Refinery Strength Collective

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Altoona, IA
Refinery Strength Collective

Strength coaching for women navigating life’s transitions.

We help autoimmune bodies train smarter, build confidence, and thrive with a faith-forward, longevity-led approach.

10/27/2026

Hashi’s Hottie, this one’s for you. 🔥

Bone-deep tired. Always cold. Achy joints. Brain fog. A body that seems to hang on to everything no matter what you do. You’re not lazy and you’re not imagining it. That’s Hashimoto’s.

Here’s why muscle belongs on your team:
💪 Muscle is metabolically active tissue. More of it supports your energy and how your body handles blood sugar.
💪 Working muscles release myokines, signaling molecules that help calm inflammation.
💪 Thyroid issues can make muscles weak and achy. Strength training rebuilds what that takes away.

How to train with Hashi’s:
✔️ Lift heavy-ish, not frantic. Strength work over endless HIIT.
✔️ Recovery is part of the program, not a reward.
✔️ Low-energy day? Do less, but don’t do nothing.

Lifting doesn’t replace your meds or your doctor. It makes you stronger alongside them.

Tag a Hashi’s Hottie who needs this. 👇

Who’s next? 👇 Drop your condition in the comments.

10/27/2026

10/21/2026

The menopause space is loud right now. Supplements, hormones, fasting, HIIT, seed cycling… everyone has an opinion. Most of it isn’t grounded in what the research actually says about women’s physiology after 40.

So I went and got the education that is.

If you’ve been told to eat less, do more cardio, and push through the fatigue, that advice was not designed for your body in this season. And I’m done watching women suffer through bad information when better information exists.

I’m a women’s strength and longevity coach, and I just added Stacy Sims’ Menopause 2.0 certification to my toolkit because my clients deserve a coach who keeps learning. Who stays current. Who can look them in the eye and say: here’s what the research actually says, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.

If you’re in perimenopause or menopause and feel like your body stopped responding to everything that used to work, you’re not broken. You’re under-informed. And that’s not your fault.

That’s exactly what I’m here to fix.

Follow along. We have a lot to talk about. 🤍

💬 What’s the most confusing thing you’ve heard about exercise or nutrition in menopause? Drop it below. I want to know what noise you’re wading through. 👇

10/20/2026

Today is World Osteoporosis Day.

If the words low bone density have ever made your future feel smaller, you are not alone. So many women hear that phrase and wonder if getting weaker is just what happens now.

Here is the truth: your bones respond to the work you do. Strength training and weight bearing movement can help support bone health, build the muscle that protects you, and improve the balance that helps prevent falls. Talk with your healthcare provider about what is right for you, then come build the strength that protects your independence.

You do not need to punish your body into change. You need to practice with it, consistently and with respect.

Frailty is not your story.

Ready for a starting point that meets your body where it is? DM STRONG and I will send the details.

bonehealth

10/15/2026

Four weeks ago, this cohort walked into my studio convinced the weight room wasn’t for them.

They’d walked past it for years. Talked themselves out of starting more times than they could count. Done the math on their age and decided strength had an expiration date.

This week they finished their eighth session.

Here’s the truth: after 55, muscle isn’t about how you look. It’s about getting off the floor without a plan B. Carrying your own groceries. Traveling without negotiating every staircase. It’s your independence,
rep by rep.

Frailty is not your story.

To the woman watching this who feels like she missed her window… you didn’t. You just haven’t started yet.

Intimidation expected. Judgment, never.

The next Strong Foundations cohort is forming now. DM STRONG and I’ll send you the details.

10/13/2026

I got cut. I sat the bench. I thought I just wasn't an athlete. Turns out I was never the problem. I was planted in the wrong place. 🌱 Strength training finally rewarded the thing that got me nowhere in high school sports: showing up and refusing to quit. If you're the girl who got cut, keep trying new things. Your place to grow is out there. What sport did you get cut from? 👇

10/01/2026

I’ve been sitting with this one for a while.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I don’t want to just put a pink ribbon on my feed and move on. Because this one isn’t abstract for me.

I’ve had the honor of training women who have walked through breast cancer. Diagnosis, treatment, surgery, recovery, remission, all of it. And right now, a friend of mine who is 36 is in the middle of treatment and a mastectomy. Thirty-six.

So here’s the reality I keep wrestling with.

Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country, three years running, and it’s still climbing. The rate of new cancers in young adults here is the second highest in the nation, too. And nationally, breast cancer cases keep inching up every year, rising faster in women under 50.

Cancer doesn’t check your age. It doesn’t care that you have little kids at home, a career you’re building, or a body you’ve worked hard to take care of.

And I’m not okay with “we’re not really sure why” being the answer for Iowa women. Women’s health has been underfunded and understudied for a long time. We deserve better research. We deserve better funding. We deserve to have our questions taken seriously, at 35 and at 75.

So here’s what I’m asking of you this month:

If you’re 40 or older, get your mammogram on the calendar. Current national guidelines say to start at 40, so talk with your doctor about what’s right for you.

If you’re younger, know your body and know your family history. If something feels off, push for answers. You are not being dramatic.

Check on your people. The ones in treatment, the ones in remission, the ones still waiting on scan results. A text, a meal, a ride to an appointment... it matters more than you know.

And to every woman who has fought, is fighting, or is still in it: you are some of the strongest women I know, and it has nothing to do with a barbell. We see you. We’re in your corner. And we’ll keep pushing for the research you deserve.

🔥💜

Amy, Refinery Strength Collective

09/27/2026

New training block starts tomorrow. And I’ll be honest, this one might surprise you. ⚡

Power training. Jumping. Moving fast. Explosive work.

I know what some of you are thinking. That’s not for me. That’s for athletes. That’s for younger women.

Wrong.

It is especially for you.

Here’s why: after 40, we don’t just lose muscle. We lose power, the ability to produce force quickly. And power is what catches you when you trip. Power is what gets you up off the floor fast. Power is what keeps your reaction time sharp enough to protect yourself when something unexpected happens.

You don’t build that by going slow all the time.

This is why I train it myself. You’re watching me do it right now because I believe in doing the hard things alongside the women I ask to do them. And tomorrow, my clients start their power block.

It’s going to feel different. It’s going to feel fast. Some of it is going to feel awkward at first.

Trust the process.

The nervous system adaptations from power training are some of the most important ones we can make as women in midlife and beyond. We are not just training for strength. We are training for aliveness. For a body that responds, reacts, and moves the way you need it to when it counts.

Fall prevention isn’t built in a doctor’s office. It’s built here. 💪🏽

09/23/2026

Test out week at Refinery is something else. 🏋🏽‍♀️

Back squat. Bench press. Deadlift. All week these women have been stepping up to the bar and finding out exactly what they’re made of.

And let me tell you… what they’re made of is strong.

We still have a few deadlifts left on Friday, but I can’t wait any longer to say this:

One of our ladies pulled 200 pounds off the floor this week.

She is 70 years old.

Let that sink in.

And she’s not alone. A good portion of this group is now pulling over 100 pounds on their deadlift. Women who came in not knowing what a hip hinge was. Women who were nervous to touch a barbell. Women who showed up anyway and kept showing up.

This is what progressive overload looks like over time. This is what consistency looks like in a body. This is what it looks like when women stop training to be small and start training to be strong.

The energy in that room when someone hits a PR is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They don’t only cheer for themselves, they cheer for each other. Every single time.

I am so proud of these women I could cry. 🤍

Frailty is not their story. And it doesn’t have to be yours either.

Spots are still available in Everstrong. Comment EVERSTRONG if you want in. 💪🏽

Address

Altoona, IA
50009

Website

http://refinerystrengthco.com/, http://www.trainerize.me/app/booking/823814/27887099/10677622

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