Finding her inner strength
If you saw Lizzie Mills in the street, you wouldn’t be able to guess that she is a power lifter, lifting weights as heavy as 190kg. What I love about Lizzie’s story is that it took her until she was 18 to discover power lifting: one of the things that we want to encourage is that girls try as many sports as possible to find one that they like and at which they can excel and achieve PBs. Sometimes this might mean trying something ‘unusual’ but as Lizzie experienced, that could be ‘the one’.
Sport and physical activity can really help ensure good mental health and Lizzie is a great example of this. Powerlifting helped her through some tricky times in her teens — body dysmorphia and eating disorders which, as we know, are all too common in girls.
LM: As a prelude to this story, I think it’s important to understand what powerlifting is and how the sport works. Powerlifting is a sport that revolves around three main lifts: the squat (weight on your back/shoulders and you squat down and then stand back up again); the bench press (you’re laying down and bring the bar down to touch your chest and then fire it back up again to lock your arms out); and the deadlift (the weight is on the floor and you just stand up with it — pick it up and then put it back down). The competition works by having three attempts at the squat to lift as much weight as possible, then going on to three attempts on the bench press and finally three goes at the deadlift to pick up as much as possible. Your final score is then calculated by adding up your best/heaviest squat, bench and deadlift and then using a computer to also give you a Wilks/IPF points score*.
How and why did you start weightlifting?
LM: I’ve always been sporty and enjoyed netball and athletics. When I was going through puberty, I do recall dropping out of these sports for a while and losing enjoyment a lot. I didn’t like getting changed for PE at school or for clubs with the other girls as there was that unspoken pressure to look a certain way and bullying was rife. I didn’t necessarily get along with many of the other girls in the school sports clubs, so I was reluctant to continue with those as my friends at the time didn’t do sports. I think this did have some sort of impact on the difficulties I had when I went to university.
From the ages of around 17–21 I suffered with disordered eating and poor body image, and powerlifting was such a powerful tool in my recovery. I started getting into the gym more and weight training a bit when I was 18 at university, however it wasn’t until I met my husband that I got into powerlifting/weightlifting properly. I went to watch him compete at a local powerlifting competition and I was immediately hooked and wanted to try it. He began showing me the ropes and I fell in love with the feeling of getting stronger and having more muscle definition — I didn’t even care at the time that I wasn’t particularly good! Then after a year or so, I began training properly and actually started to set local records and even British records and then I was even more hooked because I’d found something that I was genuinely good at!
It was refreshing that at competitions, the focus was on the weight on the bar rather than the weight on my body, and there would be people of all different shapes and sizes, lifting all sorts of different weights and we’d all be in these awfully unflattering singlets (leotard type things) and nobody would pay any attention to how you looked!
Was it easy to get into i.e. easy to find somewhere to do it or did you have to really hunt around?
LM: It’s actually really easy to get into it and to find somewhere to train! There are two good Facebook groups, British Powerlifting and British Powerlifting Women, and on there you can ask people if they know any local clubs, training groups, workout partners or coaches. If not, most regular or commercial gyms have the basic equipment you need to practise the movements. All you really need is a barbell and some weight plates to put on each end to squat, bench press and deadlift! Once you start getting better and wanting to become serious then it’s worth looking for more specific gyms and facilities, but I trained out of a commercial PureGym for two/three years before moving somewhere with a higher calibre of equipment.
How do your progress through the weights?
LM: Progression with strength training isn’t necessarily linear, and a good coach will know all about how to appropriately periodise your training schedule to maximise strength gain. In the first year of weight training, it’s common to find you get stronger quite quickly as your body rapidly adapts to all of the new stimuli, however after the first year of playing around with weights and using basic online programmes that are readily available to everyone (such as Stronglifts 5x5, or Wendler’s 5/3/1 etc.), it’s then worth investing in either an online coach or experienced personal trainer.
Image courtesy Lizzie Mills
For me personally, depending on what type of training block I’ll be in, I might see progression in the number of repetitions I do of a lift: so perhaps one week I’ll do five squats in one go at 130kg and then next week I manage to do eight reps, which is three more. The weight hasn’t increased, but my body is able to push more. Other times, I might do three reps one week of 165kg deadlift and then then next week I’ll push it to three reps at 170kg and so on each week. The other way to progress is to add an extra set and increase the total volume of work done. It’s very dependent on how close you are to a competition and how tired your body and mind is!
What kind of training do you do?
LM: It’s quite hard to describe my training regime, but I train three to four times a week (currently two as my job is hectic). There are three main movements in powerlifting — the squat, the bench and the deadlift — and so in each training session I might specifically train one or two of them each time. I’ll warm up on a cross trainer, bike or treadmill, and do some dynamic stretches to prepare my body for heavy lifting. I then go on to the main movement(s) and depending on if I’m in a hypertrophy (high rep, lower weight) or strength (low rep, high weight) phase, that will dictate whether I do three sets of five say, or five sets of one etc.. But after the squat, bench and/or deadlift portion at the beginning, I’ll then do some accessory work to help build the strength of the individual supporting muscles. This usually includes using dumbbells or resistance machines for typically a few sets of 8–12 reps. I predominantly weight train the big lifts at relatively heavy weights, and support this with dumbbells and resistance machines before cooling off on the treadmill for a bit.
How did it make you feel when you first started? How does it make you feel now?
LM: Powerlifting makes you feel strong. When I first started, and still now, it makes me feel strong and empowered! It’s mentally and physically challenging, but so rewarding when you step on the platform to compete and lift a new personal best. Regardless of where you place in the competition, the adrenaline and feeling of being better than you were previously is just the best feeling! When you see me in the street or in the gym, I don’t look big or bulky or like I lift weights, but I feel strong and just knowing that your stronger than some guys and stronger than people think you are is very satisfying!
How did your family encourage you?
I’ve received so much support from my family! They came to watch my first ever competition and I’ve even dragged my mum across the UK (and even Europe) to watch me compete at higher level competitions. My husband, Adam, is my biggest fan and if it wasn’t for him getting me into it and showing me the way, I wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to have had all the amazing experiences I’ve had in powerlifting. He drives me everywhere, pushes me in the gym, handles me at competitions and makes sure I have everything I need to succeed. He even coached me for a few months right at the start and showed me how to use equipment in the gym and where to find good online programmes. Then he recommended a coach to me, James Blanchard (JB Training and Nutrition) after six months or so and James has been my coach ever since — he’s so supportive, empathetic and understanding of all of the circumstances in my life and works hard to manage my training around that. I’ve also had tonnes of support from both the South East Division and South Midlands Division in the form of help at competitions, support in training and friendship!
Image courtesy Lizzie Mills
What would you say to a young girl who wants to give weightlifting a go?
LM: So, you can start powerlifting at any age but competitions normally don’t allow people younger than 14 or 16. Some divisions and places do child only competitions and or young people only classes (Milton Keynes have a barbell club and children’s classes at Champion Strength) and there are some really good social media accounts of very young children powerlifting (@happyluma is my favourite!). Powerlifting competitions are set into age categories: sub-junior is under 18, junior is 18–23, and senior/open class is 23–40, then it goes into masters.
If you do start young, as long as you’re performing the movements safely, in an environment with trained professionals (probably a good idea to look for youth weightlifting or powerlifting classes), then you’ll be absolutely fine! But always get your doctor’s permission if you’re worried about the weights or moves.
Thank you, Lizzie, for sharing your story with us. It has made me think again about what I do in the gym and I now might try one of the online programmes!
Caroline x
Lizzie’s power lifting achievements:
2017
Set new English deadlift record
Set new British junior deadlift at first national competition! (British Championships)
2018
Set new English deadlift record
Won British bench press championships and was invited to join the GB squad.
Went to World Championships and European Championships
2019
Set new equipped squat (180.5kg), bench press (105.5kg) and deadlift (191kg) records
Won British Equipped Championships, invited to GB squad.
Went to European Championships — came 4th — so frustrating but was really unwell during pre-tournament prep
Won British Bench Press Championships
After injury, entered small competition called Inter-Regionals in Team South-East. I set some small personal bests and beat some divisional records which was great mentally after injury!
2020
In the senior class now, preparing mentally and physically before competing with strong, seasoned athletes.
* The Wilks Coefficient or Wilks Formula is a coefficient that can be used to measure the strength of a powerlifter against other powerlifters despite the different weights of the lifters.
* Equipped powerlifting — Equipped lifters compete separately from raw lifters. Equipped lifters will wear a squat suit, knee wraps, a bench shirt, and a deadlift suit. These four things are what separate equipped lifters and raw lifters. A squat suit is made of an elastic-like material, and a single-ply polyester layer.