I Wasn’t Athletic Growing Up How Strength Training Changed My Life
For most of my life, I never considered myself athletic.
I wasn’t the kid signing up for sports teams or chasing competition. I didn’t grow up with trophies, medals, or a natural love for athletics. Movement wasn’t something I identified with and strength definitely wasn’t part of my identity.
And yet, strength training ended up changing the entire trajectory of my life.
This is where my story really begins.
I Avoided Sports and Never Saw Myself as “Athletic”
Growing up, I didn’t feel like I belonged in sports culture. I wasn’t bad at movement I just didn’t see myself there. I didn’t feel fast enough, strong enough, or competitive enough.
Looking back now, I realize it wasn’t a lack of ability.
It was a lack of exposure, guidance, and belief.
I didn’t know that strength could be built. I thought you either were athletic… or you weren’t.
That belief followed me well into adulthood.
Joining a Gym at 18 With No Idea What I Was Doing
At 18, everything shifted.
I joined a gym not because I had fitness goals or a vision for my body, but because I knew I would eventually need to pass physical testing to get into fire or EMS.
I started going regularly with my dad. It became routine. Familiar. Safe.
But here’s the truth: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
I lifted weights without understanding form, programming, or progression. I copied what I saw other people doing. I did random exercises and hoped it would be enough.
What I did have was consistency.
And that mattered more than I knew at the time.
Hiring My First Personal Trainer (And Why It Mattered)
Eventually, I realized guessing wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to go.
So I hired a personal trainer at the gym the first one I had ever worked with.
That trainer wrote me my first structured program.
For the first time, workouts made sense.
I wasn’t just doing exercises I had a plan
I understood sets, reps, and progression
I learned how to move with intention
This was my first real lesson in an important truth:
You don’t need more motivation. You need direction.
Consistency Before Confidence
I continued working out for several years.
I didn’t feel confident. I didn’t feel like I “looked the part.” I still wouldn’t have called myself athletic.
But training had quietly become part of my life.
I did P90X workouts. Jillian Michaels DVDs. Whatever I could access.
Eventually, we built a small gym in our basement a treadmill, squat rack, and dumbbells.
Fitness wasn’t flashy.
It was just… normal.
And that normalcy laid the foundation for everything that came next.
The Missing Piece No One Talked About: Nutrition
Even though I was training consistently, something was missing.
I didn’t understand nutrition.
I didn’t know how food fueled performance, recovery, or body composition. I was working hard but not seeing the results I expected.
This is something I see constantly now with women and moms:
They train. They sweat. They show up.
But they don’t eat in a way that supports their body.
I didn’t know then that nutrition would become the key that unlocked energy, strength, and fat loss later in my journey.
Strength Training Became Part of Who I Was Before I Realized It
I didn’t wake up one day and decide to “become a fitness person.”
It happened quietly.
Through showing up. Through learning. Through repetition.
Strength training didn’t just change my body.
It changed how I saw myself.
I went from someone who wasn’t athletic… To someone capable, resilient, and strong.
And that shift would carry me through:
Pregnancy
Postpartum recovery
Career demands
Burnout
And eventually, helping other women rebuild their strength too
You Don’t Need to Be Athletic to Get Strong
This is the message I wish someone had told me at 18:
You don’t need to be athletic. You don’t need a sports background. You don’t need confidence first.
You need:
A plan
Consistency
Support
And patience
Strength is built not inherited.
And sometimes the women who never thought they belonged in fitness become the strongest ones of all.
In the next post, I’ll share how strength training carried me through pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and motherhood and why lifting weights became non-negotiable for my mental and physical health.
