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Catherine Woodward

@cswoodward

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M1 powerlifter
Might pick a weight class eventually (currently 63kg)
British Masters🥇2025, 2024 and 2022

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🇬🇧 British Masters Championships Recap 🇬🇧

@cswoodward stepped onto the platform at the British Masters Championships in Edinburgh on 7th June and secured an excellent 3rd place finish in the highly competitive M1 U63kg class.

Her lifts were:

Squat: 152.5kg (+5kg PB)
Bench Press: 80kg
Deadlift: 162.5kg

This result is even more impressive when you consider Catherine was only beaten by two exceptional lifters who went on to claim 1st and 2nd place Best Lifter awards. The standard in this class was incredibly high.

The highlight of the day was a well-deserved 152.5kg squat PB, earned through months of consistent hard work.

While bench press didn’t quite reflect the level we know she’s capable of, what stood out most was her response.

Rather than letting it affect the rest of her competition, Catherine stayed composed, reset her focus, and delivered a flawless 3/3 deadlift performance. Finishing just 2.5kg shy of her deadlift personal best.

As a coach, performances like this are about more than numbers. They are about resilience, character, and the ability to keep pushing when things haven’t gone perfectly. Catherine showed all of that and more.

This result means a lot. Not just because it’s a British Championship medal, but because I’ve had the privilege of seeing first hand the work, sacrifices, and commitment that have gone into getting here. Watching Catherine stand on that podium was a genuinely proud moment for me, both as her coach and as her friend.

There is still more to come. We’ll take the lessons from this competition, build on the successes, address the areas we can improve, and keep moving forward together. Very proud of you, Catherine. by @cswoodward

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a month ago

BRITISH MASTERS 2026

Not the day we wanted bla bla bla no one cares.

British is always my favourite comp, literally the highlight of my year, seeing so many strong friends in one place brings me so much joy 🥹

I had some big goals for this comp but for whatever reason it didn’t quite come together this time. I know I’m capable of a lot more, I don’t know how long it’ll take but it’s coming 🔥

Squat 152.5 (+5 platform pb, -7.5 gym pb 🥲)
Bench 80 wtf 🫠
Deadlift 162.5 (-2.5 pb)
Total 395 (-2.5)
Third place 🥉

The magic 400 total continues to elude me 😢

Proud of myself for handling my nerves, enjoying the experience and not letting the failed lifts put me off (much). Always improvements to be made on the mental side but I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress here.

Huge congratulations to @rima_baki_powerlifter for her squat and bench records and best lifter award, and to @hlsyardy for an incredible pull for the win, I’m so proud to share the platform with you both 🔥💪🏻❤️

Thanks to everyone in @scottishpowerliftingchamps and all the volunteers for putting on a fantastic comp 🙏

Massive thanks to my friend and coach @simonvoakes @simonvoakescoaching for everything ❤️

Lots of love to all my friends irl and in my phone 🥰 by @cswoodward

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2 months ago

Another British Masters prep completed ✔️

Really looking forward to seeing all my strong friends in Edinburgh this weekend 🥰

@simonvoakescoaching lfg 🔥 by @cswoodward

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2 months ago

Haven’t posted a block round up for a while but this has been a really good one!

Vid 1: 160 squat for a massive pb! 🥳
Vid 2: 147.5 (my comp max) x 2 rep pb 🥹
Vid 3: double pause squat 130 x 2 with proper pauses
Vid 4: bench 90kg fail in week 3
Vid 5: bench 90kg success in week 6
Vid 6: bench 77.5 x 3
Vid 7:deadlift 152.5 x 2
Vid 8: deadlift 160 x 1

5 weeks to go until British Masters 🇬🇧

@simonvoakescoaching by @cswoodward

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3 months ago

Finland was absolutely wonderful 🇫🇮 by @cswoodward

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5 months ago

MASTERS EUROS 2026

What can I say about this comp? It was a tough one. Prep was all over the place for various reasons, the main one being that I lost my mum just before Christmas. I knew that I still wanted to compete but I didn’t really know how I would perform.

The 63kg class was incredibly competitive with the top three fighting it out for gold and every kilo counting for the lower placings. I was 7th in nominations but I was hoping I might be able to push my way up the rankings and maybe even get 4th. Spoiler: this did not happen 🥲

Squats had been going well in training but fell apart a bit on the platform. I hit a small pb of 147.5 on my second attempt, fought hard to stand up with 152.5 for my third but got 2 red lights for depth and downward movement 😢

Bench is usually my favourite lift but I had a bit of a nightmare with it. Not to be that person but the bench was made of horrible rigid plastic while the carpet was like an ice rink and I couldn’t get any leg drive at all. My feet completely slid out from under me as I unracked my opener, I managed to recover and got the start command but it didn’t feel great. I got 87.5 on my second which is 5kg below my best but I knew I didn’t have much more. I pressed 90 for my third but got 2 yellows for some reason, bum lift I guess?? Not something I usually have a problem with these days but the slippery floor combined with the horrible hard bench messed me up.

Despite not doing as well as I would have liked I was still somehow in 4th place at subtotal 😮 but the other ladies had some big deadlifts and I quickly slipped down the rankings. I nearly cried in the holding area after my second attempt felt like shit. Somehow held it together and pulled 162.5 for my third (2.5 below my best) then went and had a small breakdown in the toilets 🥺

Total 397.5 (+2.5)
7th place

Big thanks to @deadliftbig and @charmacpt for coaching and @kate_lifts1111 and @the_swot_who_squats for warm up help and support ❤️
Congratulations to @hlsyardy on yet another international podium place, I know it wasn’t what you came for but it was a huge achievement and I can only hope to be as strong as you one day. by @cswoodward

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5 months ago

Goodbye Mum 💔
Margaret Hunt 1954-2025 by @cswoodward

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7 months ago

Post-comp volume blocks aren’t generally very exciting but I’m really pleased with how this one has gone.

Star of the show has got to be deadlifts as I got this lovely rep pb of 152.5 x 4 🥳 and with 4 sets of backoffs this session was also an overall volume pb.

Squats have also been going well, 5 sets a week of slllooooowwww tempo squats has been disgusting but effective at improving my technique. Vid 2 is 120 x 6 moving very fast and vid 3 is 110 x 4 moving unbelievably slowly 😂

Bench has been a bit flat and I haven’t really made any progress in terms of load on the bar, however I have done a huge amount of total volume across all the variations and I’m sure it will pay off down the line. Vid 4 shows 70 x 6.

Unfortunately I have now been knocked flat by some horrible virus but hopefully in a few days I’ll be able to regain some momentum and keep building.

@charmacpt @unifiedstrengthmethods by @cswoodward

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8 months ago

What an incredible experience this was 🥹
So grateful that I got to do this. Much love to everyone who shared it with me and made it special ❤️ by @cswoodward

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9 months ago

MASTERS WORLDS 2025

I can only describe this competition as an emotional experience 😅

I absolutely loved lifting on the world stage, sharing the platform with the 👑 @hlsyardy , spending time with my GB teammates and getting to see a bit of Cape Town.

I got two platform pbs (for bench and deadlift), won my first international medal (🥈 for bench) and on the whole I’m proud of myself and my lifts.

On the other hand…squats. I fucked them up. Training had actually been going pretty well the past few weeks and I thought I was on track for a nice pb, but in the end all I got was my opener. Second and third attempts both got red lights across the board for depth. Something to work on for sure (cue one million sets of pin squats next block).

The lifts:
S 135 ✅ 145 ❌ 145 ❌ fml (-10)
B 80 ✅ 87.5 ✅ 92.5 ✅ +2.5 PB and 🥈
D 145 ✅ 155 ✅ 165 ✅ +2.5 PB
Total 392.5 (-2.5)
6th place

I was lucky enough to have my very own coach @charmacpt as my handler. Thank you for everything Char 💚

Thank you so much @deadliftbig for selecting me for the team and giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Thank you also to GB coaches @mac_m3_93 and @the_swot_who_squats for all your help in the warm up room. Dave put in an absolute shift having been on the platform himself that morning. I particularly appreciated your precision timing, sorry if I messed it up by wandering off and chatting to @denise_bird_50 😬

Anyway I probably sound like a massive twat at this point but I also want to thank everyone who supported me whether in person or online, I love and appreciate you all. I can’t possibly tag everyone but I do have to mention my bestest comp buddies @tamara_fitness_strength and @dempseyleeds ❤️

Not sure what’s next for me comp wise but one way or another I’ll be back on the platform next year 🫡 by @cswoodward

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9 months ago

End of block round up…
Well it started badly and fell away towards the middle but somehow rallied in the second half to end up somewhere pretty good!

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling rather sorry for myself, I had once again forgotten how to squat and had an annoying minor back injury that was making it very uncomfortable to deadlift. Bench remained loyal of course. Fortunately the back pain seems to be resolved now and once it was gone I found that deadlifts were actually feeling very strong! I’m still struggling a bit with my squat technique but I think it might be on the way back 🤞

Videos:
1: deadlift 152.5 x 2
2: deadlift 135 x 4
3: paused deadlift 140 x 3
4: bench 80 x 3
5: 2ct pause bench 82.5 x 1
6: squat 127.5 x 3
7: 410 tempo squat 120 x 3

5 weeks to put together a decent total in Cape Town 😁

@unifiedstrengthmethods @charmacpt by @cswoodward

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a year ago

Thought this deserved a place on the grid!
I’m so happy and proud that I get to wear the GB singlet 🥹
Thank you so much for the opportunity @deadliftbig

@charmacpt @unifiedstrengthmethods
@lionesss100 @fiercelyfuelednutrition by @cswoodward

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a year ago