Meet the UK's oldest power-lifting couple who between them can deadlift more than twice their combined body weights.<br /><br />Super-strong Catherine Wass, 66, and husband Stuart Hamilton, 59, have both smashed records for their age and weight groups after 'coming out of retirement.'<br /><br />Catherine set the power-lifting world record for bench press in her age and weight category earlier this month (13/05).<br /><br />She benched 82.5kg, beating the previous record by 7.5kg, at the BPU British Single Lift Championships. <br /><br />And, on the same day, Catherine beat the British deadlift record by 5kg - registering a weight of 125kg.<br /><br />Her husband Stuart Hamilton, 59, is also a force to be reckoned with, and holds the European record for bench press.<br /><br />He benched 173kg in the same competition last year, beating the previous record by 0.5kg. <br /><br />Their success is all the more amazing because they've beat the records after 'coming out of retirement' and returning to the gym during the pandemic lockdowns.<br /><br />Stuart from Colchester, Essex, said: "We think we're the oldest powerlifting couple in the UK which is quite something.<br /><br />"We have four grandkids between the ages of six-months and eighteen, and the two eldest love what we do. They're really impressed by it all.<br /><br />"I think we're a living example that age is just a number, and you're as fit as your activity levels and your outlook on life."<br /><br />Stuart met Catherine in 1994 while he was bodybuilding.<br /><br />Catherine was teaching aerobics in the gym Stuart owned, and the couple bonded over their passion for health and fitness.<br /><br />She started powerlifting in 1999, and Stuart, who won bodybuilding's Mr Britain in 1993, originally acted solely as her coach.<br /><br />He later entered his first bench press competition in 2006.<br /><br />Catherine was placing high in national competitions, and it wasn't long before the British Powerlifting woman's team came knocking.<br /><br />Her career peaked when she won the Powerlifting World Championships in Argentina 2002 - but a knee injury in 2013 forced her into retirement. <br /><br />Catherine, a mum of two, said: "When I first met Stuart, he was more into body building, so I started to train with him.<br /><br />"He was impressed by my natural strength, and after scoping out the competition at the British Championships, I decided to get involved at local level. <br /><br />"Three years later I was a world champion which felt really surreal. As a woman its very empowering to feel strong. <br /><br />"Everything was still going well a decade later, until I got a niggly injury to my patella tendon in my right knee.<br /><br />"I was forced to rest in order to recover, but afterwards I became more in to teaching fitness instructing.<br /><br />"I was so busy with that that I never really went back to competing in powerlifting."<br /><br />In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced the UK into lockdown, and people were limited to an hour of exercise a day.<br /><br />Thankfully for Stuart and Catherine, they now co-owned Hamilton's Fitness Centre in Colchester, and still had access to their gym.
