Barbara Phillips only stepped into a gym in her 70s, but within three years had developed a level of strength that many trainees half her age would be proud of.
‘I joined a gym for the first time in 2022. I was 71. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had never used machines or lifted weights,’ the now 75-year-old wrote.
In September last year, she achieved a 100kg deadlift PB. Then, in March this year, she completed 3 strict pull-ups from a dead hang. ‘Nice early 75th birthday present,’ she wrote.
Her achievements are especially impressive given the additional challenges posed by her health.
‘I had both hips replaced, the second one, five months ago, complicated by sepsis which forced me to take six weeks off earlier this year,’ she wrote last August. The septic episode proved nearly fatal, and she spent weeks in hospital receiving daily IV antibiotics. Another illness ‘sidelined‘ her last June, and she also suffered a fractured tailbone in October 2025.
How Barbara built up to a 100kg deadlift
Barbara increased the weight on the bar slowly but steadily.
‘Fitness goals are a long game. [It took] about 18 months to go from deadlifting 80lb (35kg) to 220lb (100kg),’ she said. ‘But all along the way, nearly every lift was a PR and that’s the motivation to keep going!’
Gradually making her workouts more challenging through progressive overload was central to her training.
‘I started small and added a little weight week after week. Even then, progress was not linear. Small steps [and]consistency lead to big results,’ she added.
Today, she can perform 32 deadlifts with 135–200lb (60–90kg). In May, she competed in her third powerlifting competition, where she recorded a 60kg squat and a 92kg deadlift.
How she built up to 3 pull-ups
Instagram | Barbara Phillips
‘It’s taken me two years to get strong enough to do three pull-ups,’ Barbara revealed. She started with a 30-day dead hang challenge.
‘This helped me not only build strength but also develop a consistent habit of showing up every day,’ she said.
Consistent practice helped her progress from 20-second to three-minute dead hangs. ‘I used a band but still had to push off with one foot.’
She then reached a PB of eight ‘cheat‘ pull-ups (‘always keeping my elbows slightly bent’) before achieving her three strict pull-ups in March.
Barbara’s current pull-up routine
Aside from dead hangs, Barbara’s pull-up drills mainly involve:
Lat pulldowns (4 x 7 reps) in supersets – where two exercises are performed back to back with little to no rest – with dips (4 x 10 reps)Narrow-grip cable rows (4 x 7 reps) in supersets with push-ups (4 x 10 reps)Inverted rows (3 x 12 reps)Inverted rows with feet on a bench (3 x 12 reps)
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