A Fife woman has proved strength of mind is just as important as physical power as she flexed her way to becoming Scotland’s Strongest Woman for the second time.
Lisa Gippert, 39, from Blairhall near Dunfermline, reclaimed the crown she won in 2017 with a powerful performance at the event in Motherwell, winning five out of the six disciplines in a hotly-contested field.
Lisa now has her sights firmly focused on trying to capture the title of Britain’s Strongest Woman during the Bloodstock Festival in August.
She said: “I’m still on a high, to be honest.
“All the girls showed what strength sport is all about and the Scottish girls definitely brought their A-game, so I was delighted to win.
“The women’s sport is growing; it’s not quite as established as the men, so that’s the challenge at the moment.
“It’s not difficult to get girls in but it’s just to get women to believe they can totally do it.
“You can see it in the competitions – people just have these massive moments of doubt and they can be really self-deprecrating.
“But when you get together with other girls and you are in that kind of environment, people start to believe in themselves and you get the best out of each other.”
It has been an incredible journey for Lisa, who has now achieved two Scottish titles in just three years of competing after first visiting the gym with her husband, Mark.
“It was this big old unit in Kirkcaldy and a few of the girls said: ‘Why don’t we try and do some events?’
“So we did them and they were like: ‘You can lift that?’
“They said there was a competition in six weeks and asked if I wanted to compete, so I travelled up completely unequipped and I came second in that one, so I caught the bug pretty much straight away.”
Lisa won this year’s Scottish title at the Hostile Strength and Conditioning Event organised by Martin Lennox, who she has thanked for doing a “massive amount” in terms of raising the sport’s profile.
She also had huge praise for her coach Stephen Cherry, who runs the Apex Strength and Conditioning gym in Kirkcaldy, and also her training partner Sammy Mayhew.
Competitors took part in the Hercules hold, monster dumbbell, yoke, deadlift, mooring cross carry and the Atlas stones events, and Lisa came out on top in five out of six.
She also claimed a new British record for the yoke, carrying more than 300kg over a distance of 20 metres in just 14.05 seconds, beating previous holder Andrea Thompson’s benchmark of 17 seconds.
Next up is her tilt at the British title and Lisa now knows anything is possible.
“I think my ambition is at least to podium. I’d love top three,” she said.
“Whether I’ve got the capability of doing that I don’t know, because there are some phenomenal women out there, but I’ve got a good a chance as anybody.”
