Lynnette Babin says she’s “no bigger than a minute.” At five feet tall, she often competes against athletes half a foot taller in powerlifting’s heaviest female weight class.
But the Antigonish, Nova Scotia resident continues to shatter provincial records. And with a national gold medal now in her sights, the mother of two is locked in to represent Canada at this September’s Commonwealth Championships in Winnipeg.
When the 51-year-old elementary French immersion teacher started lifting, it was never about competition or medals; it was about family.
For years, the solo parent went to the gym casually, without any particular focus beyond staying active. But that changed when Avery, her 14-year-old daughter needed hip surgery in 2023.
“I couldn’t carry her up the steps when we got home from the hospital,” Lynnette says. “It really bothered me that I couldn’t care for her when she needed me, so I did something about it.”
That single moment of helplessness became the spark. Lynnette found a coach in town, started training seriously, and ended up in her first powerlifting competition later that year.
And she hasn’t stopped competing since.
These days, Lynnette trains under Matt Gledhill, president of the Nova Scotia Powerlifting Association, and competes internationally through the IPF, powerlifting’s drug-tested governing body.
The women’s rise in the powerlifting world has been astonishing.
Last year, she swept every provincial record in her class – squat, bench, deadlift, and total. At the Canadian championships in Newfoundland this past March, she won gold with a bench press of 67.5 kilograms. The lift put her 10th all-time in Canada in her category, earning her the right to represent Team Canada internationally.
Lynnette’s numbers are telling; a 125-kilogram squat, a 67.5-kilogram bench, and a 137.5-kilogram deadlift, for a combined total of 330 kilograms, good enough for 36th all-time and 12th in the country for 2026 so far. She’ll aim to push past 70 kilograms on the bench when she competes for Canada in Winnipeg.
While Lynnette has had great success, none of it has come easy.
Lynnette weight trains twice a week, squeezing two-hour sessions in around a full teaching schedule and parenthood. She does it all while pursuing a part-time doctorate in education through Western University, with a focus on social justice.
She’s also battled through injuries. A shoulder problem dogged her through the winter before the national title, and no sooner had it eased than the other shoulder was injured.
“It’s not all sunshine and roses,” admits Lynnette. “There’s a lot of pain that goes with it. There’s a lot of failure that goes with it, too. Not every lift is a good one.”
If there’s inspiration in Lynnette’s journey, it comes through her willingness to share her challenges openly.
Lynnette underwent weight loss surgery in 2018, when she weighed close to 300 pounds. And the transformation since then has been as much about mindset as muscle.
“My goal is to be strong, not skinny,” she says. “I grew up in the 1980s and ’90s, where we were brainwashed into thinking we had to be thin. There are still days when I have 250 pounds on my back doing a squat, and all I can see is the spots where my body’s not perfect. That has to stop.”
It’s a message that resonates well beyond the gym.
In the classroom, her elementary students have taken to calling her the strongest woman in Canada. Amazed at her accomplishments, they leave drawings of her lifting weights on her desk. One boy even built her a barbell out of Lego.
“That part of it really makes me happy,” she says. “The fact that they’re seeing me breaking stereotypes, as a 51-year-old woman, and I’m willing to put myself out there is a really important life lesson for them.”
The gym may have become a sanctuary, but Avery is never far from her mom’s mind. After all, she’s the reason Lynnette started down the weightlifting path in the first place.
To stay healthy and active herself, Avery, who has Down syndrome, has been part of Antigonish’s Challenger Baseball program for years and, more recently, joined Uniquely Abled, a CrossFit-based program pairing teens with physical or intellectual disabilities with trained “buddies” to help them build strength, confidence, and community.
Although Avery isn’t highly verbal, there is one phrase she’s coined and repeats often: “Strong Like Mom!”
Watching her mother train has given her a model for what movement and exercise can look like on her own terms.
With her son Isaac starting at St. Francis Xavier University this fall, he’ll be able to continue serving as Avery’s Challenger Baseball buddy for the past five years. Lynnette describes the patience he offers his sister as a leadership skill he’s developed over the years that has become invaluable.
When both of Lynnette’s parents passed away in a short span of each other, the family lost a major source of added support last year.
Historically, her parents had cared for Avery while Lynnette trained. But she has pushed forward regardless, with the encouragement and support of Nova Scotia’s powerlifting community and the accommodating people at the St. Francis Xavier University campus gym.
“The community is so positive, and powerlifting is about competing with yourself,” she says. “It’s not about being number one, because not everybody can be number one. And that’s okay. It’s about competing with yourself, and the people around me always offer that extra push to go just a little further.”
This September, she’ll step onto an international platform wearing the Maple Leaf, chasing a new personal best in front of competition she’s never faced. But she remains balanced and ready for whatever happens.
“I’m not expecting to place,” she says. “I’m just excited to be in the room.” For a teacher, a doctoral student, a solo parent and a woman who once couldn’t carry her own daughter up a flight of stairs, being in that room is a victory unto itself.
