Dana Linn Bailey: Personal Trainer & Lifestyle Consultant

I grew up a jock. At age 6, I was already on the swim team, waking up and going to practice just like the big kids. Up until high school, I was a 6-sport athlete all year round, playing soccer, basketball, field hockey, softball, running track and also swim team. In high school I continued with my 3 favorite sports, soccer, basketball, and field hockey and excelled in all with many awards.

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I was then recruited to play soccer at West Chester University (PA), where I majored in Kinesiology and a minored in Health Science. I was a 4-year varsity letter winner and starting defender for the Golden Rams, where I helped my team to division playoffs and NCAA’s my junior and senior year. I was named defensive player of the year my junior and senior year.

After college soccer ended for me, I had all this extra time on my hands that I never knew existed. For the first time in my life, since age 6, I had no more practices to be at, no more coach’s telling me to run, and worst of all no more games or competition! So my boyfriend at the time (now husband) Rob, said if you ever want to see me, go to the gym. He was working in a restaurant at the time as a sous-chef and obviously worked horrible hours and I never saw him until late at night. So I started tagging along to the gym. I had the basic understanding of lifting from my high school strength/conditioning class and also lifting with the soccer team here and there, but I followed him and did everything he did. We lifted heavy and hard!

After just a couple of months of lifting, I really started noticing some changes to my body and also my strength. My once skinny little arms started getting some shape and my weights kept increasing. It then became an addiction! I was training harder and harder. I wanted to keep seeing changes and keep moving heavier weight. I do not train like a typical girl. I train like a male bodybuilder. One body part a day and always go as hard and as heavy as possible.

My obsession with moving heavy weight then had me entered into my first power lifting competition, which I won. There was only one other girl entered and I don’t even think she got passed 115 lbs on bench. I believe I finished with 190 lbs on bench and I would like to add that is without wearing one of those neoprene shirts (I think that is cheating). This is just a raw press coming from a 120 lbs girl. My current max bench to this date is 205lbs!!!

I continued to train as I did, hard and heavy. A couple of girls at the gym I was training at were getting ready for a figure competition. So I thought I would enter too! They were all on these strict, crazy diets. I have never watched what I ate. I was still in college living off the college diet, ramen noodles and McDonalds. So I got a little advice on nutrition and changed up my diet to a higher protein lower carb diet. I had to waive goodbye to my cheap ramen noodles.