WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A STRONG-WOMAN, AND CAN THIS TYPE OF FUNCTIONAL FITNESS BENEFIT ALL WOMEN? 

LUCYFRY INVESTIGATES 

38 Going underground The queer revolution taking place in Russia

Is there anything sexier than a woman who can use her own strength to pull an actual, real-life truck? Not for lesbian couple Polly and Skylar, for whom the sport of Strongwoman has been a powerful and connecting force.

I’ve only asked about their first date, but already, I think, they’re sweating: “We went to the gym, obviously!” Polly beams, adding: “We had a competition – things like who could lift the most, run the fastest or had the most stamina. By the end, we were a mess!”

Ten months later, they were engaged. That was a few years ago now, but their commitment to fitness (and each other) hasn’t waned since. Rather, it’s been strengthened by the inclusion of heavy weights and even more so by their discovery of the sport of Strongwoman. What, exactly, is that? Well, did you ever watch enormous people perform extraordinary physical feats (car-pulling, stone-hulking and log-carrying) in a television programme called Britain’s Strongest Man? Strongwoman is the long-awaited female-focused version of that and involves moving oddlyshaped objects from A to B, as well as eating a lot of protein.