This Windsor powerlifter picked up the hobby in her 60s. Now, she holds world records

In her early 60s, semi-retired Windsor lawyer Jeanine Watt joined a gym — thinking she needed to work out a bit more than her thumb on a TV remote in retirement. 

Now, at 69, Watt has claimed three world records for her age category as a bench press specialist, and will aim to add more hardware to her collection this month when she heads to the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. 

She spoke with Windsor Morning’s Amy Dodge about learning to weightlift and the strength it gives her. 

I can’t believe that you’re over 60. What do you think the Jeanine Watt from 10 years ago would think of everything that you’ve achieved?

Well, it’s been a ride. I do things that other people just, try not to do, or don’t do, or think it’s too hard to do. And I treat it as a challenge.

So have you been like that your whole life?

Kind of, yeah. I do strange things. I also worked as a stand up comic. I was a hypnotist. I have a lot of unusual things in my past.

Of the weird things, as you call them, in your past that you’ve done, how does it compare to weightlifting? 

They’re all different. They’re all challenging. I just choose to do bench pressing because that’s my favourite lift and I’m actually better at it than most women are.

But I’m actually going to the Arnold in a different strength discipline, which is called arm lifting, and arm lifting is a grip competition.

You’re trying to pick up very heavy things, but with weird implements. So one of the things that I’ll be picking up is a three by four Saxon bar — if you thought of a two by four piece of wood square, that’s what it basically is.

Then they stick weights on the end of it and you’re trying to pick it up with your hands in a very awkward position. So it measures grip strength. 

How do you train for something like this?

I do a lot of grip exercises with the hand crushers. My trainer actually has a Saxon bar … and we practice that. There’s an overhand grip, which is a two inch grip around a deadlift bar so that you can’t close your hand around it.

So we practice those kinds of things and I do hand exercises at home. 

How have you seen your strength improve over the last few years? 

I have crazy strength. So grip strength is actually a very good marker for mortality and and health. So the fact that I have a grip strength that exceeds most women my age and, in fact, most women, I think, is very good marker for me.

This might be a bit too personal, but you don’t have any arthritis or anything like that?

I do.

OK, so how do you face that challenge? 

You just work around it. I have some arthritis in my thumbs, which doesn’t bother me as long as I’m eating properly and not eating inflammatory things. And I do have a significant rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder that I actually had before I began powerlifting. You work around it.

OK, well, that’s encouraging. Arthritis is already giving me a problem and I’m only in my 40s. Maybe I just need to go into lifting. How much can you press?

So my current record is 150 pounds, bench press and I have lost a little. I had a couple of bouts of a respiratory illness and I’ve also lost a little weight. I’m currently pressing, without really working at it, 135 to 140 pounds, just in practice. 

And the records that you broke, what were those? 

The records that I set, some of them didn’t have record holders. But there is this one poor woman in Michigan and I keep breaking all of her records. Her bench press, I think, was about 100 and she was holding the record. And I beat that.

You crushed it.

Thank you.

And she’s still around?

Oh, yeah, She’s still competing, she’s now in her 80s.

Powerlifting is such a great sport. I went to the Iowa Senior Games in August and there was a man there. He was 95, and he walked up to the squat rack with his walker, got under the squat bar, squat it, got back out, got in his walker, went back to his seat.

Amazing. What are you looking forward to, mostly when it comes to this competition?

What I’m looking for mostly is the fact that I will be the oldest competitor on the stage.

I’m really excited about the fact that they have scheduled the women’s pro lifters to lift … right on the Coliseum floor. I just think it’s going to be a rush.

I can’t wait to hear about it and hear how you do — and maybe join you in the gym someday if I get enough confidence. 

You need to get started. I keep saying that women need to lift weights. It’s good for your bone health and it’s good for your muscular health and it’s great for your longevity. A lot of my friends are like, ‘oh, I do cardio. I’m good.’ No, lift some weights.