Our iron woman

Alex de Vos
Former World Professional Bodybuilding Champion Bev Francis fondly remembers the first time she pumped iron.
“It was such an empowering, fabulous feeling,” Bev reflects.
“I immediately fell in love with it and after just a few weeks I was like a junkie.”
For Bev, casting aside her previous ambition to become a professional track and field athlete was an easy call.
“I just loved the feeling of being strong,” she says.
Clocking up to 20 hours a week at the gym, consuming “enormous” amounts of food and finishing each day with nine solid hours of shut eye quickly became her lifestyle.
“I lifted every day and hated to miss a session at the gym,” the former Geelong resident explains.
“I’d do an hour of cardio – running and sprinting – then an hour of lifting followed by an hour of throwing.
“I was always a strong girl and had abdominals at a young age, so it felt natural to me.”
Bev went on to bench press almost three times her body weight, breaking numerous world records and pioneering the women’s component of the extreme sport.
“I felt like I could run through a brick wall,” she boasts.
“I had a resting pulse rate of 42 and could run for 10 miles.
“I felt so powerful.”
But it wasn’t all highs for the former two-time Ms Olympia runner-up.
Throughout her career she suffered ongoing abuse from peers and the intense scrutiny of judges.
But, like a true professional, Bev learnt to ignore the hurtful comments to quickly build a resistance just as fast as muscle.
“Back then most girls got into bodybuilding because of their boyfriends but I came from a completely different background,” she explains.
“I had been lifting weights for a lot longer and was shot-putting for track and field, so I was much bulkier and stronger.
“I was scrutinised by the judges because I was too big and not feminine enough. It was a huge culture shock for me.
“I look vastly different from the other girls. People said I looked like a man.”
But Bev didn’t care because she was doing what she loved.
“I had the attitude that this is what I want to do – I wasn’t going out to make friends.”
During the 1991 Ms Olympia bodybuilding competition Bev was solely responsible for pushing the sport in a new, muscular direction, changing the shape of female bodybuilding forever.
“I went in with so much muscle,” she admits.
“I wanted to show them how much muscle a woman could have.”
But she believes women have now pushed the sport too far.
“Bodybuilding now has gone way beyond me,” Bev says.
“I don’t like the way it looks. I don’t like the shape they develop – the huge implants, it doesn’t look natural. I think they look like transvestites.
“If you’re going to have muscle you’re not going to look feminine.”
Bev, who was born and bred in Geelong, retired in the early ’90s “when the injuries started to hit”.
“I think I just over-trained,” she admits.
Bev lives in New York with husband and former bodybuilder Steve Weinberger and their two daughters, Tara, 14 and Haley, 15.
She spends her time operating her highly successful and award-winning Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym, which she opened in 1987.
“It’s a good old-fashioned kind of gym and we cater to a wide range of people,” she says.
“We do get Mr Olympia when he’s in town and wrestlers but it’s also a place where a 55-year-old woman who’s never been to the gym before can train”
Despite her love of New York, Bev plans to retire in Geelong.
“I love Geelong – it’s a great city and I love the location,” she says.
“I have a lot of family here and will always be home.
“Go Cats.”