Why Strength Training Matters
at Every Age

Most people think strength training is for a certain type of person. A certain age. A certain level. A certain look.

They’re wrong.

At Crazy Strength we have 6-year-olds and 70-year-olds training under the same roof. We have first-timers who’ve never touched a barbell alongside international lifters. We have women rediscovering their strength, older adults reclaiming their movement, and young people building foundations that will serve them for life.

That’s not an accident. That’s the point.

Follow along at @craig.spicer where I share the real thinking behind everything we build at Crazy Strength.

Strength Training Is a Lifetime Skill — Not a Phase

Here’s what most people in the fitness industry miss: strength training isn’t something you do for a few years in your twenties and move on from. It’s a lifetime skill. And the things we teach a 6-year-old in their first CUBS session — locomotion, coordination, fine and global motor skills, functional movement patterns — are exactly the same things we’re working on with a 70-year-old in Legends That Lift.

The goal shifts. The application changes. But the fundamentals never do.

For me personally, this realisation came early. I’m not the biggest human. When I started playing football competitively and working within the army environment — carrying, lifting, shifting — I needed to be robust at sixty-odd kilos. The stronger I became, the more functional I became. Strength carried over into everything. It always does.

The Barbell Doesn’t Lie

If there’s one thing a barbell gives every single person regardless of age, it’s this: honesty.

The barbell doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care how you feel. It doesn’t care whether it’s a good day or a bad day. It is the same every single time. You have to treat it with respect, and in return it teaches you things about yourself that nothing else can.

CUBS — Building Foundations From Age 6

CUBS starts from age 6, and every child begins at Stage One — a half hour session, once a week, with a four-to-one coach-to-athlete ratio.

That ratio matters. Because what we’re doing in Stage One isn’t just teaching weightlifting. We’re teaching movement. How to jump and land. How to throw and catch — one handed, two handed, single leg, double leg. How to express force. How to understand their body in relation to space and time.

We have a beautifully neurodiverse audience at Crazy Strength. Creating a safe space for every type of child — the quiet ones, the boisterous ones, those who need more time and more patience — is something our CUBS coaches take enormous pride in.

What do I want a child to take away from their first year? Not a PB. Not a medal. I want them to be comfortable being uncomfortable. To be vulnerable enough to make mistakes, miss lifts, and learn from them without falling apart. Because those skills — sitting with discomfort, learning from failure, trying again — are the skills that will help them navigate school, relationships, and life long after they’ve forgotten what a clean and jerk is.

Start Strong — For Anyone Who’s Found a Gym Daunting

This course is for the person who wants to get into strength training but doesn’t want to do it alone. The person who finds gyms intimidating and doesn’t know where to start. The person who isn’t sure whether weightlifting or powerlifting is for them — or whether any of it is for them — but knows they want to feel stronger and more confident in their own body.

It’s also for the person who’s done it before — who took time away, maybe had children, life got in the way — and wants to come back in a supported, structured environment rather than throwing themselves back in alone.

Six weeks. Coach-led. Taken through every fundamental movement pattern at a pace that builds genuine confidence. The goal isn’t just to get people through six weeks. It’s to give them the tools and the confidence to walk into any gym, anywhere, and feel like they belong there.

Ladies That Lift — Strength in a Space That’s Yours

Ladies That Lift is an absolute cornerstone of what we do at Crazy Strength. And the numbers back it up — a high percentage of our membership is female.

The ladies-only environment isn’t a gimmick. It changes everything for the women who walk through the door. It creates a space to be honest about where you are — whether you’re navigating menopause, returning after having children, training for a sport, or just trying to find something that’s yours in the middle of a busy life.

The long-term benefits are scientifically backed — joint health, hormonal profile, bone density, functional strength. But what you feel in the room is something different. It’s community. Common ground. Women supporting each other through the same experiences.

PB Your Clean — Six Weeks to More Efficient Movement

This one is for people who already know the clean — whether you’re weightlifting, CrossFitting, or using it for sport-specific strength. You understand the basics. But there’s a gap between knowing a movement and owning it.

Over six weeks we’ll assess how you currently move, give you honest technical feedback, and build a structured programme around closing that gap. The result? A cleaner, more efficient expression of force — and almost certainly a personal best by the end of it.

Legends That Lift — Performance for Life

Legends That Lift came out of conversations between myself and coach Allie, and developed further in collaboration with Steven Haywood PT — who brings his own lived experience to the programme, having trained through ankylosing spondylitis himself.

The programme started as 50-plus and special populations. It’s evolving into something even more considered — two distinct streams. One focused on performance of life: getting up, getting down, carrying shopping, maintaining the basic functionalities that keep people independent and well. The other a genuine masters strength and conditioning programme for those who are more physically capable and want to push further.

What happens when people walk in for the first time? They’re daunted. Almost universally. And within two to four weeks — even training just once a week — the change is visible. Arthritic joints gaining range. Movement becoming more confident. People carrying and lifting and turning in ways they’d stopped believing were possible.

The Same Roof

None of this was the original plan.

When Crazy Strength started, the vision was weightlifting and powerlifting. Ladies That Lift came first. Then CUBS. Then Legends That Lift. Each one grew from a real need in the community — and together they mean that from a functional strength standpoint, we’re reaching people at every stage of life and having a genuinely meaningful impact.

One idea I’m genuinely excited about — and taking away from writing this — is bringing our youngest CUBS and our Legends That Lift together for a joint session. Two generations, same barbell, same values. Watch this space.

Your Move

Everybody feels the same before they come in for the first time.

The nervous parent wondering if their child will be okay. The woman who finds the idea of a weights room genuinely intimidating. The person in their sixties who’s convinced they’ve left it too late.

What we pride ourselves on at Crazy Strength is creating a space where none of that matters. Where everyone — regardless of age, ability, or starting point — is met with the same patience, the same coaching, and the same genuine belief that they have more in them than they think.

CUBS Summer Camp bookings, Start Strong, Ladies That Lift Intro, and PB Your Clean are all live now — head to the Crazy Strength blog for more, or find me at @craig.spicer.