From Powerlifting to Strongwoman: ‘Leafy’s’ Journey to the national record

57kg lifter Veronique Cormier quickly made a mark on powerlifting with a raw squat well over double bodyweight, a raw total over six times bodyweight and World Championship qualification.

Since then she’s added a national title in strongwoman.

Veronique has been training hard with the atlas stones, and was keen to work on the 100kg one – approaching double her weight. It wasn’t easy, although she went from being barely able to get it off the ground to lifting it over the bar in training.

The recent Canadian Nationals gave her a chance to try all aspects of her strength, followed by a record attempts session.

Admitting to a weakness in deadlifts she managed 9 x 300 lb to win that event, confident it would have been no reps a year ago. She also won a sandbag medley and atlas stone ladder to finish second overall.

As if that wasn’t enough, she then attempted the 220lb stone, and cleared the bar.

“I worked really hard on stones this prep from not getting the 220 stone more than a few inches off the ground to making it look so easy on the day” Veronique told Great Vegan Athletes. “The announcers were convinced I would get 245. It’s not there yet but definitely the next goal.”

Vegan power

Veronique turned vegan in mid 2019, and soon after added large chunks to her powerlifting total at the nationals. The move was for ethical reasons, primarily those related to animal cruelty. She supplements with her own brand of protein cookies which probably play a part in her success and earned her the handle ‘Leafy Lifter’.

While diet has clearly not let her down, the determination of this lifter, who is still in her mid 20s, is fantastic.

“Make as many mistakes as you can in training, that’s how you learn and you will be better equipped to adapt when things don’t go perfectly” she says.

“Being a little stubborn also helps.”