{"id":27490,"date":"2026-08-20T21:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=27490"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:26:00","slug":"meet-mama-j-the-powerlifter-redefining-70-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=27490","title":{"rendered":"Meet Mama J: The powerlifter redefining 70"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI\u2019m actually the shyest person in the gym, but if I give someone a glare, they usually stop.\u201d<\/p>\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
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
And in October she turns 70 and she has absolutely no intention of slowing down.<\/p>\n
From the treadmill to the weights room<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Janine\u2019s journey began with a face-plant on a cold Melbourne morning.<\/p>\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
For the first year, Janine barely ventured beyond the treadmill.<\/p>\n
Then the gym owner intervened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe said, \u2018Janine, I\u2019m sick of you being on the treadmill. Why don\u2019t you come into the weights room?\u2019<\/p>\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
\u201cAnd really, I never walked back out. I never went back to the treadmill.\u201d<\/p>\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>\nHeavy hitter: At almost 70, Janine Blake can squat 106kg and deadlift 141kg \u2013 and she\u2019s not finished yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
She had never squatted. Her first proper sessions involved squatting and bench pressing an empty bar and deadlifting about 40kg.<\/p>\n
Her ambition was modest.<\/p>\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
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\u201cIf I can get out onto that platform, I\u2019ve achieved something.\u201d<\/p>\n
She competed 12 weeks later. Then again three months after that.<\/p>\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
She would eventually complete about 22 competitions with that coach.<\/p>\n
\u2018Age is really just a word\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Today, Janine\u2019s competition best squat is 106kg. She has managed 110kg in training and has deadlifted 141kg.<\/p>\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
The deadlift is where Mama J really comes alive.<\/p>\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
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Ask what powerlifting has taught her about ageing and Janine doesn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say \u2018age is just a number\u2019. For me, age is really just a word \u2013 a label.\u201d<\/p>\n
She often hears people tell her they could never do what she does.<\/p>\n
Her answer is wonderfully simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I couldn\u2019t do what I do now 10 years ago either. It\u2019s hard work and consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janine says she is in better physical and mental condition now than she was 20 or 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I walk in [the gym] I feel like I\u2019m 20 again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her strength has also changed the way she carries herself outside it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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At the supermarket, well-meaning older men occasionally offer to lift a slab of soft drink for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I\u2019ve got it covered,\u201d she tells them. \u201cI don\u2019t want you<\/em> to hurt yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The place that kept her going<\/strong><\/h2>\n
But behind the records is a more difficult chapter in Janine\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
After seven years with her coach, both her parents developed dementia and Janine became their full-time carer.<\/p>\n
Her father was also battling cancer.<\/p>\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
Some days she went there three or four times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t know if they\u2019d eaten, whether the stove was off, or what day it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Both parents died within the past year.<\/p>\n
Through it all, Janine kept walking into her local gym.<\/p>\n
It became far more than somewhere to lift weights.<\/p>\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
\u201cIt was a huge relief and kept me sane.\u201d<\/p>\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
Her numbers slipped a little and her priorities had changed, but she kept lifting.<\/p>\n
Now for 70<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Janine turns 70 in October, but rather than treating the milestone as a finish line, she sees another starting point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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She already has a competition booked on the Sunshine Coast in December, her first as a 70-year-old.<\/p>\n
The goal?<\/p>\n
To become the world\u2019s No.1 drug-tested lifter in her new age bracket.<\/p>\n
For anyone in their 60s, 70s or 80s looking at Janine and thinking they could never do something similar, she isn\u2019t suggesting they immediately load 100kg onto a barbell.<\/p>\n
Find a friend if that helps. Find the right gym. Get properly qualified professional guidance. Start at your own pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to walk in and be strong on day one,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can wear your sloppy jeans. You don\u2019t have to look good. You just need to be comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most importantly, start.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cYou don\u2019t know what you can do until you try.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janine knows the records she has fought so hard to set won\u2019t belong to her forever. There are already more older women entering the sport, including a growing group competing into their 70s.<\/p>\n
Mama J couldn\u2019t be happier about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know in the next couple of years my records will be smashed,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll be proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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