This is hard for me to put into words because as the person who created Platform Strength Training, it means so much!! It means more than words could ever describe. With that being said, I am going to try and put it into words… Yikes. It actually took me a long time to come up with the name Platform Strength Training. I was looking for something that described; taking the challenge, courage, vulnerability, authenticity, strength; both mentally and physically, friendship, community, teamwork, progress, growth, change and the list goes on. I also wanted it to be gender neutral especially because I’ve been told Empowered Living Company falls a little more in the feminine category and not intentionally (the name Empowered Living Company is a whole different story). So when I was thinking about this space and what it meant to me and what I wanted it to portray to others I found it stressful to put a name to it. When the yoga instructors and I were meeting regularly before the open house, I was talking to them about what the strength training side meant to me. I was describing how I wanted people to walk into that door and let go of any judgment of themselves or others, I wanted them to feel the courage to step up and do hard work that challenged them and helped them grow both physically and mentally. I wanted it to be a space where people created a community and encouraged one another. Where accountability wasn’t getting singled out but more you just wanted to be there with your people.  I even used the term platform when stating that I wanted people to step up to the platform and focus on what they had control over right now and to spend time bettering themselves on that platform. And then it stuck. I want to provide a platform for people to grow into the best person they could be at that space and time. I want people to find a safety and security on that platform yet vulnerable in the challenge and growth of their authentic self. I wanted that platform to be one of their favorite places in the world because there was so much reinforcement on that space. And so it became, Platform Strength Training. I am so proud of this space, the people that have entered it and what I have been able to watch the Platform do for people and myself. I have so many people who say, “Cate I am awkward, I have no body awareness and I look like a dying seal” (Yes that is a legit statement I’ve been told). Of course they don’t actually look like that and sure they are awkward in the movements at first and could use some help with body awareness but that’s where the vulnerability and the challenge comes in and soon they are crushing movements that they were before using the F word to describe. All because they stayed on that Platform and tried. They grew, they faced the challenge, they said hell with the judgment and they allowed themselves room for progress. They let the Platform be their space to create a team of people around them to push themself with and now they are doing phenomenal and going up in their difficulty level. Everyone steps on the Platform at a different level mentally, physically, emotionally every single day we all have so many differences from what are goals are fitness wise, what we are good at in regards to lifts and movements, where are strong and weak points are mentally and physically, etc. Yet we have so much in common on that dang Platform it’s insane, and that’s the point I want to hone in on. I didn’t make this Platform for people to compare themselves to the person next to them or to beat themselves up because they are not doing what they envisioned doing on the Platform or for feeling bad because maybe their goals aren’t as cool as the next persons. This Platform is for you to work on YOU but for you to also see how many people around you are fighting a similar battle and that you have a support system! You have people around you who have a weak spot, or are working really hard on their positive self-talk, or are also really struggling to make time to the gym because their schedule with their family is crazy and they feel like their life is in a rush all the time. We are all here to work hard, have some time to ourselves, get our sweat on, etc. You have a support system while you are on your Platform and you get to make that Platform whatever you need it to be so that you can reach your goals and be successful in your own way.

                See you on the Platform-

                                Cate