Holly Brooks is a positive force on social media with almost 1.5 million followers across her YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels, but rather than preach about PR’s and the latest weight loss trends, the buff Brit says that ditching the scales to focus on strength has been the real key to her success. M&F sat down with the “Strong Girl Society” founder, to find out why she feels that getting her sweat on is a “safe space”, and why her passion for fitness is really all about the experience.
Despite her upbringing as a sporty kid, enjoying tennis, swimming, and even figure skating, Holly Brook’s desire to “just be a teenager” eroded her focus on fitness. Then came covid, and the isolation that lockdowns brought, which only served to make her more sedentary. That first lockdown in 2020 was a blow to many people’s mental and physical fitness, but it was also a catalyst for change.
“Throughout the first 2020 lockdown I really neglected my health,” Brooks tells M&F, explaining that she was struggling with her body image and feeling lost in terms of a lasting fitness routine. Finally, she swapped her doomscrolling for a search that would change her life for the better. “I wanted to feel healthier and more confident, so I hired an online PT and truly invested in my health for the first time,” she explains. “The start of my journey in 2020 was extremely weight loss focused. It was a big driving force behind why I wanted to hire a personal trainer. I wanted to be smaller. I would weigh myself daily and measure my progress by the number on the scales.”
Holly Brooks Ditched the Weighing Scales to Focus on Strength
While Brook’s was able to lose body fat and get the reading on the scales down, she realized that this was becoming an unhealthy obsession. “Along the way, I slowly realised even at my smallest and lowest weight, I was never satisfied,” she shares. “I decided to break the pattern and ‘retire the scales.’ I put them away and switched my focus. I started to train with the aim of being stronger, not smaller.”
At first, the weights seemed bulky and her form lacked finesse, but by 2022, Brooks was perfectly comfortable with a barbell and knew that her priorities had shifted when an impending vacation failed to bring the fear of the weighing scales back into her life. “I was training at my local gym in Manchester, I remember being mid-deadlift and realising I had a holiday in Barcelona, in four weeks,” reflects the fit female. “Suddenly I realised this was the first vacation where I had not dieted or restricted myself, since being a teenager. Instead, here I was in the gym trying to become stronger!”
How Holly Brooks Built the Strong Girl Society Movement
No longer a slave to the scales, Brooks is now all about building a strong body and mind. “I honestly just remember having this incredible rush and thinking, I want everyone to experience this, it was so freeing,” she reflects. To share her experience, Brooks began with a Facebook group, setting fun fitness challenges for her growing list of members. “The challenges were all orientated around becoming stronger and moving away from any toxic dieting narratives,” she explains. “That was the birth of the Strong Girl Society.”
Fast forward to 2026, and the Strong Girl Society has gone, well, from strength to strength! There’s a dedicated training platform, and an empowering community of tens of thousands. There are Strong Girl Society live events, like local runs and instructional fitness workshops. And, while the SGS continues to help its members, Brooks still draws her own inspiration from the message that the only person you are competing with is yourself. That ethos has helped her with another passion: endurance sports. In 2023, Brooks ran her first marathon in Paris, and it also proved to be a great bonding experience as she was joined by her more experienced father. “I honestly wasn’t nervous,” she recalls. “I trained so hard for that race and having my dad alongside me, I knew I could do it.”
Holly Brooks Has Found a Safe Space By Getting Her Sweat On
Brook’s core message is simple, stop chasing the numbers on the scales, or how long it takes to run a marathon, and focus on the experience instead. The rest will come naturally. “The time you get is just a bonus,” she says of her massive love of marathons. “The accomplishment is putting one foot in front of the other for 42.2kms!”
By focusing on what matters in regard to her own personal improvement, Brooks is less about the metrics and more interested in being present. “I think if I focused too much on time it would detract from why I run,” she says. “Running truly is my safe space, I get to go out and work through anything I need mentally, I think it’s rare to get that space nowadays with how stimulated we constantly are.”
In addition to the physical benefits of training and competing in a marathon, Brooks says the most uplifting aspect has been what has happened with her mental health. “Your mindset will make or break your run,” she explains. “The more tired you get, the more those negative thoughts creep in: ‘I can’t do this’, ‘I’m not strong enough’, ‘I’m not capable’. If you let those thoughts win, it’s game over. You must keep your mind positive, or it will transmit that negativity all over your body. So, before each run I usually come up with three positive affirmations and then, when I start to feel those negative thoughts coming in, I start to chant my affirmations repeatedly. I force the positive thoughts to win!” With her next run set as the LA Marathon in March, Holly Brooks has no desire to rest. The self confidence boost that she has gained by ditching her body weight obsession has only served to make her healthier. Following the LA Marathon, Brooks will keep things moving with a HYROX event. “Miami, on April 3, I cannot wait!”
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