Casey Johnston

Last updated

Casey Johnston
Born (1987-02-06) February 6, 1987 (age 36)
Gloversville, New York, U.S.
Other names"Swole Woman"
Education Columbia University (BS)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • editor
  • internet personality
Years active2009–present
Instagram information
Page
Years active2016–present
Followers36,277 (July 20, 2023)
Website www.caseyjohnston.website

Casey Johnston (born February 6, 1987) [3] is an American writer, editor, and fitness influencer. She has written the fitness advice column "Ask a Swole Woman" since 2016 and a newsletter about weightlifting, She's a Beast, since 2021.

Contents

Early life and education

Johnston grew up in the city of Gloversville in upstate New York. [4] She played field hockey and lacrosse at the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and went to Columbia University in New York City, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in applied physics from the university's engineering school in 2010. [4] [5]

Career

Johnston worked as a writer and editor for Ars Technica after beginning her career there as an intern in June 2009. [6] She was an editor for the product review website Wirecutter from 2014 to 2018. [2] In December 2014, a tweet by Johnston went viral when, after a male follower told her to "read the full article" about a story she had linked, she replied: "I wrote the article". [7] [8] While working for the website The Outline in 2018, she wrote an article criticizing the MacBook Pro's new butterfly keyboard design. [9] [10]

Johnston became interested in weightlifting after seeing Reddit posts by a beginner female weightlifter. [11] [12] She had put on some weight while in college, and begun running and dieting with a focus on her body image, behaviors which increasingly strained her over seven years. [11] [12] She began strength training in 2014, using Mark Rippetoe's book Starting Strength, and as she got stronger and felt better she soon "couldn't stop talking about" the virtues of weightlifting. [11] [12]

In July 2016, Johnston started writing a fitness advice column, "Ask a Swole Woman", for the website The Hairpin , at the request of Hairpin editor Silvia Killingsworth, one of many people to whom she had enthusiastically talked about weightlifting. [11] [12] GQ described her tone as "that of an enthusiastic amateur with an eye for bullshit". [11] After The Hairpin shut down in 2018, the column moved to the magazine Self and then Vice , which dismissed her during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. [11] [12] She then launched a weightlifting newsletter, She's a Beast—which "Ask a Swole Woman" became part of—on Substack (later on Ghost). [12] [13] [14] As of 2023, She's a Beast has about 25,000 free or paid subscribers, and Johnston has over 34,000 Instagram followers. [2] [11]

An ebook published by Johnston in December 2021, Liftoff: Couch to Barbell, describes a twelve-week regimen for weightlifting beginners. [11] [12] It is intended to make weightlifting more accessible for women or men who may not consider themselves typical weightlifters, and those who, in her words, feel that "their body [is] never hot enough, always in too much pain". [5] [11] Over 11,000 copies have sold digitally. [14]

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References

  1. ↑ Johnston, Casey [@swolewoman] (February 7, 2021). "For my birthday yesterday ..." – via Instagram.
  2. 1 2 3 Needelman, Joshua (July 19, 2023). "How a 'Swole Woman' Lifted Her Way to a New Outlook and Online Influence". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. ↑ Johnston's birthday of February 6, [1] and age of 36 in July 2023, [2] place her year of birth in 1987.
  4. 1 2 Burke, Ed (September 28, 2011). "Five Questions for Sept. 28, 2011: Casey Johnston". The Record . Troy, New York. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Cohen, Finn; Gazmarian, Anna (March 8, 2023). "Heavy Lifting". The Sun . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ "About". caseyjohnston.website. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
    "Casey Johnston, Ars Technica". Wired . Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  7. ↑ Roy, Jessica (August 6, 2015). "The Art of Being Underestimated". The Cut . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  8. ↑ Esposito, Brad (December 8, 2014). "This May (Or May Not) Be The Greatest Mansplaining Shutdown Ever". BuzzFeed . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  9. ↑ Koebler, Jason (November 13, 2019). "Apple Has Finally Changed the MacBook Pro Keyboard, Which Was Complete Garbage". Vice . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  10. ↑ Davis, Wes (March 27, 2023). "Apple's $50 million butterfly keyboard settlement is finally approved". The Verge . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cohen, Chris (March 7, 2022). "Why Lifting Weights Is for Everyone". GQ . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McKinney, Kelsey (December 22, 2021). "Swole Woman Casey Johnston Wants To Teach You What Your Body Is For". Defector . Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  13. ↑ Perry, Grace (February 7, 2022). "Meet the Fitness Influencers Shaping Wellness in 2022". Outside . Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Gould, Emily (January 19, 2023). "Casey Johnston Turned Bulking Up Into a Business". The Cut . Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.

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