Hawke's Bay woman set to challenge deadlift world record

The record for the heaviest sumo deadlift in a minute may have a new title holder come this Saturday.

Hawke's Bay local Rebecca Hodge has set her sights on not only beating the current Guinness World Record for the heaviest sumo deadlift in a minute, which stands at 1500kg, but potentially doubling it.

"I am confident that I am going to beat the current world record but I really want to double it, I have doubled it a few times before so it's just a matter of feeling good on the day and getting it once more. I am choosing to lift with 100kg and I am hoping to do around 30 reps," Ms Hodge said.

"High reps at a heavy weight have always come easy to me, my trainer told me that it was unheard of for a women to do more than 20 reps at 100kg, I didn't believe him because it didn't feel that hard so I went home and googled it, that's how I found out that I had unofficially beaten the world record, so I thought it would be a cool idea to make it official."

The deer farmer and deadlifter is a self-confessed "newbie" in the sport and hopes to compete in lifting in the near future.

"I have only been doing weight training for a bit over a year now but I attribute a lot of my base strength and endurance to years of hard work farming."

The 27-year-old has previously lived in Hawke's Bay for 15 years and now owns two deer farms in Norsewood and in Ongaonga, with a combined total of 60ha and 350 velvet stags.

Ms Hodge trains three times a week at Results Fitness in Havelock North, but trains with deadlifts only twice a week; once with her trainer Paul.

"We do a mixture of training but usually focus more on heavy deadlifts, then I deadlift at home by myself and focus more on high reps. My one-rep max is 137kg."

Six years ago, Ms Hodge was on the cusp of losing her farming career and being forced to settle for a desk job as shoulder and collarbone dislocations plagued her.

After a while, she decided to see a trainer and before she knew it, she was back farming.

"I can't believe how much my life has changed in a year from lifting weights, farming has become so much easier and I don't have to worry about hurting myself all the time. I don't believe that weight training gets enough credit, if you get the right trainer and lift with correct form, weights are a great way to recover from and prevent further injuries."

The record attempt is set to be held at Peak Fitness and her whole family will be there cheering her on.

On the day, Ms Hodge will have two people timing her, two witnesses, two personal trainers to make sure her technique is correct, and someone to weigh the weights.

The attempt also has to be videoed and photographed.

"I am keen to set more records in the future, I'm not sure what they will be just yet but time will tell," Ms Hodge said.