Georgia Ladies of Iron: Powerlifting for Women, by Women
Elizabeth Turner is a lot of things: a daughter, a friend and a mechanical engineer. She runs a custom apparel business on the side. She’s also a competitive powerlifter who can deadlift 413 pounds.
With around five years of experience as a collegiate and nationally-ranked powerlifter, Turner became the director of Relentless Strength Powerlifting, an organization that hosts some of Georgia’s biggest powerlifting meets, including the women-only Georgia Ladies of Iron meet April 30.
“I love powerlifting,” Turner said. “It’s a wonderful community. Everyone is there to support each other. There is no, ‘my team versus your team.’ It’s all individuals all supporting each other to lift the most weight we can.”
Turner began powerlifting at the University of Georgia. She’d consistently worked out in high school, but she needed a competitive aspect to keep her motivated in college. That’s how she found the UGA Club Powerlifting Team, and she quickly became the club’s president. Powerlifting elevated her workouts from feeling generic to productive.
In between her full-time job as a mechanical engineer and her various side gigs, Turner also trains, competes in powerlifting meets and volunteers as a referee. Turner said that, for most people, powerlifting meets are not necessarily about winning first, second or third place. The true challenge is whether the individual has improved their numbers from one meet to another. She believes that’s partially why so many people, especially women, are beginning to draw closer to the sport.
Turner personally observed a small rise in women powerlifters back in 2018, but the numbers of participants has boomed following the pandemic. She thinks that social media also helped a lot with the sudden rise of popularity for the sport.
World-renowned powerlifters like Tamara Walcott have risen to social media fame, particularly on Tiktok. Some powerlifters like Halley Despain have even become Tiktok influencers with over 33,000 followers. Turner believes that seeing powerful women on social media has empowered others to try their hand at the sport as well.
Turner’s best friend, nutrition coach and powerlifting coach Jazzylyn Pepper-West helped organize Georgia Ladies of Iron with Turner. Pepper-West is a full-time online powerlifting trainer.
“There was something so empowering about continually loading the bar and pushing myself past a limit that I didn’t even think existed,” Pepper-West said about the beginning of her powerlifting journey. “I did that, loved it, literally never looked back, and I changed my whole entire life because of this sport.”
Their shared love of powerlifting is what made their friendship blossom. Turner originally reached out to Pepper-West for nutritional coaching, and then Pepper-West hired Turner’s apparel business to make t-shirts for her training business. Pepper-West then became Turner’s powerlifting coach as well. They both wanted to see more local powerlifting meets on the calendar, so they decided to act.
“We met at coffee shops and grew this deeper connection that has now flourished into this awesome friendship where we support each other and run meets pretty much together, just helping each other out in any way that we can,” Pepper-West said. “I’ve seen how hard [Turner] has worked on this specific one to make it something bigger than, honestly, what it could have been.”
Pepper-West said that watching her clients — some of whom are competing at Georgia Ladies of Iron — grow mentally, physically and emotionally is the most rewarding part of her job. Some women she trains have even sacrificed sleep to make time for the sport that they love. Both Pepper-West and Turner said that the energy for Georgia Ladies of Iron is unmatched compared to other meets they’ve participated in.
“I never thought the effect would be this great, but watching these women get so excited for the meet — over half of them at my meet, it’s their first meet — everyone is truly excited,” Turner said. “The environment is so different when it’s all women. I love it.”
Dena Mellick is one of those women. She’s a coach with Atlanta Barbell, and she originally started powerlifting in 2018 to strengthen her back muscles after experiencing chronic pain from a back injury. Georgia Ladies of Iron will be her first time competing.
“I’m excited that my first meet will be a female-only meet,” Mellick said. “It’s a sport that is slowly gaining more traction among women, and I love that. It says a lot about the popularity of the sport among women to have a meet by and for females.”
Turner and Pepper-West organized their first meet together last year. Turner said that the biggest obstacle when organizing a local-level meet is finding enough volunteers as referees, spotters and loaders. She said that there has been a significant increase in powerlifters participating in meets, but the numbers of volunteers haven’t changed to compensate that new growth. Pepper-West said that the Atlanta Open, another meet organized by the duo scheduled for July 30, filled up in a matter of weeks.
“We had a waitlist of, like, 60 people,” Pepper-West said. “People are wanting to compete. They want these meets, and the rise in the numbers from the women are getting higher.”
This women-only powerlifting meet in Atlanta is a branch of the United Ladies of Iron, a national women-only event consisting of 11 individual meets in other states sanctioned under USA Powerlifting on the same day.
Turner said that providing an environment that made women feel comfortable enough to compete was really important for her. She said that, in a male-dominated sport like powerlifting, finding those supportive and welcoming communities is the most important part of the journey for most women. That is why Turner and Pepper-West worked so hard to organize this meet created by women, for women.
Gameday Fitness will host The Georgia Ladies of Iron meet, and entry tickets are $10 at the door. Concessions and merch will be available, and it will also be livestreamed.
