LISA Tobias, at less than 5ft tall and weighing only seven-and-a-half stone, is about far from the stereotypical female weightlifter as one could get. But although she is small in stature, having the strength and power of someone twice her size has allowed her to progress rapidly through the ranks.

Tobias has only been a weightlifter for 18 months but quite how quickly she has progressed was illustrated by the bronze medal that she won at last month’s British Championships. The 35-year-old was understandably delighted at having a tangible reward, particularly when her preparation had been disrupted by injury.

“I was so happy to win that medal, especially considering I’d picked up a knee injury a couple of weeks before and it was touch and go whether I was going to be able to compete at all,” the Glaswegian said. “I could barely move my knee, but my coach and I decided to go for it. Even if I placed last, I thought I’d try to learn anything I could from the experience because I’m still pretty new to weightlifting. To finish third was so far beyond what I’d expected to do.”

Tobias’s journey to weightlifter has been circuitous to say the least and included her becoming world champion in an entirely different sport. She was an elite gymnast throughout her teenage years and into her early 20s until, she says, life got in the way. “I had been a gymnast for about 15 years but started working and also started a family,” she said.

The mother-of-two, who has a daughter, Naomi, and a son, Jared, now aged six and four respectively, eventually returned to gymnastics, initially just to get fit but then her fierce competitive spirit took over. “ I actually picked up pretty much where I’d left off, which really surprised me, especially after having had two children,” she said. “So then my competitiveness kicked in and I started to think – I want to compete again because I really missed that buzz that you get.”

Tobias met with a personal trainer who persuaded her to begin lifting weights, something she had never done before. To her surprise, she discovered that she was remarkably strong for someone of her size and when her trainer suggested she enter a powerlifting competition, she thought, “why not?”.

Within a matter of months, Tobias was Scottish champion. Her rapid progress did not slow and she quickly became British, European and then world powerlifting champion, an achievement that she describes as “unbelievable”.

Her world championship victory was particularly impressive as she broke the world record on her way to gold, lifting three times her body weight.

It was as a spectator at Glasgow 2014 that a new idea began to hatch. “I went to watch the weightlifting and thought: I want to do that, I want to be at the next Commonwealth Games,” Tobias said.

“The next time I saw my coach I asked him how he would feel if we switched to weightlifting. When I told him, he was like, “bloody hell, OK…”. At this point I’d never done a power clean so it was quite an ambitious target.

“It’s been really hard work and it has had its ups and downs as you’d expect, but it’s been great. My technique has come a long way, but I’ve still got a long way to go. That excites me though because I still have so much more to learn and I know when my technique improves, I’ll be able to lift so much more.” Tobias’s goal for 2016 is to continue her improvement in time for the start of the qualifying period for Gold Coast 2018.

She has plenty of motivation as it is, but the prospect of her children watching her compete for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in just under two years’ time provides that extra little boost.

“It makes me proud that I’m showing that you can be a mum as well as an athlete, although it’s pretty full-on,” she said.

“My kids are so excited about it all.

“By the time the Commonwealth Games come round they’ll be six and eight so it would be amazing if I made the team and they could come to the Gold Coast and watch me.

“It’s been an amazing journey so far and I’m just so excited about what the future holds.”