Oxfordshire school teacher is one of UK's strongest women

Lisa Wallman, 34, has been taking the country by storm and has already won the titles of Oxfordshire and Hampshire's strongest woman.

She trains by pulling buses by rope, lifting rocks and holding 65kg logs above her head - and also works as a full-time teacher.

Her pupils at Hendreds Primary School near Wantage have now been asking if she will be appearing on BBC show Gladiators.

Ms Wallman, who now lives in East Hendred, said: "It's been crazy and amazing.

"My coach is very excited because she thinks it's going to be a big year.

"Life is teaching and training - there is not much time for everything else.

"My younger students are in awe of what I do and some even like to show me them lifting logs in the playground.

"They are also asking me when I'm going on Gladiators, to which I say I am definitely not because I am not wearing the outfits.

"I want to show my girl pupils in particular it is okay to be a woman and strong."

The 34-year-old originally took up weightlifting to assist with her dressage and horse riding in 2022.

But after giving up her horse, she wanted something else to focus her attention on - so for around a year took part in powerlifting - a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts - squat, bench press, and deadlift.

However, as Ms Wallman was still recovering from a very bad spinal injury a few years ago, she found powerlifting not only painful for her back, but also quite mundane.

She explained: "I got a bit bored of powerlifting and was getting more and more back problems.

"But a best mate of mine did strongman, a different type of strength athletics, so I decided to give it a go.

"Strongman has helped my back because it has allowed me to build up muscle by my spine which helps functionally - it has changed everything."

Ms Wallman explained how Strongman competitions swiftly became her new favourite passion due to the vast nature of the exercises required and the supportive community.

So, she moved into strong man coaching just 14 months ago in January 2023 and has made a name for herself within the sport.

Ms Wallman said: "Strongman is so much more fun, the events are ridiculous.

"There are at least 40 to 50 events you could train for and every competition has so much variety - pulling cars and buses, lifting rocks, flipping bags.

"It is also much more of a community: everyone is so supportive, even at competitions, competitors share things and support each other throughout."

Ms Wallman, who teaches years three and four, says her school community have been very supportive of her strength competitions and her young pupils are always inquisitive and 'amazed'.

She said: "I had two pupils come to my last competition, the whole school tuned into my radio shows, there have been no negative comments, the parents support me - it is so lovely to have that.

"I like to show the girls in the school in particular it's okay to be strong."

She will attempt to win the 'strongest in the south' contest later in Spring before the Derbyshire strong woman contest in August and the England qualifiers in 2025.