Meet Bobbie Butters the female powerlifter from Hambleton who now represents Team GB

As a toddler the Team GB powerlifter and UCLAN lecturer could often be spotted squatting a backpack full of stones.

The 30-year-old strength and conditioning coach, who lives near Hambleton, always had fitness in her sights and dreamed of becoming a personal trainer.

From buying her first set of weights as a child to writing personalised plans for her family she always knew her path would involve heavy lifting.

Now she’s got her sights set on the World Powerlifting Championships in Germany in June followed by the World Games in China in August.

‘A love of powerlifting’

Powerlifting is made up of three specific lifts: squat, bench and deadlift. And on the platform lifters have three attempts at each lift to create a final total.

And weighing in at under 57kg Bobbie certainly proves she’s repping for female lifters with a squat of 188.5kg, bench of 113kg and an impressive deadlift at 195kg.

“The actual love of powerlifting came when I was 17 learning to be a personal trainer,” she said.

“I had never really lifted before and was in a class going through deadlifts. I weighed 50kg at the time and deadlifted 100kg.

“I was in a competition three months later and just fell in love with it straight away.”

A passion for teaching

And her love for the sport is evident in her teaching and coaching for her students at UCLAN.

For Bobbie the sport is all about being in the moment. She added: “I love knowing I can lift something. It’s the euphoria for me hitting a personal best or a final attempt.

“Achieving that is just unreal. It keeps the drive that I want to represent my country doing the sport that I love.”

She added: “Powerlifting brings you in the moment, you want to lift that bar with everything you’ve got. I just keep telling myself you can do the best with what you’ve got.”

Bobbie recently competed in the SBD Sheffield competition at the City Hall - an event that attracts the best powerlifters from across the globe to battle it out to break world record attempts.

She still can’t believe that she competed on the stage against some of the world’s best lifters and smashed her own deadlift personal best.

“I haven't watched it back yet I feel if I did I would cry,” she said.

“ You feel the noise and that was different from other competitions. Your heart is beating and you can't feel it. Your body is vibrating from the noise.”

She still also needs to pinch herself after landing a job coaching students at UCLAN after graduating from the university herself.

Bobbie added: “I do what I teach and I teach what I do. When I got a job offer I was blown away. I have to pinch myself. I love it and the job description is if someone wrote my dream job then the university wrote my dream job.

“I had such an amazing support system from UCLAN and it just made me want a job here.”

She loves to see her students grow and develop and loves nothing more than graduation when they get their final grades.

And now she is focussing with her own PHD studies on how the menstrual cycle impacts muscular strength on athletes.

Inspiration

But for Bobbie she doesn’t see being a female lifter, inspiring young girls into the sport, as a barrier.

She said: “I always believe the only person you need to prove anything to is yourself. Be that person that will be influential.

“I didn't start powerlifting because someone told me I couldn't .I also didn’t start powerlifting because someone told me I could. I did it because I wanted to.

“I think if everyone can look inside and say you're doing what you want to do the best you can do it there is no ceiling.

“Push past that ceiling and do what you want to do and love to do."

While she’s busy juggling not only the day job as a lecturer alongside her studies, Bobbie is also finding time to get her training in ahead of a busy season this year.

And her best cheerleaders are much closer to home - her partner and their two step-daughters.

“The youngest is already an absolute powerhouse and the eldest does so many gymnastics tricks,” she said.

“They are incredible.”

But if Bobbie was to give her ten-year-old self any advice, what would it be?

“Just keep moving forward and believe in what you can achieve,” she adds.

Watch Bobbie Butters’ on Shots TV! on Friday, April 11, at 7.30pm on freeview 262 as part of our Unconventional Brits series.