We’re looking forward to introducing you to Courtney Gerding. Check out our conversation below.
Courtney , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
My growth in faith & trust in Jesus has transformed my life and business. I am most grateful for the COMMUNITY that we have built that is rooted in faith. When I started CGSQUAD, I had no idea that God would use it to transform my life and the life of the women we support. I always believed in God and grew up in the faith, but it wasn’t until the last few years that I grew deeper in my pursuit of a relationship with Jesus by being in the word daily and it’s changed everything. I am so grateful for my husband Matt & young son Noah for helping me grow in my faith as well as my team at CGSQUAD for walking in faith alongside me. I truly feel like we are living our purpose every single day at CGSQUAD by serving, going where we are called, helping women grow in all aspects of life and being open to share our faith with others. I’ve relinquished my dreams and the dreams of our business & given it to God and his bigger plan. I see him working in and through us daily & our prayer is that he continues to use us as a vessel. It’s not about us, it’s about seeking and serving Him.
Galatians 2:20
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
CGSQUAD is a women owned & operated boutique gym that specializes in weight training for women. We started free, outdoor parking lot workouts in the summer of 2020 to help women stay active & connected during a challenging time in the world. From there we continued to grow, renting space in a gymnastics facility before moving into our own building & continuing to expand! Our speciality is lifting weights with focus on form & getting STRONG in body and mind. We are all about supporting and encouraging women in GROWTH in all areas of life from their physical to their mindset. When women come to CGSQUAD it’s much more than a workout. It’s a whole life support system of community, support, prayers and encouragement. Every day we have a quote on the front door and during our cool down at the end of class we have a “mindset chat” to reflect on how we can grow to get 1% better every single day, not just at CGSQUAD, but out in the world to create a ripple effect to make it a better place. We are stronger together as a community, all in pursuit of becoming the best version of ourselves. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Prior to fitness being a huge part of my life and business, I was quite the opposite of healthy. After high school I went to college, ate unhealthy, & didn’t exercise or take care of myself.. I was about 50 pounds overweight and didn’t believe I would ever be “fit”. The fact that I started and own a fitness business is an absolute testimony to the fact that it’s never too late and you are never too far gone to make a change and completely transform your life. When I started on my journey to get healthy, I had absolutely no idea what it would lead to. When I started on my fitness journey I couldn’t run down my street, so if you would have told me that I would go on to run 5Ks, 50 half marathons, marathon, triathlon and own a fitness business helping others…I would have never believed it. That is why I believe so deeply in working on your mindset because the what the mind believes, the body achieves. We have to BELIEVE in ourselves to just start, take that first step and then work on becoming 1% better every single day and over time, you’ll move mountains.
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
If you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying. I fail almost daily, but I am in constant pursuit of learning & growing. I believe the only true “failure” is giving up. I have learned my most important lessons through failing forward & not giving up. One pivotal moment in my story is from years ago early in my fitness journey and had the goal of simply being able to make it around my subdivision doing walk/run intervals. I couldn’t run, so it was more of a shuffle for about ten seconds before I had to walk again, but I was committed to doing it. I was in the middle of my route and during my “shuffle” my shoe hit the sidewalk and I went down hard, unable to catch myself. I was bleeding, embarrassed, angry and in the moment, I felt defeated. I could have easily used that moment as every reason to quit and say “this isn’t for me”, “this is too hard”, but I picked myself back up, literally and figuratively and thought, I may have fallen down today, but I’m going to stand up and get back out there tomorrow. If I would have given up in that hard moment, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Most people settle for what is easy, but that makes life harder in the long run. You get to choose your hard.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What will you regret not doing?
I feel so deeply that we are meant to serve a multitude of women at CGSQUAD and I want to have the courage to continue to take bold steps in growth. I pray daily for God to use me and to have a positive impact on everyone I interact with. I pray that our work has a ripple effect of growth in faith & lives impacted through CGSQUAD. The goal far surpasses the ways of this world, so I pray daily to have the courage & faith to be bold and follow where he is leading us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.courtneygerding.com
- Instagram: cgsquadstl
- Facebook: CGSQUAD
- Other: [email protected]
