As she watched the scene, Walcott’s competitive spirit encouraged her to try it for herself. Soon after, she had a weight on her back and was preparing to perform her first squat.
The spark was instant.
“When I felt that weight on my back, the first squat…I fell in love with it because it was doing it for me,” says Walcott.
This was in 2017, and at the time, Walcott had already been training dumbbells for a year in a desperate attempt to lose weight. After having children and going through a divorce, he weighed 415 pounds and routinely overeat late into the night.
Dumbbell training and healthier eating habits had already caused her to lose 100 pounds, but weightlifting became Walcott’s saving grace at a time when her mental health had seriously deteriorated.
The private and deeply ingrained meaning that weightlifting took on in his life perhaps goes some way to explaining Walcott’s success in the sport.
In July, he broke the World Raw Powerlifting Federation (WRPF) record for the heaviest cumulative lift for bench/squat and press, registering a total of 1,620.4 pounds in the squat, bench and deadlift at the American Pro competition in Virginia.
But years before she could even contemplate lifting those weights, Walcott had to find a way to be accepted into the male-dominated world of weightlifting.
When she first got into the sport, she used to be the only woman in the weight room, sometimes the subject of sidelong glances and giggles.
“I remember guys telling me, ‘Don’t bench because women shouldn’t. It’s going to change the way your chest is, so you shouldn’t bench,'” Walcott says.
“I could hear people saying I wasn’t doing well. I remember hearing one person say, ‘Why is she here and not on the treadmill?’ … I stood my ground and just kept going.”
Today, however, Walcott has noticed a change in attitude, saying women are “taking the weightlifting community by storm.” She founded Women in Powerlifting in March of this year, an organization dedicated to increasing female participation in the sport and eliminating negative stereotypes about women powerlifters.
“That’s why I wear my earrings, why I wear my eyelashes, why I wear my jewelry when I wake up,” she says. “Sometimes I wear lipstick, because it’s okay to be beautiful, it’s okay to be sexy, it’s okay to be a woman and lift heavy things.
“To other women, I would tell them to do whatever it is they want to do: get in the gym, make it their own. It’s given me so much more confidence.”
‘Pure dedication’
An influential female figure continues to inspire Walcott’s own weightlifting career.
His grandmother, a chef on the Caribbean island of St. Croix where Walcott grew up, passed away in 2019, and Walcott is moved to remember his grandmother’s larger-than-life spirit and open-arms generosity.
“When I cooked pots, they weren’t little pots of food. It was like I was feeding the whole community,” says Walcott.
Throughout his weightlifting career, he has drawn strength from the memory of his grandmother, using it as fuel during his most challenging moments.
“I was chasing 496 pounds deadlift for a year, I couldn’t break it,” recalls Walcott. “And then a couple of months after she passed, I broke it by channeling her energy, saying, ‘I’m going to do this for you,’ you know? And I was finally able to block it.
“I remember being full of emotion. I was crying in the gym. Everyone was looking at me at the time, everyone was cheering, everyone was clapping… It’s almost like she gave me her energy or something, I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it.” “.
The impact weightlifting has had on Walcott’s life has been vast, giving her purpose and self-confidence when she needed it most.
Fundamental to that has been his changed relationship with food and healthier eating habits.
“I’ll be completely honest: Is my food addiction gone? No, I just traded it for something else,” she explains.
“In the beginning, when I started lifting weights and working out, I remember late at night I used to binge when I was heavier and I’d say to myself, ‘You know what? When I start getting these cravings, I’m going to get down and do 20 push-ups or 20 sit-ups, or I’m going to drink a big glass of water.
Walcott’s new lifestyle also involves drinking a gallon (about 4.5 liters) of water a day and making sure he gets enough sleep each night, which can be difficult when you balance exercise with eye care. kids and a full-time job in real estate.
Sometimes it means resorting to late-night gym sessions, possibly ending close to midnight, and catching up on sleep at any free opportunity. Walcott has even tinted the windows of his car to help him get a good night’s sleep.
“I make it work,” she says. “Motivation died a long time ago for me. All of this right now, it’s pure dedication.”
manifesting
Walcott now plans to take a break from competitive lifting. She battled arthritis in her knees earlier this year, to the point where she could barely squat and was forced to limp up and down stairs just weeks before her record-breaking lifts in July.
She talks about maybe competing in an international event late next year, but for now she’s committed to her “My Strength is My Sexy” gym tour, where she shares her weightlifting journey at gyms across the US.
That’s not to say you’ve lost sight of your competitive goals. He has spoken with his trainer, Daniel Fox, about the goal of lifting “747”: a 700-pound squat, a 400-pound bench press and a 700-pound deadlift.
“It does’nt sound good?” Walcott says. “I’m a great manifestor; I like to put things in the atmosphere, let them grow and say it out loud.”
Setting — and exceeding — his own goals has been Walcott’s style since he first entered a weightlifting gym five years ago. She never looks at who else is on the list at competitions and she hates being told how heavy a barbell is before she tries to lift it.
“I don’t want to hear all of that, it will excite me,” says Walcott. She competes for herself, all her drive comes from within.
“Right now, it’s just me against me,” she says. “I challenge myself to be better every day, I think I love that aspect.”
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