\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually the shyest person in the gym, but if I give someone a glare, they usually stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It is an unlikely position for a woman who only discovered powerlifting around the age of 60 and initially hoped she might summon enough courage to compete just once.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Nine years later, Janine is ranked world No.1 in her age and weight class in drug-tested competition, holds world records and is preparing for another national competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And in October she turns 70 and she has absolutely no intention of slowing down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Janine\u2019s journey began with a face-plant on a cold Melbourne morning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A keen road runner, she had been clocking up around 10 kilometres a day when she fell, requiring stitches in her chin. Her doctor suggested she might be safer in a gym.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For the first year, Janine barely ventured beyond the treadmill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Then the gym owner intervened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Janine, I\u2019m sick of you being on the treadmill. Why don\u2019t you come into the weights room?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo I followed this big fella in. I\u2019m only about five foot one or two and quite small, and I just trotted in after him thinking, \u2018I can probably do this.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAnd really, I never walked back out. I never went back to the treadmill.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There wasn\u2019t much of a powerlifting scene in Gympie at the time, so Janine went online, found a coach in Brisbane and called him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She had never squatted. Her first proper sessions involved squatting and bench pressing an empty bar and deadlifting about 40kg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI only want to do this for six months,\u201d she told her coach. \u201cI\u2019m actually a very shy person. I just want to try one comp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf I can get out onto that platform, I\u2019ve achieved something.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She competed 12 weeks later. Then again three months after that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019d already bought all the gear, the suit and everything, so I thought, \u2018I\u2019ve spent the money, I might as well keep going.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She would eventually complete about 22 competitions with that coach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Today, Janine\u2019s competition best squat is 106kg. She has managed 110kg in training and has deadlifted 141kg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her shoulders have limited her bench press, something she admits frustrates her, but she remains among the leading lifters in her class.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The deadlift is where Mama J really comes alive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBy the time deadlifts come around I\u2019m usually pretty tanked up on caffeine, and that\u2019s where I really enjoy myself. That\u2019s the big buzz.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ask what powerlifting has taught her about ageing and Janine doesn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPeople say \u2018age is just a number\u2019. For me, age is really just a word \u2013 a label.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She often hears people tell her they could never do what she does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her answer is wonderfully simple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWell, I couldn\u2019t do what I do now 10 years ago either. It\u2019s hard work and consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Janine says she is in better physical and mental condition now than she was 20 or 30 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhen I walk in [the gym] I feel like I\u2019m 20 again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her strength has also changed the way she carries herself outside it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At the supermarket, well-meaning older men occasionally offer to lift a slab of soft drink for her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019ve got it covered,\u201d she tells them. \u201cI don\u2019t want you<\/em> to hurt yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But behind the records is a more difficult chapter in Janine\u2019s story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After seven years with her coach, both her parents developed dementia and Janine became their full-time carer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her father was also battling cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For two years her life revolved around hospital appointments, aged care and constant trips to her parents\u2019 home, about 10 kilometres away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some days she went there three or four times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t know if they\u2019d eaten, whether the stove was off, or what day it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Both parents died within the past year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Through it all, Janine kept walking into her local gym.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It became far more than somewhere to lift weights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI could talk to people there, make a bit of light of it without being disrespectful, and then say, \u2018Right, I\u2019m off \u2013 I\u2019m going to lift now.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt was a huge relief and kept me sane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She no longer had the time to travel regularly to Brisbane for coaching, so Janine largely began coaching herself, with help from Iron Palace owner Brad as competitions approached.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her numbers slipped a little and her priorities had changed, but she kept lifting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Janine turns 70 in October, but rather than treating the milestone as a finish line, she sees another starting point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFrom the treadmill to the weights room<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Age is really just a word\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The place that kept her going<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now for 70<\/strong><\/h2>\n