Sibéal and Saoirse Houlihan are not your average teenage girls.
In my all girl school especially the use of weights is not advised because “It’s bad for girls” and “It stunts growth” and my all time favourite “Squatting is bad for you.” – Sibéal.
Athlete’s ID:
Sibéal Houlihan
Age: 17
Best results: 1st place U17, National Record C&J
Snatch PR: 43.5KG
Favourite exercise: Burpees
Saoirse Houlihan
Age: 16
Best results: 1st place U16, National records in Snatch and C&J. 1st place in 14-16 age category CrossFit Tipperary teen competition 2014.
Snatch PR: 45 kg (hang)
Favourite exercise: Wallballs
Country: Ireland
Box: CrossFit Waterford
Coaches: Martina Galgey (weightlifting), Martina Galgey & Tom Dunphy (Crossfit)
My friends always tell me how inspiring I am and that motivates me to train even harder and try putting more weight on the bar. – Saoirse
School, homework, lifting, sleep and repeat
They wake up up at 7 am and start the day with eggs, bacon and paleo pancakes. Right after they prepare a lunch, again a healthy one, and leave for school. Sibéal is in 6th and Saoirse is finishing her 5th year. Classes start at 9 and finish at 4. While Saoirse goes home, finishes her homework, Sibéal does after-school study and comes home at 6. Dinner is usually some type of meat, veggies, sweet potato or rice.
At 7 pm they go to the gym to do their lifting class. And if possible also a short MetCon. They come home around 9, shower, watch TV, Sibéal finishes up by learning last minute French or Irish, and then go to bed at 10.30.
They want to lift heavy weights
“Not going to lie after the initial shock of witnessing men in singlets the determination of all the athletes to make their lifts made me want to try it immediately, even though I’d never picked up a bar before in my life,” told us Sibéal on how they got into weightlifting in a first place.
Two days later they had their first class with Martina Galgey at CrossFit Waterford, Ireland.
I wanted to lift heavy weights and prove that it’s good for girls to lift too. – Saoirse
Before lifting weights Sibéal did Irish dancing and swimming, and Saoirse was a gymnast. They quitted the old sports to fully commit to lifting and Crossfit.
“At the start with Saoirse’s background she obviously found everything 10 times easier than me because she can bend in half and squat with her ass hitting the ground, but it just made me want to get better,” says Sibéal.
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Sibéal and Saoirse always train together and share the same barbell. As soon as one hits the PR, within the next 10 minutes the other one has the same weight on the bar as well. And won’t leave until she got it too.
“The sibling rivalry comes out and most of the time it ends up in a fight,” adds Sibéal to that specific sibling rivalry topic.
Weightlifting is something I fell in love with and not many young girls have had the opportunity to try it due to the lack of knowledge and fear of trying something new, something different! – Saoirse.
They both agree that stereotypes of weightlifting not being appropriate for girls come from people not being educated about it. “Girls are afraid that they will become too bulky and look manly but in reality that is the last thing that will happen especially at our young age,” says Sibéal.
It doesn’t matter what people think about you
Before joining Crossfit younger Saoirse struggled with self confidence, was afraid to stand out in a crowd and always preferred to stay in the background. “Now I realise that it doesn’t matter what people think of you.” Weightlifting taught her to simply zone out and focus on what needs to be done.
“It’s all about you. Your attitude towards you is all that matters.” – Sibéal
Lauren Fisher continues to be a role model for girls across the globe. “We’re both in the same weight category as her and to see her c&j’ing a good 50 kg more than us is like holy crap,” says Sibéal. But they both also hope to one day follow the footsteps of Irish legends like Martina Galgey, Holly Deegan and Amy Laffan.
“Make a goals chart, put down a list of things you wish to achieve and each day or week tick it off. The satisfaction of crossing something off a list makes you want to do it again. If you don’t meet your goal, don’t beat yourself up about it. Simply start again,” would be the message they would sent out to other girls.
What’s the dream?
“We think every Crossfitters’ dream is to make it to the CrossFit Games.”
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