Jenn Karkoski joined Sandpoint Strength during a difficult season of life, looking for something that was just for her. Nearly 10 years later, she’s become one of the most consistent, positive, and quietly tough people in the gym.

In this conversation, we talk about overcoming injuries, falling off a pull-up bar during the Open, endurance races, motherhood, community, and why the 6am class feels more like family than fitness.

• Jenn also shares what keeps her coming back year after year: not perfection, not competition, but the people, the process, and the belief that you’re capable of more than you think.

When Matt Curmi first walked into Sandpoint Strength, he was intimidated, out of shape, and unsure if he belonged there at all.

What most people didn’t know was that before the 6am classes, Matt had already lived a life most people only read about — crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat as a teenager, surviving hurricanes at sea, living in multiple countries, training under Michelin-star chefs, and eventually immigrating to the United States with a backpack and a dog.

In this conversation, we talk about adventure, resilience, parenting, travel, cooking, staying calm under pressure, and why fitness isn’t really about becoming the best athlete in the room — it’s about building the kind of life you want to keep living.

This one goes far beyond fitness.

For years, the fitness industry promised the same thing:

lose the weight and you’ll finally feel good about yourself.

Writer, athlete, nutritionist, and longtime SSC member Ammi Midstokke has lived both sides of that equation — from obesity, to extreme endurance training, to chasing thinness, to helping clients navigate addiction, trauma, food shame, and body image.

And her conclusion is uncomfortable:

weight loss alone rarely fixes the deeper problem.

This conversation explores the psychology behind food, the shame cycles created by modern fitness culture, the pressure of social media, GLP-1 medications, hormone therapy, and why true health probably has a lot more to do with self-worth, community, and sustainability than six-pack abs.

If you’ve ever felt like you “should” be happier after reaching a goal — this episode is for you.

Aaron Vahrenwald has been water skiing since he was six years old. He won a US championship in 2005. He's been shortening the rope ever since — not always going lower, but always finding something to refine, something that feels better, something closer to that flow state where the rope turns almost solid and you stop thinking about anything else.

He also owns Sand Creek Customware with his wife Ellie, built it from three employees to eleven, and has a genuinely useful way of thinking about progress that applies equally to water skiing, screen printing, and showing up to the gym on a Tuesday when nothing is going right.

This conversation wanders in the best possible way.

Ken Wood got a health warning at 46 — cholesterol numbers heading the wrong direction, medications being discussed. He didn't want to go down that path. He came back to the gym.

Two years later he's not on any medications, his heart rate recovery has crossed into high-performance territory, and he hasn't missed a single personal training session. He also texts Kenny three things he did well every single day — a habit he learned from a sports performance coach and has kept up for eight years across every area of his life.

This conversation is about what it actually takes to build consistency, why pacing matters more than intensity, and why watching his parents age is the most powerful motivation he has to keep showing up at 6am on Monday mornings.

Adam Gall started on a wildland fire crew in the Idaho wilderness at 20, moved to wolf biology work with the Nez Perce tribe, got a teaching certificate, quit teaching, became a fishing guide, guided elk hunts, and eventually started two outfitting businesses with his wife Anna — Dark Timber Outfitters and Timber to Table Guide Service.

He also sends every booked hunter a blunt letter about physical preparation before their hunt. If they're not willing to take it seriously, he'll send their money back.

This conversation covers what hunters actually get wrong, why he still believes wolves deserve to be here even though they could put him out of business, and why wildlife management is never as simple as the loudest voices on either side want it to be.

Tammy is a corporate controller who makes spreadsheets for her recipes, topped out at 155mph on a Yamaha FZ1, got a truck stuck in the Ruby Mountains for three days, walked out of a single track trail in the dark with fresh bear scat nearby, and hiked Mount Whitney while her dad called her husband every hour asking if she was okay.

She also kept coming to the gym through a shoulder injury, a wrist injury she made worse by immediately attempting a one-rep max after hurting it, ankle surgery, and losing her sister. Each time, she had to relearn the same lesson: showing up is the workout, even when the workout looks nothing like what you planned.

This one is worth your hour.

Courtney grew up ski racing at Schweitzer, got sent to a camp alone at age 10 with a hundred bucks and a good luck, and ended up at the University of New Mexico on a Division I ski team after emailing every school she could find in April of her senior year. She beat Michaela Shiffrin on one run. She got knocked from the US Ski team and passed over by Denver University and landed somewhere better.

This conversation is about what it actually takes to perform under pressure, why the moment you start doubting is usually the moment you fall, and how to move past failure fast enough to race again the next morning.

She also just seems to be having a genuinely good time most of the time, which Kenny finds baffling and aspirational in equal measure.

Cassie Fagan joined SSC at 40 years old because a Tinder date with a coach made it feel safe enough to try. A few months in she got tennis elbow so bad she couldn't pick up a coffee cup, lost the pull-up she'd just earned, and spent months barely able to lift anything. She kept coming back anyway. She's also a relationship coach — a path she found after realizing in her 40s that she was allowed to have needs in a relationship. This conversation connects the two in ways that feel obvious once you hear them: the willingness to look stupid, the discipline of showing up when it's hard, the difference between seeking something outside yourself versus doing the internal work. One of the most genuinely funny and quietly honest episodes in the library.

In this episode of the Stronger Together podcast, host Kenny Markwardt speaks with Tess Howell about her journey of joining a gym during the pandemic, transitioning from a physically demanding job as a whitewater raft guide to a more structured fitness routine. They discuss the importance of community support, personal growth, and the challenges of navigating emotional health while maintaining a fitness regimen. Tess shares her experiences of adapting to new routines, the significance of accountability, and the transformative power of fitness. The conversation also touches on the dynamics of community events and the challenges of public perception in organizing such gatherings.