Jacob and Maddi Schmidt, the passionate new owners of Village Strength & Conditioning, bring extensive coaching expertise and a fresh vision to the gym. In less than a year, they have recruited the top coaches in Columbia and are dedicated to creating a transformative fitness experience. At Village, our mission is to change lives through expert, educated coaching and thoughtfully designed programming. With a team that truly cares, we’ve built a supportive community where everyone can discover their strength, achieve lasting wellness, and find genuine belonging on their fitness journey.
Strength and Conditioning Gym in Columbia, MO
Our mission is to help you succeed.
Passionate coaches dedicated to building strength, wellness, and community.
About Village Strength and Conditioning
Meet The Team
We're a team dedicated to helping you build strength, improve fitness, and find belonging through expert coaching and a supportive community.
“Joining Village Strength & Conditioning has been amazing! The programming is fun and effective, and the coaches—Jacob, Maddi, Ian, and Sam—are incredibly knowledgeable and welcoming. It quickly felt like home for me and my family!”
Vesta HotchkissTeacher
As owner of Village Strength & Conditioning, Jacob brings a blend of elite athletic achievement and deep academic understanding to his role. With a degree in Exercise Physiology and years of hands-on experience as a personal trainer since 2015, Jacob’s journey in fitness has taken him from the classrooms of the University of Missouri to the prestigious stage of the CrossFit Games.
After graduating, Jacob’s pursuit of excellence led him to Chicago, where an internship deepened his passion for CrossFit and laid the foundation for his competitive career. This path eventually guided him and his wife to Colorado, where he qualified for the CrossFit Games not once, but twice on team CrossFit Omnia. Competing with the world’s elite, Jacob secured remarkable finishes of 7th worldwide in 2022 and 9th in 2023. His competitive spirit undiminished, he moved to individual competition, advancing to the West Coast Classic Semi Finals in 2024, placing 17th out of the top 40 men in North America- West.
Six years of competing at the highest level of functional fitness has gifted Jacob with more than just accolades. This journey instilled an understanding of training methodology, recovery science, and the mental fortitude required for sustained success. Throughout his competitive career, Jacob never stopped sharing his knowledge, dedicating his time to coaching others and refining his ability to create highly personalized training programs that deliver results.
Now, Jacob has returned to his roots in Columbia, MO, to realize his ultimate vision: leading a gym where he can share his expertise and passion with his hometown community. At Village Strength & Conditioning, he combines his exercise physiology background, elite competitive experience, and years of coaching to create thoughtfully designed programs that help members achieve their individual goals. His approach is both scientific and deeply personal, ensuring each person receives the guidance they need to unlock their full potential.
Like many athletes, Maddi’s relationship with fitness began in the competitive fields of youth sports. As a dedicated soccer player and swimmer, she threw herself fully into athletic pursuit – until a knee injury changed everything. In 2014, Maddi tore her ACL, LCL, and MCL. What could have been a painful setback became a profound turning point.
Faced with the challenge of rehabilitation, Maddi discovered something unexpected: the transformative power of functional fitness and strength training. As she committed herself to the patient work of rebuilding her strength and mobility, she gained far more than physical recovery. She found her calling. The process of learning to train and heal through strength training awakened a passion for helping others discover their own strength and resilience.
This personal transformation naturally led Maddi into coaching youth swimming for the next 5 years, then in 2019 she earned her CrossFit Level 1 certification. Since then, she has dedicated herself to personal training, working with clients of all ages – from youth to adult – helping them write their own stories of strength and recovery.
Today, Maddi has returned to her hometown of Columbia, MO, where she’s living her dream alongside her husband Jacob. As co-owner of Village Strength & Conditioning, she’s found her calling: building a stronger, healthier community in the very place where her own journey began. Her story has come full circle, from rehabilitation to revelation to returning home, where she now helps others discover their own path to strength and wellness.
Meet Ian Day, a passionate and empathetic coach who brings both technical expertise and deep understanding to every class.
Ian started coaching and personal training in 2010 at the University of Northern Iowa. It was there that he fell in love with functional fitness, moving his body and obtained his degree in Exercise Science. In 2014 he got his CrossFit Level 1 certificate and in 2020 he obtained his CrossFit Level 3 Certification. With a foundation built on his own transformative journey through fitness and sobriety (since November 2013), Ian’s coaching philosophy centers on meeting people exactly where they are while helping them discover what they’re truly capable of.
Ian’s approach to coaching goes beyond just movements and metrics. He believes in building a supportive community where everyone feels welcome, regardless of their fitness level or background. His life motto says it all: “Meeting people where they are at, assisting them in getting where they want to go, and helping them do things they thought they would never do along the way.”
As an early riser who prefers morning workouts, Ian understands the importance of sustainable fitness habits and realistic goal-setting. His attention to detail, combined with his natural ability to make complex movements accessible, helps members build confidence alongside strength.
Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey or looking to advance your CrossFit skills, Ian’s supportive guidance and genuine care for each athlete’s progress make him a coach who truly invests in your success.
Since 2014, Coach Sam has been creating spaces where fitness becomes something more magical – a place where people discover just how capable they really are. Her journey into coaching began unexpectedly, following the loss of her father, whose legacy of meaningful connections and motto “perfect practice makes perfect” still shapes how she shows up every day.
As a coach, she believes in the power of small moments. Whether it’s a breakthrough with a barbell or finding joy in movement, each class is an opportunity to build strength that reaches far beyond the gym. Her natural inclination for deep focus shows up in everything she does – from carefully curated playlists to personalized movement options that help others discover their own definition of “perfect.”
You’ll usually find her here before sunrise (she’s a dedicated 4am riser!), dancing between equipment setup and welcoming early birds to their day. She’s passionate about creating an environment where curiosity thrives, questions are welcomed, and every person feels seen and supported in their journey.
Her coaching philosophy is simple: movement is medicine, community is power, and every person has untapped potential just waiting to be discovered. Whether you’re just beginning or looking to level up, she’s here to help you explore what your body can do, who you can become, and how that strength ripples into every area of your life.
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