Strength is Power

In strength-building spaces, being a woman often means walking into a room already measured by assumptions, expectations, and long-held ideas about what you should be. Smaller. Softer. Or the opposite; tougher, louder, more aggressive. Somehow, never quite right. 

I’ve walked into gyms where people didn’t know what to make of me. To some, I didn’t look strong enough to coach. To others, I came off too direct, too confident, intimidating, without ever raising my voice. Too strong. Not strong enough. Too much. Not enough. It’s exhausting trying to exist between contradictions. I don’t fit the mold of what a woman “in fitness” is supposed to look like. Not muscular enough for the diehards. Not soft enough for the skeptics. But strength doesn’t come in one shape. It’s not about volume or size. It’s in how you show up for your work, your values, your life.

My strength lives in my presence, my patience, and my ability to lead without needing to prove anything. My body carries me through trails, lifts, sports, laughter, and hardship. My strength isn’t loud or flashy; it’s steady and earned. I was never meant to fit into someone else's frame. I was meant to build my own. Strength is not a flaw. It's my foundation.

Hannah Bedwell