To mark International Women’s Day — an annual celebration at Medavie — and in keeping with this year’s campaign theme to “inspire inclusion”, we sat down with the inspirational Sylvia Atkinson for a conversation on goal setting. Sylvia is manager of Client Services for Medavie Blue Cross and a reigning world champion in powerlifting. Last October, Sylvia, at age 50, broke a world record at the IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Mongolia, helping Team Canada win the Team Award (beating out the USA team).
Were you always a physically active person? Or were you new to sports when you took up powerlifting?
Throughout my life, I have always been athletic, but a few years ago, I lost a healthy balance. I had gained weight and, in the winter of 2017, I decided to take charge of my physical wellbeing. I found group exercise classes that I enjoyed, and it motivated me to get back into a regular routine!
The goal was weight loss at the time but by April 2018 the class I took taught me the importance of being strong which was the key to living a healthy lifestyle for me. I was inspired to train with a purpose! Being strong helped my confidence which also improved my mental health and wellbeing.
I wanted to learn more about building a strong body, so I signed up for personal training sessions. The trainer I worked with encouraged me to find my passion and set a goal. My trainer was aware of my competitive nature and encouraged me to train for a strength-type sport, such as CrossFit, Powerlifting or Olympic lifting. It was overwhelming at first, thinking about starting a new sport at the age of 45, but I was locked in with the concept of training with a purpose!