Mum going strong in powerlift arena
AFTER taking up powerlifting just 12 months ago, Cairns mum Brooke Kowalczyk is already lifting like “Arnie”.
The mother of two is taking the powerlifting game in Cairns by storm, having competed in four contests around Australia – and placed in all of them – in her first year in the sport.
Kowalczyk previously worked as a Zumba instructor and did CrossFit for exercise before making the switch to powerlifting.
“It is a bit of a change,” she said with a laugh.
“But my body has certainly changed because Zumba is all about cardio and I was quite skinny.
“Now that I have been doing the powerlifting for a year I have been gaining heaps of muscle and really gaining that fitness completely.
“I am a lot stronger than what I have ever been and hopefully I can continue to get stronger.”
Kowalczyk was recently invited to the Arnold (Schwarzenegger) Classic in Melbourne this March, which only the best powerlifters around Australia are invited to.
“I am so excited about this and have been training really hard five days a week with my coach,” she said.
The Box Functional Fitness and Power coach Wesley Vick, who trains Kowalczyk, believes more women are taking up powerlifting, with the notion that it is just a bloke’s game a thing of the past.
“The sport is growing immensely across Australia and then closer to home in Cairns,” Vick said.
“We have got a few clients that will be competing in their first competitions this year and two out of those three are girls.
“I think now it is a lot more common for girls to want to lift, get stronger and be strong.
“Previously, girls being strong was sometimes not perceived as a good thing or feminine