When Larissa Walker tore her hamstring in 2024, the 44-year-old wasn’t just in physical pain. She was in emotional pain.

“I couldn’t lift anything…I couldn’t even walk for four months,” said Walker, who had always been active.

Walker’s fitness journey began in the endurance world. She ran marathons for quite some time, but by 2021, she started “looking for something else to do,” said the Canadian who now lives in Brisbane, Australia.

“I needed a new fitness goal,” said Walker, a mother of two children aged 14 and 11.

That’s when, during COVID, she came across CrossFit, and because lockdowns weren’t as severe in Australia as in much of the rest of the world, gyms were open business as usual.

Needless to say, it was a tough blow when Walker injured her hamstring in the summer of 2024 doing a weightlifting complex, and was unable to do much at all fitness-wise, and she found herself quickly losing strength.

As she rehabilitated her injury, Walker stumbled across Empower, as she had been following Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir on Instagram for a while.

It seemed like the ideal fit. She had been wanting to begin training on her own at home, as she had slowly built a fully-equipped home gym during COVID.

“From the start, Empower was so accessible, so easy to get going,” said Walker. “There are scaling options for everything. And when you ask a question, you get an answer right away.”

Since then, Walker has consistently been following the Flight program and couldn’t be more pleased with her progress.

“I do it four days a week and have been slowly able to build back my strength. I have been loving it,” she said, adding that she has found the single leg work especially valuable because she had developed some muscle imbalances because of her hamstring injury.

And because the program is just four days a week, it provides Walker the ability to continue to run twice a week, something she also enjoys.

“Having that time for myself in the morning is great. It sets me up for the day, and I love having it a part of my life. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment, and an endorphin high,” she said.

The Results Speak

Walker’s lifting numbers have all improved considerably, to the point that she is very close to her all-time PRs again.

“I can back squat my bodyweight again for the first time in a long time, and I hit 77 kg on my deadlift in the last cycle, so we’re getting there,” she said.

More importantly, though, Walker feels like the program is one she can stick with long-term.

Now in perimenopause, Walker realizes her needs are different than they were 20 years ago, and she appreciates how Flight also focuses on things like knee and shoulder health, things she likely wouldn’t work on otherwise.

“I can’t keep treating my body the way I did in my 20s and 30s,” she said.

In this sense, Empower provides her the responsible program she knows the 44-year-old version of herself needs.

“I have the personality that if it’s on the whiteboard, that’s what I will do even if it’s outside of my skillset,” said Walker about her approach when she went to a CrossFit gym. “But now, I feel like it’s programmed within my skillset. I don’t have to be doing all the crazy movements like handstand push-ups and muscle-ups to get the same benefits from a program.”

“It is programmed for women to get results, and it is getting me fit. I have built back almost all of my strength and I am still running. It’s easier on my body and it’s at an intensity that is sustainable.”

Larissa’s story shows us the power of meeting yourself where you are, honoring your body’s season, and choosing a path that supports long-term strength. It’s a reminder that with the right program, and a willingness to start again, you can rebuild, grow, and come back even stronger than before.