Tiny 4ft 8in tattooed powerlifter says ‘gymnasium bros’ hate seeing her outlift males
Powerhouse Pet Emery is just 4ft 8in tall but says despite her petite frame, she regularly out performs men in the gym, going for longer and lifting heavier – but the trolls aren’t happy
(Image: Jam Press/@power_midget)
A tiny woman says she is stronger than most men in her gym – and says blokes get furious about it. Powerhouse Peta Emery is just 4ft 8in tall but says despite her petite frame, she regularly out performs men in the gym, going for longer and lifting heavier – but the trolls aren’t happy.
Self-confessed “pocket rocket” Peta Emery is a national-level powerlifter and content creator who can deadlift three times her bodyweight. And despite her diminutive height, many men still try to “mansplain” lifting to her online.
She said: “I started powerlifting in 2020 and immediately loved it. I love competing – it’s so much fun and it turns out that I’m pretty good at it.”
So good, in fact, that Peta can squat 137.5kg, bench press 82.5kg and deadlift a huge 155kg. She added: “For someone so short, I have weird proportions.
“I have quite long femurs for a squat, which isn’t very useful, and I’m not very flexible. There are some advantages to it though, like my deadlift – I don’t have to lift it up as far.”
The creator has built a huge online following by showcasing her strength, physique and training. “I’ve always liked being shorter – it’s a conversation starter and everyone loves a short female,” said Peta, who has amassed over 460,000 followers on Instagram.
But being tiny also fuelled her desire to become stronger. She said: “I never wanted anyone to underestimate me because of my tiny size, so I always wanted to be strong.
“Women in general are better at pushing themselves in the gym more than men, especially when it comes to legs, because I think every woman wants that whole big bum, big legs thing. Pound-for-pound, I’m stronger than a lot of men.”
She said male followers regularly try to give her lifting advice online – despite many of them being weaker than her. Peta, who is from the UK, said: “I get quite a few comments from men trying to ‘mansplain’ my lifting to me.
“My favourite thing is when I go on to their page and I see that pound-for-pound they’re much weaker than me.” Reactions from men tend to go one of two ways – especially as Peta also creates saucy online content.
She said many men immediately dismiss her lifting achievements because she also creates adult content, adding: “Then I get the other men who don’t understand lifting, so they don’t know that I’m a very respected lifter regardless of what else I do for work.”
And sometimes the backlash becomes extreme. She added: “I was told to kill myself on one of my lifting videos the other day.
“It makes me laugh because these men are clearly going out of their way to find something to be angry about. I can be a multi-dimensional human being – I have hobbies and interests outside of being an adult content creator.”
Women, however, tend to react very differently. Peta said: “Women who follow and comment are generally just really impressed, because I think they have more of an appreciation of how hard it is as a woman to reach the kind of weights that I am doing.”
Peta competes again in June and is hoping to push her lifts even further. “Taking up space, being sturdy, fuelling our bodies – it’s really, really important,” she added.
