The day Jen Andrew’s life changed, she was trying to become a chef. There was a plan in motion. She had a final appointment with Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, Texas with money in hand, she was ready to enroll. Then the admissions office called and said they were closing the school - so don’t come in.
Cooking had been her “thing” for a long time. She’d won food competitions in Austin. Aaron Franklin — yes, that Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue — had once given her first place judge’s pick for a plate of smoked duck tacos. She was a foodie before being a foodie was a hobby. She’d never told anyone she was about to make it official and go to culinary school. Which, I guess, is a good thing since it didn’t end up happening.
Nonetheless, Jen rolled with it and continued her day which included a ribbon-cutting she’d already committed to as a local Chamber of Commerce ambassador. This ribbon cutting was for a strength training gym that was opening down the road. That’s the day she found the place that would introduce her to the sport that became central in her life. It wasn’t the plan, it was what the Universe had planned, instead.
“The universe was like, let’s redirect this woman,” Jen told me. “She needs something different in her life.”
Ten-plus years later after being told know to culinary school and the Universe putting her at the doors of strength training, Jen has thrived through five surgeries, an MS diagnosis, and an ACL “explosion” on the meet platform. Powerlifting taught her something bigger than how to move weight, it taught her how to know her own body well enough to trust it over anyone else’s statement or diagnosis.
Jen is an elite-level world-record holding powerlifter, a gym owner, and a coach who has spent more than a decade proving that change isn’t something that happens to you. It’s a skill and once you’ve mastered it, you can point it at anything.
On this episode we get into:
Jen’s definition of strength, which has zero to do w/the weight on the bar
Why powerlifting stuck after doing literally every fitness fad
Five surgeries, an MS diagnosis, and an exploded ACL
Why “you’ve changed” is a compliment
When lifting saves your life
Get Under the Bar
“Every time I’d get an injury or something crazy happened, I remember thinking every single time I’m never gonna be stronger. And I always did,” Jen shared.
Jen’s had five surgeries and an MS diagnosis on top of an exploded ACL. None of them, she’s careful to point out, actually came from her squat. They came from a body that was already working with weakened tendons and ligaments before she ever loaded a bar.
Through those injuries and experiences, she built a track record with herself. Instead of saying “I’ll be fine” as a hope, she built strength as evidence of self-trust. Consistently proving to herself that everything that breaks, can come back stronger.
If you’ve followed my story, you know this lands for me because I have my own version of the season where your body breaks all at once and nothing you do is really “your fault,” but you have to go through it and learning to accept it’s “just the hand you are dealt” is the hardest lesson to grasp.
In Jen’s case, she came back to smash more world records! In my case, I came back to redefine life without competitive lifting. Both of us are coaching people to use strength as a life strategy.
I’m welcoming the first group into my Strength Training Foundations program. Feel healthy, get strong, and finally fit into “those pants”. 😉 Foundations is my 12-week, one-on-one coaching program designed for you to build real strength, boost energy, and feel at home in your body again. No crash diets, no guesswork. Results that stick. Grab time on my calendar to learn more.
Now back to Jen’s story…
No One Knows Your Body Like You Do
“No one knows you,” she said. “I don’t know what’s good for you. You don’t know what’s good for me. You don’t know my body. You don’t know what I can and can’t do,” she said, recounting her many doctors’ visits.
The blanket statement, the generic timeline, the “you can’t lift over five pounds for X weeks” that doesn’t ask whether you’re a desk worker, a care taker, or someone on their feet for eight hours a day, five days a week. We both understand that liability is real and generalized advice is safer to give than personalized advice. But safer for the doctor isn’t the same as accurate, safe, or best for the patient.
“When someone tells you you’re never gonna do something again, I just think that’s wild,” she said. “That’s not accurate, because you don’t know.”
Jen’s confidence was earned over time. “I know my body better than this diagnosis,” she said, because she spent years paying close, repeated attention to what her body actually does under real stress. She’s had the privilege to learn what a real setback feels like versus a permanent one, what “sore” means versus what “wrong” means.
In my opinion, this is arguably THE best skill that comes from lifting: self-knowledge. For Jen’s this skill later let her advocate for herself in the doctor’s office instead of just accepting the answer she was handed. She maintained control of her health the entire time.
You’ve Changed. Thank You!
At some point in every person’s strength training and health journey you hear something that sounds like an accusation: you’ve changed.
Jen’s heard it more times than she can count. “I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every time somebody said that to me,” she said. And the change she’s experienced when adopting strength as a life strategy cost her relationships, too. She’s lost friends over the years, specifically because she kept intentionally growing and they didn’t.
Her circle now is small, on purpose. “I don’t have a huge circle for a reason. I want to be around people that want to change, too. People that aren’t complacent.” This is something so important to her, that she removes herself from the relationships and situations where it’s clear there isn’t alignment.
Her take on “you’ve changed” is a fresh perspective. Instead of change being something to defend, start treating it as confirmation of doing something right. “I’d hate it if someone walked up to me and said, ‘oh, you haven’t changed a bit,’” she told me. “That would be boring. Which is why I now say, ‘thank you.’.”
I find the social cost of following through on strength training is something people often overlook. Getting stronger doesn’t just change your body. It changes your tolerance for staying in situations, routines, and relationships that no longer fit. It’s terrifying, but when you realize where you’re headed you’ll see clearly that the people who aren’t along for the ride, weren’t meant to be there. So we thank them for their grace and support that got us this far, and wish them well and we all move on to what’s next.
The Small Things Count Too
In this conversation, Jen’s proudest habit, brushing her teeth with her non-dominant hand, struck me.
“Stupid, stupid, dumb shit,” she called it, laughing. She wasn’t joking about why she does it though. “It’s never too late to create a way of doing things differently,” she said. So every day, she looks for one small, deliberately uncomfortable choice because doing something slightly wrong on purpose keeps us flexible in life. The day of this conversation, it just so happened to be brushing her teeth with the opposite hand.
Creating opportunities for resilience is the part of her philosophy that made world-record squats, after the ACL, after the surgeries and health complications possible. She started at square one each time. She wasn’t chasing the biggest, most impossible goals she could find, she continued to build self-trust with a tiny, boring version of the same instinct: walk a different route, take your headphones off, switch which hand does the thing. Create small, achievable challenges each day and see what else changes for you. You’re teaching your brain, over and over, that discomfort is survivable and often useful. It’s a lesson we all need to know we can lean on when we’re tested in a much bigger way. The practice when things are small, will make the big stuff easier.
It shows up in her coaching too. She doesn’t ask new clients to chase heavy singles. She tells them: just show up. “I guarantee you’re gonna feel better when you leave,” she says to people having a bad day. “We don’t even have to train hard today. Just come.”
Keep the promise to yourself to do the hard thing, no matter how small or deliberate, will teach you how to show up when life hands it to you.
The Muscle Moment
Jen has trained plenty of people through plenty of hard things, but the story she chose to share on this episode is about a client who came to her at 84 years old, having never set foot in a gym in her life.
She’d survived something almost unspeakable, she witnessed her daughter’s death. Her son, searching for anything that might help, first tried getting her into Brazilian Jujitsu. It wasn’t the right fit. Jen was the second stop.
They trained twice a week for a couple of years. And then, one day, the client stopped, wrapped Jen in a hug, and through tears said: “I don’t know if you know this, but this saved my life.”
Jen had never asked what “this” referred to, specifically. It wasn’t her place to pry. She just showed up, every session, and let the work be the work.
That client now holds a world record in her age group for the deadlift. She noticed she could put her pants on without sitting on the bed. She’s off her blood pressure medication. She trains once a week, “and that is all you need,” Jen told me.
“It’s never too late,” Jen said. “If she can do it, anyone can do it.”
Your Turn
What’s the smallest thing you can do today that’s uncomfortable but gets you closer to the person you want to be?
It doesn’t have to be a world record. It can be brushing your teeth with the other hand. So what is it? Are you willing to give it a try?
ABOUT JEN
A mom, small business owner, competitive powerlifter, and strength coach. She loves challenge and change as ways to build resilience. With a mindset like that, you can believe everything she does, she does 110%. It’s in her nature to always find a way to do her best and get things done.
GET IN TOUCH WITH JEN
Instagram: @jenandrewtx
Website: www.trainwithtrybe.com/
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