‘I am a world powerlifting champion – this is how the sport saved my life’ | Other | Sport

Lily Churchyard – an amateur world champion powerlifter – tells how the sport saved her life by helping her overcome eating disorders as a teenager. The 21-year-old took up powerlifting three years ago and has already broken a string of records, with more in her sights.

Churchyard was once training at Fortitude Fitness in Ipswich, her hometown, when a personal trainer, who happened to be a powerlifter, offered to show her the ropes.

Three months later, she signed up for her first competition, and a “coincidence” quickly became a passion that she claims “saved” her.

“Powerlifting literally saved me,” Churchyard told the BBC. “I came from a place of eating disorders, and powerlifting taught me that I can eat whatever I want and still lift heavy.

“It makes me so happy because by achieving the things you see other people doing in the gym, you’re also lifting weights alongside men.

“You feel like you’re part of the community… and not just sitting in a corner and worrying about what people will think of you.

“I don’t think I would have thought three years ago that I would be standing here now with world records.”

Powerlifting involves three different lifts: a bench press, a deadlift and a squat. Churchyard’s success has earned her the nickname ‘Tiny Tank’, inspired by her small stature and deceptively high strength.

Fortitude Fitness owner Kamal Mamedov has hailed the talent as an inspiration for women who find weightlifting intimidating.

He said: “It’s great to see (Lily) coming in day in and day out. I think a lot of girls can find it quite intimidating to start lifting weights, especially getting all the way to the squat rack.

“People like Lily make it a lot more accessible to them.

“Fortunately, we see people from all walks of life here and we’ve seen some incredible world-class athletes, and she definitely has the makings of a world-class athlete.”

Churchyard’s commitment consists of six training sessions per week and a pre-workout diet of 250 grams of minced meat, three eggs and a whole avocado.

She will need to maintain this level of dedication to continue her upward trajectory and achieve her lofty goals in the future.

“I have two more years in this age group,” Churchyard explained.

“I hope to get my name spread all over the world, European and British records, and then I also hope to get some open records, so an age class above me while I’m still at junior level.

“I also have a deadlift competition at the end of next year where I will be competing in a pro division. I’m hoping for my triple deadlift with bodyweight of 135 kg (298 lb).

“I still have more to achieve, so I will be even prouder when I have all the records to my name; that would be nice.”