Built From the Ground Up

My name is Daniel Smith. My journey into fitness didn't begin with bodybuilding, competing, or becoming a coach. It started much earlier — and for a much more personal reason.

Growing up, I struggled with being overweight for most of my childhood. When I entered high school, I began weight training primarily to become a better football player, but there was another motivation behind it: I wanted to change the person I saw in the mirror.

That decision started a relationship with fitness that would continue for years. I trained consistently, stayed in relatively good shape, and learned how to eat better. For a long time, though, my goal was simply to be above average. I wasn't chasing the extreme. I wasn't trying to step on a bodybuilding stage. Like many people, life sometimes got in the way — and some of the choices and circumstances in my life kept me from fully pursuing what I knew I was capable of.

Deep down, I had always wanted to compete. For years, that goal remained exactly that — a goal.

Then my life changed. With the love, support, and encouragement of an incredible wife, I finally began removing some of the negatives from my life and pursuing something I had wanted for years. She challenged me to stop talking about what I wanted to do and start becoming the person capable of doing it.

So, I committed to preparing for my first bodybuilding competition. I had no idea where that decision would eventually take me.

I poured everything I had into that prep. I pushed myself physically and mentally harder than I ever had before. I didn't achieve everything I wanted on that stage, but I accomplished something much more important: I proved to myself that I was capable of doing something I once thought was out of reach.

I experienced things during my prep that I believe no client or athlete should have to experience. Instead of allowing those experiences to make me walk away from the sport, they gave me a new purpose. I wanted to become the coach I believed people deserved to have. That is where SmithFit Training & Nutrition was born.