Strong, Fit And 136kg

Model, activist and now ... unlikely fitness icon. Tess Holliday opens up about her wellness journey

- Catriona Innes

The thwack of battle ropes as they hit the floor, sending dust flying into the air. A Lycraclad woman raising hand weights above her head, before racing across ladders laid down on the floor. These – along with the steady pump of Calvin Harris tracks – are sights and sounds that you will hear across the UK, so par for the course that they’re unremarkable. And yet when model Tess Holliday is the woman in this scenario, it is remarkable. People pay attention. They comment on her Instagram; they discuss her on panel shows; they write articles about her. This is what happened when, last year, Tess first began sharing her workouts on her social-media pages. Her loyal fans feared she was turning her back on her self-love philosophy, while her trolls told her that she didn’t belong on the gym floor. A war broke out in her comments sections. She had, unwittingly, stirred up a global debate about what happens when a large woman works out. Here’s what she learned along the way.

You do fit in