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America’s strongest woman who lifted legendary Dinnie Stones says her grandma had one brutal fear about her career
An American strongwoman who went viral last month after she became the second woman ever to lift the historic Dinnie Stones side-by-side has revealed how she became a champion strongwoman just three years after discovering the sport, and the unlikely reaction her family had to her becoming a professional athlete in her mid-twenties.
A former Arnold Strongwoman Classic champion, Angelica Jardine has cemented her place among the elite of international strongwoman competition, most recently winning the 2026 Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen.
However, it is her remarkable achievement outside the arena that captured a global audience.
In October, she became only the second woman reported to have lifted Scotland's legendary Dinnie Stones side by side, raising a combined weight of approximately 733lb (332kg).
What are the Dinnie Stones?
The stones, located in Aberdeenshire, have been an extreme test of physical prowess since the 1830s, with people travelling from all over the world to attempt to raise them off the ground.
They were named after the legendary Scottish strongman Donald Dinnie, who in 1860 famously carried both stones barehanded across the 17-foot-wide Potarch Bridge.
Until Seattle resident Angelica made the impressive feat a few weeks ago, only one woman had ever completed the challenge. Jan Todd held the record for over 39 years, after becoming the first woman ever to lift the mammoth rocks in 1979.
Despite completing a near-impossible test of human strength, Angelica remains very humble about the achievement, admitting to VT: "I didn't realise how cool it was until it got reshared and people have been reposting it."
How did Angelica become one of America's strongest women?
Unlike almost all other professional athletes, Angelica had no idea she even wanted to be a professional athlete, let alone think it was achievable until her mid-twenties.
The strongwoman played tackle football in college and into young adulthood, and knew nothing about the sport that would soon change her life.
It was during a CrossFit class in 2023, when she was 26, that a coach said to her, "Hey, you're pretty strong. You should come to our strongman class on Saturdays."
By some miracle, Angelica lifted a 405lb deadlift with next to no prior training, and the coaches urged her to become a regular attendee and consider training properly.
Describing the moment she realised lifting was something she should pursue, she said: "If you have no expectations, you don't know what you're capable of until either someone suggests you try something or you go and do it and you surprise yourself.
"So after I lifted that, they're like, I think this is your sport."
Just a year later, after giving up tackle football following an injury and finding a new passion in lifting, Angelica won America's Strongest Woman.
Pondering why the unorthodox route to the top of her game worked for her, Angelica said: "It's crazy because in most sports people do it from a very young age and spend years and years training for it.
"The sport for me was like my God-given talent. This is what I've been blessed with."
What did Angelica's family think about her becoming a strongwoman?
Despite Angelica becoming successful so quickly after starting lifting, not everyone around her was delighted that she had chosen to take up a sport typically perceived as very masculine.
Sharing what her family thought in the beginning, she said: "My grandma didn't really like it at first, but I think that's because she comes from a very old mindset that she doesn't want me to look too manly.
"That was one of her fears of like, I don't want you to look too manly. And those weights are so dangerous, you could kill yourself if those things drop on you."
Addressing the comments she has received from plenty of people, including her own family, about how the sport makes her look "manly", Angelica claims she considers it "cool" that she does not "fit all the beauty standards".
She said: I think it's really cool that someone like me who doesn't really fit all the beauty standards and, you know, who may or may not look manly, even though I'm 100% woman born and raised.
"I can't change how I look. I think it's cool for someone like me to be on that, uh, to be on the media to say like, yeah, this is what women are completely capable of."
Lifting has changed the way Angelica thinks about her appearance
"I had so many identity issues that I had growing up, wondering why I don't look like the other girls went through it, and it wasn't until I found the sport that I was like, nah, I'm a woman.
"I may not look like the typical woman, but I'm 100% a woman and I can do these things, and I'm capable of these things.
"And so that's one thing I wish; I wish I had known about this. I wish I had seen all these different types of women to have as role models growing up."
Thankfully, it did not take long for her grandmother to change her tune. Angelica explained: "When she started seeing the wind and started me seeing excel and the opportunities that it brought to our family started being more accepting and supportive of it."
After winning America's Strongest Woman, Angelica bought her grandma a car, and now she comes over to help her meal prep for the month, learning all about the macros and protein required along the way.