EAST ALTON – When Shirley Webb started going to a gym in 2014, she couldn’t climb steps or get up off the floor without needing help.
Today, she’s a world champion powerlifter who’s won 17 medals in national and international competitions.
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And it’s been quite the journey for the 81-year-old lifter from East Alton in the past five years.
And at first, she was reluctant to join the Leisure World Health Club in Bethalto, where she regularly trains.
“My granddaughter, Dorian Webb, was 16 at the time, and wanted to join a club,” Webb said in a recent interview, “and she wanted me to join with her. I didn’t want to at first, but I finally gave in.”
That was in April, 2014, and from there, Webb found a trainer, John Wright, to help her out, and at the time she joined, she was experiencing difficulties in getting around.
“At the time I joined, I couldn’t get up off the floor unless I had a chair or something to help push myself up,” Webb said, “and I couldn’t climb the stairs with using both hand on the handrail to pull myself up. Now I can do both. I can off the floor myself, and I can climb the stairs myself without holding on to the handrail.”
As Webb and her granddaughter started working out regularly, a trainer started paying attention to the both of them, and noticed how strong both of them were.
“A trainer realized that Dorian and I were pretty strong people,” Webb said, “and he started adding weights, and then he posted a video of me deadlifting 225 pounds three times.”
