Granny powerlifter at 71 deadlifts 70kg

SINGAPORE – Lim Lean Ee hinges at the knees, grips the barbell and braces herself as she performs a sumo deadlift. Driving through her mid-foot, she grimaces as she lifts the 70kg weight off the ground until she is upright.

“Down,” says her personal trainer Daphne Loo, using a powerlifting command. Lim lowers the barbell to the ground with control.

It is her new personal best in deadlifting – about 110% of her 63kg weight on a 1.57m frame. What makes the achievement even more impressive is that she is 71 years old.

Lim quips in Mandarin: “It’s heavier today because of the photo shoot.”

She may joke in the gym, but she was serious about preparing for her first powerlifting competition on Oct 17.

The grandmother of four signed up for a women-only event called Lift Like A Girl, organised by the non-profit organisation Powerlifting SG and women-only fitness studio Activ.Co.

Lim is the only competitor in her age and weight group, says Loo. Lim’s 45-year-old daughter, who works in the tech industry, will also be competing in the event.

Powerlifting comprises three compulsory lifts: the barbell squat, bench press and deadlift. It is technically demanding and competitors have to follow strict rules and commands.

Joining a competition, though, was the last thing on Lim’s mind when she started strength training in 2019.

Back then, her daughter suggested that Lim and her husband, a retired paint industry executive in his late 70s, take advantage of free personal training sessions at her gym.

Throughout her life, the homemaker, who completed secondary school and quit further studies to work and support her family, has always been active. Despite kneecap pain in her late 50s, she signed up for group exercise classes.

But her first strength-training sessions got off to a rocky start.

“I was in pain all over – I couldn’t walk properly for three weeks,” says Malaysia-born Lim, a permanent resident here. Then she got used to post-workout soreness and finished a package of 10 personal training sessions.

After a pause during the Covid-19 pandemic, she found another trainer in 2024 who noticed her physical strength. About 1½ years ago, he referred her to Loo, the head coach and owner of Stoic Strength, a private gym in the Central Business District, for further coaching.

“The intention was never to put her in a competition,” says Loo, a veteran powerlifter. “It was: ‘Let’s get her stronger so that she can continue with all her other activities and doesn’t get injured.’”

But as Lim progressed, Loo realised her potential and suggested the competition as a one-time challenge.

Lim recalls thinking: “Can I? I’m already in my 70s.” But spurred by Loo’s encouragement, she is giving it her all.

Besides the deadlift, Lim’s personal best in the bench press is 30kg in a single rep and 45kg in the squat.

As Lim is more fluent in Mandarin than English, the training sessions serve as a drill in the commands and movements required for each lift during the competition.

Although Lim has no competitor in the event, Loo says that “ultimately, her competition is with herself”.

“She wants to make sure that she gets the numbers that she can be proud of, that she feels like ‘I have done my best’. That is also the reason it is important to prepare as much as possible and make sure that she understands the rules of the competition.”

Her transformation has not gone unnoticed, with friends complimenting her physique. Apart from high blood pressure, she says her health is good.

“People ask me whether all the money spent on training is worthwhile. I say, it is,” she says, declining to reveal the figure. “What matters is what you gain – your strength, mobility and quality of life. I can see the difference in myself.”

Today, she has an exercise regimen that would inspire many who are decades younger.

Besides powerlifting sessions twice a week – double her usual routine because of the upcoming competition – she also attends spin classes at another gym three to four times a week and uses the weight machines there for about 30 minutes beforehand.

On days when she has no classes, she takes 45-minute morning walks on weekends from her terrace home in central Singapore, often with her husband.

She also goes on annual ski holidays and long hikes overseas, such as a recent three-hour walk along the Zhenbiancheng Great Wall in Hebei, part of the Great Wall of China.

Putting on muscle has given her more energy for her volunteer work at the HCA Hospice in Woodlands, she says.

Every week, she whips up home-cooked dishes such as curry chicken, herbal soup and stir-fried vegetables for 30 beneficiaries.

Previously, Lim would have enlisted her husband’s help to fry the ingredients in a big wok when she got tired. They have no domestic helper.

Now, she cooks the large meals without assistance, showing off her muscular arms as she tosses bee hoon in a giant wok. She also hauls the heavy pots into and out of her car for delivery with ease.

Lim is the hospice’s longest-serving volunteer, having begun 31 years ago when her son, now aged 38, started primary school.

“I thought, ‘Life needs a purpose. You cannot simply spend it eating, drinking and having fun; it would be meaningless,’” she says of her passion to lift, uplift and serve.

The rewards of hospice volunteering come in the smallest of gestures.

Once, a patient who had lost his appetite caught a whiff of the tea eggs she had brought and asked for them. A few days later, he died.

She also helps out with hospice activities occasionally, such as a make-up session and photo shoot for a patient who was so delighted with the results that she wanted to use the photo at her funeral.

“When you see these things, you realise life is short,” she says.

“The most important thing is to exercise and take good care of ourselves. That is our asset. Then our children do not have to worry about us.”