How I Went From a 70kg Teen to a 125kg Powerlifter

From twig to strongman - knowing when to listen

Fast forward to the present day. I’ve now been competing in power-lifting and strongman competitions for three years. During this time I’ve followed training programs from coaches who are stronger and more experienced than myself and I perform the power-lifting movements such as squats, benches and dead-lifts pretty much every training session.

My lifts have improved dramatically. My squats have increased from 230kg to 300kg, my bench presses from 140kg to 170kg and my dead-lifts from 270kg to 331kg. I now understand the importance of sleep and strive to get as much of it as possible, knowing that lack of sleep will detrimentally affect my training performance and recovery. I now also place much more emphasis on the importance of proper nutrition with regular meals, adequate calorie consumption and I use key supplementation.

How to avoid the power-lifting mistakes I made

My 12-plus years of training have been a lot of trial and error. Here are some key take home points to help you avoid the mistakes I made:

Follow a training program. Either pay an experienced coach to do it for you or try an internet template for free. Don’t create your own or even worse, ‘wing it’ every time you hit the gym.
Stop skipping sessions. Every training session you miss means lost progress. Whether you train three or five times a week, pick a number and stick with it.
If you’re skinny, you need to eat more. If you’re overweight, you need to eat less. It’s that simple.
Supplement where necessary. Many people don’t consume enough protein. Add in some WPC or WPI to help meet your daily requirements. If you’re not eating enough, add some powdered oats to your shakes to help bump up the calorie content.
More sleep = more gains. Don’t skimp on sleep in favour of reality TV or social media.

My power-lifting program

Still not convinced? Have a look at the program I devised for myself as a high school student, compared to what I do now.

	2004	2016
Occupation	High school student	Nutritionist, owner of Brisbane North Barbell and power-lifting coach
Training	5 x per week. 1 hour per session. 1 body part per session. No squats, bench presses or dead-lifts.	5-6 x per week. 3-4 hours per session. Squats, bench presses, dead-lifts every session.
Best lifts	Didn’t squat Didn’t bench press Didn’t dead-lift	300kg squat 170kg bench press 331kg dead-lift
Sleep	5-6 hours	7-9 hours
Diet	‘Clean eating’ with far too much dietary restriction and lack of nutritional intake.	Flexible dieting with zero calorie or macro counting.
Example diet	Breakfast – 2 Weetbix + milk. Lunch – Sandwich, fruit, snacks. Dinner – Tiny meal.	Breakfast – 1000 calorie protein smoothie. Lunch – Left overs + another 1000 calorie smoothie. Dinner – 500g meat, massive salad + some sides.
Daily supplements	1 scoop of whey. Multivitamins.	6 scoops of Whey Protein. 2 scoops of Micellar Casein. Creatine, Acetyl Carnitine + L-Lysine. Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin D + Omega 3.