Stronger: Changing Everything I Knew About Women’s Strength

by Poorna Bell

‘A beautiful, inspiring book that will change the way you think about exercise. I only wish it had existed when I was younger.’ – Bryony Gordon

If you are the girl, the woman who feels like she is never enough, that she will never be as strong, as good, as capable, I am here to tell you that you are enough. You can write a different story.

Stronger will change what you think you know about strength and, most importantly, empower you to go on your own journey to discover what strength looks like for you.

Having gone from hating P.E. to becoming a powerlifter who can lift over twice her own bodyweight, Poorna Bell is perfectly placed to start a crucial conversation about women’s fitness – one that has nothing to do with weight loss. In Stronger, she shows how all of us can tap into our inner strength and find the confidence that physical pursuits can amplify – the confidence that has been helping men to succeed for centuries – and that women can find too.

In this updated edition with a new introduction, Poorna tells not only her own story but those of a range of women, investigating intersections of race, age and social background. Part memoir, part manifesto, Stronger explodes old-fashioned notions about getting strong and explores the relationship between mental and physical strength.

Whether you’re into weightlifting, running, swimming, yoga or don’t consider yourself to be sporty at all, Poorna shows how finding strength can work for you, regardless of age, ability or background.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook, Feminism, Health, Mental Health, Self Help

320 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2022

About the author

I'm an award-winning journalist of 21 years, author and a digital editorial expert, having previously worked as UK Executive Editor and Global Lifestyle Head for HuffPost. I’ve also published three non-fiction books and my second novel is out in 2024.

I specialise in women’s issues, diversity, fitness, pro-ageing and mental health, and have freelanced for The Times, The i Paper, Grazia, The Guardian, Red magazine, and Stylist among others. I work across written features, video and podcasts.

I’m an experienced public speaker, from doing keynotes to moderating events for FTSE 100 companies, hosting and running seminars for corporations. I’m also accomplished in broadcast, having spoken on Channel 5, ITV, and BBC News, and am a regular fixture on BBC radio.

And, did I mention I’m a competitive powerlifter?

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually didn’t finish this book but needed to get it off my currently reading (read half which I think gave it a fair chance). Don’t generally write reviews but wanted to explain that I’m giving 2 stars because I think it’s a super important message (women can be empowered through sport) but really it could have been an article, not a whole book. It felt so repetitive and very disjointed, kind of jumping all over the place. I almost felt like I was reading something that hadn’t been edited. I think Poorna Bell is incredible and inspiring but this really was not for me.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How many of us have thought that fitness, physical activity or sport wasn't for us because we didn't look like how we thought a fit person should"

An empowering book that would be a good read for people looking for inspiration to get back in to fitness and moving their body, however it is that you choose to do so. It's well researched with survey results from 1000 women, other well known ladies (including Bryony Gordon and Fearne Cotton) as well as information from other data research, Poorna Bell also draws on her own life and experiences to inspire other women.

I enjoy Poorna Bell's writing style - it is easy to read however there was just something lacking in this book, it was a bit disjointed and occasionally felt like it was jumping from one subject or person to another with no flow.

I think if you are already someone that partakes in exercise already this may not be for you as is is very much an encouraging collection of stories and stats to get you started and develop your strength.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review

[Viv JM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome and inspiring. Loved it!

[Sophie-Jayne Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“No body owns the oxygen in the weight training area” - @poornabella in Stronger 🏋️‍♀️

As someone who fell in love with fitness in my late teens, I started reading this book last year but had to put it down a few chapters in as I found that very relationship in a tumultuous place. I couldn’t even get out of the car at the gym due to poor mental health, let alone take in some of the thoroughly confronting points put forward by Poorna. But I’m so glad I came back to it.

Stronger felt like a warm hug of understanding. As Poorna, doesn’t just tell us her hot takes and opinions on fitness, but instead writes a part memoir & part essay that allows us to read & understand these important points through the lens of her vulnerable and real experiences. Which in turn, allows us to relate to her experiences through our own.

Although ours experiences differ, her being a woman navigating grief after the loss of her long-term partner, and me being a woman navigating Disability and the grief of my pre-accident body. There was so much of her story which made me stop and think “that’s exactly how I felt”. Her ability to write about her personal, individual experiences and make them relatable and resonate with others who have not lived that path, is the mark not only of a good writer, but of a human who fundamentally understands the importance of human connection.

The fitness space has such a wide net of topics that can be divulged & dissected, and Poorna not only makes a strong stab at covering many of these topcis; such as periods, mental health, and colourism. But she’s also makes the effort to cover them from the perspectives of different women who contribute to her research to the book. It would’ve been very easy for Poorna to simply write from her perspective and it would’ve made for an interesting read alone. However having that input from people who come from a variety of different experiences & backgrounds, fleshed out the book and gave a much more rounded view of the layered topics we were presented with. It was particularly satisfying for me, when there was space given for the experience of Disabled women, something that is all too often left out when discussing fitness.

I’ve come away from reading this book feeling not only inspired to continue to get stronger on my own terms, but to make the gym a safer space for more people. Because Poorna is right, no body owns oxygen in the gym, but I can’t help but wish we had more people like her in them. I hope 2023 is the year we continue to build not just safer spaces for people in the gym, but encourage more people to build that strength within themselves, to take with them wherever they go. Fitness & exercise can be such a wonderful, magnificent thing, if we just cut through all the bullshit that has created its own orbit around it.

[Paula Street · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. I learned a lot about communities that I’m not familiar with, and unconscious bias, as well as exercise in general and power lifting in particular. Inspiring! Thoroughly recommended!

[Anna Norman · Rating 3 out of 5]

In parts, excellent, in others, dragging. When it's good, this is a really thorough and thoughtful exposition of how culture prevents women from accessing exercise and the benefits they miss out on as a result. When it's bad, it reads like an extremely long blog post, with references dropped in to add gravitas but not enough of them to actually inform very much of the discussion. For example, the chapter that discusses food uses Laura Thomas' book on intuitive eating heavily as reference material - not a bad thing in itself but referencing a range of material adds strength to an argument so this felt rather lazy, hence my feeling of it reading like a blog post that says 'I read a book that supports my position, I'm going to use the other person's work to create something I can market as my own'. Also, the call to 'make gyms more inclusive' is repeated often but never fleshed out. And the chapter on menstruation included the suggestion that PE teachers take their female students' menstrual cycles 'into account'- how exactly should that be done for a group of 30 people?! Overall, the book has pushed me to evaluate my relationship with exercise and to want to work on my strength, but I think more work is needed to make it a really valuable and insightful read

[Federica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring and informative but could have probably been a hundred pages shorter.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poorna is an exceptional writer, she perfectly deconstructs biases around womens's strength. And makes me want to lift more!!

[Sadbh Ní · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars! I really enjoyed the message of this book, but at times it felt quite repetitive which made reading a little disjointed in parts.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot as a book to dip into. It started really well and I identified so strongly (see what I did there) with the chapters about the trauma of school PE! Then I felt it lost its way and meandered a bit in the middle so I skipped ahead to the chapters on menopause and older women which again I found really good.

As someone who has been strength training consistently for a couple of years this has definitely encouraged me to keep going. At 51 I do sometimes worry I'm too old to make fitness gains and this book reassured me that I am not! Thank you Poorna. So onwards! 💪💪

[Mansi V · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5-4 stars*

An inspirational, informative and well-researched read on women's strength and weight lifting. The book also felt very relatable as a south asian woman born and raised in the UK. I did have some criticisms however, most of which I've forgotten since I read most of the book so long ago. I did find it quite repetitive at times, and not sure there was quite enough to be said to warrant a full book. The timeline also jumped around a bit, which I understand why, but it made it a bit confusing at times. I felt the author also often ignored financial obstacles to the exercise she encourages, mentioning them only once or twice. Finally, not a criticism but a personal note, I think a lot of the struggles mentioned felt slightly more targeted towards a generation older than me and I would have maybe liked a bit of discourse concerning exercise, body image and societal expectations amongst the younger generation.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and I found it inspiring and thought provoking. The book centred around the barriers that women in different circumstances and life situations face with physical activity. It challenges preconceptions about women’s strength training and I enjoyed listening to the book.

[Soph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important book!! Confirmed I want to work in this field to support women and their physical activity ❤️

[Sophie (RedheadReading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really illuminating in certain sections, particularly enjoyed the chapter about exercise and older women, but a tad repetitive at times.

[Elaine Frieman Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything Poorna Bell writes and this book was no exception. Poignant lines. Beautiful writing. Empowering message. Well-researched. Just brilliant!

[Sarah Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

11/10 I would recommend this to any woman (or anyone). Poorna tackles women's mental and physical strength through difficult subjects such as disordered eating and our relationship with exercise, generational and societal expectations to conform, love, grief, racism/colourism in media, and queerness in traditionally cis/hetero spaces. Her elegance and vulnerability, wit and humour, in tackling these subjects in such a curious and empathetic way made me challenge my own views of my strength, my relationships to the women in my own life, and how I see my strength changing over the course of my whole and varied life. Thank you Poorna, from a kiwi on the other side of the world ❤️

[Hayley Thorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be writing a proper review but wow! A truly empowering read.

[Raa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book! Part memoir and part science based examples that strength training can transform your life forever. Poorna Bell is my new favorite person these days!

[Sian Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the Audible version.

I liked the book. Poorna is an excellent story teller. She can build visual pictures that are extremely vivid. Her story of how she got to her version of strong, is sad but uplifting. She has clearly done so much research on how different groups of women access, or don't access, sport/exercise and raises a lot of interesting questions. It is slightly more of a self-help book than I was looking for but I still enjoyed it. I suggest reading this with a smart phone at hand or pen and paper to write down all those who she mentions so you can look them up later.

[Agirlandabook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never before have I identified with a book blurb more strongly than when I read that of Poorna Bell’s Stronger.

For context, when I am not reading I can be found in the gym training for Olympic Weightlifting occasionally I do both at the same time and then I get told off by my coach 😂

Part manifesto, part memoir this is a book I wish everyone could read whether they engage in exercise currently or not. Her personal story of how she came to find powerlifting is incredibly inspiring and shows her strength of character.

However the information contained which attempts to redefine what it means to be strong is what had me shouting about this book 💪🏻

Bell sets out to break down those barriers many face when it comes to enjoying exercise. She tackles diet culture, sexism, culture, racism, eating disorders, disabilities, mental health, ageism and the menopause.

I particularly feel this book would be of huge benefit to those also already working within the fitness industry, there are a huge amount of people who don’t feel comfortable entering a gym due to those barriers, that are missing out on the huge physical, social and mental benefits exercise can provide when the focus is just to lose weight and seen as a form of punishment. How often have you heard “No Pain No Gain”. Changing the perceived culture within gyms and the narrative around exercise in general is crucial to make it more inclusive for many.

Weightlifting has literally changed my life and my wish is that everybody could find that same feeling that I have every time I pick up a barbell.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of this book.

Stronger is a story about womens strength in all its forms. It is wonderfully written by an incredible author and is packed full of empowering stories and references.

The author Poorna Bell, is honest and authentic, speaking about issues sensitively and with her whole heart. I loved the fact she checked her own privilege and encouraged the reader to do so.

Poorna is also incredibly inclusive in her writing. She talks about her own barriers into sports and empathises with others about theirs. I loved how she was able to weave in science to back up her points, but managed to do this in a totally non off putting way.

I have honestly never felt so empowered after reading a book, and I will be encouraging all my friends to read this. Thank you Poorna!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘We are given the scissors to clip our own wings and it takes exceptional courage to put them down and take flight instead’

‘Feeling strong is first and foremost a mindset and it’s something that everyone has a right to because it’s powerful transformative stuff. And it’s never too late.’

[Laura Deslandes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and written exploration of women's relationship to strength - and the fitness industry's relationship to gender, race and age.

[Lucy Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has only recently started using dumbbells and kettles at age 48 following surgical menopause after a full hysterectomy and oophorectomy in February 2021 and extensive bilateral pulmonary embolism and heart strain caused by COVID in April 2022, I found a lot of the Poorna's observations around women navigating towards exercise and strength training following some kind of transition in their lives really interesting and something that struck a considerable chord.
I'd followed her for some time on socials and was aware of the tragedy in her life aswell as her perspective as a woman of colour entering the traditional white male space of powerlifting but the additional stories from women at different stages of life and with different challenges were very inspiring.
Excellent chapters on Women of colour, the inefficiency of gyms to make women, non-binary and trans people, men who don't enjoy the bro-sport culture and people of colour feel welcome and the impact of hormones and menopause.

[Rebecca B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to confess, I started reading this book thinking it was about mental and emotional strength, and although they do come into it, the main focus is physical strength and fitness. I really wanted to love the book, and I think I'm the sort of person it's aimed at - someone who has never had a love of exercise but who wants to be healthier and fitter - but I found it really hard to engage with the book. As another reviewer noted, in some parts it's great reading, while other parts really drag. The author is clearly an incredible woman with a great passion for her chosen sport of power lifting, but I did find the sometimes relentless focus on this sport dispiriting. I also felt that there wasn't much acknowledgement of the barriers of money and time that stop so many women exercising regularly. I think this book would probably be loved by women with a strong interest in sport and fitness, but as I'm not one of those women I found it quite alienating. 3.5 stars.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

You need to find your why, what works for you, and unpack your childhood trauma and formed belief systems about fitness. Is what I got out of this book.
There is ALOT of information in this book.
9 hours 34min audiobook.
It was really hard to get though and finish, it felt very drawn out by stories of so many different people. There are good parts, a survey was done, so there are many of the stories from there, but also influencers and people around the world. I didn't expect to learn about so many different people; the stories were never-ending.
I lost focus a lot until parts really caught my attention.
There were a lot of references to social media and Instagram.
The word fag is used to describe a cigarette 🚬

[Megan Staunton]

“How many of us have thought that fitness, physical activity or sport wasn’t for us because we didn’t look like how we thought a fit person should?”

Part memoir, part manifesto, Stronger flips outdated representations of women's strength and fitness on its head. Framed by Poorna’s personal journey to powerlifting, yet encompassing many other voices; from sports personalities to ordinary women, Stronger is a multi-layered perspective on women's strength in mind, body and spirit. Bodies are our instrument of power, and it was refreshing to hear a woman’s perspective in which joy is her primary motivator for fitness.

[Sharondblk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, but I struggled with the structure, which seemed rather arbitrary to me. I think maybe it was also a case of preaching to the choir - I'm a CrossFitter and a runner, and I already understand the (non weight) benefits of exercise. I'm also quite familiar with Poorna's story, following her on Instagram and having read her previous memoir. Beyond "working out it good and should be more accessible to women" I couldn't quite see the point of this book, although I did learn a bit more about colourism. The phrase "welcome to my TED talk" kept wandering across my brain.

[Rachael Twumasi-Corson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed Poorna Bell’s writing! Such a fascinating book on an important topic. Love the chapter on motherhood and strength and found so many gems throughout. The book inspired me to get back into fitness and helped validate some of the negative feelings I had around my strength, whilst also giving me the information and inspiration needed to move past it. The only thing I struggled with was the pages where many experts or celebrities were referenced for having talked about something, without giving info on what was said. I guess the aim was to be inclusive and cover all the possible ground. Wonderful book I read as part of the Afrocenchix Book Lovers Box

[Humaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fantastic book and much needed.

Poorna talks about the barriers preventing women of all ages, sizes and abilities from getting physically strong.

The book is in-depth has Poorna’s own personal experiences interspersed with women’s loved experiences.

It’s an inspirational book but also talks about the practical side of how women can also get involved and work past negative stereotypes to get physically fit.

Poorna shares the many initiatives and organisations that are working to tackle barriers and get people involved in fitness and sports.

I’d highly recommend this book.