Meet the female powerlifting champions breaking barriers in sport

In the Unconventional Brits series on Shots! TV, we follow the real lives of some of the most extraordinary people, hobbies and places in the country. In a special edition episode, we meet two inspirational athletes competing in world powerlifting and strongwoman championships.

Bobbie Butters is a full-time lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, who is currently studying a PhD. She’s also a competitive powerlifter for Team Great Britain. Bobbie’s personal best lifting weights are 188.5 kilos to squat, 113 kilos to bench and 195 kilos to deadlift. All this, while only weighing 56.5 kilos herself.

“It’s euphoria for me, hitting a personal best or something that was a final attempt.(..) It’s just unreal and it rushes through my whole body. There’s just something about me and my body that loves to lift something.”

Andrea Seed works 9-5, is raising a young family and is a powerlifting champion. A typical weekday for her involves working all day, picking the kids up from school, making dinner and putting the kids to bed. Her other half then steps in and she goes to the gym for 3 hours, gets home around 10:30 and then makes all her food for the next day.

“The misconception is that you have to be super strong to start. You don’t. I wasn’t strong when I started.(..) Anyone can do it.”

Andrea won Britain’s Strongest Natural Woman in 2021, she came third in Europe and second in the world in that federation. She also came 4th in the official Strongman Games this year.

“Once you discover that you’re strong physically, it can do so much for you mentally. And people are capable of so much more than they think.”

Watch the full episode to learn more about powerlifting and strong women. You can also tune into Freeview channel 262 and Freely channel 565 for more true crime, football, and quirky UK content . Keep up with our latest videos by signing up to Shots TV! Newsletter here.