Nicole Clark was a dabbler.

She was always into working out and learning ways to be healthy, but she found herself “program hopping,” she explained, “and I never really knew what to do at the gym.”

When she hit the age of 50, she started listening to podcasts and learning 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 the time, Clark realized she was in perimenopause, and while she didn’t have any “major symptoms,” she had noticed she had a bit more belly fat coming on and had gained a few pounds. She also found herself waking up at 1 or 2 am unable to fall back asleep. And she had her hormone levels tested, she learned her estrogen levels were low.

Eventually her podcast hunting led Clark to discover 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, which Clark began investigating. It sounded like a great program, but she admits she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend $40 a month on a training program, as she knew her dabbler ways might lead her to stray from completely committing to a structured program.

Despite her hesitations, Clark signed up for Empower in October 2024.

At first, it was a challenge to go all in on one program, she explained.

“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.

Clark listened to her own advice and has been “following it to a T without deviating” ever since.

The Results

At 52, Clark says “I have never looked or felt better.”

The people on the street, who stop her and ask her how she got so toned, agree. And so does her body composition results.

Last October, right before she started Empower, Clark, who was already lean going into Empower, had a body comp scan to give her a baseline. Last month—nine months into Empower—she had another scan and discovered she has gained one pound of muscle and has lost four pounds of fat.

“And my muscle mass is in the 99th percentile for my age,” she said.

More importantly, Clark can do things she has never been able to do before, and feels stronger than she has ever been.

“All my main lifts have gone up. I have PR’ed all of them,” she said, adding that she also loves the plyometrics component of 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.

“I didn’t even used to sweat or be out of break, and now I sweat and am out of breath and I’m actually hitting the right stimulus.”

She credits Empower’s team with making the program especially easy to follow, thanks to the app and all of the instructions, videos and other resources she has access to.

“I feel like they educate you so much,” Clark 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.”

The Big Picture: A Dabbler No More

Ultimately, after 10 months of Empower, Clark is adamant Empower is providing her with 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. And it’s paying off.

Ultimately, Empower is here to stay.

“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."