Power up

Karen Humphreys threw herself into fitness as she grieved the loss of her son, never imagining she’d one day set a world record by squatting almost double her body weight.

words DEBBIE GRIFFITHS | photos KATIE COX

Did you just say you picked up a washing machine?”

“A front loader, yeah,” laughs the 159cm-tall grandmother, suddenly realising how far from normal that sounds.

She explains that you can ‘flick it onto your legs’ to carry it up steps. Same with a small chest freezer; although when helping a friend move house recently, her coach Mike Jones had already called to insist that she refrain from lifting whiteware. It was, after all, the lead up to defending her world powerlifting title.

“At the last worlds, three lifters were injured in the week before,” she laughs. “As we get older, we’re just not as robust as we used to be.”

It’s the only concession to her 61 years that she’ll make.

“I see other people doing what I’m doing and the fact that they’re 40 years younger doesn’t mean anything to me,” she says. “At my daughter’s wedding in Fiji, I wore a dress with shoestring straps. Some young guys wanted to know ‘how’d you get traps like that?’. That felt good.”

Fighting spirit Karen grew up in ‘middle of nowhere’ Kaihere, aiming for a career as an architect. Back then, technical drawing was only for boys.

“My parents had to go in fighting for me. The school eventually said yes, and I thought ‘right, I want to show these guys’, so each year, I was top of the class.”

Years later, she fought for her own teenager when he fell ill. After three weeks of night sweats and debilitating aching limbs, came the nightmare diagnosis.

“I didn’t even know what leukemia was,” she admits. “Jono looked it up on his computer and said, ‘Mum, I have cancer’. I was dumbfounded.”

Seventeen-year-olds are usually treated at Starship but, because Jono had left home and was working, he was treated as an adult so Karen was told she couldn’t stay with him. Her tenacity kicked in.

“I stood my ground and wouldn’t leave. I think I got guts and determination from my parents.”

In August 2013, Jono lost his battle with cancer. Channelling the grief By the age of 50, she’d taken up boxing, but after being deemed too old to compete, Karen switched to powerlifting, entering her first competition just six months later.

“I started like anyone else; lifting tiny weights around a tenth of what I lift now,” she says.

Since then, she’s won multiple national titles, the Commonwealth Championships in 2022 and last year, the World Champs in Mongolia. In October, she attempted to defend her title at the IPF World Masters Powerlifting Champs and the Commonwealth Powerlifting Champs in South Africa. Karen’s deadlifting weight was five kilos off the 155kg to secure the overall win but her best squat of 120.5kg set a new world record.

Ruthless Barbell Club owner Mike Jones says it’s rare to meet someone as dedicated. “To push our top competitor, a highly accomplished athlete, to their limit made for an exciting and rewarding day on the platform.” Strong focus “I close my eyes, blank everyone out and go through all the motions in my mind; going to the bar, doing the lift, racking it up – and then I go and do it. Visualisation is so powerful.”

Karen’s target weights are already scrawled on sticky notes in her car and on her work desk for future international competitions. She’s even eyeing up the next age category that she’ll move into when she’s 69.

“There’s a new set of records to break,” she smiles.

A new era

Registered nurse Leanne Cashmore from the Cashmore Clinic has more than 26 years' experience in women’s skincare. Here she takes us through the challenges that menopause can have on skin, and what we can do to combat them. 

Menopause can have a dramatic effect on the skin. Without hormones, our aging accelerates by around 30 percent. Because our skin is so visible, being the largest organ on the body, it is one of the areas we first notice the most rapid changes. 

Often people tell me they feel like it happened overnight. One of the reasons for this is that oestrogen receptors are very abundant around the face and the decline of oestrogen is part and parcel of menopause.

Tell-tale signs can include thinning skin, wrinkles, skin laxity and dry skin, as well as hair loss, thinning of the hair and hirsutism (abnormal hair growth in women on the face).

The best way to treat perimenopausal and menopausal skin is to find a good skin therapist, and make sure it’s someone you can trust. Take a hormone replacement if your doctor recommends it for you, too.

There are many cosmetic options these days, including amazing bio stimulator hyaluronic acid dermal fillers that promote hydration. This involves basically injecting moisturiser into the skin and stimulating your own collagen by way of regular needling appointments. 

Needling helps with tightening and minimising the visibility of fine lines, and it has been scientifically proven. So if you don't already do it, start now! The latest technology, Secret RF radio frequency needling, uses heat to tighten the skin and needling to cause collagenesis.

Peels and resurfacing treatments brighten the skin and diminishes
pigment and irregularities.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is another way to promote collagen. Your own blood is full of growth factors that can be injected or infused into the skin, to produce collagen for fine lines and thinning skin.

Low-level light therapy promotes skin rejuvenation by stimulating
collagen production.

Outside of the clinic, it’s a good idea to consistently stick to a skincare regime which includes lots of hydrating serums and moisturisers. Never use soap. Use a cleanser that is suitable for your skin and try to use a mild cleanser at night, which will allow serums and moisturisers to absorb.

Use an SPF daily, take oral supplements such as zinc and collagen powder, and adhere to a healthy diet while getting plenty of sleep and limiting alcohol and sugar. All these combined will have an amazing effect on the skin.

You can get away with ignoring these health principles when you're younger, but it's impossible after 40.

Treating your skin is a journey. It's maintenance that is no different to maintaining a car or a house. It’s no different to colouring your hair or
whitening your teeth. It's a commitment, and the changes don't happen overnight. If you’re considering using botox or fillers, a good canvas to work with is important.

We have to remember it has taken years to get our skin to get to where it is today, and it's going to take some time and patience to bring it back to life. But it's never too late. Small changes over a course of time make big changes to your confidence when you see the results.

Visit Leanne at Cashmore Clinic and have your skin analysed with the latest technology, Observ 520, or simply get some skincare advice. 

cashmoreclinic.co.nz