‘My heart was broken’ – bodybuilding gran who turned to fitness after tragedies

A BODYBUILDING granny told how she turned to fitness after losing her baby son and husband inside a few tragic months.

Iris Davis, born in Dublin in 1944, grew up in a large family with 13 siblings in the years following World War Two.

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The trailblazer revealed how she was rocked by heartbreak shortly following the completion of a two-year educational course early on.

Iris recalled: “At the age of 18, I got married and within a year, my husband and I were blessed with our first child.

“Sadly, our son succumbed to pneumonia when he was only two months old.

“I found solace in walking the streets of Dublin, often crying and talking to myself.”

When Iris was 22, she gave birth to her second child, another son.

But sadly, her beloved husband then passed away soon after, leaving her alone with a two-month-old baby.

Davis explained: “I had no idea how I was going to survive. I was poor; there were no social services back then, and I didn’t know how I would feed the two of us.

“I lay in bed hoping to die, but after a few days, I realised I wasn’t going to. My heart was broken, but it wasn’t going to kill me.”

In search of a fresh start, Iris sought employment as a nanny in the United States.

Remarkably, she secured a job within two weeks and moved to Massachusetts with her six-month-old son in December 1966, arriving with just $10 in her pocket.

To distract herself from severe depression, she continued walking until she eventually came across a gym.

She said: “In 1966, gyms were very different. They were filled with big, sweaty men with chalk on the floor and no modern machines.

“Most gyms did not allow women to join, as it was considered a man’s sport.

“Besides, it was generally an opinion that muscles were ugly and manly for women, so it was not popular. I was the only woman in the gym.

“Despite this, it was there that I discovered and developed my love for bodybuilding.”

‘HUGE THRILL’

At 50 and living in London while working at a bank, Iris saw an advertisement for a bodybuilding competition in a magazine and was encouraged by the men at her gym to enter.

“The competition was called The Italians Are Coming; of course, I wasn’t Italian; I was a little 50-year-old Irish lady.

“There were no categories for women, especially my age, so they told me to get on stage with the men or go home.

“I competed with four men in their early 20s and came second. That was a huge thrill for me.”

She continued: “Upon returning to the USA, I continued bodybuilding, I taught myself everything.

“I figured out what was good for me and stuck to this method for 60 years.”

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At 57, fearless Iris entered another competition in Florida, USA, where she took first place in the mixed pairs.

At the same show, she took home first place in the over-45 women bodybuilding category.

In 2020, at age 76, she came out of a 10-year retirement to win three more first-place titles in the same shows she had won 10 years earlier.

Iris explained her motivation to stay fit comes from her clients, adding: “I opened my own gym at age 75.

“I have clients who have been with me for the last 13 years.”

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