PowHERful Phnom Penh: Empowering Women with Strength and Confidence

Founded in 2018 by Hanna Bee and her partner Shannon Vita, PowHERful is a Phnom Penh based community for women that focusses on self improvement and empowerment through health and fitness. As a self-described shy person who struggled with believing in her own capabilities, Hanna’s confidence and happiness rose astronomically after being introduced to an effective strength-based fitness routine.

Noting the positive impact of Hanna’s newfound passion for fitness, Shannon suggested that she share her experience with other women so they could also realise the life-changing potential that Hanna found in herself. And with that, PowHERful was created. 

Asked how PowHERful gained traction, Hannah responded that initially it started with a post on a few Facebook groups asking if women out there would like to know more about gym equipment and how to want to work out in a gym and not feel initimidated doing so.

She added, “Our message received quite a positive response so we started free meet-ups each Saturday to show women different exercises, how to use the machines, which muscles they work and how to implement the best form for safety and results.”

The community eventually grew larger and they would soon develop a more structured course providing women with an A-Z in gym knowledge and create a comfortable environment for them to train in.

As Hanna explains, PowHERful isn’t just a place for women to get inducted on gym equipment and exercise. It also supports more holistic aspects of female life to create a well-rounded bubble for women to fully embrace the peaks and troughs of femininity.

At the core of all PowHERful courses are strength, mental and physical, and confidence. That approach has resulted in an increased selection of course offers including women’s self-defense classes taught by Hanna’s partner Shannon. 

Those classes teach women how to use leverage and de-escalate a potentially dangerous situation to escape without harm as opposed to just trying to match a male’s strength with their own. 

Adds Hanna, “Another aspect of PowHERful that our community members find very useful is ‘Space to Share’, in which people can discuss taboo topics that we are often too shy or ashamed to talk about. Topics such as sex, menstruation and the impacts of menopause etc are all tackled in this forum.”

A unique characteristic of PowHERful, which separates their women’s empowerment platform from others, is the inclusion of men for secondary support roles in activities. 

Says Hanna, “We hold competition events that are underpinned by a sense of fun as opposed to seriousness. So far we’ve had two. one strictly strength-based and another more functional based. Another one is planned for the beginning of May. The idea is to showcase what women are capable of through their determination and commitment.”

The thing I like the most is that while we put women in the focus to really showcase the beauty of female strength and capability, all the supportive roles, such as setting up the equipment and recording of points, are done by men. At PowHERful we believe that men are part of the solution. It’s so much more empowering when both sexes are inclusively working together.”

Strength Training or Cardio?

Says Hanna, “I am not against any particular form of exercise and I firmly believe that everyone should find what works for themselves. I do however believe that strength training, in one form or another, is for everybody and that it helps everyone with their health and wellbeing.”

It’s important to have supporting, complementary activities augment your primary fitness technique. For example, if you do strength training you should also do some mobility and flexibility exercises so that your muscles can stay limber as you grow. 

For every goal, there is a different type of fitness routine. Simply undertaking cardio is not the most effective strategy. Our job is to ensure clients optimise their results so they don’t get frustrated or deterred.

What I do firmly believe is that strength training is more empowering for women. Overcoming fear of the weight room is so empowering for women because it can be a very intimidating environment to confront which results in a lot of women completely avoiding the weight area and heading straight to the treadmill. 

By creating an enabling environment that is friendly and familiar, we get women out of their comfort zones to really experience the impact that strength training can give us. 

Lastly, strength training also has so many secondary benefits which not many know about. For example, it can strengthen our bones and combat osteoporosis, which women are more prone to in older age.

Training in a gym or training at home. Which is better?

Hanna addresses the benefits of gym training by saying that it depends on one’s lifestyle and goals and she does not advocate one over the other. She does say though that in her experience that for most people, training at a gym is a lot better.

She explains that home training can be quite limited for strength training in that ‘progressive overload’, the systematically increasing of weight lifted over time, is much easier facilitated at a gym. 

Hanna also believes the confidence element inherent in successful training is driven by environment. Coming to a gym takes one outside their comfort zone. Finding a routine at a gym, within a community, can help both training accountability and consistency. 

Overcoming the anxiety of getting started at a gym

One of the most effective methods to getting started is to team up with a friend according to Hanna. She adds that going to the gym together works in the early days of embracing a regime in that it reduces intimidation and anxiety. 

She also advocates getting some professional guidance. And while engaging a personal trainer does involve added expense, she points out that there are alternatives. Some gyms offer a free consultation session or even a free first training session. Getting a few sessions under one’s belt with a trainer as a kickstart is a great way to get thing started on the right foot according to Hanna.

And just like when you engage someone for work of any kind, it always pays to seek out those who are professional and knowledgeable. In the case of training this means qualified, certified personal trainers.

For more information on PowHERful courses click here.

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