Nicole Clark: A Dabbler No More
Nicole Clark was a self-proclaimed dabbler.
She had always been into working out and learning ways to be healthy, but she found herself “program hopping,” and, as she put it, “I never really knew what to do at the gym.”
When she turned 50, she started listening to podcasts about things like protein intake and hormonal health.
“I would take one little piece of information and I’d go nuts with it digging deeper, but I was just sort of learning bits of information rather than figuring out a big picture approach,” she explained.
At that time, Nicole realized she was in perimenopause. She didn’t have any “major symptoms,” but she noticed a bit more belly fat, had gained a few pounds, and was waking up at 1 or 2 a.m. unable to fall back asleep. Hormone testing revealed her estrogen levels were low.
Discovering Dr. Stacy Sims and Empower
Eventually, her podcast hunting led her to Dr. Stacy Sims.
“It was a woman talking about women. Her ‘women are not small men’ really resonated with me,” said Clark, a mother of four boys.
On the podcast, Dr. Sims mentioned Empower. Nicole looked into it and thought it sounded great, but she admits she hesitated to spend $40 a month on a training program, worried her “dabbler” tendencies might make her stray from it.
Despite her doubts, she signed up in October 2024.
Learning to Commit
At first, sticking to one program was hard.
“With my background in being a dabbler, I still wanted to do my own thing sometimes. And then I was like, ‘Stop it, do what it tells you to do,’” she said.
Since then, she’s been “following it to a T without deviating.”
The Results
At 52, Nicole says, “I have never looked or felt better.”
People stop her on the street to ask how she got so toned — and her body composition scans back it up.
Last October, before starting Empower, Nicole, who was already lean, had a scan for a baseline. Nine months later, she had another scan and learned she had gained one pound of muscle and lost four pounds of fat.
“And my muscle mass is in the 99th percentile for my age,” she said.
She also feels stronger than ever and can do things she’s never been able to do before.
“All my main lifts have gone up. I have PR’ed all of them,” she said, adding that she also loves the plyometrics in the program.
“I always wanted to do plyometrics, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t able to put everything together, so this gives me everything I need and for the first time in my life I feel like I’m getting a legit workout,” she said.
Nicole added:
“I didn’t even used to sweat or be out of breath, and now I sweat and am out of breath and I’m actually hitting the right stimulus.”
Why Empower Works for Her
Nicole credits the Empower team for making the program easy to follow, with clear instructions, videos, and resources inside the app.
“I feel like they educate you so much,” she said. “And if I have a question, there’s always someone with a similar question in the Facebook group, and Katrin and Annie and Frederik answer everyone’s questions so quickly.”
“You can really tell they’re constantly listening and they genuinely care.”
A Dabbler No More
After 10 months with Empower, Nicole says it’s giving her the best results of her life.
“Before, when I would come up with my own plan or program, I wasn’t tracking progress the way I was supposed to. Now I am,” she said.
She has no plans to go back to her old ways.
“I actually get excited to workout, and I just feel like the strongest version of myself, the healthiest, and I’m going to keep doing it. I haven’t dabbled since,” she said.
Nicole’s journey proves that when you commit fully, you don’t just get stronger — you unlock your healthiest, most powerful self.
