Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Dill.
Hi Laura, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
You never know where your life is going. You have to take one day at a time and never stop trying.
I went from being a medical assistant thinking I will never amount to anything. Having a dream and passion for fitness took me down a path I would have never imagined. Competition drives me and I love to set new goals. Competing in Kettlebell sport & Highland Games and just plain old life keeps me going. After owning a gym for 10 years and going back to school to be a physical therapist assistant and then the pandemic I didn’t know where I would be. Now I am an on-site clinician for ActionOnsite helping hard-working Americans every day stay safe at work and learning how to move their bodies better and avoid long-term injuries.
Story/ how I got here.
I was born in New Jersey July of 1984 to Linda Hood from Scotland and Robert Hanson from New Jersey. We lived in New York on Long Island until I was 8 years old. I’m one of 8 children. 5 were adopted. My parents are saints and have a huge heart and vision to help as many people as possible to find a place to call home. We were also a foster home for many years during my childhood. Having patience and sharing started at a young age. I was the youngest of the 3 biological children and tended to act like a bratty princess. Due to the size of our family, we didn’t have a lot of money but we always had fun in the pool and camping by the river in Oklahoma where my parents moved us to have a simple life away from the New York hustle.
I was on the track team and one of the field event athletes. I enjoyed that from 7th till I was a junior. I enjoyed anything science-related and once I was a junior, I attended a vocational school 3 hours a day in health science class and as a senior, I was in medical assistant school. I joined the Army National Guard at the age of 17. Once I graduated in May 2002, I shipped out to basic training on June 4, 2002.
Initial Entry Training is divided into two parts: Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT). AIT consists of the remainder of the total Basic Training period and is where recruits train in the specifics of their chosen fields.
My specialty was; we drove 18-wheelers and 5 tons.
Army Motor Transport Operators (MOS 88M) provides Army mobility through the transport of personnel and cargo.
Motor Transport Operators both supervise and operate wheel vehicles.
Operators are responsible for driving wheel vehicles and equipment over a variety of different terrains and roadways both on and off the battlefield.
Once I returned home in September of 2002. My high school sweetheart was waiting for me. We bought our first house and got married in April 2004. We had our first child in May 2005. I was discharged from the Army that same month. Served 4 years.
My husband and I had trade jobs. He was a mechanic and I was a medical assistant. I was always interested in fitness and would sign up for any race that my doctors would pay for. They always like to help the medical staff with community events. Working In the health care field kept me looking for ways to stay healthy. I would see very sick patients and I felt they were handling prescriptions versus education on how to reverse their diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. I would go home and research diagnoses in LL my medical books and started studying for my personal training certification. I wanted to find ways to get myself healthy and also the knowledge needed to help my patients.
One of the nurse practitioners I worked for enjoyed hearing all my tips and tricks on foods to eat and ways to exercise she allowed me to educate our diabetic patients. This helped in so many ways and was a stepping stone into my own future. I was recruited by another office that had a physician looking for a medical assistant that was motivated in the fitness and nutritional world to help support her holistic style of treating patients. This step would catapult me into the next 10 years of my life and fitness career.
Over the next few years, I was promoted into the training department for the large hospital in Tulsa Oklahoma. I worked out and ran all the time. I was recruited to work for a physician that needed her medical assistant to have experience in nutrition and fitness. This doctor treated on the holistic mindset and she would refer them for diet and exercise and help reduce the amount of prescriptions they needed to be on. This doctor introduced me to the functional movement systems and the Russian Kettlebell. I had chronic low back pain and had a breast reduction at the age of 18 and required physical therapy to help with the discomforts. I could afford to keep going to PT 2-3 days a week and that is when I realized kettlebells can be the answer. After 12 weeks of training, my pain was gone. Years of muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory medications and all I needed was a high dose of better movements and a kettlebell.
I was already working with a group of women in my area and hosted 5 Bootcamp’s each week. I slowly worked on getting my kettlebell instructor certification so I can start coaching a KB class at one of the local gyms. Once the word got out that the KB class started it was packed and we were thriving with 10 total classes a week between the Bootcamp and KB. My life went from 0-60 overnight. After a full year of working full-time and teaching classes, we as a family decided for myself to work part-time as a medical assistant and work 2 full days a week as a strength coach.
This went on for some time but something had to give. I was turning away clients due to lack of availability. We finally opened a facility in Broken Arrow Oklahoma and I quit my 9-5. The gym was called Kettlebell360. Within one year we outgrew our 1500 square feet facility and we moved into town and rented 2500 square feet and remained there for many many years.
I ran that business very successfully for 10 years. Decided to go back to school to become a physical therapist assistant to open up a facility that had multiple disciplines and that will allow somebody who is injured to rehab and find Fitness again without the fear of getting hurt. Kettlebell 360 helped many people find a new version of themselves. Avoid getting knee replacements and hip replacements. Help mothers find their strength when they didn’t know where else to go. We hosted fitness competitions go ruck events and many more. We worked with the local high school and we were part of their strength and conditioning team. I also helped with the career exploration program within the school they would send young students to my facility and learn how to be a small business owner especially with myself being a woman.
I continue to climb the strength ladder within the Strong First community earning many certificates in different Barbell and Kettlebell Coaching programs. I also became a Highland games athlete and a kettlebell sport athlete obtaining a rank of candidate of mastery sport. I have a personal goal to try and go semi-pro with Kettlebell sport in the near future with my next competition in May 2022.
I was able to run a successful business through a pregnancy and experiencing a miscarriage and also a successful pregnancy of my five-year-old son. I had a child at the age of 20 with my husband and she grew up in the facility and loves to support Kettlebells.
After graduating physical therapy assisting school my husband was transferred to Dallas Texas. I had to close my facility and move my gym into my garage once again. I obtain some at-home clients. But I’m currently working for a company that focuses on injury prevention services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area along with 13 other states. I am their training and development coordinator on top of one of their clinicians that work on site. We help companies reduce their worker’s comp claims by educating employees on how to move well. If one of the employees becomes injured or starts to have awkward postures from repetitive motions, we can help them by teaching them how to move correctly or even evaluate their work environment to make it safer for them. We are currently expanding our business into tactical athletes. We have always focused on the industrial athlete. So, we will be working in the Dallas-Fort Worth area within the first responders’ categories.
You never know where life will take you every turn is an opportunity never pass it up.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As a young female business owner of a fitness facility, it is always hard to get out there to obtain business. What I learned was to practice what I preach and to keep to my niche. People appreciate honesty and loyalty. We grew by word of mouth which is always organic. Very low attrition obtained clients for over 10 years. I am still working with clients on the online platform since I am now four hours away from them. I went through a miscarriage while running the business it was devastating to our family but now, we are blessed with a five-year-old little boy. Having to move away and close my facility was one of the hardest things I had to do. But it opens the door for myself to become an injury prevention specialist as a physical therapist assistant and a functional movement specialist. Now I’m able to help industrial and tactical athletes stay safe at work and learn how to move their bodies better without injuries.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in human movement. I have been a strength and conditioning coach for 15 years. I specialize in Kettlebells and barbell lifts. I personally am I Kettlebell sport athlete. I love to teach people with the hope they can find passion in it as well.
With all of my skills and functional movement, I was able to graduate my physical therapist assistant school and join a company called ActionOnsite. We are on-site clinicians in the industrial and tactical world. So, material handler‘s that move equipment all day. They need attention physically just like the football player, soccer players, and basketball players on the court. We help big companies keep their employees out on the Playing field and not on the sidelines. I’m helping keep hard-working Americans from being sidelined by an injury at work.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
My takeaway from this pandemic is the importance of self-care and making sure that you are taking part in your own health to stay ahead. Keeping your immune system up with good nutrition exercise and vitamin D from the sun. Making sure that we intake any supplements that we find that our food is not delivering us. And honestly just good handwashing and staying inside if you are not feeling well. I tended for a lot of elderly in a skilled nursing facility in the heart of the pandemic. People away from their family and friends for over two years which is devastating and kills our spirits. So, get out there stay moving, and stay healthy
Contact Info:
- Email: Lauradill@actiononsite.com
- Website: ActionOnsite.com
- Instagram: Coach_dill_sfgii
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ActionOnsite/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCDy–Pm7QRtiGNxdlQu79eA
Image Credits
Kyle Dill
