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Online Strength Coaching for Women

Getting strong is the most reliable way I know to change how a woman looks, feels and walks into a room. Here is how I coach it at a distance, why it works without me standing next to the bar, and what a strength-focused plan looks like compared with a general fitness one.

Written by Ashton Alderson  ·  Personal Trainer & Online Coach, Durham & Newcastle

01Strength coaching versus a fitness plan

A general plan aims to get you moving and sweating. A strength plan aims to get you lifting more next month than this one, on purpose, with the load, the sets and the rest managed to make that happen. The second one changes your shape. The first one mostly changes your mood, which is fine, but it is not what most women come to me for.

The difference on paper: fewer exercises, done better, with numbers you are expected to beat. Progressive overload is the whole game, and the programme exists to make it happen.

02What the programme looks like

• Two to four sessions a week, depending on your week, not a template's week
• Built around the big movements: hip thrust, squat variations, deadlift variations, rows, presses. These are the lifts that build glutes, legs, back and shoulders, which is where shape comes from
• Tempo written in, because control builds more than momentum does. What those four numbers mean.
• Working weights and rep targets that go up, block by block
• Accessory work for the bits that need it: glutes, upper back, core

03How technique gets coached from a distance

Every exercise has a video demonstration in the app. You film your working sets and send them. I watch and reply with the one thing to fix, not ten. Over a few weeks that builds a lift properly, and for most exercises it is enough. For the handful where it is not, or if you are brand new and the gym floor is the barrier, I would rather you did a short block in person first. I coach one to one at UltraFlex Durham and Hii Club Gosforth, and moving online afterwards is a well-worn path.

04The food is half of it

You cannot get strong on 1,200 calories and half your protein. Most women I start coaching are eating too little for how hard they are training, and the fix is to eat more, deliberately, while lifting. It feels wrong for about three weeks and then the lifts start moving and the shape starts changing. Here is why it works. Protein targets are set from the start and here is how to hit them.

05What strength changes

The obvious bit: muscle, shape, a backside that fills your jeans the way you want it to. Less obvious: bone density, which matters more every year past thirty. Confidence, in the gym first and then everywhere else. And the relationship with the scale, because when the goal is 60kg on the bar the number on the floor matters a lot less.

If you are in your 40s or 50s, strength is the single best thing you can train for. I have written about why here.

Where to start

If you have never lifted, the beginner's guide and the free four-week plan will get you going. If you want it programmed, progressed and watched, that is online coaching with me. The weights climb, the habits stick, and the plan evolves with you.

Questions people ask

How strong can I get training online?

As strong as you would in person, given the same effort. The programme is the same. What differs is how technique gets fixed: from videos rather than in the room.

Do I need a barbell?

It helps for the main lifts, but I programme around what you have. Dumbbells, machines and a hip thrust set-up will build a lot of strength and shape.

Will strength training change my shape?

Yes. Muscle is what gives shape, and strength training is how you build it. Combined with enough food it is what makes the difference between smaller and leaner.