‘Strongwoman’ competitors drag cars, lift boulders

Inez Carrasquillo used to live in her car. Now she can haul a 700-pound car chassis across a 50-foot course by her own strength.

The Rolling Meadows, Illinois, resident spent part of her twenties homeless and sleeping in her Honda Civic She eventually moved into her boyfriend’s house but, after having her son in 2016, struggled with depression and an eating disorder. “I actually got up to 330 pounds at my heaviest,” Carrasquillo told The Post

But in 2020, her life changed when she discovered “Strongwoman” — a competition that pits the planet’s strongest females against each other.

On Nov. 11-13, she, alongside hundreds of the world’s strongest people — from more than 30 countries — will compete in the Official Strongman Games in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Now 100 pounds lighter, 28- year-old Carrasquillo is tipped by experts and fellow athletes to one day become the “World’s Strongest Woman.” She routinely breaks records in training and in competition and recently threw a 50-pound sandbag a distance of 14 feet.

Professional strongman Gabe Pena was so impressed he even gave her a nickname: “The Dominator.”

“The ultimate dream is to be the most decorated strongwoman in history,” Carrasquillo said. “I really want to have the most world titles.”

While there are individual weight divisions in Strongwoman, it’s the “Open” category, which has no weight limit, that often draws most attention. That’s where the most mind-boggling amounts are lifted, thrown, pushed and pulled. In October 2020, British strongwoman Andrea Thompson deadlifted 639 pounds — more than 2.5 times her own weight of around 260 pounds.

The events are brutal. Besides the Car Walk, which comes down to who can drag a chassis the fastest, there’s the Atlas Stones event: Six concrete boulders, increasing in weight from 200 to 325 pounds, have to be lifted onto chest-height podiums as quickly as possible.

And while the training schedule is punishing, most of the women — including 2021’s World’s Strongest Woman, Rebecca Roberts — balance full-time jobs and family commitments as well.

Reverend Jessica Putland, who will be competing in the competition this weekend, is the Associate Pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon. Like many strongwomen, the 29-year-old took to the sport after competing in college field events such as shot put and hammer throwing, when she was a student at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She’s been competing in strongwomen contests since her 2015 graduation.

“I instantly fell in love with it,” said Putland, who trains five days a week. “The community is unmatched in love and support.” 

For the powerlifting pastor, it’s also been a great way to connect with her congregation.

“I have found that the older boys in high school love to talk with me about lifting. They like to compare what we’re lifting and ask for advice,” she said. “I also think my congregation sees great value in the fact that their pastor is a multifaceted person. It shows them that being a Christian is not one-dimensional.”

A typical day for Carrasquillo, meanwhile, begins at 6 a.m. when she gets her son ready for school. Then, it’s a 45-minute drive in heavy traffic into the city to start her job as an operations manager at Lyft. 

At 5 p.m., she picks up her son, grabs dinner and heads off to the gym — for four hours.

“The worst part about what I do is the mom guilt,” she admitted. “My son comes to the gym with me most days and basically lives there with me. 

“I know it’s worth it in the end, to show my son that I will do anything to follow my dreams, but I also know it’s hard on him sometimes.” 

Carrasquillo’s original focus was on powerlifting — she even set a national record in the squat lift, with 606 pounds — but she soon grew bored of that sport’s repetitive nature. Switching to strongwomen competitions required greater athleticism and agility, which meant losing fat and gaining muscle.

Putland describes her diet as “intuitive” and refrains from counting calories. She prioritizes protein intake, as well as fruits and vegetables. “I supplement throughout the day with protein shakes,” she adds.

Not all strongwomen are as strict.

Ilennis Heredia is also making a name for herself in the discipline. An electronics engineer in the air logistics industry in Greater Macon, Georgia, the 30-year-old tries to avoid any processed foods during the week and goes hard on carbohydrates in competition weeks.

But she has her limits. “Fact is, I don’t like veggies — they taste too green,” she said with a shrug.

Heredia found strongwoman during the COVID pandemic, after her roller derby team’s games were canceled, and competed in her first event in 2021.

She was hooked — although it wasn’t all smooth sailing. It’s almost impossible to exactly replicate competition events for practice; you can’t exactly carry around a car at the gym.

“Car Walk is just incredibly difficult,” said Jessica Putland. “We train with yokes [large metal frames. It is similar, but not the same. 

“But you get the training done by any means possible — you just have to be creative.”