A Team Lift That Brought Her Back to Life
WRITTEN BY LAUREN LAWSON | PHOTOS BY MADI ELIZABETH
A decade ago, Ayecia Bryant stood at a crossroads. “I had to make that decision to live or die,” she recalls. “So, I chose life.”
At the time, she was a stranger to herself, reeling from a long, abusive relationship and carrying the weight of trauma both physical and emotional. “My life took a dramatic turn. I was severely overweight, depressed, and barely surviving each day. I desperately wanted to take my life back, but I just didn’t know how.”
Six to seven workouts a week, sometimes twice a day, to drown out the noise in her head. The pounds dropped, but something greater fell away too: the shame and the self-doubt. “I lost 75 pounds on my own,” she says. “Then I got bored with regular weight loss and wanted to do something that would keep me in shape. I was going to get my power back by any means necessary.”
That “something” was powerlifting.
Introduced to the sport in 2017 at age 30, Ayecia discovered she was a natural. A year later, she entered her first local meet and deadlifted 315 pounds on her first attempt. Now, nearing 40, she remains unapologetically herself, often sporting long, painted nails as a deliberate challenge to conventional notions of strength.“Women are capable of being in strength sports and still maintaining their femininity,” she says. “I want women to know that their strength is their beauty.”
Ayecia Bryant has since won national titles in the Open and Submaster divisions of the American Powerlifting Federation, broken Florida state and national records, broke a Guinness World Record and even earned a key to the city. The whole experience is still surreal to her, “I'm just little Ayecia,” she says, “coming in the gym and just lifting my weights, sometimes I don't even realize the impact that I've made.”
For Ayecia, the deadlift, a literal act of raising something lifeless from the ground, became symbolic of her own rebirth. “If I’ve done all this work to get it off the floor, it’s coming with me,” she says, smiling. Her mantra before a big lift? “Turn the human off. Turn the monster on.”
“Turn the human off. Turn the monster on.”
In 2021, she turned that ethos into empowerment for others, launching Queenz of Power, an all-female powerlifting team built for “the everyday woman: moms, entrepreneurs, corporate women, anyone wanting to reclaim their body.” Though some of the original members have moved on, a few still compete alongside her at nationals. “It makes my heart smile,” Ayecia says. “Even though we’ve all grown in different directions, I know I made an impact. Now they’re teaching other women the importance of strength training. It’s like, okay, they heard me.”
Ayecia Bryant’s foundation is as strong as her lifts. Born in Bartow and raised in Lakeland, she credits her parents, Samuel and Carolyn Bryant, with her grounded sense of purpose. Her father is active in local politics, and her mother is the former assistant principal at Rochelle School of the Arts. “If you see me, you see them,” she says. “They’re front row, center, every time.”
That same community spirit surrounds her at every level. From her nail tech, Micaela, owner of Polish Please, to her meal prep team at Forte Fuels, and the designer behind her custom gym apparel, Bryant’s circle reflects the strength she’s built. Much of that community also centers around Southern Strength Gym, where she trains and connects with other athletes who share her drive. Designer Justin Pineda, owner of Gym Gurus Apparel, remembers their first meeting vividly. “I’d heard of her and what she stood for,” he says. “She believed in advocating for women in a space often seen as masculine, especially for minority women. She had that grind.”
“Finding your people, that’s what keeps you going. Ayecia does that naturally. She’s a magnet for women who want to get stronger.”
- Justin Pineda
For Justin, it’s about more than clothes. “You have to embrace your strength, not run from it,” he says. “Finding your people, that’s what keeps you going. Ayecia does that naturally. She’s a magnet for women who want to get stronger.”
Ayecia’s most recent project, her book “Beneath the Barbell,” was published in June. It chronicles how the sport helped her reclaim her voice. She lights up when she talks about women like Tia, a reserved lifter she coached who found her confidence through the barbell. “That was me before I started lifting,” Ayecia says. “She’s still competing. I’m so proud, because this sport isn’t for everybody.”
Even now, she’s still surprised when strangers approach her to say they watch her videos. “They’ll just say, ‘You inspire me,’” she shares. “And I just take it day by day.”
Her deadlift anthem says the rest: Rick Ross’s “Devil Is a Lie.” “If I start doubting myself, that song comes on,” she says. “The devil is a lie. Focus on what you’re doing right now. Pick it up.” Because for Ayecia Bryant, every lift is a resurrection. Strength, after all, is the story of her life.