I'm nearly 40 years old.
I'm a women’s health RN, a mom of two, and I run multiple businesses.
I know what it feels like to carry a lot... just like most women do.
Women today are expected to do everything: build careers, raise children, keep a home, stay healthy, look put together, be emotionally steady, support everyone else. Somewhere in there, our own strength often gets put last.
In the clinic, I’ve seen what happens when that continues for years. I’ve seen the slow muscle loss, the creeping fatigue, the weight gain that feels confusing.
The bone density scans that quietly decline, the lab work that shifts just slightly outside optimal ranges.
Most of these women are trying hard and doing what society has told them to do. They walk, eat less, they do cardio, they stay busy.
But most don't strength train... and muscle is not optional.
Muscle Is Protection
After 30, women lose muscle every year unless they actively train against it. As estrogen begins to fluctuate in the late 30s and early 40s, that loss accelerates. Muscle does so many things for women’s bodies.
Here are just a few examples:
- improves insulin sensitivity
- stabilizes blood sugar
- supports bone density
- protects joints
- supports metabolic health
This is not about aesthetics (although that's a great bonus!). It is about protection.
CrossFit builds strength across broad domains.
Squatting, pressing, pulling, carrying. Real movements. Real load. Real adaptation.
And here’s what I have seen personally and professionally: When women start lifting, everything changes. They think more clearly, they feel more capable, they sleep better, they show up differently in their homes and workplaces.
Strength spills over. The woman who deadlifts today walks into a difficult meeting differently tomorrow.
This is not just physical. It is physiological and psychological.
Strength is not optional. It is foundational.
Learning To Strength Train With Confidence
Most women aren't avoiding strength training because they don't care about their health. I think they avoid it because they don't know how or where to begin. They don't want to walk into a gym and feel inexperienced or look unsure of themselves while everyone else seems confident. There is a quiet vulnerability in picking up a barbell for the first time – I vividly remember mine back on 2010!
In the clinic, I've met so many disciplined, intelligent, and incredibly capable women in every area of their lives, yet they feel completely out of place in a gym setting. They have been told they should strength train, but have never been shown how to lift weights. No one has explained what good movement looks like or given them a safe progression. So they default back to what feels familiar, like attending cardio classes or hitting the ellipitcal each day.
This is exactly why properly coached strength training environments like Remedy Athletics exist. CrossFit, when it is coached correctly, isn't random intensity or reckless movement. It is intentional instruction, progression (at your pace), and learning foundational patterns that gradually increasing load in a way that builds confidence alongside strength.
Squatting is not about competition; it is about being able to stand up from the floor with ease.
Pressing is not about aesthetics; it is about placing a heavy object overhead without fear.
Pulling and carrying are not about proving anything; they are about building resilience in a body that has to carry children, groceries, responsibilities, and stress.
Most women do not need to be pushed harder. They need to be shown how. They need coaching that removes intimidation and replaces it with competence. When a woman learns how to move safely under load, the fear of looking or feeling silly or out of place begins to fade. The uncertainty is replaced by understanding. Strength becomes something familiar rather than something intimidating.
Functional lifting isn’t about proving anything. It’s about developing a body strong enough to support the life you’re already living. Every woman deserves to feel confident and capable in her own strength.
This is one of many blogs to come in regards to women's health. I hope you've enjoyed Part 1 and will pass it along to someone that you think would benefit from this message!
-Steph Swobody, RN
Owner, Remedy Athletics / CrossFit Marysville
