That Badass Broadcast
That Badass Broadcast is for women over 40 who lift weights—or want to start. It’s about strength, resilience, and redefining what’s possible. Hosted by powerlifter and writer Miriam Lawrence, the show features real conversations with badass women getting stronger in every sense, plus the experts who help them do it. Whether you’re training for your first deadlift or chasing records at 70, you’ll find bold stories, smart strategies, and the inspiration to unleash your OWN inner badass.
That Badass Broadcast
What I Can, With What I've Got
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Mava Wery Brydges first walked into a gym in 1981, age 23, drawn upstairs to the "men's floor" by the sound of clanging weights. She stayed despite a few unhappy male lifters, and by 1983 had broken a deadlift record at her very first powerlifting meet.
Then she walked away to raise her sons and run a daycare. 34 years later, she found herself out of shape and suffering chronic back pain so bad she cried most evenings and couldn't walk more than a few steps. Her doctor said she should just walk for exercise.
Her answer? "Hell, no."
She rebuilt herself through CrossFit, then the barbell, and returned to powerlifting in 2017. Now in her late 60s, Mava is a multiple national record holder and IPF medalist. She's still setting PRs despite knees that badly need replacing.
In this episode of That Badass Broadcast, we talk about breaking boundaries at a time when exercise for women meant step aerobics; the chronic pain that nearly sidelined her from life; how lifting fixed her back; the coaching team that’s become her second family; and what she says to anyone who's been told they're too old, or too broken, to lift.
Follow Mava on Instagram @granny_gainz2nd and on Facebook at Mava Brydges.
For show notes and past episodes of That Badass Broadcast, visit thatbadassbroad.com/podcast.
Writing on strength, training, and competing later in life at thatbadassbroad.com.
Clips and training on Instagram: instagram.com/mirslam.
Full episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@thatbadassbroad.
Welcome to that badass broadcast. Real stories and straight talk about lifting weights for women in midlife and beyond. Love your Mondrian glasses. I love all your glasses. I've always noticed your glasses in your Instagram. You wear the coolest glasses. But those look like is it Mondrian? Like the painter?
SPEAKER_01You know what? I don't have a clue, but you know what I call them? I call them the Partridge Family Bus Glasses.
Miriam LawrenceWe're showing our age, Mava.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I know, right? Ah, that's okay.
Miriam LawrenceWell, Mava Bridges, it is so great to have you here. I've been wanting to talk to you forever. We've never met in person. We're sort of Instagram friends, right? We've been Instagram friends for I don't even know how long, years. Which is one of my favorite things about powerlifting and especially masters powerlifting, is I feel like we just form this community naturally. We masters women are especially, I think, form this great community of support, and it's lovely. And it is. But I've been watching you do amazing things up there in Canada from my little corner here of Vermont. So before we get into sort of more about lifting, I just would love to learn a little bit more about you because I don't know that much about you. I know um you're from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Miriam LawrenceUm my our American listeners here may not really do they just think of a big blank white spot up above the border. So tell us a little bit about where where is Moose Jaw? What is what is it like there? And um, you know, what what what has your life been like living there?
SPEAKER_01Um I moved I moved to Moose Jaw in 1980. My husband was in the Air Force. So we moved there in 80 and decided to stay because it's a just a nice, it's a city, a small city, but a town vibe. It's 32,000 people. Um and it's just been a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful place to raise our kids. I have two sons. One is turning 40 and the other one's 36.
Miriam LawrenceAnd I know you've got lot, I know you got grandkids because your number on Instagram is is Granny Gaines.
SPEAKER_01So I have four grandchildren, three girls and one boy. The two oldest girls, they're about three blocks away from grandma's house, so that's good. The other one is about two and a half hours away up in Saskatoon, so we get up there as often as we can. I was born in Manitoba in Selkirk. That's one province over from my home from what I call my home province now of Saskatchewan. So it's one province over. I spent most of my young teen years in in Selkirk, which is uh a small small city, about 12,000. But then we moved up north to Gillam, Manitoba, which is way up with the polar bears. So always loved the northern light life, and um anyway we ended up here in Moose Ja and and love living there.
Miriam LawrenceI know you're retired. Did you have a job outside the home?
SPEAKER_01For the last 31 years I ran a home daycare.
Miriam LawrenceOkay.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so raised my children and a few others as well.
Miriam LawrenceWhat a great way to it's a great way to monetize getting to be with your kids. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Way back then we were having such difficulty finding quality care in in Moosh. I just felt that it was something that I could try to do and ended up absolutely loving it. Broke my heart when I had to retire. My body was getting tired. I couldn't keep the level of energy that I needed.
Miriam LawrenceYeah. Well, there's good reason for that because Meva is a world champion, masters power lifter, and has been lifting for a very long time, and we'll talk about that. I know you started back in the early 80s and were pretty successful, and then you took a long break and you came back to it. Um you're uh an inspiration on multiple fronts, but that's why we're talking because Mava is uh is a killer coming up on 70 years old now, right? You're 68.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I'm 68. I'll be 69 next month, so M4 next year.
Miriam LawrenceAnd still setting PRs um despite dealing with some physical challenges. Again, we'll talk about that. But I'd love to go back to the early 80s because you were kind of a trailblazer among women to be strength training back at that time. What made you walk into a gym for the first time? How did that come about?
SPEAKER_01Well, when I was a teenager in the 70s, I watched a movie called Pumping Iron, and there was something that drew me into weight. It was like, wow, that's really interesting. And I'm always into something. I like uniqueness, I like just a little bit different. You don't have to be a you know, sheep follow everybody, just do your own thing, and that was kind of my attitude. And I when I was up in Gillam, I heard that there was gym, but it was only for the camp men, and I was like, oh okay, and I wasn't brought up with any sort of prejudices or women being less than men. I wasn't brought up that way, so I was quite I was quite taken aback. What do you mean I can't go? I I've never experienced that before. So when we moved to Mooshaw in 80, I heard that there was a gym that women were actually going to, and I was so excited to join. So I walked in the doors of Piles Gym in the beginning of 1981, and I was so excited until they showed me around because it was the one floor was women with the steparobics and little weights and very minimal things for women. And then you go up to the floor where the men were and it was filled. It was filled with machines and weights and barbells and uh and noise and energy and not steparobics. I mean, nothing against stepaerobics, because that was a thing, right? But it just wasn't me.
Miriam LawrenceIt was pump, it was pumping iron up there on the second floor. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. So when I would try and lift weights on the ladies' floor, and I'd hear that noise up there, there was just there was just an energy that kept on drawing me there. So I went to the owner of the gym, and to me, he was obviously a forward-thinking man, and I said, Look, I would really like to learn how to really lift weights. Um, and he said, Go ahead, give it a try, if see what happens. And I went up there, and there were some men that were very taken aback, they weren't happy with me, and I was like, Hey, I have every right to be here, I pay my dues just like you do, and I persevered, and other women followed me up, much to some of the men's dismay. But a lot of them were very accepting and happy to help.
Miriam LawrenceAnd I learned from those men. Did you find that the men who were not so thrilled or so accepting over time came to be more accepting? Or were they just sort of begrudgingly, you know, stolen all the time?
SPEAKER_01They they were good. They they slowly learn, just like my doctor learned, you can evolve, you can change your mindset about certain things when proven wrong. So, yes, I would say that 90% of them learn to accept and treat us like other gym members.
Miriam LawrenceSo, did you learn how to lift heavy from the men at that gym, or did you have a trainer? How did you come to learn?
SPEAKER_01Oh, you know, I just I followed examples and asked questions because no, there was not really a trainer trainer per se. Um, I had Bill Pyle and Dave Pyle, which were they were the ones who were trying to coach me along and whatnot, and and did a very good job and gave me the basics. And I started from there. And of course, things have evolved throughout the years of knowing better about how to move the body and to keep it safe. But yes, basics learned from them.
Miriam LawrenceSo you were how old when you actually started at Piles, Jim? Uh 23. And then uh I think you got into power lifting pretty quickly after you started lifting. So tell me a little bit about that. How did you even learn it was a thing? Because obviously pumping iron's amazing, but that's Arnold Schwarzenegger in bodybuilding. How did you discover powerlifting and how did you uh you know decide you wanted to get into it?
SPEAKER_01Well, the guys there they were competing and doing provincials and things like that. And I was like, oh, I should try that. So I mean, I trained and then I did the 1983 Western Canadians, I think was my very first meet. And it just happened to be in Mooshak. I just thought, well, I'll give it a try. And I did well. I broke a deadlift record back then, 300 pounds. So I was pretty happy with that as a as a young person. But actually, all these years later, I'm doing probably more squatting and benching than I was back in those days.
Miriam LawrenceWas that equipped lifting back then? I know most lift most powerlifting was equipped back in the 80s, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It was, yes. Um, so the very first time I had a squat suit on was that meats. I was like, I don't know how you get into this thing, right? Because I had no, there was, they just said, here, try this. And I'm like, okay.
Miriam LawrenceJust love how like, you know, you're just totally willing to just try stuff, you know? I mean, like, I overthink, you know, I'm like, I need to know how to do this and this and this, and then I'll prepare myself. And you know, you're just like, no, here, uh, suit, what's suit? Sometimes oblivion is good. So we talked about how men were sort of feeling about you at the time. How did other women around you, your your friends and family members, how how did they take all of this? Um, why do you want to be a boy?
SPEAKER_01Why do you want to look like a boy? Why do you want to look like a man? Oh, and then I got I played broomball at the time, which is contact sport, and I would get things like, oh, you muscle head, uh, you know, a lot of I guess bullying, name calling. Yeah, they just didn't understand. And, you know, you're gonna bulk up, you're gonna look like a man. Yeah, sure. So far hasn't happened. I'm trying. The bulking up is not happening. Please give me more bulk, please. Well, I had a trainer ask my friend the other day, what do you want to do? Do you want to what did she say? Do you want to just tone or would you like to bulk up with muscles? And I'm like, he asked you that? People actually ask that nowadays. I said to her, you wish you could bulk up.
Miriam LawrenceI've been trying for 10 years now.
SPEAKER_01Right. We all have been, and I mean, it it is hard. Genetics play a big factor in that kind of stuff, right? Yeah. Like, I mean, I have a flat butt. It's not going anywhere.
Miriam LawrenceI mean, to be fair, I have put on muscle. I'm sure you put on a ton of muscle also. But you know, this whole like you're gonna look like a man thing is. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_01No, I know. No.
Miriam LawrenceSo did they eventually come around as you showed them that in fact you were not going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger anytime?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_01But I mean, in defense of them, even in the 80s, because I did a couple bodybuilding meets as well, there was a lot of steroids around.
Miriam LawrenceOh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I mean, a lot of the girls they did steroids. I mean, I I barely take I mean, I have to take Tylenol and I have to take some meds now because of my health issues. But back then, I mean, I wouldn't even take vitamins. So never mind taking a steroid. So I mean, it it was a thing back then too.
Miriam LawrenceAnd it and it still is, and you know, absolutely, yeah. And I I have no problem with that as long as people are competing in their lane. I I have no issue. If I mean I don't do it either, uh you know, creatine's the hardest stuff I take.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, yeah. Creatine, yeah.
Miriam LawrenceBut I'm not I'm not opposed, I'm not opposed to it if if that is what everyone else is on a level playing field.
SPEAKER_01That's the I agree. I agree totally with that. To me, that's why they have the different federations, and that's a great thing.
Miriam LawrenceExactly. So you did try bodybuilding. What what made you pick a lane, so to speak?
SPEAKER_01I honestly like the fact that it was just me and that bar. It it didn't matter. I could get in a mindset where it was just me and that bar. I mean, I like the bodybuilding as well. I like the aesthetics of it, but that wasn't the be-all and end-all for me. I liked the strength of uh powerlifting. Seeing that weight go up on the bar is something else, right? When I have over 200 pounds to to bench and I'm handling that weight, bringing it down to my body, that's that's something, right? And so that's what drives me that. Let's see if I can get another half a kilo.
Miriam LawrenceIt's funny that we, you know, I I I read and listen to podcasts and things about sports, and you know, they're talking about having an opponent, and of course, we don't we have opponents in the sense that you know there are other people that we're trying to outlift. Yes, but really the opponent is the bar, right? The opponent is gravity. I mean, I think for for me, I'm very similar to you. Um I love the objectivity of power lifting. You can lift it or you can't. There's no, you know, I think he looks better than her, and you know, she's a little more symmetrical, or we have a relationship of some kind, whatever. It's like either you lift it or you don't, period.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and bodybuilding, it it really is subjective. It's their opinion. You're relying on somebody else's opinion. And with power lifting, it's yeah, you did, or no, you didn't. Or you didn't, yeah.
Miriam LawrenceAnd it's so good when you do, and it's so frustrating when you don't. Yeah. Well, we'll talk more about you because you have been lately. Um, but you took a break, a pretty long break. So, what caused you to walk away? Did you stop strength training altogether at that point?
SPEAKER_01I just I kept going back a little, little here, little there, but I was raising my children. My last meet, I think, was in 85 and walked away and had a baby in 86. So I was happy to stay home with my boys, and I honestly didn't want to waste any time away from them. And that's what I felt it was. And even though it's not a waste of time, any of you mothers out there that are lifting, taking time away for yourself to do that, that's perfect. But at the time, I just I couldn't. I just I stayed at home and I sadly I gained weight and I had some disc problems, bad back, surgical intervention was suggested, but I said no, thank you. And uh then I just slowly got back into it again.
Miriam LawrenceSo that how what how what amount of time are we talking about?
SPEAKER_0134 years. Yes, yeah, long time away. And honestly, every year that was a dream. It was a dream to come back. And a dream that I just never ever it was just a a figment of my imagination coming back to powerlifting to do this sport. I never ever thought I would.
Miriam LawrenceNever thought I could. Okay, well, something changed. So what changed? So what happened? How did how did you go from having this unattainable dream to taking action of some kind to make it happen?
SPEAKER_01Well, my back was so bad, and I had heard that uh one of the owners of CrossFit had a really bad back, and she was lifting and doing CrossFit now, and I thought, well, maybe I could go there and under her tutelage, maybe just try to heal myself a little bit. So I went there and I did the fitness test and yeah, I nearly died. But anyway, it's like cardio from couch to cardio does not bode well for an older person. So I thought, well, I'm gonna stick with this, and I just slowly, slowly gained some strength. And then a few times I'd run into Raya Stin. She is a world record holder up in the equipbench press for IPF. And I ran into her in in Superstore and she's like, Mava, you should come back and lift. And I'm like, Rhea, do you look at me? I'm like old and fat and out of shape. And I, you know, that's anyway. I was very complimented that she would think that I could do that.
Miriam LawrenceDid I read that you at some at one point during this you you couldn't walk more than like 10 steps?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. It was bad. My bad. My back was so bad. It was bulging discs. And uh yeah, it was horrible. I would I would work all day and you know, have that happy face on all day, and then just lay across the table and cry in the evenings. It was excruciating, excruciating. So CrossFit brought in a beginner power lifting, and they brought Raya and Ryan Stin in my coaches right now. And um I thought, hey, I could probably do a beginner's class, right? And I walked in there, and after a couple weeks, it was like, oh my gosh, I think I could do this. I think I could come back and do this, and that's what started it again. The hook was set and pulled in. And uh my heart was like, Yes, my heart was like, Oh, I think I can do this, I think I can do this. I was scared, I was lifting scared, I was terrified. Any little tweak on my back, and I'm like, I can't lift anymore, you know, I can't do this. And Rhea's like, take it easy, you know, breathe. Don't don't jump to conclusions. And here I am, yeah, healthier, stronger.
Miriam LawrenceYeah, doing well. So, what would you say to somebody? Because I know this is such a huge issue. I've had so many people say to me, you know, I couldn't do what you do because of my back. And I've told the story like I don't want to tell it again on the podcast. I I used to have a very bad back, also. I had all kinds of back problems. My back has never been healthier. My back has been the healthiest it's ever been in the years that I've been lifting. But I didn't have what you had. I I mean I did have a herniated disc at one point, but I didn't have ongoing chronic pain all the time. What what would you say if someone were sitting in front of you right now that was where you were then?
SPEAKER_01You know, I mean we're stereotyped. I I hate to say it, and nothing against a lot of physicians, but some physicians, uh, even with general society, we're stereotyped. You see this gray hair, you are incapable of doing so much. But it's the reverse. We're capable of doing so much. And I was told to just walk. Walk for my exercise, walk around the block, that's good enough for you. And I'm like, Pardon the language, but hell no, that is not me. And I started slowly. I know that everybody's situation is different, their medical history is different, their problems are different, but do what you can. Like, I just think the worst thing to do is to be stagnant and to sit. Um I I realize I I have to sit every once in a while. I have to sit, get over whatever pain I have for a bit, and then I can go again for a bit. But uh the worst thing to do is inactivity. Do what you can get yourself a sports trainer, a sports trainer, a sports doctor, one that's knowledgeable, and do what you can. Is your pain worse after you're doing this? Is it worse for a couple days? Or is it normal pain? There's good pain, there's bad pain. People go, oh, I'm so sore from exercise. That's good pain. Your muscles are sore after doing things, and that's the way it is. But if you have chronic pain that's being uh made worse by your movements, then you have to not stop, you have to modify.
Miriam LawrenceThat's great advice. And I think people need to remember, uh, even physical therapists who can be incredibly helpful if you had an injury or chronic pain. Most physical therapists are not dealing with people that do what you and I do. Most physical therapists are dealing with a population that they're just trying to help them to be able to walk or get up and down off of a chair.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
Miriam LawrenceSo, like you said, I think it's so important to find if you can, not everyone has the luck to be able to find doctors and physical therapists that are of like mind, but to find medical professionals who understand the research, who you know, because there's been so much research on this, it hasn't reached the medical community enough.
SPEAKER_01They are making improvements, they are becoming more knowledgeable. Even my doctor says, You just keep doing what you're doing because he has changed. Um, I have a new doctor now, but my old doctor, he is he's retired now, but he changed his mindset so much. He's like, Maybe you could come to the gym with me and you could teach me some of the movements that you do. And I'm like, Yeah, sure.
Miriam LawrenceI can do that. I love that. I I love to hear that. I love to hear that doc when medical professionals are changing their mind, and I I love that he's like, You could you could teach me.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah. I was very complimented. That was a compliment and a change of his mindset.
Miriam LawrenceYeah.
SPEAKER_01Realizing that, you know what, maybe we're not all in that cookie cutter. Yeah, right?
Miriam LawrenceYeah, we're not. So it looked to me, looking at open power lifting, like you came back to competition in 2017.
unknownYes.
Miriam LawrenceThat sounds right. So how long when did you come back to lifting? Yes. When did you kind of make this transition from I'm I'm I can't to I can? And then how long did it take you to get back to the platform?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, I did, I did cross-fit. For about three years. So that was a base, right? Not not heavy lifting, but but a base of lifting, right? And I literally started, I think, in training for power lifting in 2016. And I think 2017 was my very first competition back. And I did well. I you know, I was a little scared, but I did pretty good. And I think I qualified for nationals from that meet too, if I'm not mistaken.
Miriam LawrenceSo was that raw then, or were you?
SPEAKER_01That was raw. Yeah, that was raw. Yes.
Miriam LawrenceThat was different. That was the first time you'd ever competed raw, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right, yes. That's true. That was my very first competition, Raw. And I went to Raw Worlds too. Uh-huh. In 2018, I believe. Yes.
Miriam LawrenceWow. What was that like?
SPEAKER_01That was I couldn't believe it. Where was where was that 2018 Worlds? Uh that was in Calgary, Alberta. Oh, so it's clutch not. It was in Canada. Yeah, it was drive up. It was drivable for me. So I'm like, sure, okay, I'll go. And why not try it? Right. And so I ended up with a silver in squats, a silver in deadlift, a gold in bench, and a silver overall at Worlds, my very first worlds competition. I was over the moon, happy.
Miriam LawrenceIt must have been amazing to be on a stage with all those people from all over the world. That was your first time doing this. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It was so exciting. I I cried because I broke a national squat record. It's funny. I had a list of goals, meets I wanted to do and goals, and I've surpassed that probably five times over. It's incredible. I still can't believe it. I'm still in awe that I'm able to, and that I did.
Miriam LawrenceIf someone had told Maeva, who couldn't walk 10 steps that you'd be where you are right now, what would you have said or thought?
SPEAKER_01I would have asked them what they were smoking. What?
Miriam LawrenceSee, but this is why this conversation is so important because people need to see and understand that this is possible. There are so many people in our age group that are paralyzed by fear and by pain and by stereotype and conventional wisdom. And you know, I've I that's my mission is to just break that down. Women especially, but men too. You know, so many men that I may are like, I you know, I used to lift when I was young, but I can't do that anymore. Yes, you can. Yeah, yes, you can.
SPEAKER_01You may not be able to lift the same as when you were young, and that might not be physically possible for some people, but you can lift. You lift yourself off the toilet, you can do a squat. That's what I tell everybody. You you pick up a bag of groceries, you can do a deadlift.
Miriam LawrenceYep.
SPEAKER_01Right? I mean, there's so much that you can do that you just don't realize you you can do. I mean, you start small, you gotta start somewhere. Start small, it doesn't matter. Like, I'll go to the gym, and there are days when it's like this is not happening, but I will push through to my ability.
Miriam LawrenceAnd that's all you can do. I want to talk about that because that is something that I have seen a lot of in your social media. You're struggling right now with your knees, right? Are you just pretty close to a knee replacement right now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they both need to be done. I have talked to my surgeon and I've asked him if I can wait until 2027 after worlds if I'm capable of doing worlds. My right knee is way worse than my left knee. And if you would have asked me yesterday, I probably would have said no, I can't continue because it was a bad, bad day. Probably the worst day that I've ever had with my knee. Yeah, yeah, it was uh it was a bad one. Anyway, my goal is to try to continue because I can't walk very well. Sometimes I have to use a cane. I got some knee braces that I wear. Um, they don't really seem to help with the pain, so I do have a lot of pain while walking. I can probably walk pain-free for maybe about seven minutes now, and but any more than that, it's grind my teeth and try and make it. But I can still squat. And people have asked me, how can you do that? Like, I'm gonna be the one walking up to the squat rack with a cane and then squatting, squatting 300 pounds, yeah, and then leaving. And I'm like, I don't get it myself. I don't know whether it's my mental stupidity or mental strength. I'm not sure. Some days, but uh yeah, so I mean, I am waiting for that, and I did talk to the surgeon and I said, these are my goals. I'm doing bench-only equipped at provincials, which is in a week or so in in uh Saskatchewan. So I'm driving home to do that. And the Commonwealth is the only meet that I have never done, the Commonwealth Power Lifting Competition. That's the last large meat that I have never done. I have done from local to provincial to westerns to nationals to equipped world classic, and I also did a bench only down in the States in Austin, and I did North Americans as well. And so the last big mate that my little body is qualified for would be the Commonwealth. So I hope to do Commonwealth's in September, and then I will do Nationals in British Columbia in 2027. I think believe it's February, and then Worlds is coming to Canada in 2027, and I can compete as an M4 at Worlds in St. John, Newfoundland next year.
Miriam LawrenceOkay, so that's why you want to wait to get the knees done because there's all these things coming up that happen to be. So how do you how do you push through? Uh you write about it, you talk about, you know, what I can do today, you know, every day. Just do what you can, and I and I get that mentality. Um but being in the being in the thick of pain, you know, and and training and having to make that decision. Every rep, every set, I'm gonna keep going. What are you saying to yourself in your head when you're dealing with this?
SPEAKER_01Um well, I listen to my body. I know that I'm gonna have pain some days. It is a matter of how the pain is and where the pain is. I'm usually at least a good judge of is this a horrible pain that's gonna injure me more, or is it a normal pain because my knees are so bad? Like I had a baker cyst in my left knee for a time while I was in a contest prep, and that was an awful thing to have to train through, but I just told to wrap my wraps tighter. It's so my knees went a little numb. No, no, no, you would actually appreciate the wraps. But I mean, my last nationals, my body was shaky. I was very shaky, whether it was from nerves or whatever. I know I'm usually not an anxious lifter, but I know my niece have a finite, a finite time with me. Yeah, so so I did my first two squats, and um, they were pretty ugly. I got them both, and so my coach said, Okay, do you want to do this one next? And I looked at him, I said, No, you know what? I'm gonna pass my third because I've got two in. I'm gonna be grateful I got two in, and I'm gonna walk away and prepare for bench, which was a good thing because I I did get uh a national record on my bench then and very happy with that. And at that meet, I had to do my very best on squat, bench, and deadlift to break the total national total record, but I didn't take my third for squat, so I thought the total record was out of reach, but I did better on my bench than I thought I was gonna do. And my coach said, Do you want to just load up for your third deadlift to break that record? And I'm like, Okay, and I got it, and I was like, I was happy there. You send it, you send it.
Miriam LawrenceOh, we are so goal driven, aren't we? That's what I was thinking, as you were saying, you know, you've exceeded your goals, you know, five times over. Yes, and it's another thing I love about this sport and and just lifting in general, even if you don't compete, is it's infinite opportunity. No matter how much you accomplish, you never have to stop. You know, you can always keep challenging.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't matter if you don't get past a local meet. It's so fun to go to those meets and be a part of the I don't know, just the experience, the energy. It's great. And you meet so many good people. I've met so many wonderful friends, and that's where social media is a plus. You get to keep in contact with all these people that you meet, which is wonderful to me.
Miriam LawrenceThey make friends all over the world, literally.
SPEAKER_01You do, yes, yeah.
Miriam LawrenceAnd we sort of finding our tribe, and then it's it's a worldwide tribe.
SPEAKER_01Nobody knows the pain that you go through to meet your goals unless you're actually similar in we all have our issues as we age, we all have our issues, right? Our bodies do tend to break down, and that's where I think that the world in general really should look up more to seniors, especially seniors who are pushing through that kind of thing. We're not really a valued member of society, we're just old people, right? And uh, and I I understand that I had that mindset myself, right? But now I realize what we go through. And you gotta be strong.
Miriam LawrenceWell, and the thing is, you they're gonna break down either way, and yes, break down more when you don't use them, the body. Yes, exactly. Yes, it use it or lose it, really. And so that's that's what drives me crazy is this sort of mentality of take it easy, take it easy, you're gonna hurt yourself. No, you're gonna hurt yourself by taking it easy.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we're gonna age, we can make a choice, we can be try and be the strongest that we can. I mean, sickness, illness does happen to everybody, sadly, but but we can try to keep going.
Miriam LawrenceWe have to just try to keep going. Yeah, well, as my last guest, uh she's an Olympic lifter, said, you know, she's making yourself harder to kill. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I can't run, so I have to fight. Same. That's what my husband says. If we meet a bear, I know who they're getting. Thanks. He's gonna throw you in front of the bear and he's gonna run. Yeah, he's a pickleball player. He can go. He's got that fast twitch. I'm like, I'm done.
Miriam LawrenceOkay, well, let's be fair. You you did just squat 300 pounds not that long ago. So, you know, you're you're doing okay. Yeah, so far so good, yeah. Yeah, but your strategy seems very wise, which is you know, you're gonna bring what you can on a given day, listen to your body, you're gonna push as hard as you can, right? And you're really gonna try to pay attention. Is this normal pain or is this different pain?
SPEAKER_01And yeah, you have to do that. Like that's where people end up um hurting themselves more, is that be realistic. Be realistic. My coach is Ryan Stin, who is Rhea Stin's husband. We train together, we train as a team. So there's five or six of us that are constantly training together. And I mean, I couldn't ask for a better group of people. Um, even when I think they're not looking, and I'm trying to cut my squats a little high. I hear deeper, deeper in the hole, and I'm like, dang, you weren't even looking. I didn't even think you were in the same room. But but the way he programs is is fantastic. We go by the RPE system and it's based on your reps, right? Exertion. So it's always based out of 10, and so one to ten, ten being you have nothing left in the tank. So when when I'm going to an RPE 8, even though I have a suggested number to get to, I go day by day. Someday that might be 70 kg, someday it might be 60 kg, but it's still an RPE 8 to me. And I think that's the way everybody should train. Like listen to your body. There are days when I am just exhausted. The other day I I left the gym. I didn't even finish my training, which has never happened to me before, but I realized that if I were to continue, I think it would be uh hazardous to my health, let's just say. It wasn't doing me any good mentally, and it wasn't doing me any any good physically. And I I went home, I slept for an hour that afternoon, I took it easy, and I went back the next day and I was 100% better.
Miriam LawrenceSuper important lesson, and it's a lesson I'm I'm still learning. I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good about, you know, I don't overshoot RPE on purpose.
SPEAKER_01Right.
Miriam LawrenceThe programmed RPE, but I definitely have a little bit of ego in, you know, I did this last week at the same time. So I should be able to do it. I should be able to, I don't want to go down, you know. I should at least be able to be at what I did last week at the same RPE. And sometimes that's just not realistic. And I'm I have to get better. Right. I'm very jealous that you have the opportunity to, and I know how important this is, and I want to talk about this because I know it's huge for you, but the uh the opportunity to train with your gym family and with your coach. And I've never gotten to do that. I mean, uh once once or twice when I was, you know, literally like going to compete in the city where my coach was based, doing one, you know, warm-up sort of free competition session, but everything has been remote. And you know, to have to have your coach there to say back off. That's too heavy, or go deeper, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01What a gift. It is. And you know what? It's a it's a gift that I don't take for granted. I I honestly walk in there and I know how blessed I am. I'm so very, very thankful for everybody there. I mean, when I do my bench there, I have normally four people around me, right? Two side spotters, one lifting off, one calling, squatting, same thing. Calling my depth, uh watching over me, keeping me safe. It's a gift every time I walk in that gym. And that's the way that I look at it. Every day I'm thankful that I get to train with these people, that I get to see them all the time. And and they are, they're my gym family.
Miriam LawrenceI'm sure they know how grateful you are because you talk about it.
SPEAKER_01That gratitude is so valuable and and usually I have gratitude towards myself, towards my body. I mean, we as women are conditioned to look a certain way and to be cook key cutters. And you know, in my old age wisdom, has decided to hell with that. You know, to hell with that, to hell with the way that you think that I should be or act or dress or speak or or whatever. As long as I'm good inside, as long as I'm a kind person inside, that's what you should be caring about, not whether my hair is gray or purple or pink or and this has been you all along because you were the 23-year-old who walked into the gym and said, the hell with your standards and the hell with your stereotypes, and the hell with your prohibitions and limitations.
Miriam LawrenceI'm this is what I want to do and I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01So I'm I'm so thankful for my 23-year-old self. That I was brave enough to to persevere and that I had the drive because I think that's what's keeping me going now is that drive to to succeed. But again, the definition of success has to be it is not linear, it's up and down. It success could be just one good squat. Success could be a bar squat. It doesn't matter what your success is, because it's all success.
Miriam LawrenceRight.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't matter. Like just because I can squat a lot and I can bench a lot and I can I can deadlift a lot for for my age. Is that success? Sure, okay, it's a type of success. But you know, when uh when I started, I squatted the bar and that was success.
Miriam LawrenceThat was huge success because you couldn't walk and you had to have the courage to get under that bar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, terrifying, very terrifying. Yeah, yeah.
Miriam LawrenceSo I mean I and I feel like that's one of the hard things is that what success is changes for us, even you know, sometimes week to week, month to month, year to year, whatever's going on in your life. You know, like if you get an injury, then success is completely transformed from what it was before the injury. It is now you know, and I I I kind of realized it in my last nationals, you know, I had this great meet an the year ago, um, and then this past nationals, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. And I I don't think I realized how much pressure I was putting on myself on top of a lot of other stress that I had in my life at the time to get these numbers. Yes, yeah, and I I'm really reflecting on that a lot and thinking that's it.
SPEAKER_01And good for you, but see that that's that's progress for you, Miriam. That's progress for you because now you know, okay, I did this to myself, I put that pressure on myself, nobody else had that expectations, right? Only I did it to me. And to me, you realizing that is 98% of the battle. Comparing yourself to others robs you of your success. Comparing yourself to you robs you of success. You have to be a hard one. That's not true. You have to be today's you, right? Because we've never been this age before. I mean, I was younger yesterday, right? And so we have never been this age before. And every day it's like a new body. When you when you're a senior citizen, I lie in bed thinking, okay, uh, before I get out of bed, I stretch for 10 minutes. I move for 10 minutes before I even make a motion to get out of bed, because I'm thinking, well, okay, how's this gonna work today?
Miriam LawrenceYeah.
SPEAKER_01And I mean, be grateful that things are not falling off. That's what my coach said. I'm thankful. I I coached her today, and I'm thankful nothing fell off.
Miriam LawrenceYeah. And this is the balance that we have to strike is that balance of you know, keeping moving, keeping challenging ourselves, not backing away from the challenge and from some pain, even and realizing that that's normal and and it's okay to have some pain. Um, but also give ourselves grace. And it's a daily battle for sure, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's that pain thing is really a limiting factor to so many people, and it's so it's so sad. It's like I have a pain, so therefore I can't do it. Right. No, wait a minute. Step back here for a second, analyze that pain, try it, just try it for today. And if you actually are in pain worse tomorrow from what you've done, then yes, you have to modify that movement, but don't stop. There's a fine line between resting too much and resting too little.
Miriam LawrenceIt's a societal thing. Our society, Western society, I don't know about the whole, I think there's plenty of cultures that don't do this, but our culture here, I think, generally, yeah, is avoid pain is bad. Pain is bad. Avoid it. What if you have it, make it go away. And not only is it not true, but it's such a destructive point of view, and it causes so many people to limit themselves unnecessarily. And it's taken me many years to figure that out. It took a while because I used to be one of those people. I I had back problems, I would stop moving 100%. Yes, I because that's what I know now that was the worst thing I could have done, and now I know if I have back pain, I get up and I take a walk.
SPEAKER_01Right.
Miriam LawrenceWalking helps my back.
SPEAKER_01Do your stretches, do your stuff, get on the floor.
Miriam LawrenceMove, get the blood flowing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and that's what I swear helps my knees. Like, I think squatting helps my knees. There are days I walk in that gym and it's like, I am gonna break. I'm for sure something's gonna crack when I try to squat. And I walk uh away from those squats thinking my knees are not hurting at all. Does the pain return? Of course it does, because they're damaged. But for that instant, for that half an hour after squatting, it's like, oh man, these feel good. And I swear it's blood flow getting in there, making them get into that position that separates those joints, contracting that muscle, stretching that muscle, getting the blood flow going.
Miriam LawrenceI hope someone out there is hearing this who has knee pain or hip pain or back pain and is taking away, you know, the Yeah that they might be able to really help themselves.
SPEAKER_01Right. And just as a side note, my pain is I have osteoarthritis. So I just want people to know that that's what I have, osteoarthritis. My hands, they don't close all the way. Thankfully, I can still uh grasp the bar to hang on to good enough. What's in my shoulders, my neck, and my hips, one hip worse than the other. But um that's the reason why I need the knee replacements. It's not anything to do with power lifting, it's to do with my genetics. My mother, who is uh 97, she also has uh two knees done. So I actually have osteoarthritis worse than she does, but uh she's still she's still kicking.
Miriam Lawrence97 is something else. Uh you have some good genetics. Well, and I and I just want to remind the people listening because I didn't talk about these numbers before, but this this powerhouse here with the with the soon-to-be bionic knees, you you PR'd your single ply squat in 2022 at over 300 pounds. It's 137.5 kilo. Um, you PR'd your raw squat in 2023 at 232 pounds, right? 105 kilo. And just this past March, just a couple months ago, they PR'd her bench at 102 kilograms, which is 225 pounds. So this woman here can bench 225 pounds. Um so no limits, people. No limits. Um, so those are some amazing numbers. Um, what what are your goals? You talked about the meats you're wanting to do before you get your bionic knees. Um, do you have goals? Uh obviously we realize goals can move, as we just talked about. But do you have numbers in your head about things that you want to be hitting, or is it more just I want to just go and do the best I can, or how are you thinking about those competitions?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think for uh this bench, if I if I can hit 102 or more, that would be that would be epic for me. That's for my bench only. For Commonwealth, my goal is to go there and to actually just put up some decent numbers, to be honest. I I'm just gonna go and and do do my best. For nationals next year, we'll we'll see how I'm feeling. Right. Um I'm just gonna go in again and do the best that I can. Well, will I just go and qualify for worlds and then see what what happens? Like my surgeon said, Well, I asked him, do you think I'm gonna be able to lift after my knee replacement? And he says, I don't have a crystal ball.
Miriam LawrenceSo he didn't say no. If Eddie Cohn can deadlift over you know 500 pounds after having his hips replaced. Uh and I know of people that are squatting again and competing again after knee replacements. I have no doubt that if you want it badly enough, you'll be able to do it. That's the question. Will you want it? That's right.
SPEAKER_01That's right. We will see. I don't know. My goal is just to try and continue to lift for as long as I can until I get these knees done.
Miriam LawrenceSo you've been in and around gyms on and off, obviously, but since the early 80s, and I'm right. You've watched, we've talked about some ways the culture's changed in some surprising ways that I think it hasn't so much because we're still hearing some of the same things you said earlier that you were hearing them. What what changes have you seen, if any, um that have made it more accessible for women or you know harder for women, or what what what have your observations been about that?
SPEAKER_01I don't think it's been made harder. I think it's a lot easier because I think it's more readily fitness is a thing, right? It goes in style. It wasn't in style back then. No, no, unless it was aerobics, like Jane Fonda.
Miriam LawrenceRight. But now it's just starting at that point, even really.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. Yeah, but but for now, I think I see kids getting more involved at a younger age. We now have you so many youth lifters, we have special O and Para Olympic competitors. It's just an all-encompassing sport nowadays, and I think it's a welcoming sport too. But I I think all in all that it's a lot easier and it's definitely more accessible with the number of gyms that are now around, whereas before you had a choice of one, possibly in a in a little community. Now there might be five or six gyms in a smaller community, right? So I think access uh is better. I think everything is better. I mean, there are the stereotypical things still happening, but yeah.
Miriam LawrenceWell, there's more cultures now. So if you have a choice of gyms, every gym's got its own culture. Yes, you know, you learn that some some people have a a first experience and they they have a bad experience because the culture of that gym is not a good fit for them.
SPEAKER_01Right.
Miriam LawrenceAnd so they need to remember that or or their first trainer is not a good fit. And you know, that can turn people off to the whole experience. People need to remember that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I don't have any of those experiences. I've been with the same people oh, basically my whole power lifting career, right? And I know what I have to do, and you have to be strong enough to earn respect, and that's the way it was in the early 80s. You had to be mentally strong, uh, to accept other people's opinions of you and make make yourself realize even nowadays that that's not who I am. Who you think I am, that's not who I am. And if that's the way that you really think I am, then that's not my issue, that's yours. Right. Yeah.
Miriam LawrenceYeah, and you have to be willing, you know, people talk about you need to be willing to take up space. You need to be able to go and say, I'm here. I have every right to be here, I belong here. Yes, you know, I'm using the squat rack right now.
SPEAKER_01What was worse in the 80s? Oh, I remember one fella he wanted the uh lat pull down or whatever I was using, and he was like, Okay, I need to use that. You need to be done. And I looked at him and I'd had it with him. Like he was on my last nerve, and I just looked at him and I poked him in the chest a few times, and I said, Look, I don't know who you are or who you think you are, but I am here, I pay my monthly dues, and I have every right to be here, just like you do. I said, get out of my get out of my face. Did he go? Oh yes, oh yeah. He backed away, and then that's the last time I had a problem with him.
Miriam LawrenceWell, on that note, what do you think strength training gives can give or does give older women, particularly women in general, but older women specifically, that maybe they can't get anywhere else, whether that be physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever whatever your thoughts are.
SPEAKER_01You mean all the above? Because that's what it is, right? Doesn't it give you everything? Doesn't it give you uh a different mindset of what you can and can't do, what your body can and can't do, what your mind can and can't handle, um, your circle of friends widens, broadens. I mean, you don't lose your other friends, of course not, your non-lifting friends are you're still your non-lifting friends, but they don't get it the way that you and I get it. It is, it is a whole mindset difference, and it gives you so much more than it takes away. It can it can bring you into yourself more than you ever thought. You know how you you didn't know you were missing something till you met something, and then you realized you were missing something? That's powerlifting and my powerlifting family. It's like, how did I ever get along with you without you guys before? Like, I don't know what I'd do without you now. I don't know what what that would look like. What happens when I can't compete is the question, right? What happens? What happens then? Am I lost a lost soul? No, I'm I'm never gonna lose the gym. I'm never gonna lose lose that circle. Just my lifting will look different. It will be lifting, but it may look different. And that's the step that I have to accept. I mean, if that's what life gives you, then that's what you have to accept. There's no sense kicking and screaming and saying I'm gonna I give up if I can't compete, I'm never gonna touch a weight again. Why would you do that? Who are you harming by doing that? You're not hurt harming your neighbor or your friends or anybody else, you're harming yourself. And that could be more mentally than physical, right? You need you need to continue doing something, doing, doing like like I always say, doing what what I can with what I have.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's what I have to keep striving to do. And that daily looks different, hourly can look different, and definitely yearly looks different nowadays.
Miriam LawrenceWhen you got back to lifting after you had not been for all those years and you had all that pain and all the trouble you had with your back, um what uh if anything did you notice in yourself changing? What what changed for you emotionally, mentally, um, as you developed that capability?
SPEAKER_01After I got over the I used to be able to do this much thing, because that's what you go through. It's like, no, I used to be able to lift, you know, five times as much as this, and this is what I'm lifting now. Well, after I got over that, the tears of that, I slowly realized that what I was doing was improving myself kilo by kilo, pound by pound, fraction by fraction. And with that came less pain. That's what I found. I was creating a foundation, a strong foundation, and tightening up little tiny muscles that had never moved for years and years, that you didn't realize you weren't moving, that were stiff and sore, and and I I learned that uh through every movement I was doing, they were slowly getting stronger. They weren't hurting anymore. And my pain lessened and it I avoided surgery.
Miriam LawrenceAnd how how did your sense of self, your confidence, any of those things, did those change as you got back into being stronger when you had been feeling like you had were an injured person?
SPEAKER_01I went from feeling useless, let's see. Yeah, I felt I felt useless not being able to walk and not being able to do a lot of the things that my I was yeah, I I cried an awful lot and I did, I felt so useless. And and so rep by rep, it gave me back the confidence that maybe I could do it. Maybe maybe I could create something better in this old body, maybe I could gain strength, maybe I could actually compete sometime. Maybe that dream isn't just a dream, maybe I could make it come true. Um and through the help of you know people around me uh with their support, I didn't gain a lot of confidence. It took me a lot of time. I still don't have a lot of confidence, as a matter of fact. Uh, doing this is way out of my comfort zone. Um, all the interviews I've had, like with CTV, and it started from one little interview for a newspaper in Newfoundland. I thought it was a scam. Somebody messaging me for this little interview, and it ended up being on like TV interviews, and and I'm like, what is happening?
Miriam LawrenceYou know, it's so funny. I've interviewed a number of women at this point, and I I don't want to say all, but almost all of them have said the same thing that this is outside their comfort zone. And I think a lot of women would be struck by that because it apparently takes so much confidence to do what you're doing physically, to go into the gym as a 23-year-old woman, to go into the gym as a 68-year-old woman, to get on the platform, to challenge your your pain, all of these things just embody confidence. And so it's an interesting dichotomy and an interesting thing to sort of dwell on a little bit, you know.
SPEAKER_01But I guess that I just want other people to know that I'm not abnormal, I'm not anything unusual, I'm just a grandma who happens to really, really, really like the sound of clanging weights. I I I relate. Yes, yes.
Miriam LawrenceWell, I I promise you that this conversation has inspired, will inspire a lot of people. Like someone's gonna start lifting because of this.
SPEAKER_01Well, I hope so. I that's it it's just start start with the two-pound dumbbells. It doesn't matter. Start with air squats, start with moving.
Miriam LawrenceStart with going to the parking lot of the gym if it that's what it takes. Some people I know people are like, I'm gonna go to the gym, and then they're they're so anxious about it. Yeah, and they can't even bring themselves to go inside. But actually, that's how you start the habit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just go, just I force myself to go to other gyms a lot of times. I'll go to smaller communities and I'll just do a drop-in. You know, I gotta breathe a little bit before I go in. Because it's yeah, it I I get that, and I mean I'm an experienced lifter, you know, platform travel, competed in multiple competitions, but I still get anxious walking into a new gym, so I can relate.
Miriam LawrenceWell, my version of it today was uh I decided to wear you know little shorts to the gym because I'm fluffy right now.
SPEAKER_01That's not fluffy, that is a power belly.
Miriam LawrenceYeah, well, in my case it's power cellulite on my thighs, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01It's a power thigh then.
Miriam LawrenceBut you know, I have to just keep saying them. First of all, it's like no one cares. And someone is looking at you judgmentally and thinking, what is she doing in those shorts with that cellulite hanging out? I don't know, but you know, who cares? And whose problem is whose problem is that and all this fluff. This is this is to give me more muscle, this is to get stronger, right?
SPEAKER_01And you know what? It's it is.
Miriam LawrenceI mean, judge less.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but judge less.
Miriam LawrenceBut this is this is in us as women, right? You get that you get it, and you you've successfully fought it in yourself to be able to do the things that you have done. Absolutely, yeah. It's not like there's no voices in your head, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely not about this, right? But I I you know what I always tell myself? There are women who would absolutely kill to look like me and to be able to do what I do. So many people would love to be doing what we are doing, would be it doesn't matter what we look like or what we don't look like.
Miriam LawrenceWe're blessed to be able to do and to be able to have bodies that even even obscene in your case, even with you know day-to-day. Day to day, they're doing their thing. Um so just to wrap up here, I ask try to ask everybody what is your favorite of the of the big lifts? Do you have a favorite and why?
SPEAKER_01Well, right now I would say bench because I remember back in I think at Westerns, I think I benched maybe 50 pounds. That was my bench, or was it a hundred pounds maybe? Uh I don't know. It was not a lot anyway, and I'm like, oh my gosh. And now I mean my raw is 150 and and I mean that I literally kill for that. It's like I don't know why. Like that used to be my wake weakest link. So keep working on it very much. Yes, because it can happen. I don't know. Maybe my maybe my pecs have sympathy for my niece. Maybe that's what's happening. I don't know. Or maybe I'm just one old stubborn go. I think you're stubborn in a good way.
Miriam LawrenceYeah, stubbornness is you I think it's very apparent that you are stubborn. I think that was clear from the from the get-go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I'm pretty sure my husband would agree with that.
Miriam LawrenceDo you have a favorite accessory lift?
SPEAKER_01A favorite accessory lift? Yeah. Slingshot bench.
Miriam LawrenceThat's not an accessory.
SPEAKER_02Come on.
SPEAKER_01Your coaches are like three. No, I do not have a favorite accessory.
Miriam LawrenceOkay, what's the one you dread the most of all of them?
SPEAKER_01Uh the um oh no, I forget what it's called. You put me on the spot. Where you put your leg up behind. Bulgarian split squat. That's it. Yeah. I can't do them. I can't do them anymore.
Miriam LawrenceBut you know, you you got out of it. You got out of it with those knees.
SPEAKER_01Good for you. He has me he has me still doing split squats, but they're both feet are on the ground now, hanging on to something. Just in case she collapses.
Miriam LawrenceDarn it. Tried so hard to get out of a split squat.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
Miriam LawrenceDo you have a particular song that's like your go-to hype song for a big lift?
SPEAKER_01I am a rock and roll girl. I like heavy, heavy rock and roll. So anything really heavy metal. Okay.
Miriam LawrenceDo you have a band that you particularly like? I like ACDC. I'm asking because I'm gonna put together like a playlist of hype songs from my guests. So that's why I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I like AC D song. Any ACDC song. We'll just AC DC song.
Miriam LawrenceI'll pick my favorite AC DC song and we'll play that one.
SPEAKER_01Is that one like the bagpipes? Yeah. And everything is pretty good. It's a good one.
Miriam LawrenceUm, all right. So last question, Mava, is where can people find you to follow you on social media um and anywhere else that you are findable? Because I'm sure people will want to follow your journey.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm on Instagram as granny, right? Under slash gains G A I N Z Second, like 2N D. And uh on on Facebook, I'm just my name, Mava Bridges.
Miriam LawrenceOkay. Uh well, I will share those for sure. And um, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you. Um it's I'm just proud of you on your behalf, even though we've not met in person. I hope we get to meet in person one day. Yes. You're very literary when you write in your posts. Very philosophical, and I don't know, just it's very zen. You're very sort of short and wise and cutting to the bone when you write captions, and I think they're great. So definitely encourage all of you to follow Meva and watch her journey. Okay, yeah. But thank you so much for being here and for going out of your comfort zone to be here. Thank you. Thanks so much for listening to That Badass Broadcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you're subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find the show notes for this episode at that badassbroad.com forward slash podcast, and you can subscribe there for my writing on strength, training, and competing later in life. You can watch the full video of this episode on YouTube at That Badass Broad. And for clips and training, follow me on Instagram at Mearslam, M-I-R-S-L-A-M. Thanks again for being here and have a badass day.