clients. I genuinely feel that I didn’t just have a coach, but that I made a friend and an ally within the fitness industry that I will be able to lean on when I need to. Besides all of that, she helped me get a lot stronger (75 lb meet PR with her). More importantly, she worked with me to gain the confidence I was lacking under the barbell and just in life, and she was there for me personally on days that I needed it. Definitely recommend working with Sarah if you are looking for an online coach! She is a strong, bad ass woman in the industry who can help you reach your strength goals while making sure you feel heard and safe along the way.”
Molly Hamilton
I am a challenging client: I have a pacemaker, I’m a mother, I’m a student, and I’m a military spouse, which means I’m incredibly busy and my son's only parent roughly half of the year. I came to Sarah with a significant challenge: I wanted to compete in my first NPC bikini competition.
Sarah took workouts and lifts that I was comfortable with and carved my body into something it had never been before - she even helped me build a butt, a genetic near-impossibility for me. She was responsive, generous with her time, and encouraging.
In addition, I have a variety of food sensitivities and one so serious it triggers anaphylaxis. Even so, Sarah gave me a meal plan and macros that I could easily sustain and that was not so strict that I was miserable.
Sarah gave me the tools and confidence to do something many people would never consider doing. I look forward to working with her for all of my subsequent show preps! I actually enjoyed my prep and managed to place in my first show. She is a fountain of evidence-based knowledge and I admire her as a person as well.”
Leah Ceschi
"I came to Sarah asking her to help me with my lower back injury recovery and to prep for the Wisconsin State Powerlifting Meet. We had about 13 weeks before meet day and my injury was a significant setback. There were days when I could still feel the effects of torn muscles; squats were hard and some days the muscle soreness set me back for a few days, but deadlifts were terrifying. Deadlifts were how I exacerbated the injury so to say the least it was not my favorite movement.
My starting numbers (lbs): Squat - 70 | Bench - 70 | Deadlift - 65 |
Sarah and I checked in with each other frequently throughout the week and she made tweaks to the program based on how my back was feeling, truly listening to me and giving advice. As the weeks went on I was feeling my back getting stronger and stronger, my confidence was on the up as well! The week before my meet I did a small water cut to get into the 57kg class, which she helped with as well. Meet day comes, I make weight and then some, but the best part? I was on fire with my drive and motivation and I was ready to hit some numbers. I knew I still wasn’t at my all time best numbers but damn if I wasn’t close.
My final numbers (lbs): Squat - 176 | Bench - 100 | Deadlift - 187 |
I got 202 off the ground on my third deadlift but my grip slipped, (yay a new problem, lol). Long story short, I am still working with Sarah, my focus has changed and morphed and she continues to adapt. Sarah is extremely knowledgeable and I would recommend her to anyone!"
Tiffany Vaughan-Sanford
"I’ve been active and involved with exercise for the vast majority of my life. I’m a ERYT500 yoga teacher and have been lifting weights on and off for years. That’s all to say that exercise is not new to me. I even modded a women’s weightlifting and fitness group online. However, my husband and I moved across the country, I started a new job and before I knew it, two years had sped by and I had gained 20+lbs. I was working full time as territory sales manager and was traveling constantly. I knew I needed to get back in the gym, but the mental load of life plus figuring out an exercise protocol and calculating my macros was the straw that would have broken the camels back. As I’m sure many people can relate, I just couldn’t do it, it was overwhelming.
I’d followed Sarah online for a couple of years. I’d watched her compete, seen her science based approach to health and fitness and agreed with her philosophies. When I found out she was doing distance coaching I started thinking about it. It was important to me to have a coach who understood my lifestyle and could cater to my weird schedule and individual needs. It was also important to me to have a responsive coach that could communicate frequently and change as things came up. Lastly it was important to me to have a coach who was principled and advancing the sport for women. Sarah checked all of these boxes.
Since starting to train with her I’ve seen improvements in my lifts, my body composition change, and my confidence in my body return. As with all fitness journeys, there are mental hurdles as well, and she has worked with me through them and change the protocols to adapt to what I need. We talk every couple of days and she is always available for me if I need to talk, bitch or just shoot the shit. Deciding to work with Sarah has been one of the single greatest things I’ve done for my physical and mental health."
Lindsey Little
“I have known Sarah from a fitness group for a few years before hiring her as my coach. I was used to doing my own programming for a while, but I incurred some injuries that stalled and backtracked my progress. I decided I needed somebody who had a more scientific approach to help me achieve my goals, which at this point were getting stronger, improving my lifts, and maintaining my current body composition, possibly getting a little leaner along the way.
Sarah takes my strength’s and weaknesses into account in my programming and has helped me put more than 30 pounds on both my squat and deadlifts in an eight week training cycle. She’s helped me improve my form on all of my lifts, especially bench, which has always been a difficult lift for me.
Week 7:
Squat: 185lbs
Deadlift: 215lbs
Week 15:
Squat: 215lbs
Deadlift: 250lbs
I’ve been with her for nearly 6 months and my lifts feel better than they ever have and I have more confidence in my lifting. I’m now doing working sets with my old PR weight which is awesome to me. My husband also has her as a coach and he too has seen great progress in his lifting which has assisted his karate competitions.
I’m excited to see how my lifting continues to improve with Sarah as my coach, and I highly recommend her to anyone looking to improve their strength and confidence in the gym even if you’re not set on competing.”
Kristi Lewton
“I started working with Sarah with a goal to increase strength in powerlifting. It was important to me to find a coach with a similar mindset around training and with shared values, and Sarah met both of those criteria. I let Sarah know my general goals (increase maxes on all three lifts) and she devised a training and nutrition program that was phenomenal. My strength increased at a rapid rate and after three months I was squatting, benching, and deadlifting working sets at weights that had previously been my 1 rep max. I think the combination of training and nutrition programming were essential to this success; the macros and calories that Sarah recommended were different than what I had been using and I think this was key in reaching my goals.
In addition to creating excellent programming, Sarah is a wonderful human being who cares for her clients. She provides excellent, consistent feedback on training videos and is available for video chats to answer questions and make sure you stay on track. I highly recommend working with Sarah for your fitness goals. She is awesome.”
Aaron Zucker
Sarah is an excellent trainer who helped to demystify the gym and nutrition. She designed an incredible program to meet my fitness goals while working with any limitations I had in regards to equipment or time. She was knowledgeable, patient, and informative, as well as an all around cool person. Her understanding of what makes athletes tick made finding the motivation to get into the gym easy.
Dr. Susan Kleiner
After 18 months of the most sedentary lifestyle ever in my life, I began training with Sarah. Her coaching gives me confidence to push yet feel secure. In a week I felt more like myself in my own skin and I am generally just happier. Now in week 6 my strength improvements are obvious and it feels great! My posture is improved, aches and pains mostly gone, and I’m better able to physically move whether hiking, running, cycling, yoga, or carrying my groceries. I’m eating more, sleeping better, and eager to get to it every day! Thanks, Sarah!