Joyce Lindemulder
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again a thousand times. The GGC welcomes all! Sometimes this motto means something as easy as a 4 year old kid farting around with a wooden dowel. Other times it means encouraging someone to step outside of their comfort zone and kick some ass.
Today we talk to Joyce, one of my favorite athletes to date for a number of reasons. In her email to me she said “The GGC last year really had an impact and proved to me that I could do it.” She took her 2021 GGC experience and hopped into a local powerlifting meet in Canada where she deadlifted 237lbs at the age of 60!
Let’s talk to Joyce.
Joyce, tell us a little about yourself
I am originally from Brampton, Ontario, but I married a military man so I spent most of 25 years moving back and forth across the country with our two, now grown ass sons. I work as an artist and educator and I never seem to have enough time for my own art work, but that is something I will have to work out with myself. I now live on a Pacific Island. Vancouver Island off the wet (not a spelling mistake) coast of Canada.
What does your background in sports look like?
I don’t really have a background in sports. Sure, there was the bronze badge I earned for the Participaction awards in grade school and high school, which would be familiar to Canadian readers. I once won 4th place in the 400 metre (that race where you run once around the track) run at our high school track conference. I mean there were only 4 people entered, but still it was a great feeling finishing the race and people were still cheering me on, “Go Joyce, Go!” If they hadn’t, I might have stopped because I was so far behind by this point, I was going to set a record for slowest ever.
Probably the fittest I have been in the past (because arguably I am fitter now) was when I had joined the Canadian Reserve Force. As soon as I quit the CF, I stopped being active. Sure, there were very brief periods here and there over the years where I would take up running and then fizzle out. I was just not motivated. Besides I hated sweating.
Around five years ago, then age 55, I started to notice more and more deterioration in my fitness. I noticed that when I arrived at the top of a flight of stairs that I would pause for ever briefest of seconds to catch my breath. Worse yet was getting into the car. Picture this. Imagine you are going to drive somewhere, so you start by stepping your right leg into the car and get your butt into the seat. Now you have to lift your left leg in. But you can’t without hip pain and weakness! I could not left my leg into the car without grabbing it and hauling it in. It still took me two years to take action. Three years ago I joined a CrossFit gym. I had done my research. I learned that lifting heavy things was one of the best exercises for older women, if not everyone. I also learned that I was really unfit! It had crept up on me. I hired a coach too, because I wanted to be extra cautious about doing things correctly. It didn’t take long for the lifting parts of the workouts to become my favourites. Burpees today? Boo. Deadlifts today? Glory hallelujah!
Tell me about your home gym.
I decided to get equipment for a home gym at the beginning of the recent pandemic. I was concerned that all the work I had put in was going to go down the tubes. It was also around then that I was playing around with the idea of entering a powerlifting event. It kept up my motivation to continue training. Luckily a local gym equipment store had some half racks on sale, which still took forever to ship, and my uber supportive gym let me add an order for plates and a bar to one of their orders.
Basically, I have the bare minimum. A half rack with really sad looking “dip bars” (lol), a full set of plates (45lb to 2.5lb), a bench, a 45lb bar, and a big rubber mat that I cut into two so I could haul the pieces around the garage by myself. I’ve got a few extra things such as a pull up bar hanging from the ceiling, rings, a set of fractional plates (those 1 pound PRs add up!), a set of bands, and a 20Kg kettlebell.
I say haul around the garage, because we’re still using the garage for vehicles like fools. So, when we’re training at home (because I am still working out at the CrossFit gym most days, except when it is completely shut down or the weather is bad) it means moving out a vehicle, sweeping, moving the rack etc. and then working out. At the end it all gets moved aside again. It’s not ideal, but it’s what we’ve got for the moment. Eventually, I would love to train exclusively in a dedicated space at home. Especially with a better squat rack. That said, my partner is now spending a few days a week in our portable garage gym working out too!
I can see that working out in a home gym could definitely save a person money. Looking ahead to when I can see us working out exclusively in the garage and knowing my personality, I can still see that having a coach would help me to stay motivated and keep my training on track. I don’t think I’ll ever give that up. So, we are a household that is transitioning into garage gym life.
Lets talk about the Garage Gym Competition…
I had nearly made up my mind to try a powerlifting event, but not quite, because frankly I was scared shitless, when I think I saw a post on IG about the competition by someone else I was following. I mentioned it to my coach @iceberg_fitness and he was all in. So, he built a program for me to train for it. I was so nervous about it. For the GGC 2021 I lifted a total of 485lbs, with a 230lb Deadlift PR at age 59. It was a total grinder, but I had made up my mind when I walked up to the bar that I was going to lift it no matter what. Coach Berg was also so supportive by coming to my home to help me and spot me. Overall, the whole experience was fun and it was very encouraging. So much so that I signed up for a powerlifting meet with the British Columbia Powerlifting Association this past December where I again hit a Deadlift PR of 237lbs at age 60. I’m hooked I think. This spring I plan on again entering and training for the Spring GGC and I’m going to follow it up with another BCPA event.
The thing about all of that is, I grew up during the 60s and 70s when women had to have flat bums and had to ask a man for permission to get a loan or a credit card. Although the fashion is now to have a big butt, and some ideas about women are changing, it is still a battle to be perceived as equal and capable of being strong. This is one of the great things about the GGC. I see women lifting who have never done it before, and girls lifting who are being encouraged by their fathers to be strong. Love that. My hope is that more older women will shed the idea that building strength is unfeminine and take up lifting to regain health and to use it as an act of resistance. While there are some really great women lifting who are older and inspiring (like Linda Franklin and Stephanie Needham), it’s still pretty sparse on the platform. I think it’s a great sport and the community is amazing. Much like everyone cheering me on as I crossed the finish line for that 400m race. If you’re older and want to get stronger, join me! My motto is that every successful lift and every failed lift is an act of resistance. Resistance against atrophy, apathy, and assholes.
Thanks Joyce!
You can follow along with Joyce and her lifting antics on her Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/teasing_trouble/
