Meet Lauren, our I AM BSHEmoth for the month of June! From collegiate athlete to Account Manager, Lauren has made a total mind and body transformation since beginning her health and fitness journey with us. Read more about her unique journey below!Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself or something that would surprise us.
Lauren Stanley, soon to be Lauren Koenig if I ever get around to legally changing my name (got married in January 2018). I am 33 years old and have lived in Houston my entire life. I’m a shy introvert, but once you get me talking I have plenty to say—most likely with a hint of sarcasm and brutal honesty. I grew up in Spring where life revolved around club soccer, working out and going to school. My dream since I was 9 years old was to play collegiate soccer (for UNC, of course, because that’s where Mia Hamm played). I earned an athletic scholarship to Rice University where I had the privilege of representing the Lady Owls on the Varsity Women’s Soccer Team for 4 amazing years. After 13 years and 7 surgeries (5 knee surgeries, 1 nose job, 1 lip/mouth reconstruction) I hung up the cleats and attempted to do the “Corporate America” thing. Now I am an Account Manager for a Freight Forwarding company, which means I attempt to help our customers ship their products all over the world in the most efficient (and legal) way possible.
PS – Keith (my husband) said I should tell everyone that I am an only child…this will help explain a lot if you have ever interacted with me
How and when were you introduced to Behemoth?
I stumbled into Behemoth online about 2 years ago when I was looking for some kind of change to my workout routine. I had become bored, unmotivated, and gained 20 pounds gradually since college. I recognized that I needed more structure, variation, and someone to hold me accountable. I needed a change and Behemoth was it!
What are you most proud of, physically, mentally or both since beginning with us?
Mentally: I’m proud of getting back to “feeling like an athlete” again. I’ve progressively gotten my swagger back. Being an athlete was a foundational part of my identity and character growing up and I lost that part of myself once I stopped playing completive soccer. Glad to be back in that mindset again.
Physically: Superficial answer—losing over 15 pounds. Legit answer—Strict Pull-ups/Chin-ups. Before Behemoth, I had never been able to do more than 2 strict chin-ups consecutively, and now I can knock out 5/6 any day of the week.
Why Behemoth?
At first, it was simply geography—Behemoth was just down the road from my house so figured I’d give it a shot. What keeps me coming back is the culture of the gym—things like quarterly check-ins and challenges that focus on and help educate us on overall health…not just powering through a few workouts each week.
What next? What are you excited about pursuing here in the future?
Behemoth has taught me how much nutrition, sleep, and stress management all contribute to our overall health and well-being. My newest interest is trail hiking/backpacking, and I’m excited to see how the functional fitness from our workouts and general knowledge of taking better care of myself will help.
“3, 2, 1…Go” Mad Lib section
-My favorite lift (movement) is… KBS
-My most frequent class I come to is… 7pm (It’s the only class I can make during the week with my work schedule)
-I have always wanted to… Sky dive
-When I’m not crushing weights, my favorite thing to do is… Listen to Podcasts
-Favorite “application of fitness” outside of the gym is… Random activities that I find on Groupon: rock climbing, hang-gliding, fly boarding, isolation float tank sessions…weird stuff like that
-Favorite Pandora station… Hip Hop BBQ (aka Urban Picnic )
-Beast mode engaged when this song comes on… TI – “Bring em Out” or anything by Breaking Benjamin
