COMING 19th AUGUST 2026 – Pre-order on Amazon now
The Book — Strength Through the Messy & Beyond
A real-life strength training guide for women through every phase.
This isn’t another fitness plan.
It’s for the woman who has tried to stay consistent — and kept hitting the reality of her own life. The broken sleep. The full days. The body that keeps changing in ways nobody prepared her for.
Strength Through the Messy & Beyond covers pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, and perimenopause. Not as separate problems to fix — but as connected phases of a life in motion.
It meets you where you actually are. Not where a training plan expects you to be.
“Real strength is rarely built in perfect conditions. More often, it’s built in the middle of ordinary life.”
Most fitness advice was built around ideal conditions. You don’t live there. This book was written for the life you’re actually living — and the strength that’s possible inside it.
What’s inside
The book is built in two parts.
The first six chapters lay the foundation — why most fitness advice fails women, how to train for real life rather than ideal conditions, and how your body actually works through hormonal change, pregnancy, and recovery.
The second half goes phase by phase:
- Pre-conception — building your strongest foundation before pregnancy begins
- Pregnancy — training through change, not fear
- Postpartum — recovery, return to movement, and what nobody tells you
- Motherhood — training when life is relentless and time is not your own
- Perimenopause — strength through hormonal change, starting earlier than you think
Reviewed by specialists.
Strength Through the Messy & Beyond has been reviewed and approved by a panel of healthcare professionals, including an OB/GYN, a pelvic floor physiotherapist, and a clinical nutritionist. Their input has shaped the medical and clinical content throughout — so what you read is not just practical, but grounded in current guidance.
Read the first chapter free
The opening chapter is available now — no waiting for the launch.
It’s where everything begins. Not with a workout plan, but with an honest conversation about why most fitness advice was never built around the reality of women’s lives.
If something in it feels familiar, the rest of the book was written for you.
About the author
Daniëlle van der Leest is a certified Personal Trainer, Women’s Strength & Wellbeing Coach, and Prenatal & Postnatal Specialist with nearly a decade of experience coaching women through the real phases of life. She is the founder of ActiveWomen, a women’s strength and wellbeing platform based in Singapore, and holds specialist certifications in prenatal care, postnatal recovery, and menopause fitness. She has coached hundreds of women through pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause — and has lived through most of what she coaches. She is a mum of three.
activewomensg.com
Strength Through the Messy & Beyond is published by ActiveWomen Pte Ltd and available for pre-order on Amazon now — launching 19 August 2026.