My perspective on fitness changed when I became a gym owner.

I stopped looking at fitness as a single destination and started seeing it as a spectrum of capability. From Group Fitness to One-on-One sessions. Everyone fits in somewhere, and the goal isn’t to force everyone into the same lane and stay there. It’s to figure out where they are, meet them there, and give them a path forward.

That’s progress. That’s when transformations happen.

Gyms shouldn’t just provide a place to work out. They should be a place to progress—a place where today’s limitations aren’t tomorrow’s limitations.

Meet Sarah Henricks.

When I first met Sarah, she was balancing motherhood, marriage and a full-time job. She started in group fitness. Group fitness became an open gym membership. Open gym became strength training. Strength training became Strongman competitions.

But the most interesting part of Sarah’s transformation isn’t what happened to her body.

It’s what happened to the person driving it.

This isn’t a story about simply losing weight. It’s about transforming your belief in yourself, what happens when someone discovers they’re capable of more than they originally believed.

NFM: When do you consider your fitness journey to have really started?

SARAH: Around 2015. I’d never been an athlete. I was a chubby, dorky kid who liked horses and had glasses. I internalized that I wasn’t athletic and couldn’t do sports.

But I started trying spin, BodyPump, kickboxing and different forms of fitness, trying to figure out what I actually liked. My husband eventually said, “I think you like being strong.”

He had me start StrongLifts. In 2018, I transitioned into group fitness and started taking strength training more seriously. 

NFM: What did you genuinely believe you were capable of when you first started?

SARAH: I didn’t think I was capable of anything.

My goals had always been about getting smaller. Weightlifting was the first time the goal wasn’t getting smaller—the goal was getting stronger.

I’d spent my entire life telling myself, You can’t do this. You’ll never be an athlete. This isn’t a space for you.

Especially as women, we’re so focused on getting smaller that we don’t realize what we’re capable of.

NFM: When did fitness stop being something you had to do and become part of who you are?

SARAH: I realized it in 2020 when the gyms shut down.

All the systems and habits I’d built were suddenly taken away, and I thought, “What do I do now?”

I found myself waking up at 6 a.m. to lift weights, run or do a HIIT workout before work. Sometimes I’d work out again on my lunch break.

That’s when I realized it had become a habit. It was also how I tamped down the noise in my head. But it was fun. I enjoyed doing it.

NFM: Was focusing on strength instead of getting smaller what finally made fitness fun?

SARAH: I think it was that, but it was also the community.

When you make fitness a habit and add accountability and friendship, suddenly it’s just part of your life.

The gym is our “third space.” I can walk in and know every person there—their lives, their kids’ names.

When you have a group of people who care about you, you want to show up for them too.

NFM: You’ve balanced motherhood, a career and marriage. Were there times you questioned if you could do it?

SARAH: My mental health was a big part of it.

After I had my son, I gained almost 50 pounds during pregnancy despite continuing to work out. I literally squatted the day before I gave birth.

Postpartum, I dealt with health issues and was essentially told I’d never lift weights again. I worked with a physical therapist and eventually got back to training.

For the first year of my son’s life, I woke up at 4:30 every morning, pumped, nursed him, went to a 6 a.m. class, came home, got ready for work, picked him up, made dinner.

Did I think I could do it? No.

Did I do it? Yes.

But I needed the gym. Especially as a mom, it was the only time when my body felt like it was mine again.

NFM: What’s been the biggest thing you’ve had to overcome to keep going?

SARAH: You have to enjoy fitness and enjoy working out.

If you’re only doing it to lose weight or build strength, it’s not sustainable.

Fitness can be like a relationship. When it’s new, everything is shiny and fun. Then you have your first fight, and you can walk away.

It’s harder to say, I actually love you even when I’m mad at you, so let’s figure this out.

If you don’t actually enjoy what you’re doing, as soon as it gets hard, you’re going to walk away.

NFM: You’ve lost close to 50 pounds. What made this chapter more sustainable?

SARAH: I’ve been lucky to work with a nutritionist, Marietta Parrish, who works with the Nashville Predators. It’s the first time where we’re not just taking things away. We’re talking about sleep, hormones, cardio, calories, macros and the      bigger picture.

The goal isn’t to drop 30 pounds in a month. It’s slow, steady weight loss without losing strength or muscle mass.

I also started microdosing a GLP-1. I kept my protein and carbs up, kept training, monitored my calories and used DEXA scans to make sure I wasn’t losing muscle rapidly.

If you’re not building long-term habits, as soon as you stop, you’re going to gain the weight back. That’s true of Weight Watchers, Atkins, keto or anything else.

NFM: If someone only looked at the scale, what would they miss about your transformation?

SARAH: It’s not just about weight loss. It’s about feeling like myself again. Feeling in control.

I can still squat. I can still deadlift. I can walk into spaces feeling like I’m 35 and in the best shape and best health of my life.

I’m building a foundation so that if my son wants to run track or lift weights, I can participate with him.

I don’t want to be a mom who has to sit on the sidelines.

He’s around 50 pounds now, and I can still pick him up and put him on my shoulders without thinking about it. 

NFM: Of everything you’ve accomplished, what are you most proud of?

SARAH: Growing up, I never saw my mom choose herself. She worked full time, had three kids and did everything for us.

Seeing how small she made herself to support her kids made it really easy to think I should do the same.

I don’t feel that pressure anymore.

My son is growing up seeing a mom who sacrifices things and chooses him, but also chooses herself.

Even as adults, you can accomplish new things. You can reach new goals. You can compete in sports. You can learn a new skill.

That’s probably what I’m most proud of—the hope that I’m being a better example for my kid.

NFM: What’s next for you?

SARAH: I want to see what happens if I spend an entire season just getting stronger without focusing on weight loss at all.

I want to approach 2027 in a different headspace and as a different version of myself.

You’re not growing if you’re not changing.

And that’s the real transformation.

Not the 50 pounds. Not the PRs. Not the competition.

It’s realizing there is no final version of yourself.

You find where you are, figure out what you’re capable of, and then you move the goalpost.

Then you do it again.