Hulda B Waage
powerlifter strong vegan
In a nation known for its powerlifting and strength sports it can be hard to stand out, although Hulda B. Waage has done this. The Icelandic powerlifter has established herself as a leading powerlifter who competed in both raw and equipped powerlifting, holding several national records.
Now competing in the -84 kg category, she has previously competed at 72 kg where she’s recorded some excellent lifts.
She holds the Bench Press national record having broken it with a 133kg lift (equipped) and has now taken it to 150 kg. This is the all-time lift record in both single lift and full powerlifting meet – a lift which would beat the current corresponding record in numerous other countries. In 2017 she broke the national record for squat (equipped) with a 205.5kg lift, then extended it to 210kg. Later she extended it to 212.5 kg (more here).
In 2017 she competed and recorded a total of 522.5 kg (more here). Lifting at her best in equipped competiton, Hulda also competed in raw powerlifting and has benched 85kg, squatted 147.5kg and deadlifted 160kg. Hulda’s pleased with her success and wants to achieve more.
- Icelandic Champion numerous times
- Icelandic record holder, rebreaking her own records
- European competitor
In 2017 she became Icelandic Champion with a total of 480kg (read more here). Later that year she competed in her first European competition and broke three Icelandic records (read more here) before rebreaking all three later that year (read more).
In February 2018 she won the Icelandic Nationals again, and re-broke her squat record (217.5 kg) before breaking her bench press record the next day with a 133 kg lift (more here).
In 2019 she broke the national bench record with a 150kg lift at the benchpress championships (more here). She then won another National title, breaking two more records (more here).
“Well I have achieved something to stay in powerlifting for 5 years” she said in 2016. “I stayed in it after giving birth and putting in all the work. I´ve set a couple of Icelandic records and currently hold two. That will hopefully change in the near future, two are not enough.” Later she was proved right as the records kept coming; by 2020 she had broken 38 records.
Vegan viking
Hulda first started exploring veganism when she was around age 15. “When I was a teenager I read about it in a book. I got so fascinated that I told my mom that I was going vegan the day after. She was very helpful.” For the next four years Hulda was vegetarian, mostly vegan.
“I felt I had to compromise when moving in with an ex-boyfriend and went pescaterian. Now little over two years I’ve been vegan.”
“Two years ago I was watching videos on YouTube thinking about how I was going to loose weight after having my younger daughter. I went through videos of Raw Christina, followed by Earthlings. Suddenly I remembered how much veganism meant to me and how I had blocked my feelings towards the meat, dairy and egg industry for all those years. No more! So in a week or so I went vegan.”
Now she’s committed to a vegan diet. “I eat completely vegan at all times” she told us after two years of full veganism in 2016. “I would rather starve when travelling than eating something not vegan. But when travelling I always take something with me to make it easier. Like Black Bean Pasta, hummus or dried beans and nuts. I take protein powder with me and often dried wheatgrass and chlorella.”
When at home she has much more control. “I eat smoothies with peanut butter, all sorts of ‘superfoods’, tófu, chickpeas and curry, miso, nori and beets and I guess I drink a bit of coffee.”
This fuels a tough schedule including eleven sessions every week. “My coach makes a plan for my training. I train two times a day, five days a week, once one day a week and rest one day a week”.
“My training consists of squat, benchpress and deadlifting. Added to my training are basic lifting with dumbells, fun exercises with kettelbells and easy relaxing exercises for physical therapy.”
Living in a country where high volumes of fish are eaten, veganism has not presented a problem. “There is obviously no problem being vegan and training hard. It´s pretty easy” she says. “No big fuss and nothing I should be careful off. What every athlete should do is what I do. Eat clean healthy and enough. My coach had a bit of a problem with this first, now he does not even care as long as I eat healthy and enough. But it is made fun of at times, which does not bother me.”
Holding national records in a nation of powerlifters may be proof of her strength, but Hulda has bigger plans ahead.
“In seven years I´m going to win Worlds and be a world champion” she told us in 2016. That gives her until age 37, in 2023. With determined training and a great diet she may be right.