About the Author

I am a weightlifting coach from Dunedin, New Zealand. I've been in and around gyms since I was 14 years old (~2007, inspired by the aesthetics of Dragon Ball Z and the simple goal of becoming bigger and stronger) and have been tumbling down the rabbit hole of strength sports and sports science ever since. I run a weightlifting club of around ~100 members and have coached at a few international competitions including the recent Tokyo Olympics and still actively train and compete myself.

The purpose of this site and the collections of its articles is to provide a place where a sufficiently motivated individual can efficiently teach themselves the sport of weightlifting. It is not the first nor will it be the last website of this type, but I’m hoping - given my particular perspective and method - that it will help at least one burgeoning person on their journey down this rabbit hole.

Once this is complete at a basic level, I want to create a space where common (or niche) questions for weightlifting can be answered, with reference to scientific information, tradition within the sport and solid theoretical reasoning.

I wear my influences on my sleeve:

- My first coach Kamaka Tarawa, who taught me basic bodybuilding and the simple yet effective method of having a Tom Platz poster on the gym wall; only later to tell me he was a weightlifter himself in his youth.

- My second coach, Mark White, who taught me everything there is to know about weightlifting in ‘real life’ and the power of kindness, generosity, hard work and the opposite of elitism.

- My third coach Peter Appleby, who taught me about the power of humorous and great stories, also the weight of experience and strength of the mind.

- My fourth coach Theodore Lim, for giving me a different perspective on the sport, teaching me the power of variety and creativity in pushing through plateaus.

- My fifth coach Jiro Ishida, for treating me like a sixty-something kilo Japanese man.

and all of the informational content from countless athletes I’ve coached, coaches I’ve discussed weightlifting with, web pages, articles, books, podcasts, videos, seminars; to name a few but certainly not an exhaustive list:

- Greg Everett (Catalyst Athletics)
- Max Aita
- Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodisation)
- R. A. Roman