The common (mis)conception is that humans—especially women—lose strength as they age. What you could do at 25, for example, you likely won’t be able to do at 65.
Well, I’ve got good news for you. There is never an age that is too old to start working out.
Try telling that to 73-year-old Mary Duffy.
The powerlifter, whose career began in April 2015, recently posted a video of herself pulling a 300-pound deadlift to social media. She accomplished this by lifting 113.4 kilograms (250 pounds) raw with a trap bar that had an additional 22.7 kilograms (50 pounds) of chains attached.
While pulling 300 pounds is impressive for anyone at 73 years old, it’s even more astounding when you consider that she competes in the 56-kilogram weight class as a powerlifter. That means that her 300-pound deadlift put her at 2.4 times her typical competition body weight.
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See her impressive lift below:
Duffy Is No Stranger to Big Lifts
In order to understand just how far she has come take a look at her vast achievements and improvements:
Duffy has been a competitive powerlifter since 2015, debuting at the International Powerlifting Association (IPA) Connecticut Ironman Push/Pull Showdown. During that first competition, she took home first place.
Since then, she’s competed in 11 sanctioned meets and has won first place in all but one age category. In 2016, she took second place at the IPA Connecticut State Championships in the Amateur Open Division. Duffy often competes in multiple age categories at each contest.
Most recently, Duffy has competed in the Masters 70-74 raw age category, says Open Powerlifting.
In her 56-kilogram division, she’s racked up notable lifts including the raw bench press World Record of 57.5 kilograms (126.8 pounds), as well as the third-heaviest totals in the raw and raw with wraps categories—235 and 249.5 kilograms, respectively. Those are some seriously impressive numbers!
Duffy Has No Plans of Stopping Now
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Despite being temporarily sidelined by an early June 2022 case of Covid-19, Duffy has managed to continue the momentum she’s built up with her lifting.
Since her recovery, she has pulled a 113.4-kilogram (250-pound) deadlift off weight plates. Later that month, she completed a 102-kilogram (225-pound) raw back squat with an added 15 pounds in band weight.
While she hasn’t confirmed any plans to compete in another sanctioned event, she’s still regularly posting jaw-dropping lifts on her social media accounts.
No matter what her plans, she’s sure to continue to be an inspiration for all of us women working hard each day to get better, faster, and stronger!
Age is just a number!!
Featured image: @mduff2404 on Instagram
