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Showing Up Differently Is Still Showing Up: Jan Hack on Redefining Strength
Jan Hack has spent years teaching a lesson at barre3 Ann Arbor that she’s now living out herself: a modified posture isn’t a lesser one—it’s a choice you’re making for yourself.
Today, at 64 and in the middle of her third breast cancer treatment, Jan is proving that from the other side of the room—taking the very modifications she used to only offer to others. What she’s discovering is that strength doesn’t mean you’re doing the most. It’s about showing up for yourself, again and again, however that looks today.
“It is humbling to be the one taking the modifications,” Jan says. “But I do so gratefully, because it allows me to continue to show up for myself.”
Leading With Gratitude and Empathy
Jan was a devoted client for years before she ever taught a class—first through The Barre Code, then through its evolution into barre3. In January 2021, she stepped up to instruct, eager to hand off the strength and joy the community had given her. As an instructor, she taught something at the heart of the barre3 approach: that every posture needs options, and every client deserves to feel successful in the one they choose. For years, she offered that lesson from the front of the room. And now, she’s on the receiving end of that very same lesson.
That shift came after her surgery and the start of chemotherapy. Now she’s the one making that active choice to meet her body where it is that day. And she’s found something she didn’t expect on this side of it: gratitude, not just for the option, but for how instructors celebrate the people who take it.
“I appreciate the instructors not just offering the options, but cheering on those who take them,” she says. “It’s so great to hear ‘I love that option!’ from the front of the room.”
She’s certain this season will change how she teaches when she returns. “I am sure that being on this side of the modifications will make me a better teacher going forward, with empathy.”
Redefining Strength
Jan’s history with breast cancer spans nearly 25 years. She was first diagnosed in 2001, at 40, after her very first mammogram—treated with a lumpectomy, radiation, and five years of drug therapy. A second diagnosis in 2010 led to a double mastectomy. In the fall of 2025, she was diagnosed a third time, with Stage 3c breast cancer. She had surgery in December and is now more than midway through 20 weeks of chemotherapy, with radiation and drug therapy still ahead.
Through all three, Jan has held onto the same guiding question. “I have focused my thoughts and actions on the end of active treatment,” she says, “how do I want to feel when I can go back to my ‘real life’?” Each time, her answer is the same: she wants to feel like herself again as soon as possible—strong in mind, body, and spirit.
Right now, that’s reshaping what strength means to her. “It’s less about how much I can shoulder press or how long I can hold a plank, and more about how I can show up for myself to be as strong as I can, mentally as well as physically, during and at the end of active treatment.”
Showing up at barre3 Ann Arbor whenever she can, she says, is an affirmation—a declaration of hope and strength. It also happens to be surrounded by people who are rooting for her as hard as she’s rooting for herself.
Community as Care
Ask Jan what’s carried her through treatment, and the answer comes fast: her team. Her studio owner, Michelle, and the rest of the staff have checked in with her throughout treatment, and greet her warmly every time she makes it in. In the interim, while Jan is taking a break from teaching, she’s still deeply a part of the studio community.
That sense of belonging extends to the clients beside her in class, many of whom follow her recovery on Instagram at @moving_past_cancer, where she’s documented this chapter since the start of the year. “It’s so good to see clients and check in when I make it to the studio,” she says. “It’s also really fun to be a part of the class next to them, and to experience the class all together.”
Carrying It Off the Mat
Jan points straight to the barre3 mission when asked how the practice shows up in her daily life: feeling empowered from within, and exercising to feel present and alive in her body, just as it is.
For her, it’s a daily practice of breath, posture, self-compassion, and patience—and it’s one she leans on well beyond the studio walls.
Her Advice for Life’s Challenges
Jan’s third diagnosis hasn’t shaken her belief in showing up, even when it looks different than it used to. Her advice for anyone facing a health challenge and wondering whether to move their body, or to walk back into class, is grounded in both her own experience and her care team’s guidance.
“Keeping my body moving is essential from a strength and resilience perspective—but also, it keeps nausea and, perhaps counterintuitively, fatigue at bay,” she says. “Everyone should always follow their own care team’s advice, but for me, staying active has really helped me navigate this chapter.”
Jan plans to keep showing up at barre3 Ann Arbor throughout her journey, however that looks each week—and to keep documenting it all at @moving_past_cancer on Instagram.
Connect with your own barre3 studio community—find your local studio and discover the strength and support waiting for you from your very first class.
Jan Hack has spent years teaching a lesson at barre3 Ann Arbor that she’s now living out herself: a modified posture isn’t a lesser one—it’s a choice you’re making for yourself.
Today, at 64 and in the middle of her third breast cancer treatment, Jan is proving that from the other side of the room—taking the very modifications she used to only offer to others. What she’s discovering is that strength doesn’t mean you’re doing the most. It’s about showing up for yourself, again and again, however that looks today.
“It is humbling to be the one taking the modifications,” Jan says. “But I do so gratefully, because it allows me to continue to show up for myself.”
Leading With Gratitude and Empathy
Jan was a devoted client for years before she ever taught a class—first through The Barre Code, then through its evolution into barre3. In January 2021, she stepped up to instruct, eager to hand off the strength and joy the community had given her. As an instructor, she taught something at the heart of the barre3 approach: that every posture needs options, and every client deserves to feel successful in the one they choose. For years, she offered that lesson from the front of the room. And now, she’s on the receiving end of that very same lesson.
That shift came after her surgery and the start of chemotherapy. Now she’s the one making that active choice to meet her body where it is that day. And she’s found something she didn’t expect on this side of it: gratitude, not just for the option, but for how instructors celebrate the people who take it.
“I appreciate the instructors not just offering the options, but cheering on those who take them,” she says. “It’s so great to hear ‘I love that option!’ from the front of the room.”
She’s certain this season will change how she teaches when she returns. “I am sure that being on this side of the modifications will make me a better teacher going forward, with empathy.”
Redefining Strength
Jan’s history with breast cancer spans nearly 25 years. She was first diagnosed in 2001, at 40, after her very first mammogram—treated with a lumpectomy, radiation, and five years of drug therapy. A second diagnosis in 2010 led to a double mastectomy. In the fall of 2025, she was diagnosed a third time, with Stage 3c breast cancer. She had surgery in December and is now more than midway through 20 weeks of chemotherapy, with radiation and drug therapy still ahead.
Through all three, Jan has held onto the same guiding question. “I have focused my thoughts and actions on the end of active treatment,” she says, “how do I want to feel when I can go back to my ‘real life’?” Each time, her answer is the same: she wants to feel like herself again as soon as possible—strong in mind, body, and spirit.
Right now, that’s reshaping what strength means to her. “It’s less about how much I can shoulder press or how long I can hold a plank, and more about how I can show up for myself to be as strong as I can, mentally as well as physically, during and at the end of active treatment.”
Showing up at barre3 Ann Arbor whenever she can, she says, is an affirmation—a declaration of hope and strength. It also happens to be surrounded by people who are rooting for her as hard as she’s rooting for herself.
Community as Care
Ask Jan what’s carried her through treatment, and the answer comes fast: her team. Her studio owner, Michelle, and the rest of the staff have checked in with her throughout treatment, and greet her warmly every time she makes it in. In the interim, while Jan is taking a break from teaching, she’s still deeply a part of the studio community.
That sense of belonging extends to the clients beside her in class, many of whom follow her recovery on Instagram at @moving_past_cancer, where she’s documented this chapter since the start of the year. “It’s so good to see clients and check in when I make it to the studio,” she says. “It’s also really fun to be a part of the class next to them, and to experience the class all together.”
Carrying It Off the Mat
Jan points straight to the barre3 mission when asked how the practice shows up in her daily life: feeling empowered from within, and exercising to feel present and alive in her body, just as it is.
For her, it’s a daily practice of breath, posture, self-compassion, and patience—and it’s one she leans on well beyond the studio walls.
Her Advice for Life’s Challenges
Jan’s third diagnosis hasn’t shaken her belief in showing up, even when it looks different than it used to. Her advice for anyone facing a health challenge and wondering whether to move their body, or to walk back into class, is grounded in both her own experience and her care team’s guidance.
“Keeping my body moving is essential from a strength and resilience perspective—but also, it keeps nausea and, perhaps counterintuitively, fatigue at bay,” she says. “Everyone should always follow their own care team’s advice, but for me, staying active has really helped me navigate this chapter.”
Jan plans to keep showing up at barre3 Ann Arbor throughout her journey, however that looks each week—and to keep documenting it all at @moving_past_cancer on Instagram.
Connect with your own barre3 studio community—find your local studio and discover the strength and support waiting for you from your very first class.
