What was supposed to be a part of Ashley Cruz’s post-pandemic workout gave her a platform to showcase her strength against the world’s best.

In an episode of Off the Court on Thursday, Cruz revealed that her love for the sport started while she was getting back into shape after gyms reopened following a lengthy closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The powerlifter from the University of Santo Tomas worked hard and fell in love with the sport until she clinched a silver medal last May after posting a total lift of 475 kilograms in the women’s -84kg division of the Asian Sub-Juniors & Juniors Classic and Equipped Powerlifting Championships and University Cup in Hainan, China.

“Actually, I started powerlifting at age 18. Before that, I was interested in sports. I played volleyball from grade school to high school, then the pandemic came. I wanted to stay active while staying at home,” said the 22-year-old Cruz during the weekly online sports show of DAILY TRIBUNE.

“Once the gyms reopened, I realized I wanted to pick up a barbell. From there, I just kept going to the gym more and more, doing squats, bench press, and deadlifts.”

Due to her limited budget, Cruz opted to rely on online videos to get started that gradually sharpened her skills.

“Actually, social media guided me through the lifts. I couldn’t afford a coach because I was still around 17 years old and in senior high school. I didn’t want to ask my parents for extra money, so I only had enough to pay for a nearby gym, which cost around P50 at first before increasing to P80,” Cruz said.

“During that time, I was mostly attending online school, so it was difficult to justify asking my parents for more money. Fortunately, the powerlifting community started growing in 2022. Many people freely shared advice online about training and programming.”