THERMOPOLIS — When Porshia Birdsley asked officials in her hometown if she could borrow a fire hydrant, they did a double take.
When she explained that she needed it to train for a strongman competition, they said yes.
“That has been fun,” said Birdsley. “Having community support and being able to get these different odd objects for my training.
“I had to ask our town if I could have an old fire hydrant because we had to carry a fire hydrant 50 feet inside of a medley race with a sandbag and a keg. I had never picked up a 160-pound fire hydrant before, so it was good to be able to practice with that.”
Birdsley, 33, has been carrying fire hydrants, toting heavy sandbags and performing all kinds of other awesome displays of strength for the past two years training for and competing in the growing sport of strongman. Or in her case, strongwoman.
She had her eye on qualifying for the Arnold Amateur Strongman Classic founded by legendary bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger who, Birdsley said, contestants will get to meet.
To qualify, she headed to the Fridley, Minnesota, Arnold Invite competition in July, where she won all four of her events and set a record.
‘Performance Of My Life’
All her hard work paid off.
Not only did she qualify for the Arnold invite, Birdsley also went to the Official Strongman Games Southwest Regional in Mesquite, Texas, in August and won her strongwoman category.
For that win, she qualified to compete in the Official World Strongman Competition, where she will represent the United States in Madison, Wisconsin, in December. Her goal is to place in the top 15.
“I put on the best performance of my life in Texas,” Birdsley said. “I will now be competing against the best in the world. I just want to represent America well and do my very best. Amongst the strong women that you'll see in the field, I'll be the one rocking pink and glitter.
“It’s fun to be a girl and to be able to lift heavy, proving that it is just not for guys.”
It’s not just about training for strongwoman competitions for Birdsley. She is using her fitness and nutrition education to help seniors and people in need of physical rehabilitation achieve their own healthy ambitions.
“I've always had a passion for working out and staying healthy,” she said. “Nutrition and exercise has always been super important as a lifestyle for me personally, and I love helping others with their goals.”
Online Training
Since there is no one in her rural Wyoming town that can help her train properly, Birdsley has turned to the internet.
Her coaches are available to work with her over video, where she records herself and sends the videos to experts so they can critique her technique and give suggestions.
Birdsley said the process was so frustrating and hard at first that she wanted to give up.
The first time learning to shoulder a 175-pound stone made her question her choice of sports.
However, she persisted and went on to win competitions. She had so much fun competing, she moved on to other challenges such as figuring out the best way to carry a fire hydrant without dropping it.
To carry the awkward hydrant, Birdsley met with her trainers several times so they could critique her technique. Believe it or not, there’s a lot that goes int it.
“You have to really squat down and get low on it so that when you come up, you're hugging it,” Birdsley said. “Some of the weight is on your chest and not too low, which would make you fall forward. There’s a lot of technique and strategy to it.”
Left, in the Nicol walking stone carry at the Official Strongman Games Southwest Regional, the uneven “logs” bumped against Porshia Birdsley’s, legs which made the event even more challenging. (Courtesy Porshia Birdsley) 
Preparing to begin the Nicol walking stone carry competition in the Official Strongman Games Southwest Regional. (Courtesy Porshia Birdsley) 
Running with sandbags at the Official Strongman Games Southwest Regional in Texas. (Courtesy Porshia Birdsley)
From Weird To Normal
She went on to win the fire hydrant event and her four other events at the Tournament of Titans 3 in Denver.
After two years of competitions, what seemed weird to Birdsley now seems normal and she takes it all in stride.
What appeals to fans of strongman is that it’s not a weightlifting competition. The athletes perform feats of strength with normal, and not-so-normal, objects. Those can be huge tires, oddly-shaped things (like the hydrant) and steel anvils.
“We use a lot of kegs, very large stones, and we load them to platforms or over bars or shoulder them,” Birdsley said. “We use a ton of sandbags, and do different things with them, whether it's carrying, pressing or loading.”
Her family is supportive of her new sport, cheering from the sidelines and watching her events on her athletic Facebook page, Porshia Birdsley.
“My mom and my aunts, they all love to watch it,” Birdsley said. “They said they are so glad that I chose and invested in a sport that is fun to watch.
“You'll find that when you watch the videos on my Facebook or Instagram page, they have the commentary of the people announcing just like you would hear on ESPN. It's just very captivating and interesting even for the spectators.”
Embracing Her Strengths
Birdsley did not originally plan on lifting weights and building muscle.
She was focused on being fit and in good health, so decided to take up running in 2021. It wasn’t her passion, but she had committed herself to train for a half marathon.
Like lifting the hydrant, it was hard, but she persisted. In the end, Birdsley did well, finishing seventh out of 168 women at the Night Half Marathon in Utah’s Zion National Park.
“That was an interesting experience. I fell down three times, but it was fun,” Birdsley said. “Shortly after that, I realized I naturally had a gift to bench press and I was inspired to try a power lifting competition.”
Birdsley believed that her ability to lift weights, and break records, is a natural gift, something she enjoys much more than running or any other sport.
“I was created to build muscle mass easily,” she said. “I’ve been able to build my muscles naturally and am just genetically capable in that aspect. By embracing that, rather than going against my body build, was really a big shift in changing my training.”
Birdsley has been breaking records since the moment she started strength training and emphasizes she has done it without the benefit of illegal anabolic steroids.
She also started lifting before knowing that strongman competitions even existed. She learned about the sport when Chad Lowry, her trainer and Montana’s Strongest Man, became excited about her potential.
“He was teaching us the log press, and when I tried it my very first time, he was on his phone pulling up some statistics and telling me that I could already beat records even though I had never even touched this implement before.”
His excitement was contagious, although Birdsley was not convinced at first.
“I didn't really think that it was something that I would enjoy,” she said. “It has some odd events that seemed so different and strange at the time. I’m also such a girlie girl and I didn’t know how I’d like it.”
Birdsley trained and began competing, and immediately began winning her divisions and setting state records.
She was hooked and continues to push her limits.
Helping Others
In addition to her own training, Birdsley is passionate about helping others to find and reach their fitness goals.
She got her certification as a personal trainer, nutrition coach and weight-loss specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and is the wellness director for the gym at the Gottsche Therapy Rehabilitation and Wellness center in Thermopolis.
She has helped with a few post-rehabilitation patients but her main cliental are those over 60 who are wanting to better their lives. She personalizes their fitness plan to their body type and own personal goals.
“One of my clients is in her 70s and when she is hefting a load of hay onto her truck, she says she thinks of me and the work we are doing here,” Birdsley said. “That makes it worth it, knowing that I’m helping to make a difference in even just one person’s life.”
As Birdsley continues to push herself in strongwoman competitions, she wants the younger generation to know that they can also strive for their own dreams. Her daughter has begun competing and her teenage son is pursuing his love of wrestling.
“I want to encourage others to seek out their natural genetic potential,” Birdsley said with a large smile. “I want them to go after whatever it is that they find enjoyment in and to strive to be more than what society expects of you.
“When you set goals and take the necessary actions to achieve those goals, sometimes you'll go farther than you ever expected.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
