Refinery Strength Collective

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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.

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 pin...
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. 💪🏽

09/17/2026

You’re not fooling me.

And you’re not fooling your muscle. 💪

09/11/2026

I want to tell you something I’ve never said this directly.

For most of my life, I worked out to punish myself.

Not in those words. I didn’t call it punishment. I called it discipline. I called it commitment. I called it being serious about my health.

But here’s what it actually looked like:

“I ate bad this weekend so I have to work harder this week.”

“I was lazy last week so I need to make up for it.”

“I need to make my body as small as possible because I hate the way it looks.”

That was not discipline. That was self-punishment dressed up in workout clothes. And I lived there for years.

Here’s what I know now, and what changed everything for me:

My body is not the problem. It never was. It is the temple God lives in. Made in His image. Given to me not to be punished into submission but to be stewarded with care.

Self-discipline and self-punishment can look identical from the outside. Same early mornings. Same hard workouts. Same consistency. But the inside is completely different.

Punishment says: you did something wrong and now you have to pay for it.

Discipline says: I love this body and I want to honor it.

One comes from shame. One comes from stewardship.

I built Refinery Strength Collective because I wanted to create a space where women train from the second place. Where we pick up heavy things not because we hate our bodies but because we want to be strong, capable, and fully alive in them for as long as God gives us.

If you’ve been punishing yourself and calling it discipline, this is not a judgment. This is me saying: I know. I was there. And there’s another way.

You were not made to be made smaller. You were made to be made strong. 🤍

09/09/2026

Supporting local small business owners is my jam.

Especially women entrepreneurs.

Thanks Kirsten • Custom Embroidery • Iowa for making the hats!

09/06/2026

No-shows hit different when you’re a small business owner. 😅

Like… that was someone’s spot. Someone else wanted that spot. And now I’m mopping.

But honestly? The floor needed it. The admin tasks needed it. And there’s something deeply satisfying about turning a frustrating hour into a productive one, even if the productivity looks like me in a time lapse with a mop.

Small business owner life is glamorous, truly.

(Genuinely obsessed with my .us mop btw. No harsh chemicals, actually cleans, and takes about four minutes. The bar is low and it clears it every time.)

💬 Fellow small business owners: how do you handle the no-shows? Tell me below. 👇

08/31/2026

Think about it.

What do you want your holidays to feel like?

More energy? More strength? More endurance?
That’s what 3 short months of strength training can give you. Stick around even longer and watch your metabolic health improve! Bone density, cognitive function and less joint pain.

Around here we chase muscle, energy and functional strength.

We have a few spots left in our Everstrong class. Send a message to drop-in and try it out!

Well hi 👋 apparently a bunch of you just hit follow, so let’s make it official.I’m Amy! NASM and Girls Gone Strong-cert...
08/25/2026

Well hi 👋 apparently a bunch of you just hit follow, so let’s make it official.

I’m Amy! NASM and Girls Gone Strong-certified strength coach, founder of Refinery Strength Collective, and a person who will talk your ear off about bone density if you let me.

Here’s what I’m NOT about: 30-day transformations, “shred for summer,” or making you feel guilty for existing in your body. Hard pass.

Here’s what I AM about: helping women in midlife (and beyond) build real, evidence-based strength. You know… the kind that protects your joints, your bones, and your independence for the next 40 years, not just the next 4 weeks.

Muscle isn’t vanity. It’s your retirement plan for your body. And I will die on this hill, probably while doing a goblet squat.

So, welcome. Grateful you’re here. Buckle up, it’s about to get strong (and a little chaotic) around here 💪

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Altoona, IA
50009

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