Tenterfield exercise physiologist, Emma Page, has taken out a gold and a bronze medal the World Powerlifting Championships.
The competition, which featured only 32 Australian lifters qualified for, was held in Sydney at the AusFitness Expo from 11 to 13 October.
Page, who owns EP Health Centre in Tenterfield, walked away with a gold medal in her age category of 40–45-year-olds, and a bronze medal for her weight division.
“I wouldn’t say the experience went as smoothly as I’d hoped, it was a big learning curve for me but I’m so pleased I did it,” said Page.
Page has competed in powerlifting around the country but never before at a world contest as large as this.
“There were over 20,000 people there for the expo so competing in amongst that and with all the expo stalls, it was definitely very different to the gym-based competitions I’ve attended in the past,” said Page.
Despite the foreign environment, and having to overcome a recent broken finger, Page still managed some very impressive lifts – back squatting 115kg, bench pressing 65kg and deadlifting 110kg – all while only weighing in herself at a little over 56kg.
“I have to admit I’m my own worst critic, I really wanted to better in the deadlifts than what I did but the broken finger really threw my training off.”
“I was only able to start getting back into training for them 2 weeks out from the comp and even then, I had to change my whole grip to be able to do them,” said Page.
Page also said it was a real eye-opener to see how the bigger competitions are run.
“So, our warm up room was this little tiny makeshift room out the back – imagine 45 lifters and at the time only 4 of us were female, all crammed into this tiny space.”
“And then due to delays with my weigh in I hadn’t had the chance to eat properly so I was quite faint and lightheaded for a while there, my comp coach Dave had to literally pick me up and carry me out for my deadlift.”
“I’ve since been told that this is how it is though, even at Olympic level, you just don’t see what goes on behind the scenes.”
She credits Dave Napper, from Brisbane North Barbell, as being a big part of her success on the day.
“Dave stepped in as my ‘coach for the comp’. He’s an incredibly experienced lifter and I have learnt so much from him.”
“I also had the best moral and physical support from my cheer squad from home. My daughter Tori and Bec (Rebecca Everett) our local dietician came to Syndey with me.”
Page was also lucky to have a very dedicated cheer squad at home too, with her clients very much being behind her endeavours for the weekend.
“My over 50s ladies exercise group actually got the link for the live stream, and all went round to someone’s house and watched it together – it was supposed to just be a morning tea but apparently they ended up watching it all day and some of them really got into it!” said Page.
“I don’t really tend to talk about the weights I personally lift all that much with my clients because I don’t want those just starting out on their journeys to feel put down or discouraged by whatever weight they might be lifting so a lot of my clients didn’t know just how much I can lift.”
“There were definitely a few very surprised comments when I got back.”
Despite the competition not being quite what she expected this is definitely not the last time she will take to the powerlifting floor.
“I’ve got my next little, small gym comp coming up in December,” she said.
“I’ll focus on a few smaller ones for now, but I’d definitely like to have another go at the world championships, and next time will be better because I’ll be more prepared and know what to expect.”
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