In October, Kate Evert will begin the long journey from the small town of Republic, Missouri, to Cape Town, South Africa, to compete in the World Masters Powerlifting Championships. The competition is for athletes aged 40 and above \u2013 Evert is 75.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventy-six in November, heaven help me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Evert started lifting<\/a> in 2018, because of her children\u2019s nagging about her health. Since then, she has won four powerlifting national championships in her age and weight bracket.<\/p>\n If you think a 75-year-old woman powerlifting is uncommon, well, you\u2019re right. \u201cThe thing about competition at my age is that there aren\u2019t very many competitors. Like, hardly any,\u201d Evert says. \u201cFor three of those national championships I was the only lifter in my age and weight class, so I got the medal just by showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t false humility. Evert is confident about her strength and ability. And she\u2019s been researching her competition in Cape Town \u2013 one other woman \u2013 and she likes her odds. \u201cNot dissing that woman at all,\u201d Evert says. \u201cI\u2019m just stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n I talked to Evert over the phone to hear about how she got into lifting and her championship preparation.<\/p>\n How did you get into weightlifting? So I went to a gym, and the [gym staff] interviewed me and said: \u201cWhy are you here? What are your goals?\u201d And I said: \u201cI want to get strong.\u201d Why that came out of my mouth, I have no idea.<\/p>\n They assigned me to this trainer, who I later found out focused on power lifters. We started working out, and I hated it, and it was fine.<\/p>\n Then one day, about six months after I started, my trainer took out his phone and pulled out a video of an old woman doing a deadlift. He told me she was a client of his, and that she was lifting 204lbs at the Missouri state championships.<\/p>\n Later, my trainer said: \u201cI knew I had you when you looked at me all starry-eyed and said: \u2018Can I do that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n a woman powerlifting<\/a>\u2018The thing about competition at my age is that there aren\u2019t very many competitors. Like, hardly any,\u2019 Evert says. Video: kwevert\/Instagram<\/p>\n Soon after, he left that gym [to work at] a power-lifting gym. I followed him there, and we started squatting, benching and deadlifting. We worked on making my body understand how to do this stuff. It took me a year before I could confidently squat without falling over backwards.<\/p>\n Why do you think that video made you go starry-eyed? I also wanted to be able to thumb my nose at my kids and say: \u201cSee what I can do now? I\u2019m not a lightweight who falls and can\u2019t get up.\u201d<\/p>\n Once you started seriously lifting, how did you feel? What did you like about it? And I loved the fact that I could do these things. The fact that I could put 200lbs on my back, squat down and then stand up again felt awesome.<\/p>\n The other thing is, your endorphins get going, and they\u2019re doing happy parties up and down your spine, and you feel really good. I often say, if I could bottle how good I feel at the end of a workout and sell it, I would make a fortune.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favorite lift? Now my favorite is the squat. I have a squatter\u2019s body, with short little legs and arms. The squat is my favorite because you have to really think about it. There are a lot of things going on that you have to make sure you\u2019re doing properly. You can\u2019t think about anything else. My mantra when I squat is: \u201cControl, sink, explode.\u201d Having that in my head and nothing else is restful, in a weird way. We live such scattered lives now, that being able to not think about anything else is nice.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n How did you start competing? My squat was about 120lbs. Not very much. But because I was so nervous, I did what\u2019s called a \u201cdive bomb\u201d: you\u2019re not in control when you squat down, so you lose all your bracing and can\u2019t get back up. I fell onto my backside. Luckily, the spotters caught the bar and it was fine. I was like, why am I doing this?<\/p>\n Power lifters are some of the nicest people you\u2019ll ever meet. Yes, we compete, but it\u2019s you against the iron<\/p>\n Then I did well for the rest of the competition, and since then I\u2019ve generally done two national-level meets every year.<\/p>\n Part of what I love is having an audience. But I also had to admit that I\u2019m competitive. Competition is what makes me keep lifting. Because otherwise, it\u2019s hard work, and it can be scary. If I didn\u2019t have any reason other than to be healthy, I don\u2019t know if I would do it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll also tell you, power lifters are some of the nicest people you\u2019ll ever meet. Yes, we compete with each other, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s you against the iron. Either you can lift it or you can\u2019t. That provides us the opportunity to cheer each other on.<\/p>\n
It was six years ago \u2013 I was 69. I live alone, and my children started to tell me that they didn\u2019t want me to be the little old lady who falls and can\u2019t get up, so would I please go to a gym? I hated sweating and I didn\u2019t like the gym. It was boring and stupid. But I said, fine, if it\u2019ll get you off my back, I\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n
She was an old woman like me, and she was doing a thing that made me go: \u201cWow, you\u2019re a badass.\u201d That appealed to me \u2013 being able to do something that most people my age couldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n
A lot of it was the reaction I would get from people when I told them what I was doing. Young people would go: \u201cThat\u2019s so awesome!\u201d That felt good.<\/p>\n
It used to be the deadlift<\/a>, because it\u2019s the easiest one to learn. Once you learn how to hinge [your hips], you can deadlift.<\/p>\n
My first competition was in July 2019 [with] all three events: deadlift, squat and bench. I was the first lifter, and I was as terrified as I\u2019ve ever been in my life, mostly because I didn\u2019t want to embarrass myself. Then I proceeded to do just that.<\/p>\n