At ninety-five years old, Catherine Kuehn became a world-record-holding powerlifter. “It’s been very easy for me,” she explains with a smile, “because no one my age was doing it.” “Strong Grandma,” the documentary short by Cecilia Brown and Winslow Crane-Murdoch, follows Kuehn as she prepares for what may be her final competition. (Kuehn, who was ninety-five years old during filming, is now ninety-seven.) We see Kuehn in the gym, working on her deadlift, hips hinging with practiced precision—her goal in the upcoming competition is to deadlift a hundred pounds. She works out with her training partner, Peggy; we see the pair at a meet together, wearing their singlets (“not very becoming,” Kuehn remarks), sharing pastries and commentary. Kuehn came to powerlifting late in life. She picked up the sport in her eighties, alongside her husband, Dick, who has since passed. Her story is as much about the enlivening power of connection as it is about grit and athleticism. “When you have your soul mate rooting for you, you gotta do it. You just gotta do it.”
