Arielle Loewen is good at exercising quickly.
This full-time wife and mom, who trains in her garage, has competed at the CrossFit Games for four consecutive years, with a third-place finish in 2023.
Throw in a fourth-place finish at TYR Wodapalooza in 2024 and a third-place finish at the Rogue Invitational in the same year, and Loewen has been consistently successful and looks to be in the prime of her career.
She may make it look easy on the competition floor, but Loewen is the first to admit that none of this success was in the plans.
- “I’m trying to be smart about my career because I thought I would never make it to the Games,” she told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “Now, I’ve made it four times, and after I got third place at the Games, I thought my career was over, and then I got third place at Rogue, so I keep surprising myself performance-wise.”
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Despite all of her podium finishes and memorable moments under the bright lights, every athletic career inevitably has an expiration date, and savvy competitors know how important it is to prepare for the future.
After a couple of opportunities fell into her lap, Loewen took advantage of them and began building the core of a brand that will take her through CrossFit and beyond.
“Pretty Strong for a Mom”
It started with a T-shirt.
Loewen has a strong social media presence, and she often posts her workouts with the caption, “Pretty strong for a mom.”
She gets great feedback every time she posts, and multiple people suggested she put the phrase on a shirt.
- “Why not? I’ll see what happens,” Loewen thought. “And it exploded.”
Loewen had never really used her MBA from college, but she soon put it to work as she suddenly found herself in the T-shirt business. She just needed to see if the product had any legs.
- “I could create the best brand ever, but if people don’t want to buy it, they’re not going to buy it,” she said. “It just so happens that people love it, so I’m trying to think of all the creative ways to market it and go from there.”
Something even closer to her lifestyle fell into her lap next.
“Tame the Mane”
Loewen laughed as she explained how her idea for selling a signature hair clip came about.
“I competed at Rogue this year and wore a hair clip, and the following week I probably got tagged in around 50 different stories of people saying ‘I’m working out in a hair clip just like Arielle,’ and asking me where I got my clip from,” she said.
She didn’t just want to tell people where to buy a hair clip; she wanted to make it her own. After some trial and error with outsourcing, Loewen now makes her “Tame the Mane”-branded clips in her home.
- “I bought my own machine,” Loewen said. “I laser, pack, ship, and write the thank-you notes with them, all from my dining room. So this has been my fun project, being able to pour my heart and soul into it.”
While her shirts are outsourced, Loewen has thoroughly enjoyed producing the clips.
Homeschooling daughter Blakely and training in her garage allowed her to tackle the project in the afternoon while balancing her responsibilities as a mom and wife.
- “I have an hour throughout the day where I fulfill orders, package, ship them, and then I still have all evening with my family,” Loewen said.
Giving Back to the Community
Loewen had now managed to cultivate a brand that genuinely represents herself, even while competing in her prime, but she wanted to do more with it. Her shirt sales were doing fantastic, and she wanted to give back to the community.
- “This year, I started giving a portion of my shirt sales back,” she said. “I’m sponsoring moms who want to do local CrossFit competitions because nobody shows up for them. Moms always pay for their kids’ soccer, clothes, and other activities.”
She continued: “I thought, when the last time somebody said, ‘Mom, do you want to do a CrossFit competition? Let me buy it for you. Why don’t you treat yourself and pursue a little bit of your passion?’”
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Loewen knew giving back would bring her joy, but it has brought more to her than she could have ever expected.
- “Women inspire me with stories of their strengths,” she said. “And it’s cool to see when everything’s been negative, dark, and gross. My brand has helped me distract myself from all the negativity and helped me bring a positive impact. As silly as a hair clip is, it brings joy, and people love to see it.”
CrossFit is not just the Games; it’s the community and the Friday night Lights in the affiliates, where people smile and cheer for one another. It is remembering the OG CrossFit, where there was a community competition every Saturday, and the entire gym would show up to support.
The Future
Loewen understands that her life as a competitive athlete won’t last forever, which adds to the importance of building her personal brand.
She acknowledges that the most important thing is to find value in yourself.
- “Everything I have is good until the contract runs up,” she said. “So I’m trying to set myself up to build brands on my own so that I’m not reliant on someone else seeing value in me. And then they pull the contract, and there goes thousands of dollars a month.”
She concluded: “I’m more than just my performance on the floor.”
While Loewen continues with her businesses, her husband, Dillon, continues working on their fitness training compound.
They have built a large space on their property for the last few months. But it won’t just be for Arielle to do thrusters and pull-ups.
- “That is also my retirement plan,” she said. “Once I’m done competing, I’ll give back to the community, train them, and keep teaching them what I’ve been taught.”
Loewen has big plans for that space in the back.
- “I will keep training in my garage; the back is all for the community that is training for life. I will not train you to qualify for the CrossFit Games. That space will just be for those who want to be healthy and run with their grandkids longer.”
For Loewen, “It is all about the 99% of people who just want to build muscle and stay healthy.”
- Check out Arielle Loewen’s “Pretty Strong For a Mom” products and “Tame the Mane” hair clips here.
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Featured Image: @arielleloewen / Instagram
