Powerlifting Committee National Championships in Brisbane next month and the World Championships in Brazil in October.
A year after he took an interest in the sport of powerlifting, 16 year old Ethan McLeod already has a national title and now has his eye on a world title.
Ethan and his mum Corinne (who is a personal trainer and who first introduced him to the sport) are off to Brisbane next month to compete at the Global Powerlifting Committee (GPC) National Championships ahead of the World Championships in Brazil in October.
Ethan’s first place in his age/weight class at Nationals in Melbourne in November last year earned him qualification for this year’s World Championships.
He got into the sport after his now coach, Will Hunt from Nemesis Fitness in Dubbo, came to Cobar to run a powerlifting seminar at the JKM Dynamic Fitness gym (where his mum works).
“That’s when I was just starting to go to the gym,” Ethan said.
“Mum got in contact with him and he started a program for me, going to the gym four days a week, just trying it out to see if I liked it.
“I did that for a year and then he asked if I wanted to get into powerlifting, so I thought I’d try it and here I am.”
While Corinne is well qualified to train her teenage son, she thought having someone else “telling him what to do” would work better.
“Oh, I watch and check out what he’s doing,” Corinne said.
“I can help with technique and give him tips, but whether he listens to me or not …”
“We video record all his lifts and send it to Will and he’ll just tweak it and advise to “do this different or do that different” or “great move”, whatever is needed.”
In addition to working fulltime as an apprentice mechanic and playing sport (soccer, netball, touch football Fast5 netball “and whatever’s going”), Ethan spends an hour and a half to two hours a day at the gym, four days a week, working out.
He’s currently able to squat lift 140kg, bench lift 72.5kg and dead lift 150kg. (Yep we doubled checked those figures before writing this article!)
“I like that it is an individual sport,” Ethan told The Cobar Weekly.
“So it’s if I mess up or something, it’s my fault.”
And it’s very much an individual sport for Ethan.
“I had a friend that came with me to the gym for a week. And he was like, I’m going to get shredded and then gave up, it was too hard.”
Corinne said weightlifting is “a slow game, a very slow game” and you can’t immediately see results which is why a lot of people find it hard to stick to the training.
Ethan said he’s “supposed to be” following a regimented diet.
“I try to eat a lot of chicken and rice.”
“His mum’s not the best cook,” Corinne admitted.
“If the smoke alarms are not going, dinner’s not ready at my house!”
Will will be accompanying a group of six of his clients as a coach to the GPC World Championships in Brazil.
Corinne will also be on the sidelines to cheer on Ethan as he competes in three disciplines of Bench, Squat and Deadlift over one day of the five day competition.
She said Ethan is on track with his training for Nationals and World Championships and has received community support to help cover the cost of his airfare to Brazil, and he now just needs to work on the mental side of things.
Ethan admitted he gets really nervous the night before a competition but is really looking forward to competing in Brisbane and ultimately Brazil.
