Canberra's strongest woman Rebecca Prior lifts her game for Arnie's competition

But when Rebecca "Bex" Prior sidled up against some of Australia's strongest women in a recent competition, her only ambition was not to come dead last.

Instead the Canberra nurse qualified to represent the nation against the best female strength athletes from around the world in May, in a competition founded by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's a swift rise to the top for the powerlifter, who only began training at Fyshwick's Unbranded Sports Preparation The-X Gym last year.

The former rugby union tighthead prop and ice hockey player said her entry into the sport was a "natural progression".

"I was naturally quite strong growing up as well and thought I'd give it a go," she said.

Scottish-born Prior said while her mum wasn't initially too keen on her new hobby, people have mostly been supportive of her passion.

She trains up to four times a week, interspersing more traditional gym activities like squats with specific Strongman training, picking up Atlas stones weighing up to 80 kilograms, hauling tractor tyres and lifting 250-kilogram yokes.

But with unconventional equipment comes some pretty weird injuries – and some strange questions.

"You do get some pretty strange looking bruises from these events. When I first started competing, one of the competitions I actually got huge bruises on my biceps and they were bigger than the palm of my hand and really black and it was from doing a keg event," she said.

A keg event?

"They fill up a beer keg with water and you had to lift the beer keg up and put it over a bar as many times as you could in a minute," Prior said.

"Just from the rim of the beer keg and the technique you need to use, these huge bruises came up and I had lots of questions when I went back to work after the weekend and sort of had to explain myself."

Prior said what she enjoys most about the sport is the community of strongmen and strongwomen, which can come in handy at times.

"We're actually moving house in three weeks' time and we sort of joked with our friends about having a strongman session moving house where they can come and help us move the fridges and freezers and couches and stuff," she said.

And she believes that community will soon "explode" due to the sport's growing profile.

"I reckon that in Canberra, in Australia over, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of incredibly strong women but they just need a bit of confidence to get into these sorts of sports. They look a bit tricky or a bit scary from the outside but once you get involved and you get that sort of confidence, it's almost contagious, you just want to do it more," she said.

She urged women not to be deterred by the stereotype of females who lift.

"As a woman, you can do whatever the hell you like. You're a person at the end of the day – if you want to do something and it's not illegal, then just do it. Just give it a crack," Prior said.

The Arnold Sports Festival takes place from May 27-29 in Johannesburg. You can help Bex get there by supporting her crowdfunding campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/4rvkhx4w