Sheri Zimmermann of Coon Rapids, Minn., who trains at River City Ironworx Gym in River Falls, became the women’s lightweight Official Strongman Masters champion of the world back in late 2025, but that was far from the whole story.

“Worlds was over three days, there’s six events. Sheri 10 minutes before, literally, she’s going out to the first event and she rips her bicep, and it was not good. I thought she might have just tweaked it in the warmups, and then she looked at me and I could see it was not good,” Ironworx Owner Jesse Riemer said. “She’s had multiple injuries, and this was her time. We had to decide at that moment what we were going to do. We didn’t have time to go to the doctors.”

When decision time came, Zimmermann had to take on a lighter weight for the first event to get some points on the board and stay in the hunt. In the second event, Zimmermann was in "excruciating pain” and landed around eighth place after day one. Zimmermann went to the doctor and found ways to power through the remainder of the event.

When day two came around, it was time for Zimmermann’s best event, deadlift. Zimmermann displayed her dominance, winning the event and skyrocketing to the top of the leaderboard. The rest was history, as Zimmermann brought home the trophy and solidified herself in Strongman history.

“One thing that’s become apparent for me over the years with my injuries is that I do not let things stop me. I don’t think that’s normal for most people, because people are telling you, ‘Oh, you’re hurt, you should drop out,’” Zimmermann said. “That’s not where my mind goes ever. It’s how do I find a way to get this to not be a roadblock, to keep going, to finish the job… I won’t be satisfied otherwise if I were to drop out or let something stop me.”

Riemer called Zimmermann a generational talent, improving from 10th in the world, to fourth and now to the top spot.

“It’s been years of getting better and better and my strength level continuing to increase,” Zimmermann said. “You start seeing how you’re doing against other people at the top level, and you think, you know, I might just be good enough to do that if I keep working at it.”

Zimmermann trains for about three hours a day during training cycles, working on 2-3 events per day of the roughly six events in the contest. She holds the Ironworx’s female deadlift and bench press records. Prior to getting into powerlifting, Zimmermann broke multiple Minnesota state track records and was a National qualifier collegiately in the 400-meter and 4x400 relay races.

In 2018, about a year after Riemer purchased the gym, he and Jim Williamson saw Zimmermann competing in Sauk Rapids, Minn. Zimmermann took second at the event, and the two immediately noticed the talent.

“I walked up to her and I said, ‘You’re going to be a champion, and you need to train at my gym. We’re going to make you a champion,’” Riemer said. “I could see what she had, and I knew it right away that she was something very special.”

Zimmermann has trained at Ironworx ever since, the location where she was honored by family, friends and fellow gym members Friday. Joining the celebration were Wisconsin Rep. Shannon Zimmerman and legendary powerlifter and professional wrestler Ken Patera. Representative Zimmerman, unrelated to Zimmermann, awarded a state award as well as a state flag that was flown in Madison in her honor.

“It’s not often with people that do what I do where I find myself speechless, but I am humbled to even be a small part of your big day,” Rep. Zimmerman said. “We all face challenges in our lives and have our own version of adversity. It’s people like you that we all can look to as examples of perseverance and how to overcome.”

Riemer said he heavily advocated for keeping gyms open during the pandemic to continue to give people an outlet, and said it meant a lot to have the representative there, because he felt Zimmerman played a role in keeping his gym open.

Zimmermann is well-liked by her fellow gym goers, and she is as humble as they come, Riemer said.

“She’s very humble. She does not talk a lot or very boisterous. She won the worlds, and I’m sitting there and there was no emotion,” Riemer said. “The defending champion from Great Britain, that she beat, was right next to her, and she didn’t say a word the whole time, she was very intense, the Great Britain girl. She turned to Sheri and passed the torch, it was pretty cool, and I might have shed a little tear.”

When Zimmermann took to the podium with two fellow Americans rounding out the top three, together they held up an American flag that Riemer flew during his time serving in the Iraq War, a moment that meant a lot to him.

Riemer said Zimmermann could have been a cage fighter or wrestler, bringing the demeanor and calmness to execute a game plan necessary to reach the top. The powerlifter, who has the nickname Pooh, keeps the house at 59 degrees for parts of the year, and is cool, calm and collected when competition begins.

“It’s not really just about today, it’s about the support that you all have given me and Ironworx Gym over the years, and that’s what really means a lot,” Zimmermann said. “Strongman is not a team sport, it’s an individual sport, so I compete by myself, but there’s that team behind me always that I know is there to help me.”

Zimmermann said it takes a whole team of supporters to make success happen in any aspect of life.