Girls Gone Strong at the ProAm

This past weekend was one of the best I’ve ever had. I got to hang out with some incredible women while we bonded over an awesome training session and a powerlifting meet! I’m honored to be included among an incredible group of women that have set out on a mission to help women reach their goals and gain more confidence through strength training.

Let me back track just a bit before I dive into the details of the weekend.

Since I’ve had the honor of being a part of the prestigious EliteFTS team, I’ve been interviewed by various people, blogs, and websites quite a bit. Almost all of the questions are the same: “How do I get my wife/girlfriend/mother/sister/female client to realize the importance of strength training and to stop doing so much cardio?” Now don’t get me wrong – I love answering that question and giving suggestions. (so keep the questions coming!) But it definitely has brought it to my attention just how little women are strength training. Suddenly, turning women on to strength training turned into a passion of mine. I believe that my purpose here on Earth is to motivate and inspire people to be healthier through proper training and healthy delicious food.
Although I’ve been blessed with a ton of amazing female friends both in Salt Lake City and in Vegas, most of them don’t understand my obsession with lifting heavy things or keeping a diet nailed down (and that is okay!) Finding women that train consistently & very seriously with the same passion as myself hasn’t been easy, so imagine my surprise and delight when I was “introduced” to some of the most fabulous strong & fit females in the industry by none other than Mr. Bret Contreras! Bret sent out an email to a group of very like-minded women, myself included, suggesting that we get together and start a female strength training movement.
So that is exactly what we did. Thanks to the help of Facebook and Twitter, we chatted, bonded, and planned our first training session, which happened to be in Cincinnati last weekend. Our plan was to hang out, train together, and then spend more time together as we supported our friend (and my EliteFTS teammate) Julia Ladewski and my husband Michael as they competed in the Powerstation ProAm powerlifting meet.
To say that the weekend was a dream come true would be an understatement!

First, we met at Laura and Shane’s gym “The Sweatt Shop”. Laura Phelps is a world record holding powerlifter, so it was exciting just to be at her place! Laura and Shane were so friendly and so hospitable, and their gym is absolutely amazing. A lifters paradise with all of the equipment and gadgets one could hope for. Monolifts, deadlift platform, Prowler, reverse hyper, glute ham raise, etc etc etc. I think we were there for about 3.5 hours, talking and having a blast. We managed to get in some squats, deadlifts and Prowler pushes, with plenty of chit-chat and laughs in between.
I finally had to leave due to a commitment I had made for an interview (regarding female strength training!) and I was walking on sunshine. I must have told my husband 50 times how much I wish I could train with these women every day!

The best part about this group of women is the diversity. While we are all very serious about training, we are all quite different, too! Kettlebells, body weight circuits, deadly deadlifts, Figure competitors, powerlifters, fitness model, fitness instructors…our group has it all! But we all stand on common ground – to get women (and men, too!) to train and eat to the best of their personal abilities to achieve their goals, get healthier, and have more confidence.

We have our wheels turnin’ and we are brainstorming. We have a lot of ideas and things we’d like to happen in the future for this! A strength movement targeted at women by women that have been there, done that? Genius!

Read up on how the Girls Gone Strong invaded Baltimore by clicking HERE!