Strength Training Is Preventative Health: A Q&A With Danielle Repetti
Strength training isn’t just about lifting heavy or chasing PRs. It’s one of the most effective tools we have to stay healthy, mobile, and independent for the long haul. At Iron and Mettle, we focus on training that supports your real life now and decades from now.
Founder & Head Coach Danielle Repetti was interviewed for a publication recently, and here she shares her thoughts on why strength training matters at every age, how she tailors training to support long-term health, and what keeps women coming back to lift year after year.
You’ve built a gym culture rooted in empowerment rather than aesthetics. What does “fitness for prevention” mean in the context of your community?
For decades, women were only taught to use fitness to change their appearance. We weren’t taught to see it as a way to take care of our future selves. That mindset has only started to shift in the last 20 years or so, as women are finally getting better information on why strength training is important! I look back on Seventeen and Teen magazines from when I was in high school and the messaging around exercise is just... bad. So I think first and foremost, helping clients see fitness as a form of self-care, and not punishment - is paramount.
From a prevention standpoint, the research is clear: strength training improves longevity, mobility, independence, and overall quality of life. If you love to dance now and want to still be dancing in your 90s, strength training is one of the best ways to make that happen. As women age, the risk of falls increases, and with lower bone density, those falls often lead to fractures - especially in the hips. Hip fractures are strongly linked to loss of mobility and even increased mortality. On top of that, women are more likely to experience heart attacks after menopause, and we know that strength training is one of the most effective ways to support heart health. Knowing that we have the power to reduce these risks through something as simple as lifting weights is incredibly motivating. So yes, while having strong glutes or defined abs might be a fun side effect, the deeper reason we keep showing up is knowing that we’re doing something that protects our health, strength, and keeps us doing the things we love for years to come.
What are your Top 3-5 strength exercises every woman should know—and how do they help with long-term health and injury prevention?
In strength and conditioning, we break movement down into five main patterns: push, pull, squat, hinge, and lunge. Just about every functional movement falls into one of these categories.
When I program, I always think: what gives me the most bang for my buck? What movements hit the most muscle groups, challenge the full body, load the spine (which is essential for bone density), and also make you feel like a badass? Because mental health matters too!
At Iron and Mettle, we always train:
A loaded squat (like a back squat or goblet squat)
A bench press (it’s one of the best upper body movements for building real pressing strength... if you don’t have a barbell, push-ups totally count!)
A deadlift (a full-body movement that strengthens just about everything)
A lunge variation (I love a reverse lunge with dumbbells - great for balance and control)
A pull-up or row variation (assisted pull-ups, barbell rows, TRX rows ... something that builds upper body pulling strength)
If you’re doing these movements a couple times a week for around 30 minutes, studies show you can improve your bone density, build muscle, and support long-term health.
In terms of injury prevention, all of these movements translate to real-life:
We squat to sit and stand
We deadlift to pick up our groceries, kids, grandkids
Lunging helps with gait and fall prevention
Pulling strength helps you lift your suitcase into an overhead bin or grab a plate off a high shelf
And pushing helps with everything from getting off the floor to opening heavy doors, to pulling yourself up into bed or getting off the couch
There are so many more applicable ways this can be used.. That’s what makes coaching so fun - you’re always asking, “what does this person need to move through their life with more ease?”, or "what does this person love and want to continue to do for years to come?" and then training for that.
How do you tailor training approaches to address age-related changes or concerns like bone density, joint health, and hormone shifts?
First and foremost, you coach the person in front of you. You take into account their starting point: are they brand new to lifting? How’s their mobility? What’s their daily life like? How old are they and what kind of movement background are they coming in with?
From there, you can build a plan that, most importantly, includes progressive overload. Progressive overload is a term used in strength and conditioning, and it’s the only proven way to increase bone density, improve metabolic health and get stronger over time.
Progressive overload means gradually increasing demand on the body across a training cycle. It doesn’t just mean adding weight. It can mean increasing reps, slowing down tempo, reducing rest time, improving range of motion or basically continuing to challenge the body in a way that’s appropriate and sustainable.
For example, if your first workout includes 3 sets of 8 goblet squats, the next week you might add a couple reps, increase the load, or slow the tempo to make the movement more challenging. You’re just doing a little more than you did the week before. That small, steady progression is what drives adaptations both in your muscles as well as in your bones.
We also incorporate plyometrics into training when it makes sense. Impact-based movements like jumping can be great for bone health, but we always scale based on comfort and ability. For some clients, that might be a low box jump. For others, it might be something like a med ball slam, which is still explosive, but without the joint impact.
For joint health, we focus on controlled, full range of motion while being mindful not to load the joints too quickly. That means starting with tempo work - slowing things down so clients can build strength through the entire movement path. We also train unilaterally (single-leg or single-arm exercises) to improve joint stability and control, and use plenty of variation to avoid repetitive strain. It’s not just about what we train, it’s how we train it.
And finally, hormonal shifts for women can impact recovery, energy, and body composition. They can happen at any time throughout someones life, but we find women are most impacted during pregnancy, postnatal, perimenopause and menopause. During these huge life changes, we pay attention to how clients are feeling, how they’re sleeping, and how they're recovering. We might reduce volume, adjust frequency, choose different movements that day depending on joint pain, or build in more rest weeks. The idea is to match the program to what’s going on inside someone’s body, not just what's written on paper.
At the end of the day, our goal is to help people build strength that supports them through every stage of life - not just in the gym, but in everything they want to do outside of it!
What would you say to a woman who feels too intimidated or “too late” to begin strength training?
Ohh this question is tough because I just want to yell out: don't be intimidated! Strength training is life changing! But I totally understand where that feeling comes from. Gyms can absolutely be intimidating, and it's not always easy to find a place that feels like somewhere that's beginner friendly, supportive, and a place where you can feel comfortable being new. And I want to acknowledge that feeling intimidated is completely normal. So many women have been made to feel out of place in traditional gym settings. That’s why I always encourage women to seek out women-owned spaces or strength-focused communities that actually understand how to coach people who are new to lifting. There are so many options these days - I would never want someone to try a gym and have a bad experience and let that turn them away from trying again. You will find your place, sometimes it takes a little trial and error but there are good trainers and good gyms out there!
I’ve had the absolute pleasure of watching an 80-year-old woman bench press 45 pounds, deadlift 55, and squat to a box with 35 pounds, who before training with us, had never lifted a weight in her life. I’ve coached pregnant women through 150-pound deadlifts. I’ve seen people completely change what they thought they were capable of, even after decades of feeling like fitness “wasn’t for them." I’m one of them! So, all of this to say it's never too late. Research shows that women can build muscle and improve strength at any age. The benefits don’t fade with age, and if anything, they just become more and more important.
What are the most significant non-physical benefits of lifting weights that your clients experience, things they didn’t expect but now can’t imagine living without?
Oh my gosh, you know... our clients often talk about the non-physical stuff more than anything else!
They feel more at ease in their bodies. They say it feels like coming home to themselves. They feel capable, confident, and in control of their health - sometimes for the first time in years. They trust themselves more. They have a better relationship to food and nutrition. They feel their metabolisms are way faster compared to their friends who don't lift. They have FUN at the gym. They enjoy coming into the gym. Lifting is not exercise they dread. They look forward to lifting. They find day-to-day tasks easier. They don't have to ask for help to move a piece of furniture. The list is endless.
But most of all, they talk about how the grit and determination they build in the gym shows up everywhere else in their lives. They’re more resilient in their day-to-day lives. And they love the community!! Being around other women who are there to get stronger is so awesome.
Why This Matters
The goal isn’t just to get stronger in the gym. It’s to build a body that lets you move the way you want to, for as long as possible. Strength training gives you more control over your health, your energy, and how you show up in the rest of your life.
At Iron and Mettle, we’re not here to chase aesthetic goals or quick fixes. We’re here to help you feel capable, supported, and strong in your own skin. And that matters now, and years from now!
Ready to start training with purpose?
Our intro offer includes 3 personal training sessions for $300. Come see why so many women in Noe Valley trust us to help them build real strength.