Dannie Coverdale

Born and raised in Erie Pennsylvania. As a teen I always thought that I would get out of this town and make a completely different life somewhere else; perhaps somewhere tropical. I went away to college at West Virginia and absolutely loved that campus, but it didn’t feel like home. The following year, I transferred to Penn State Behrend to be closer to my friends and family.

I initially felt like I was drowning here in Erie because I held onto that mindset that I had to leave Erie to be successful. When really the thing that was holding me back was the fact that I was forcing myself into a career that I wasn’t passionate about just because the pay was good.

My true passion is and pretty much always has been fitness. Soccer was my first choice of sports at about 8 years old. I played soccer up to high school then also joined basketball, gymnastics and track and field. I always had to keep moving, even if it meant that the pain in my left leg would get worse.

I had high hopes in running track in college, but the discovery of my fractured vertebrae put those hopes to rest. The fractures had gone undetected for so long that my vertebrae had already begun to fuse itself and was fusing over my nerve, causing numbness in my leg and soon, complete loss of feeling.

I didn’t want my spinal fusion surgery to postpone my enrollment in college, so I decided to wait to get the surgery until after I graduated. I delt with the pain for 4 more years until I finally got the surgery in 2013. The recovery process was extremely brutal and painful, but it ended up being the best thing I could have done for myself in that situation. My doctors told me that I wouldn’t be able to run anymore and that I would be extremely limited in what I would be able to do in the gym.

I remember feeling like my life was over. Hearing those things felt like a death sentence to someone as active as me. I wallowed in my own self-pity for a few weeks until I realized my doctors told me those things because that is the average case… general statistics. I convinced myself that those limitations only applied to those who choose to live in that little box of limitations and don’t do what it takes to get out. I decided that I wasn’t going to be a statistic. I spent several months in a back brace studying ways to rehabilitate myself then condition myself to be the athlete I once was.

During my research I discovered several ways to get the results I wanted without hurting my back. It became somewhat of a fun, obsession to discover and create ways to train with my limitations. Every day I got stronger and more confident.

I decided to set myself a huge goal of competing in an NPC Figure (body building) competition. In 2016, just 2 and a half years after my spial fusion, I competed in my first competition and became nationally qualified.

It was at that point that I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to help people achieve their health and wellness goals even if it seems against all odds. Which I did, on a smaller level, training friends and family for several years.

I met Jason in 2020, if it weren’t for him, I would probably still be in that windowless office I called a dungeon, working a toxic job that I hated. He saw me come home every day just completely run down from stress. Soon he was encouraging… no, begging me to follow my dreams. With his encouraging and financial help, I was able to take a huge risk by quitting my well-paying job to become a personal trainer. I got my NFPT certification, applied for a PT job in Erie and the rest is history.

Now I get wake up every day and do what I do best; help people feel better about themselves, build confidence, improve health, and crush goals.