This 40-Year-Old Has Broken Three Records At The Singapore Powerlifting Competition
Think you're too old to start exercising? Well, it's never too late, and this investment banker proves it through powerlifitng.
Janice Yap is not just an investment banker. When the 40-year-old set her mind to something, she pulled all stops to ensure that she wasn't just 'good'; she made sure she was the best. Janice Yap started her fitness journey to get her body back in shape after two kids. Only two years later, she would break three records at the Singapore Powerlifting Competition: Squat, Deadlift, and Total Score.
Not too shabby for someone who only made the decision to compete 10 months before the actual competition. Mervin Ortono, Janice’s trainer at Ultimate Performance, says, “It’s not common to break national records when we are at the novice phase of the sport – it’s literally Janice’s first powerlifting competition. It just so happens that I saw that her starting strength when entering the sport had the potential to break the existing national records for Squat and Deadlift.
“Our main goal was to train, prepare and perform on stage for the experience. It’s already a great achievement for a busy professional in her 40s with two young kids to still join these kinds of events – beating records was only secondary. We just realized we broke the National Total Record for her Age and Weight class as well after the event, so for us beating records was just a bonus.”
We speak to the investment banker and record-breaker on what it takes to become a national champion.
When did you first get into powerlifting–was it after the birth of your first child or before that? What made you want to get into powerlifting?
I first got into strength training in 2019, once I started weaning my second child, which was a little before his first birthday. Training at that time was really to just get back into shape and be fit again after having two kids, and so I started with Ultimate Performance given their experience with transformations. But by the time I hit my initial fitness goals, I got “addicted” to the work-outs and wanted to have other, more performance-oriented goals, like being able to do pull-ups (which I was never able to do before in my life, despite having been relatively fit when I was younger), and lift double my body weight.
I continued training with Ultimate Performance with these new goals to work towards, and amazingly I managed to get there as well. That’s when I seriously considered taking up powerlifting. I have a close friend who is very active in the sport, and that’s how I got to know about powerlifting in the first place. I’m relatively goal-oriented so I usually need something external and specific to work towards. I decided to give powerlifting a try. (In some ways I’m also quite lazy, so I’d rather lift heavy for fewer reps, than have to lift a lighter weight for more reps).
So, in consultation with my new coach at Ultimate Performance, who could work with me specifically on powerlifting, I started training competitively after Chinese New Year in 2021, with the hope that there might be a competition later in the year.
I am very fortunate that I receive a lot of help at home, and even have my mother staying with us – this is a huge pillar of support with respect to childcare and certain household responsibilities, so juggling everything becomes a lot more manageable. In fact, if there was anyone that I would dedicate my medal to, it would be my mother, who is effectively the strongest woman I know, with all the love that she gives to everyone around her. My husband was of course also extremely supportive, and totally encouraging of me pursuing powerlifting.
I would also add that, in some strange way, training so hard was essential to finding my balance. It provided a form of stress relief, and lifting heavy weights with huge bursts of energy is arguably the healthiest way to channel any pent-up tension from work! When the weights get extremely heavy, you have to be so focused on executing the movement that it becomes almost meditative.