Taking up a completely new sport in your 60s is impressive enough, but Martine Barons has managed to go from picking up a barbell to becoming a three-time world champion in less than three years.
The 65-year-old grandmother from Stratford-upon-Avon has enjoyed a remarkable rise in powerlifting after initially getting into strength training during the UK’s lockdown.
Barons, an academic, was inspired to start lifting after attending a seminar which advised women going through menopause to lift more than they run.
A colleague at the University of Warwick, who is also a personal trainer, then taught her how to deadlift.
What began largely for fun soon became something much bigger.
Back in May, Barons revealed that she’d already competed in 16 powerlifting competitions in just 28 months since first picking up a barbell.
Her latest achievement came on September 14, when she won the AWPC World Powerlifting Championships in the 65-to-85 age category.
More than 450 competitors representing 16 countries took part in the six-day event, with Barons’ victory making her a three-time world champion.
It’s quite the outcome for someone who never expected powerlifting to take her this far.
“When they invited me to the British and European Championships, I thought, ‘Well, I have been invited it would be rude not to go’, but who thought it would lead to this? I didn’t,” Barons told the BBC.
Her transformation hasn’t only been measured in trophies.
“I have seen such a huge change in my own physique and my capabilities — I am sure that my body is at least 20 years younger,” she said.
Now dubbed “the deadlift grandma,” Barons has shared her journey online, including footage of herself standing on the podium following her latest victory and another photograph flexing her biceps.
But despite becoming a world champion three times over, some of the biggest benefits have come away from competition.
Barons described the past few years as “so exciting.”
“I have learned so much, I have met people all around the world, and it has been delightful,” she said.
She also believes strength training has significantly improved what she’s capable of doing in everyday life.
“If I need to move furniture at home, I can do that, I can toss my grandchildren in the air, I can play games with them,” Barons explained. “My posture is better and I just feel more capable and more confident in everyday life.”
And her advice for anyone who feels intimidated by the prospect of walking into a gym is to start small.
Barons suggests exercising “gently at home with some resistance bands and a program.”
Less than three years after starting out herself, she’s now a three-time world champion — and living proof that discovering what you’re capable of doesn’t have to come early in life.
Featured image credit: Martine J. Barons / Instagram
