intro to lifting for perimenopause and beyond
Strength training is one of the most powerful things you can do for your body through hormonal transitions -- and this class is where you learn how to do it well. Introduction to Lifting is a welcoming, nonjudgmental space to build real strength through the four foundational barbell lifts: squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift.
Whether you're postpartum (4+ months and cleared for exercise), navigating menopause, or somewhere in the middle, this class meets you where you are. No prior experience needed -- just a willingness to show up for yourself and the ‘Pause Pack.
Once you've completed the intro series, you're invited to join 'Pause Pack -- a small group lifting community that meets up to three times a week. It's where the foundation you build here gets to grow, with the consistency and connection that makes strength training stick.
Classes meet at Blue Ridge Barbell, 1102 Rose Hill Dr, Charlottesville, VA 22903.
$100
What’s included
Four one-hour training sessions
Learn the basics of main barbell lifts: deadlift, squats, bench, and overhead press
Gain experience with different accessory exercises for upper body, lower body, and core
A supportive squad cheering you on as you try new challenging things!
Increased confidence at a gym
how to sign up
Intro to Lifting series are scheduled every 1-2 months. Each series is posted on the Kindred schedule. Participants must sign-up at least a week in advance to allow time for an initial movement assessment with a Blue Ridge Barbell coach. If you would like to express interest in the next series, drop us a note by clicking on the link below.
YOUR INSTRUCTORS
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Caroline Addington
Caroline is obsessed with helping women get stronger. Lifting has had a profoundly positive impact in her life and watching it significantly impact the lives of other women is one of her greatest joys. She is a strength & conditioning coach for women and founder of Well & Strong Training. Caroline works with a range of experience levels from women who rarely go for anything heavier than the 25 lb dumbbell to women who love a gritty warehouse gym. Her training style leans heavily on the traditional barbell lifts as well as a wide array of lift variations used in the Conjugate Method from Westside Barbell. Above all else, her training family has a damn good time. They lift heavy, laugh hard and stay feral.
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Jude Christian
A Family Nurse Practitioner in Charlottesville by trade and a mother of 3, I am a woman solidly in perimenopause who 2 years ago found myself needing to reinvent what exercise looked like for me. A trail runner at heart, I found my goals limited by my lack of strength, and myself intimidated by gym culture, and my age having me thinking that I was missing some really important components of my self care which is where Caroline Addington came into my life. The last 2 years have seen me transform from a person with all of the common compensations you can imagine come with a desk job, only really running as my form of exercise and whether I felt ready or not, all of the hormone shifts that come with perimenopause, into a strong, physically more well rounded woman, who has a far greater understanding of the role of physical health and lifting as it relates to the journey of perimenopause and beyond.
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Jen DiPaola
Jen moved here from Michigan with her husband and kids, though she have lived in Texas and North Carolina, as well- which is why you’ll hear her say y’all and pop in the same sentence. She has four kids who are really the driving force behind her career as a trainer. Lifting has been the one constant in her life when everything else around and about her changed, as marriage and motherhood tends to do. The gym not only helped her find parts of herself again (and again and again and again), but it also taught and shaped the person she is constantly evolving into. Training allows her to play a small role in helping others on their own journeys through this thing called life.
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