Role Players 2020
IRIS DAVIS
Personal Trainer
Iris Davis Fitness
Born in Ireland, into a family of 14 siblings, 7 girls, 7 boys. I was the 8th child. My family was very poor, but we had good parents so we never went hungry. I learned to look after my younger siblings from a very early age, and therefore, I learned the gift of empathy very early in life, this turned into my blessing. My education consisted of grade school, at 14 years of age I had to seek employment to help with family expenses. However, a life of learning followed even to this day.
Fast forward to age 17, I met and married my husband and had my first child at 18 in Ireland, sadly my child died at age 2 months. 4 years later I had another child while living in London, and when my child was 2 months old my husband died in tragic circumstances leaving me a widow with no income, and not much education at age 22. Needless to say this was the beginning of a life of severe chronic depression and trauma.
It is how I dealt with this depression that has made me a world champion at age 74, I have been featured in several Fitness Magazines and Newspapers worldwide. After several nervous breakdowns which required hospitalizations I became a fitness phenom in my 70's. My videos of fitness and unheard of strength have produced over 10 million views and I opened my own gym at age 75. I hold 11 first place wins in Women's Bodybuilding, my first show I won at age 50, my last show was age 65. Unheard of for a woman! some of my younger clients have gone on to be champions themselves and in turn they spread my legacy of health and fitness. I was the fittest senior in the United States in 2006 at age 72. I also captured an armed thief fleeing from the police at age 65 in Florida. This story went worldwide and I was featured in several TV shows.
I would like to pass on the message that most of the time we have to be our own Healer. We must find what it is that makes us truly deliriously happy and never give up on it. I found this at age 22. I worked hard, in a field where women were not welcome, Early 60's it was impossible to find a gym that allowed women to even enter. When I did enter, 22 years old, looking like 15, my fellow gym members, all male, did not know I was saving my own life. I am now considered a trailblazer and mentor thousands of followers. Now I pass my days in my gym helping both men and women overcome severe depression, chronic illnesses, helping them live a better life through fitness and health. Its so easy to be fit at 25,+ but to remain fit and healthy for 52 years, that is some achievement indeed.
Fast forward to age 17, I met and married my husband and had my first child at 18 in Ireland, sadly my child died at age 2 months. 4 years later I had another child while living in London, and when my child was 2 months old my husband died in tragic circumstances leaving me a widow with no income, and not much education at age 22. Needless to say this was the beginning of a life of severe chronic depression and trauma.
It is how I dealt with this depression that has made me a world champion at age 74, I have been featured in several Fitness Magazines and Newspapers worldwide. After several nervous breakdowns which required hospitalizations I became a fitness phenom in my 70's. My videos of fitness and unheard of strength have produced over 10 million views and I opened my own gym at age 75. I hold 11 first place wins in Women's Bodybuilding, my first show I won at age 50, my last show was age 65. Unheard of for a woman! some of my younger clients have gone on to be champions themselves and in turn they spread my legacy of health and fitness. I was the fittest senior in the United States in 2006 at age 72. I also captured an armed thief fleeing from the police at age 65 in Florida. This story went worldwide and I was featured in several TV shows.
I would like to pass on the message that most of the time we have to be our own Healer. We must find what it is that makes us truly deliriously happy and never give up on it. I found this at age 22. I worked hard, in a field where women were not welcome, Early 60's it was impossible to find a gym that allowed women to even enter. When I did enter, 22 years old, looking like 15, my fellow gym members, all male, did not know I was saving my own life. I am now considered a trailblazer and mentor thousands of followers. Now I pass my days in my gym helping both men and women overcome severe depression, chronic illnesses, helping them live a better life through fitness and health. Its so easy to be fit at 25,+ but to remain fit and healthy for 52 years, that is some achievement indeed.