Darkside's Difference

Bio:

 My name is Kaylee Jensen and I am an 18 year old who has been lifting and job shadowing at Darkside Strength and Conditioning for the past 2 and a half years. I enjoy hiking, art, writing, nature and most of all… athletics. My whole life I have been in sports including: basketball, softball, soccer, track, cross country and even dance. In high school I competed in Track and Basketball and excelled in both. I discovered Darkside my Junior year of highschool, when I was 16 years old. Since then a lot has changed.

Darkside’s Difference 

I originally met Brian Gallagher one day after school seeking a job shadow under him. I had coached middle school athletics in the past and realized I really enjoyed training young athletes. I was 16 and it was my goal then to become a strength and conditioning coach one day… little did I know that I would learn so much more than how to “get strong” from him and Louie Kumbalek (Co-owner or Darkside).  After conversing with Brian for the first time he was willing to offer me a job shadow position so I could learn more about the field I was intrigued by. He also wrote me my own program to follow so I could become a stronger athlete in the process. He gave me books to study and would have discussions about what I read with me to ensure my understanding. I mirrored his training sessions these past 2 years learning how to train athlete specific workouts as well as injury prevention. I began to fall in love with Darkside and the process that these gym owners teach young athletes.

I learned how to back squat, bench press, and deadlift properly for the first time with Brian and Louie, after all if I couldn’t do it myself how was I supposed to teach younger athletes? Louie and Brian utilize the Conjugate Method of training, something I had never heard of before nor used in my own workouts. Growing up in my high school weight room I didn’t learn how to lift properly so learning so much so fast was a crazy experience. I learned not only how to lift correctly but also what a real coach was.  

Max lifts when I started at Darkside:

Bench Press- 90lb

Squat-130lb

Deadlift-135lb

Current Maxes:

Bench: 135lb

Squat:205 

Deadlift: 215lb

Darkside’s difference runs deeper than numbers for me, Darkside taught me how to use my tension, my built up anger, and let it go. To channel it into something I can control. When I first started at Darkside I didn’t realize the mental effects it had on me until I looked back. Highschool can really suck. Sports can really suck. Training can really suck. But YOU control what you get out of it by how much resilience and grit you're willing to not just “put in” but force yourself to commit to giving every day. 

I committed to waking up early before school and going to lift at 4:30 am- even during basketball season, early morning powder puff practice, and most importantly when I wanted to sleep in. I began to see results quicker than I expected. On the court I was faster, stronger, and conditioned at the beginning of the season. My senior year I broke my finger and nose, but I kept playing. If I could wake up at 4am every morning and train, I could play basketball with a weird bird mask to protect my nose.

 I excelled my senior year until I faced an ankle injury. The day before our regional game I sprained my ankle and was on crutches forced to watch my last basketball game from the bench. Even so, I knew I needed to support my team so I cheered until my lungs were sore. My swollen ankle was nothing compared to my scarred heart. I texted Brian what had happened and he was there for me every step of the way. Himself and Louie designed me a new program I could use to assist my rehab and also still become stronger. It was a long and hard battle but thankfully I recovered fast enough to partake in the last few weeks of my senior track season. I threw discus and shot put with my ankle tapped and a resilience nobody could take from me. After getting my last basketball game taken away I was determined to make this track season count as much as possible.

I continued to lift and learn at Darkside. My strength became visible after placing in the top 5 at almost every track meet. Winning 1st place in discus with a taped up ankle showed me just how strong I’ve become, mentally and physically. I made it to sectionals my senior year and was so thankful for the amazing coaches I had to get me there. 

On the flip side I was also learning more about the coaching and training side of the weight room. I have spent countless afternoons and evenings assisting in youth camps, one on one training and even learning about program writing. While I was climbing my own fitness journey I was also learning how I can train others as well. Some of my favorite nights were spent with Brian and young athletes…. It was kind of like getting a director's cut of a movie. As the athlete performed a movement Brian would explain the importance of it and how to know they were doing it right. From band tension to deadlift form, there was nothing Brian was afraid to teach me. And of course once the kids got comfortable with me they were never afraid to come up and say hey to me outside the gym.

Brian and Louie don’t just talk about how to become a faster or stronger athlete in the weight room, they also teach their athletes the importance of mental and nutritional health. I felt as if I was plateauing in my lifting after I graduated and couldn’t figure out why. I was happy, excited to train, and committed to pushing myself further than I ever thought I could go. After talking to Brian about how I felt, he informed me I  wasn’t eating enough of the foods my body needed to sustain my highly active lifestyle. We talked about how to fix my diet in a healthy way that left me full of energy. Talking about weight and diet is very stigmatized and because of that it is seen as a sensitive topic in young women… but I never felt that way. The openness and willingness to talk about what I needed as an athlete is something I will always value and one of the reasons Darkside Strength and Conditioning has become my home. Whether it was how my day was, family struggles, irritating customers at work, mental battles, or nutrition, Louie and Brian have always been there for me. And when they introduced me to the powerlifting world I was intrigued and ready to try something new.

The past few months I have been training vigorously under Louie and Brian to prepare for my first powerlifting meet in November. They taught me how to push myself but they are still there to fix my form, add more weight to the bar, and support me every step of the way. Even though I have yet to truly compete, I have fallen in love with this sport, with these people, and with Darkside Strength and Conditioning. 

“Powerlifting is a lonely sport, you train alone, you have to push yourself alone, but when the day comes and you're on the platform we will all be rooting for you”. 

-Louie Kumbalek

It isn’t about “being the strongest” or “lifting the heaviest weight” at the end of the day. It’s about finding the resilience in yourself to not just keep going but to fall in love with the process; it's about truly being able to  ENJOY the grind. For a while, the best part of my day was lifting in those early morning hours. Highschool isn’t all glory days, I don’t care what anyone says. Some days, well if I’m honest here, most days really sucked. But I didn’t let that stop me. Lifting at Darkside was about more than being a better athlete, it became about becoming a better version of myself. The version that knows now that I control my happiness. The version that also knows that at Darkside I will learn something new everyday and never stop trying to improve myself.

It is my goal to one day open my own half and half protein coffee shop and gym. I wish to be a strength and conditioning coach and business owner that assists high school athletes like I once was in their fitness, nutrition and studies. These past few years I learned more about myself than I ever thought was possible, and am still learning every day. Training athletes under Brian and Louie has been a gift of knowledge I never knew I needed. I spent the last two summers running camps, training individual athletes, and learning to build fitness programs. Even without a college degree, I am confident that I can help any young athlete become the version of themselves they didn’t know they could become. And it’s all because I sent an email one day to Brian Gallagher. One conversation can change your life and help you grow in ways you never thought were possible.  My journey with Darkside Strength and Conditioning is full of ups and downs but one thing is for certain, it’s far from over. Darkside Strength and Conditioning taught me to always…

Trust the Process.