Woman takes up powerlifting at Sheffield gym to help arthritis and becomes Commonwealth champion

Kelly Clark used to hate exercise but decided to act after being diagnosed with osteoarthritis, an agonising condition causing stiff and sore joints, and finding the medication she was prescribed left her struggling to sleep. She joined Prime Mover Fitness gym in Sheffield city centre, where a trainer suggested she try lifting, and she never looked back.

The transformation was amazing. Kelly, who lives in Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, with her husband Andy, slimmed down from 15 stone to 10 stone and went from struggling to open her car boot or reach into a high cupboard to bench-pressing 75kg, which is more than her own weight. She was even able to ditch the medication she had been taking to ease the painful joint inflammation she was suffering.

Her dedication paid off when she represented England in the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Commonwealth Championships in New Zealand last month. Competing in the under-69kg class for 50 to 60-year-olds, she won gold in the ‘equipped benchpress’ and a silver medal in the ‘classic benchpress’.

Kelly said: “Nine years ago, when I was 49, it had got to the point where it hurt to walk upstairs and my arthritis was really impacting my day-to-day life. The doctors put me on medication and I wasn’t able to sleep so I decided I had to do something about my lifestyle.

“I hadn’t done any sport since school, and my job involved a lot of travelling, so I’d developed some bad habits with my eating. I would join a gym in January, go for about three weeks and then give up because I found exercise so boring. But when I started lifting it was something I really enjoyed, which made a huge difference.”

Kelly initially attended Prime Mover Fitness gym and then Titanium Strength gym on Fitzwalter Road, near City Road, which was run by former England’s Strongest Man contestant Phil Roberts, who is opening a new gym at the old Mansfield Road fire station building, in Birley. When Covid came, she had to work out at home and now prefers training in her basement gym.

She nearly didn’t make it to the Commonwealth Championship, after injuring her wrist when she fell while walking the dog weeks beforehand, but she was thrilled to be able to represent England and secure her first international title.

Kelly says she is fitter at 58 than when she was 28 and still struggles to believe the transformation she has undergone, from being totally unfit and on medication to coming off the drugs and becoming a world-beating powerlifter.

“If someone had told me I would be this mobile, let alone competing in international competitions, 10 years ago, I would never have believed them,” she said. “Meeting and competing with incredible people along the way has been a dream come true.”

She says her story shows what people can achieve, no matter how impossible it may seem. Kelly, who often tweets using the hashtag #arthritiswontstopme, said: “I’ll be happy if what I’ve done inspires anyone else to try something new. It doesn’t have to be powerlifting, just whatever works for them."

Competing in powerliting means Kelly has to watch what she eats but is still able to indulge occasionally, enjoying a weekly takeaway and the occasional tipple, as part of a balanced diet. She works as a people skills development trainer for the Doncaster-based firm Keepmoat, which sponsors her and funded the trip to New Zealand, and she said she was grateful to her employers for their support.