Defying age (and gravity): Halifax weightlifters over 40 represent Canada at World Masters

HALIFAX, NS — For these women, weightlifting is about pounds, not age or expectations.

Brittany Klingmann, a 40-year-old mother of two from Halifax, got into the sport about three years ago and this summer she will be representing Canada at the World Masters Weightlifting Championships in Wieliczka, Poland.

“I like lifting heavy things,” she said with a laugh. “I just like that it’s a constant challenge. There’s really no end point.”

The physiotherapist originally from Williams Lake, BC, said she started lifting weights just before the pandemic after being introduced to it in CrossFit classes. Klingmann said she was attracted to the technical aspects of the two movements in weightlifting: the snatch and the clean and jerk.

“The technical part, I’m still trying to figure that out. I think I came with some fundamental, inherent strength from my earlier high school sports — figure skating and soccer,” she said during an interview at her office at Ironstone Strength and Conditioning in Halifax.

“I think it’s so important for a woman, especially an aging woman, to maintain strength, so sport allows me to do that.”

‘It makes me feel strong’

Nalani Perry, also from Halifax, started lifting weights almost four years ago through CrossFit like Klingmann

Perry will compete in Poland as an adaptive athlete. She has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), which means that all of her joints can dislocate because she has defective collagen. Lifting weights would be risky for anyone with EDS, but Perry said she’s been working on strengthening joints for years.

“It’s actually quite an achievement to see someone with this syndrome actually participate,” says the 45-year-old woman from Halifax.

There are seven different categories for adaptive athletes and Perry competes in the range of motion and joint instability category. She competes in the 87 kg weight class, in the 45-49 age group.

“I feel strong when my body makes me feel weak all the time because of my condition,” she said. “And I enjoy the challenge of it.”

Perry advocates for adaptive Olympic weightlifting to be widely recognized worldwide

“Certainly a lot more people have been able to participate now that we have adaptive classifications available to us,” she said. “Before, they couldn’t compete at all.”

Klingmann and Perry were chosen by the Canadian Masters team to compete in the World Masters Weightlifting Championships Aug 18 – Aug 26 in Wieliczka, Poland. Klingmann is competing in her age group in the 59 kg weight class and is currently raising money to cover the cost of the trip.

“It’s actually surreal right now,” she said, talking about representing her country in a Team Canada singlet.

“It’s pretty cool.”

Age is a superpower

For most people, the body doesn’t work as well in the 40s as it did in the 20s. Klingmann said that through her work as a physical therapist, she helps people navigate the transition to aging.

She knows that when she’s exercising for 90 minutes four to five times a week, it’s crucial to warm up properly, listen to her body, eat well, and develop “good recovery through sleep and active rest.”

“For me, it’s just been open communication with my coach, how my body feels, so[training]can be constantly adjusted based on my tolerance management,” she said.

“I think there are things that you can kind of take for granted as a younger individual – the quick recovery, your tissue tolerance is something else. Those things that I definitely benefited from as a younger individual.

But there are things she knows now that give her an edge over her 20-year-old self.

She said she approaches training more optimistically in her fourth decade, as time out from work and parenting (her two children are nine and six years old).

“For me, I use my hour and a half of training as me-time, it’s a time I use to de-stress from the day. I just really immerse myself in that knowing it’s such a finite time for me to come to myself,” she said.

“The older I am, at least in regards to my figure skating days, it’s really easy to get caught up in negative self-talk spirals or headspace around training days that aren’t to your liking,” she said.

Age is definitely an advantage in this sport, Perry said.

“The older you are, the more you know what your body can do and what it can’t and that’s super powerful,” she said.

The story is usually that as we get older, there are activities that need to be taken off the table, Klingmann said.

“Really, I want to dispel that myth that we really are still capable,” she said.

“For me, I’m still putting numbers on my total, so I’m still getting stronger at 40… I want to help people understand that they can go back to fitness, they can return to elite sport if that’s something you’re into want to do.”