Cadet Spotlight: Meet Fitstagrammer Darcy Gallagher
Everyone is on their own fitness journey, and Darcy Gallagher ’19 hopes to encourage others on their journeys through her health and fitness Instagram, @dgallfitness. There she posts daily workout videos and write-ups of her workouts, along with nutritional information on healthy meals and snacks, recommendations for skin and hair care products, trendy healthy restaurants, fitness class suggestions, workout apparel, motivational quotes, and playlists for specific workouts.
“I made this account for people like me, who don’t belong to a gym, have little time to squeeze in an effective 10-45 minute workout, and who don’t have the money to pay $19.99 a month for workout apps and programs,” Gallagher said.
She said she has always been very athletic, playing soccer, lacrosse, basketball, and tennis and swimming. Although she stayed in shape, she “wanted to be doing something more.” This sparked her interest in the online fitness community.
“I started working out more my freshman year of high school and got more involved in maintaining my fitness into my sophomore year. By the start of my junior year, I started focusing on diet and ramping up the intensity of my workouts — making them more challenging and consistent. It wasn’t until the end of my junior year that I began to feel confident in creating different types of workouts.” This led her to create her account in June 2018, which currently has almost 200 active followers.
Gallagher said she hopes to use her account to inspire. She has reached a “broad audience, from friends and family to fitness trainers and executives at athletic clothing and food brands. Many of the people who follow my account have told me it has helped them start or stick to a fitness routine. Others have talked about how helpful it is to have easy recipes for healthy snacks,” she said.
What has inspired her the most about running her account is the community she has discovered. “This type of industry is very competitive, but it also resembles a family. I feel that you can reach out to anyone in the fitness/health and wellness community and receive support and positive feedback. It’s something really unique.” She has even made new friendships with personal trainers who have reached out to her. To Gallagher, “their kind encouragement has meant a lot.”
Running @dgallfitness is rewarding, yet also challenging due to the time and effort it requires. “It takes a lot of work coming up with workouts, filming them or writing them up, making healthy foods and finding the nutritional benefits from each ingredient, creating music playlists, going to fitness classes, finding new workout apparel, and above all editing everything to make it look aesthetically pleasing.” Nevertheless, she loves doing it. “It’s fun to keep it going and exciting when I have the possibility to expand it and reach more people.”
Gallagher hopes that SJC students will check out her account for free workouts and advice on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. “It’s for everyone: you don’t have to be a gym junkie or star athlete, you can have no prior knowledge of fitness and health. If I were to say something to students hesitating to adopt this lifestyle, it would be to keep an open mind. Even if you’re new to it, just try it out and see if you like it. It can only benefit you.”
