We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Darell Dansby. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Darell below.
Hi Darell, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
The date was Monday, December 11th, 2023. It was a beautiful cool and crisp morning, but I knew it would be a scorcher in the afternoon. I cleaned the garage gym in the early morning and then started training clients at 8:30 am till around noon. The day was still going great, My next client was scheduled for 1:30-2:30. The training session went great and then I had a break until 3:30. Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to take my side-by-side ATV for a ride up the road, little did I know that this would be the last time I drove my side by side and the last time I would have 10 fingers. On the way back home as, I hit the dirt road, I hit the gas and got sideways a little too much, I corrected and when I did, I saw some brush but figured my ATV would go right through it. Well, what I couldn’t see was where my right front tire hit a huge stump. This shot the vehicle in the air about 8 feet, and it landed on its’s side where the rollbar sheared off my two middle fingers. After the vehicle stopped sliding, my first thought was how in the world was I going to get the vehicle back on the wheels. I turned the vehicle off, my hand was throbbing, so I knew I had to assess the situation. I looked at my palm and saw blood dripping, but it wasn’t pouring out, so I was ok. I stood up and made sure everything else on me was intact, however my hand was in excruciating pain. I turned it over and that’s when I realized I needed to call 911. My phone was thrown from the vehicle, and I had no clue where it was. I started searching for it and luckily found it about 10 feet behind the vehicle. My hand is throbbing, heart racing and I’m starting to go in a little bit of shock. I frantically tried to dial 911 but my phone kept going to my contacts. I finally realized I could ask Siri to call 911. I took advantage of this and immediately got a 911 dispatcher. The dispatcher told me to sit still. I informed her that if I did, I would pass out. I informed her that I would meet the ambulance on the road. When she asked my location, I could not remember the name of the street I was going to. Luckily, I was close to the ambulance station. I finally remembered the name of the road where I would meet the ambulance at. I got to the asphalt road and while I was waiting on the ambulance, I started to get lightheaded. A vehicle passed me, and I tried to flag them down as I was really hurting. They probably thought I looked like some kind of crazy hysterical zombie. I finally hear the sound of sirens and knew the ambulance would be there shortly. I kept telling myself to slow my breathing down and that help was on the way. I can tell you that my former Army training really kicked in and I am so thankful I knew the signs of shock and how to deal with them. Finally, the ambulance arrived, and I already knew I was going for a ride. I stepped inside the ambulance, and they put me on the gurney and started cutting the rest of my clothes off to check for other injuries I couldn’t see. They started attaching wires, started an IV and then started the pain medication through the iv. I remember the ambulance ride and I think they gave me too much fentanyl because I started flipping out and seeing everything like it was a cartoon. Finally, they gave me something else to counteract that and then I was fine. they notified my wife and the next thing I knew I was in my own room at the Seton Ascension emergency room. They were planning on sending me to surgery around 3pm but someone came in with a worse trauma than I had. so fast forward to the next day, I went into surgery around 5 pm where they removed my two middle fingers on my left hand, I had trauma to my pinky and index finger also and they weren’t sure if they could save them. My Wife contacted all of my clients and informed them of what happened. My best friend from Louisiana immediately travelled to see me. I was finally discharged on Wednesday December 13th, 2023, the Doctors did save my pinky and index finger. Once I got home it felt like all I did was sleep. I rested up the weekend. Now here is the crazy part, I went back to Coaching and training clients on Monday. I am so thankful this injury wasn’t worse and thankful to all the people that helped me to include my clients. I was so worried that my career was over, but I found a way to come back to where I can still lift weights, train people and have a healthy lifestyle. I really thought I would never be able to powerlift again either, but I am doing it now with eight fingers instead of ten. You never know what life will throw your way, but you must always find a way to work around it. This is our main goal at Strength From Within, no matter what injury you have, there is always a way to keep on training.
Darell, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I grew up in Louisiana and started wrestling in high school and fell in love with weight training. After High School I joined the Army and continued wrestling for the Army post team in Germany. When I got to Ft. Hood, there wasn’t a wrestling team, but I heard there was a powerlifting team. I tried out for it and made the team in 1997. I finished my eight years in the Army in 2001, but I kept powerlifting until 2010. I went to school and got my first personal trainer certification. In Oct. of
2010, I was preparing to make it back to the Nationals, however, I had an accident in the gym while squatting. I ruptured my L-4, L-5 discs and fractured my left Si Joint. This put my powerlifting career on hold as I was in excruciating pain daily. I came back to the powerlifting platform in 2015 and won again but my body was beat up and in pain still. It got to the point where I was falling at least three times a week. I’ knew I would have to find another way to stay active and compete, this is when I found obstacle course racing. I couldn’t lift heavy, but I could still somewhat run, jump and climb. This is what saved me. I finally got a SI fusion in 2017. Sometimes you have to look at what you can do and not what you can’t do. I went through all the rehab for my back and returned to the powerlifting platform again in 2022 to December of 2023. Dec 11th, 2023, is when I had my Atv accident where I had to have two fingers amputated on my left hand. Also, I plan to make another comeback to the powerlifting platform at the end of this year or early next year. After my finger amputation, fast forward to April 23rd, 2024, I had to have another surgery for a tendon repair on my left hand. This was from a previous wrestling injury in 2022. I was still lifting with a torn tendon, but I could tell it was getting weaker at each powerlifting meet. I am 50 years old and am sharing all this because, no matter what you are going through, there is a way to adapt and overcome. You must look for ways around or through obstacles you face in life. I am still competing at the age of 50. It can be done!
The types of services I provide at Strength From Within are Personal training, powerlifting, obstacle course training and Body tempering, I run all of my services out of my garage gym, and I have an amazing setup with over 1000 pounds of weights, several custom rollers specifically for Body Tempering. A belt squat machine, full powerlifting combo rack, rower, assault bike and a lot of other necessary equipment to get the job done.
Strength From Within solves problems such as, teaching clients how to be strong, not only in the gym but also in everyday life. I don’t give out cookie cutter programs! All of my programs are tailored to the individual client. We don’t do fancy B.S. here. we stick to the basics, hard work and consistency to get results. A good portion of my clients are older (over 60), and they are doing amazing things and even beating some of my younger clients. This is what sets me apart from others in my industry.
One of the things that I am most proud of is my determination and my ability to bounce back after setbacks and I have had many! This is one thing that I teach to my clients, and I lead by example. I may not be the strongest, fastest or best at certain events but you will always know I’m out there giving everything I have! You may see me stumble, as we all will at some point, but I will always get back up once again!
The things I would like my potential clients, followers and fans to know is that I am always striving to learn more in this industry. I hold numerous certifications. Of all the certifications I have been through there are two that really stand out. This is where I would like to give a couple of shoutouts to my mentors Zach Even-Esh and Donnie Thompson. Donnie Thompson is the founder of Body tempering which I got certified in. Zach Even-Esh is the owner of Underground Strength Gym and is a wealth of knowledge. He offers a certification program that is highly valuable, and I am certified as an Underground Strength Coach. I use both of these methods in my practice with great results and am so thankful for them.
The other thing I would like people to know is that I meet you where you are at. There is no need to be afraid or feel that you have to get into shape before you come see me.
If you need to get stronger physically and mentally then contact me. If you have pain, tightness, or mobility issues then I may be able to help you out with Body Tempering.
There is one more shoutout I would like to give. That is to my Coach Johnny Graham that got me started in powerlifting back in 1997. He is the vice president of USA Powerlifting now. He is like family to me and is responsible for setting many young lifters in the right direction.
One last thing is that I love to give my time back to my community. Every year I volunteer my time to referee for the Texas high Schools in my local area for powerlifting. I organize and run a 5k in my city, and also attend a Veteran’s March to remember at Fort Knox Kentucky, where all the proceeds go to help Veterans. I also just became a state referee for USA powerlifting so I could give back to one of the sports that helped me out in my life. It’s great to see more young people getting involved.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me has been word of mouth. There is so much when it comes to marketing, so many ways to get your name out there and over the years I have tried ads, social media marketing, direct mailing but I always seem to have the best results with word of mouth. This has worked the best for me.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the lessons I had to unlearn is always saying yes. You can’t please everyone and if you always are saying yes to everyone then there is no time for yourself. There is a reason when you are on a plane they say put your oxygen mask on before your kids. If you pass out, you can’t help anyone else. It’s the same in life, it’s a balance and one that I still struggle with from time to time.
Contact Info:
- Website: strengthfw.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strengthfw
- Youtube: @strengthfromwithin9842
