Olympic-bound weightlifter big on independence

An Olympic hopeful is helping older people in Westminster stay fighting fit and retain their independence.

By day fitness instructor Denise Ramsay-Overall, 35, works with Westminster Council's Sports Unit to host exercise sessions aimed at elderly people in the borough, but by night she is a top weightlifter with her sights firmly set on Beijing 2008.

A former English and British champion, Denise says she relishes her role keeping older people fit, healthy and active, allowing them to remain as independent as possible for as long possible.

She holds three sessions a week with older people, including a walking class and an hour-long chair-based work-out, and salutes the Council's Every Older Person Matters agenda which aims to improve the health and quality of life of the 24,000 older people who live in Westminster.

She said: "I love my work because it helps to empower older people to have a better quality of life. When they reach 50-years-old or so people think things start to break down, but they don't at all.

"Legs are the biggest muscles and the ones that help you retain your independence so it is vital they get a work-out, and as such a big part of it includes squat routines and sitting to standing movements.

"There is a need for older people to focus on being healthy, remaining independent and enjoying themselves socially too."

Denise has been working with Westminster Sports Unit for over seven-years, and it is her role as a coach that spawned her interest in bodybuilding and weightlifting. She now competes for Trinidad and Tobago and next month flies out to represent her new country in Brazil at the Pan-American Games in the 63-69kg category.

The Rio de Janeiro meet is crucial to determine whether T&T are in line to receive one of the five 'wild cards' available to the lesser known weightlifting nations for the 2008 Olympics.

"Weightlifting died as a sport in Trinidad about 30 years ago but I spend a lot of time there coaching and can see there is a lot of potential in trying to help resurrect the sport, especially with support from Trinidadians in this country who could participate," she said.

"Being able to go to the Olympics would be a dream come true and I'd love the chance to represent T&T on the biggest international stage."


Denise works with both juniors and the seniors in her busy week - including children with obesity issues, diabetes, and special needs.

Cllr Ian Adams, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Services, said: "Denise epitomises the spirit of our Every Older Person Matters agenda, helping to provide popular exercise classes that not only have health benefits, but social ones too.

"By taking sessions three times a week she is helping to empower our older people, assisting them to remain independent for as long as possible and enjoy healthy active lives."