Pulling trucks, lifting 100kg stones and Viking deadlifts are all part of Brooke Prichard’s journey to prove herself as one of the strongest women in the world.
The Hills strongwoman is in discussions with Guinness World Records to organise attempts at multiple world records in the truck pull and plane pull categories.
But pulling vehicles weighing up to 70 tonnes and lifting weights more than four times her own wasn’t always on her radar.
Her strongwoman journey started after the birth of her son, Isaac, when she joined a Mt Barker gym for exercise and quickly developed a love for weightlifting.
“I loved trying to do something new with my body, because it had changed a lot since having a child, and then I discovered that I actually really enjoyed lifting weights and pushing myself that way,” Brooke says.
Her first coach, Jake Horn, put her in touch with strongman Jordan “Biggie” Steffens, who helped push her to new heights.


Her main passion became deadlifting, where a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground from a stabilised, bent over position, using a combination of leg, back and arm muscles.
This was despite her physiotherapist telling her that she would “never be able to lift anything heavy” post partum, due to a “weak” back.
“My first time testing my deadlift I (lifted) 80kg and within a six-month period I increased that to 150kg,” Brooke says.
“I was like ‘yes, I love this, this is exactly the sort of thing that I want to do’.”
After winning multiple deadlift competitions at Adelaide gyms, she began discussing the possibility of doing a truck pull with Jordan.
‘My first time testing my deadlift I lifted 80kg and within a six-month period I increased that to 150kg … I love this, this is exactly the sort of thing that I want to do.’
The training built up to a point where Brooke was able to pull her own car around using a special harness.
“We would do car pulls up and down the road in front of the gym and sled pushes,” she says.
Brooke and Jordan later went head to head in a friendly truck pull competition at the Fennel Forestry Truck Pull Challenge in October 2022, which was also a fundraiser for Variety Bash.
Two months prior, Brooke topped the 79kg female deadlifting category of the 2022 CAPO Powerlifting National Championships, where she recorded a deadlift of 207.5kg.
But she recently blew that out of the water with a potentially record-setting axle Viking deadlift (which incorporates an axle bar bigger than the typical deadlift barbell) of 335kg.
“We’re just waiting to get clarification, but hopefully I’ve broken a world record with that,” Brooke says.
“I’m hoping it will be the first of many.”
She’s also pulled loaded horse-drawn trams at Victor Harbor and she pulled a 70 tonne SteamRanger train for half a meter before being forced to stop after suffering a minor injury.
While it can look like strength is always the deciding factor when it comes to weightlifting, for Brooke, a great deal of preparation is done prior to each lifting competition.
“You do so much training and so much rehab – I work with a lot of physios and massage therapists before I lift, so I know that my body is in good shape,” she says.
Brooke also competes in strongwoman events, which include unique disciplines such as car squatting, stone lifting and the farmer’s carry.
“You’re eating a lot of protein coming into the competition and then on the day of the lift it’s a lot of carbs to keep the energy coming through.
“I was using a nutritionist for a while and I’ve sort of moved away from that now, but it’s looking at your diet in its entirety and making sure it’s balanced and you’re hitting your fats.”
In addition to the usual deadlifting competitions, Brooke also competes in strongwoman events, which include unique disciplines such as car squatting, stone lifting and the farmer’s carry.
Car squatting is done using a weighted bar, which is connected to an apparatus rigged up to the bottom of a car, allowing the strongwoman to lift the car as they lift the bar.
Meanwhile, stone lifting involves lifting a 100kg stone over a one metre bar as many times as possible in 60 seconds and the farmer’s carry challenges participants to carry 100kg weights in either hand for a set distance within a certain time.
While competition can be gruelling, Brooke says the support of her friends and family helps her to achieve the incredible feats of strength she has accomplished so far.
“It’s really humbling when I have all these people around me who are always saying ‘wow, you’re amazing’ and all that sort of stuff, and that I’m the reason they go to the gym,” she says.
“My mum thinks I’m crazy, my dad loves it, they both love coming out to the comps and supporting me, but Dad is thoroughly invested.
“When my son comes out as well it’s even better, he’s out in the crowd yelling, ‘go Mummy!’.”