The joy of coaching older female powerlifters

Over ten years ago, I became a Personal Trainer. I remember asking my daughter-in-law if it was ridiculous of me to think anyone would want to hire an over-forty woman as their trainer. Last time I looked into it, the average personal trainer only stays in the job about two years, the high rate of burnout due in large part to having to work at big gyms on a relatively small commission with pressure to make sales. Thankfully, through a friend, I connected with a coach who owned her own private studio, and she agreed to work with me as my mentor. Most of her clients were women 40 to 70+ years of age, which was delightfully eye-opening for me.

Condensing the story, we moved later that year and I soon decided to answer an ad about becoming a SilverSneakers instructor at our local Recreation Center. My class quickly bloomed into a vibrant group of senior adults; I taught there for five years and loved it, and did some one-on-one training during that time as well — but I still dreamed of opening my own private studio where I could coach small strength training groups.

Shine Strong and the BarBelles

(Haha, that subheading sounds a little like a doo-wop band!)

In early 2022, I opened that little gym I’d imagined and soon had a dedicated community of mostly women who wanted to do strength training in a non-intimidating environment with personalized coaching. A few of them became interested in what I was doing personally as a powerlifter, and followed along enthusiastically as I trained for my first meet in August 2023. Because of their interest, I decided to start a ladies-only barbell training group. I’d never done anything like this, but they loved it and so did I!

At my next meet, the BarBelle gals made a weekend of coming to cheer for me. I was not the one lifting the heaviest at that meet but I was the one with the absolutely best cheer squad. From what I’m told, the face-on-a-popsicle-stick idea took off for other lifters after that.

My BarBelles class is made up of women in their mid-50’s to mid-70’s, most of whom had never touched a barbell in their lives prior to this. If they worked out much at all in their younger years, it was mostly Jazzercise or jogging, maybe gymnastics or swimming. If you’re Gen X or older, you know what I mean; being fit meant burning calories and staying as small as possible. It was not about building strong bones and general badassery, which is what we’re after.

I can give you a long list of reasons why lifting heavy (a relative term) is good for older women in particular. But that’s not today’s topic. This is about how AMAZING it is to watch a woman come into class excited but intimidated and within a few months – or less – she is doing things she never thought possible while a room full of friends cheers her towards a new personal best. It gets me downright giddy!

Coaching for a meet is next level fun.

Day-to-day coaching for my BarBelle ladies is a blast. I love helping them conquer fears and experience the empowerment that comes with moving a significant amount of weight. When they get brave enough to try competing in a meet, that’s an extra layer of challenging fun for them and for me.

I got to coach two of my lifters in their first powerlifting meet in mid 2024, one of them again in 2025, and I’m currently preparing two more for their first meet just a week away, with two others planning to compete this summer.

Last week I talked one of my meet-prepping lifters through some hangups she had with her squat and I think I was more excited than she was when she got it. Barb, who has already done two meets with me, leaned over and said, “You love this, don’t you?”

Yes, I really do!

On Monday, my other meet-prepping lifter was coming into her deadlift day with big feelings because the previous week, that weight would just not move. If you haven’t done this yourself, it’s impossible to know just how MENTAL lifting can be, and that bad day had been due to a whole pile of life stress. But on Monday we worked on it all and she conquered that weight!

And then yesterday, Melissa really wanted to pull a 200lb deadlift, which would be a personal best for her and would do wonders for her confidence with that first meet around the corner. As she stepped up to the bar, every other woman in the room stopped their workout to cheer her through it. It was heavy, and she fought hard, and she GOT that deadlift!

I jumped up and down, everyone hooted and hollered, and Barb even had to wipe tears from her eyes.

THAT is what strong women encouraging each other looks like, and I am here for it.