Poorna Bell - Discovering your strength

Journalist and Author Poorna Bell has been on a fascinating journey of strength. While dealing with the grief of losing her husband, she realised that she had always relied on him for physical strength, and wasn't able to flip her own mattress. She was inspired to get strong, and powerlifting became her medium.

As a 5ft 3 South Asian woman, she talks us through adapting, growing and changing what her idea of strength is.

Poorna's new book 'STRONGER: Changing Everything I Knew About Women's Strength' is a brilliant read for anyone looking for inspiration.

Poorna's powerful stories of the importance of unlearning what we were told as a kid will inspire anyone; how we need to forget what we were once told we couldn't do. She also thinks we need to change how we as a society view strength. As part of that, she says that fitness has a huge lack of diversity and that physical strength should be more accessible to women.

A big part of Poorna's journey started when she turned 40 - something she had been dreading. She had to reframe the experience of getting older and discover that potential doesn't stop when you age. She believes we need to identify places and communities that will help us on our journey. 

Now a competitive amateur power-lifter who can lift over twice her body weight, Poorna strongly believes that people are stronger than they realise. She says we rarely give ourselves credit for what we've overcome, to get to where we are.