PR, parenting and powerlifting

CBC Stories meets Aneela Rose who is not only the founder of successful PR agency Rose Media Group she is also a British powerlifting champion. Here, she talks about the three Ps in her life and offers some words of inspiration to encourage more women to take up a sport. 

How did you get into powerlifting and when did you realise you wanted to do it at a high level?

I get asked this all the time because I am not your typical, muscular person. Fair enough – that’s how I felt about it, years ago. It is not something I planned to get into. It actually happened through injuring myself when I was participating in another sport. 

When I was a teenager, I represented the county in javelin throwing. I am actually very good at chucking a spear, believe it or not! When I left school, I left that behind. When I was at school, I wanted to be in the Olympics – javelin throwing. Tessa Sanderson, Fatima Whitbread – remember those icons of the 80s and 90s? They were my absolute heroines and I wanted to be like them.

Then, what happened in 2012? The Olympics came to London, and I was just beside myself. It was actually my father who said to me: “Aneela, are you watching the javelin? You have got to get your javelin back out. You need to start throwing again.”

I remember saying: “Dad, I’m in my forties. I haven’t done this for decades.”

He said: “Just do it.” So, I did. I chucked the javelin in my back garden. 

My husband saw the look on my face and said: “Aneela, you have just so got to take the javelin back up.”

I ended up tweeting Tessa Sanderson. Believe it or not, she replied. She said, she did not offer javelin coaching, but she knew a couple of coaches in Crawley. So, I joined Crawley AC, started throwing the javelin again and was the oldest one there. I was training with youngsters and I loved it.  

But what happened was that I injured myself because I wasn’t a teenager anymore. My arm and shoulder weren’t as flexible, and I ended up injuring my shoulder. 

My coach said to me: “Aneela, get to the gym. Start strengthening your body and improving your flexibility.”

That’s what I did. I hit the gym. Lo and behold, my personal trainer took me to that part of the gym where the really heavy weights are. The very first squat I did was 50 kilos, which was my body weight.

He said to me: “So you realise you are freakishly strong!”

That’s where it started.

I went back to my javelin coach and he said I was better at lifting than the javelin and that I’d better switch sports.

I can’t remember ever being so upset. Javelin was my first love.

I ended up doing my first powerlifting competition in 2016. The coaches 

just trained me and trained me, and I got addicted.

During the pandemic, I encouraged my children to exercise with me in the back garden and we threw some javelins. We put it on social media. It got spotted by Tessa Sanderson and we were in the paper. 

For me, it is about how something makes you feel.

Coming from a Pakistani background and having a father who encouraged me to get into sport is very unusual. I was very fortunate that my father was very open-minded and modern. He could see the talent and nurtured that. 

That is where it comes from – that drive that I have.

If I see something in my own kids, that is what I nurture and support. There’s no point encouraging them to do something that they are not interested in.

I really do believe that everybody on this planet is good at something.

For those who don’t know, what’s the difference between powerlifting and weightlifting?

People get confused between weightlifting, body building and powerlifting. I am not a weightlifter, and I am definitely not a body builder.

With body building, you break the muscle down to get it to grow.

Powerlifting consists of three lifts – back squat, the bench press and the deadlift.

With weightlifting, you have two lifts – the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch is the full fluid fast movement, from the floor and then up, which you see in the Olympics. Clean and jerk is a slightly slower one where you bring it up, stop and then push it up.

Powerlifting is not an Olympic sport and has slower movements. Although weightlifting is technically more complex, you can recover from weightlifting faster than you can with powerlifting. Because powerlifting is slower, it takes the body longer to recover. Powerlifting takes longer to train for too.

Tell us about the awards you have won.

I have got some amazing coaches. They keep pushing me and pushing me. Without them, I wouldn’t have achieved.

I have broken some records. I qualified for Team GB for the World Championships this year. I won the Worlds back in 2018 and I’ve won various medals. 

It’s broken down into age and weight classes. It’s a really fair sport, which is brilliant because I am not competing against women who are half my age and double my body weight.

More and more women are getting into powerlifting.

What would you say is your most memorable achievement?

Representing Team GB at the World Powerlifting Championships in Manchester in 2018 and winning a gold medal. Such a surreal experience. 

I had trained exceptionally hard and my diet in the eight weeks leading up to the event had been incredibly tough too as I had to meet a particular weight class. Lifting kick ass heavy weights requires not just physical strength but mental agility too – it’s insane what you put your body through, but I had set my goal, surrounded myself with the right people and was consistent with my training. 

It all came together and I achieved something I had only dreamt about.

Away from powerlifting, what are your hobbies and interests?

I’m an avid cook, and you’ll find me experimenting with new recipes from around the world, usually inspired from watching MasterChef! 

I’m also into fast cars and like racing cars around Thruxton race track. 

But it’s my family that are central to my life and everything revolves around them. I have a rule that if my kids and hubby can’t watch me compete, then I won’t take part.

Your business came first (set up in 2004), you’ve got 2 children but how do you balance training and competing with running your business?

My life is made up of three cogs. My family is one, then I’ve got my business and I’ve got my sport. They are all joined up. If you take one away, everything else falls apart.

The reason is that they each offer me something complementary that empowers me to drive another.

Where it is all joined up, it’s not me that sits in the middle. You can’t do this alone. You have to have somebody or a network. My husband sits in the middle of this. 

Without his support I wouldn’t have the childcare, he helps me with my business (because he’s an accountant) and, with my sport, he’s always the one that will come and support me in the front row with the children. 

You need to be mentally strong to power lift. I take that into my business. I’m happier, stronger and more positive – my kids see that and my husband sees that. I am a happier, fulfilled and content mummy and wife. I’m more relaxed.

I’ve always worked really hard – my kids see that and it inspires them. It is all interlinked. 

What’s next?

I would love to inspire women and girls to get more active, particularly women from the Indian sub-continent to take up sports. It’s empowering, confidence building and hugely beneficial for well-being and mental strength. 

I appreciate it can be challenging due to family and work constraints, but even a jog around the block or attending a HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) class can be a fantastic boost and perfect way to start the day.

• This is a small extract from a County Business Sports podcast, hosted by Sam Thomas and Laurence Elphick. To listen to the entire interview, visit https://youtu.be/dkRK28MNgJc.