UpLIFT You: Strong Body, Strong Mind
13 | From Shed to Strength: Cultivating a Thriving Weightlifting Community with Tony Lisciandro
Ever wondered how a simple shed could turn into a thriving weightlifting community? Join us as we welcome Tony Lissandro, co-creator of Whitsunday Weightlifting, who recounts the incredible 12-year journey from lifting steel weight plates in a humble shed to establishing an inspiring fitness hub. Tony shares the transformative moment when he switched from traditional gym routines to Olympic weightlifting, sparked by a friend's challenge and a memorable snatch attempt. With heartfelt stories that highlight the importance of even one like-minded training partner, we explore how our mutual passion led to profound growth and learning.
As our conversation progresses, we delve into the significant milestones that shaped Whitsunday Weightlifting. From the early days of acquiring essential equipment to integrating local CrossFit enthusiasts, we emphasize the power of community in sustaining motivation and achieving personal health goals. A turning point came with the arrival of renowned coach Ben Turner, whose expertise refined our techniques and corrected fundamental mistakes, pushing our performance to new heights. We also celebrate the achievements of notable lifters like young Chelsea, who grew into a national champion under our guidance.
Beyond the physical gains, we discuss the deep impact of weightlifting on personal development and resilience. Overcoming gym challenges builds confidence that spills over into everyday life, teaching individuals to tackle life's obstacles with a strengthened mindset. The narrative underscores the supportive nature of our gym community, where both competitors and casual lifters find encouragement and connection. Whether you’re seeking to lift heavier or simply find a supportive environment, our journey offers valuable insights into creating a nurturing fitness community that fosters both physical and mental well-being.
Follow Leanne on Instagram @lkstrengthcoach
Join the Strength Seekers community and score big with a vibrant tribe of like-minded individuals, invaluable resources, coaching services tailored to your needs, special guest coaches and workshops and so much more. Click here to join today with our special listener's offer!
Ever wondered how a simple shed could turn into a thriving weightlifting community? Join us as we welcome Tony Lissandro, co-creator of Whitsunday Weightlifting, who recounts the incredible 12-year journey from lifting steel weight plates in a humble shed to establishing an inspiring fitness hub. Tony shares the transformative moment when he switched from traditional gym routines to Olympic weightlifting, sparked by a friend's challenge and a memorable snatch attempt. With heartfelt stories that highlight the importance of even one like-minded training partner, we explore how our mutual passion led to profound growth and learning.
As our conversation progresses, we delve into the significant milestones that shaped Whitsunday Weightlifting. From the early days of acquiring essential equipment to integrating local CrossFit enthusiasts, we emphasize the power of community in sustaining motivation and achieving personal health goals. A turning point came with the arrival of renowned coach Ben Turner, whose expertise refined our techniques and corrected fundamental mistakes, pushing our performance to new heights. We also celebrate the achievements of notable lifters like young Chelsea, who grew into a national champion under our guidance.
Beyond the physical gains, we discuss the deep impact of weightlifting on personal development and resilience. Overcoming gym challenges builds confidence that spills over into everyday life, teaching individuals to tackle life's obstacles with a strengthened mindset. The narrative underscores the supportive nature of our gym community, where both competitors and casual lifters find encouragement and connection. Whether you’re seeking to lift heavier or simply find a supportive environment, our journey offers valuable insights into creating a nurturing fitness community that fosters both physical and mental well-being.
Follow Leanne on Instagram @lkstrengthcoach
Join the Strength Seekers community and score big with a vibrant tribe of like-minded individuals, invaluable resources, coaching services tailored to your needs, special guest coaches and workshops and so much more. Click here to join today with our special listener's offer!
Welcome to Uplift you, creating strong bodies and mind. Get ready to power up your day with practical strength training tools, inspiring stories and build resilience of body and mind.
Speaker 2:It's time to Uplift you, together with your host, leanne Knox.
Speaker 1:Hey, welcome to Uplift you. And this is the third of a series of episodes on the concept of community, which is one of the pillars of a series of episodes on the concept of community, which is one of the pillars of not only my podcast but also my business and myself as a person. So today we have the resident coach, fellow Busted Ass Master Lifter and co-creator of Whitsunday Weightlifting and co-creator of Whitsunday Weightlifting, tony Lissandro. Tony and I have been in it for the long run and what do I mean by in it? I mean in the game of weightlifting and coaching for 12 years together now. So we started from my husband Steve's shed and now we're in a small bustling bush shed called Whitsunday's Weightlifting. So welcome to Uplift U, tony. Thanks, leanne, no problems.
Speaker 1:It's taken us about 10 takes to get here because we couldn't work out the technology for the microphone. But before we delve into the benefits of what this particular episode is all about, which is developing a community, and how that community can help people stay motivated, continue to turn up for themselves, not only to become better lifters but to become better people and look after their health, before we delve into the benefits of that, we're going to take a little step back. We're going to go down memory lane, tony, and we're going to go right back to the start, just very, very briefly, because I have discussed this in a past episode about where we started as lifters together and then how Tony transitioned from lifting through to coaching and the journey behind that. So, thinking back to those first few, let's even go back to the first day of lifting, tony. What's your recollections of turning up for training and what life was like back then as a young 40 year old.
Speaker 2:As a young 40 year old, yeah, I like that. Um does seem like I was very young and fit and spry back then. Um, yeah, I remember showing up here at your place trying to figure out how to get up the driveway. As everyone does when they first come here. They usually go up the wrong driveway. But anyway, I come up the driveway and I see the shed with I think was there, was there a hq?
Speaker 2:holding in there at the time, there definitely would have been a car in there because my husband steve's a car enthusiast, yeah so, anyway, I introduced myself to lee and we start going through it and it's obvious that we have no idea what we're doing, which you you know was half the fun. Back in the early days, just trying to figure it out with no coach, I remember just worrying about those goddamn steel plates that we were using at the time.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God. So for those of you that aren't Olympic weightlifters because I know we have a wide variety of people that listen to this show when you do olympic weightlifting, you use what we call bumper plates and the bumper plates are designed to drop okay, so you can drop, drop the bar safely. However, we didn't have bumper plates. We had these big ass old weight steel weight plates that we had these big-ass old steel weight plates that we had to lower.
Speaker 2:And I don't even think that bar spun did it.
Speaker 1:No, it may have spun, but it may not have.
Speaker 2:It wasn't very good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so thinking about that at that very first. You know, those very first few training sessions, it was basically Tony and I and that was the community at the time. But what, what? I um, what was really powerful for me then?
Speaker 2:and and tell me what you think Tony is, we'd finally found someone to share our love of lifting with, even if it was only the one person, so that we created that connection yeah, because I I'd come from a background of basically not doing much for many years and got back in the lift and was just globo gyming it, you know chest and tries back and buys kind of world and like I guess my flatmate actually put me onto it. He put me onto starting strength by mark rip, so I taught myself how to squat, deadlift, press, bench, all those things and I've been doing that for some time, been a little bit how can I say it a little bit exposed to the CrossFit world back then, which was only very, very there wasn't even a CrossFit box in town. Teal hadn't started one yet then. So I remember trying to snatch in the Globo gym and I remember I put 40 on the bar and I threw it way over my shoulders and made a big crash bang in a Globo gym.
Speaker 2:For everyone who's been to one of them it's not embraced. So I didn't do that again. So training with Leanne was great because all of a sudden there was someone who was like on the same wavelength, which was kind of good because if you're trying to do that stuff by yourself without a community even though they were a community of two- Plus Diesel, plus Diesel the gym dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't forget Diesel, the original gym dog.
Speaker 2:It just made that, I guess, that progression into really getting deep and understanding what's going on just way easier, because two heads are better than one, right? So she'd go, this, I'd go, but what about that? And she'd already had a fitness background and I'd already had a pretty reasonable strength level, so we didn't have to muck around too much with strength. We were just trying to get the movements and I don't remember exactly, but it was, if we were a couple, maybe a couple of months in, before you bought Greg's book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it wouldn't have been long into that journey that we got the book, and that's when the fun really began. Yeah, that was the glossary searching, because we had to work out what was a snatch balance and what was a drop snatch, and how did you do this?
Speaker 2:what I remember clearly, like trying to get my head around the three pulls, like first pull, second pull, third pull, and I was like, oh, which one was that? Again, look in the book. Oh, this hang snatch above the knee or something. And I remember just, oh, jesus, what's this new language I'm learning, you know? Because essentially it is when, like when you talk to outside people, even globo gym guys, when you say, oh, you know you need to clean the first pull up off the ground, you know you need to get that sorted out, they just look at you like you're speaking some other language. But to a, the weightlifting community, if you, you say, you know, just, smooth in the first pull, they know exactly what you're talking about. And when you, like you talk to I call them civilians you know, like they don't, they just don't get it and you don't understand. Until you have a conversation like this, like where you started from and where you are now, and I think people get lost. I spoke to Ruby about this today, remember.
Speaker 1:We just finished training. By the way, of course we came into this pod, into this episode, with on the back of training because you know training's what brings us together all the time and you know we just had a little conversation about we better not have too big a training, conversation about we better not have too big a training session, or we'd have no energy left for this.
Speaker 2:An old master might want to have a lay down.
Speaker 1:Okay. So thinking back to those first couple of months where it was like it really was like a labyrinth of learning the new language, working out even like which days we were going to train, becoming consistent in our training, that was a real growth in connection and the start of our community, essentially, even though there were only two of us, because before that there was. You talked about going to the Globo gyms and you talked about, you know, going to the gym to do strength. Now I've got a question for you how motivated were you to turn up to a Globo gym, day in, day out, week after week, month after month? How motivated were you in doing that and how long did you do that for?
Speaker 2:I was probably there two or three, maybe two, three years, um, and I trained with a variety of guys there until I started to getting into mark ripito's stuff, um, but at the time it was, it was pretty good in the respect that every week I was getting better I was doing if anyone knows starting strength, you know you put on a couple of kilos every week, you squat your bench and everything goes up. Everything is like peachy and I guess it's the same for anyone. While you're getting easy gains and steady gains, things are going along well, it's really easy to stay motivated. Once those gains start to slow down, you start to be a competent lifter. I guess it's much harder to stay motivated because all of a sudden it's been three months and I haven't PB'd a lift. I feel like I've gone nowhere.
Speaker 2:And that was, I guess, after I got to a level in those basic movements I sort of. When I started training out here with Leanne, it was kind of like it was all new again. So we learned to snatch. It's not just so focused on the movements or the numbers, it was focused on the movement and the skill. And because that was all new, you get that sort of newbie game thing going on again. You know I was snatching 40 last week and you know now I can snatch 45 and it just keeps going and going and going. And once you get that momentum and I think that's what me and Lee had really good we were just every week we just got better and better and better. And I think that's what challenges a lot of lifters when they don't have that getting better every week, dogs are loose in the house. When we don't have that constant sort of get better every week, I think that's the point when it gets hard.
Speaker 1:All right. So that's true. Like when those newbie gains are like great when you've got someone to share them with, anne, did you feel, because you had a real clear focus plan, did you feel your enjoyment of turning up to the gym increased substantially by having someone to share your journey with, but also someone that you could bounce ideas off and someone that you can progress?
Speaker 2:with yeah, and that's the point, right If you're around. People and like for me and Lee were very, even though we were challenged in the respect that we didn't have a Myles Waddell handy to look at us.
Speaker 1:For those of you that don't know who Myles is, Myles is one of Australia's best coaches and at this time we didn't have we didn't have any coaches, so just qualifying who?
Speaker 2:Miles is, so he did get involved later in the game, but it was kind of cool because you're both on the same path. You're both, could you say, a little A type around this, like a little over-focused, like hyper-focused, I guess is the trend People actually called us obsessed. Yeah, but call us what you may, but it's a shared passion. I believe it's called hyper-focused now.
Speaker 1:All right, I just call it a shared passion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, it was nice because you know every week you'd be like oh, you know she's got that, like, oh, that looked really good. And every week you're getting better. And that newbie I guess that's where that real just want to show up again, just can't wait to get amongst it you know you start getting deep into everything weight lifted related which wasn't. Wasn't. Like now, like even 10 years, 12 years ago, there wasn't the media around weightlifting Like who do we have?
Speaker 1:We had Cal Strength and jeez Greg Everett Pretty much, eh, yeah there wasn't a lot, and the people that were around certainly did not put their. We didn't have a lot of resources that we could access online, or even certainly not books, and, of course, for the audience that aren't local, we leave a 10-hour drive or a one-and-a-half-hour flight from the closest city, so it's not like we could just go and access an experienced coach either. So it was Tony and I and Diesel, the Black Dog and the steel weight plates right at the start, that where we established that connection. And if you think back to my last episode I talked about in this three-part series, the first was establishing a connection with yourself, because in order to be able to connect with other people and then in a broader community, you do need to have a good understanding and relationship with yourself. But in this, yeah, so those that connection is is really the key for people who you might be struggling to keep turning up for yourself, to persist in, you know, turning up to the gym, like you might think, oh, I know, I need to do it. I need to do this because it's good for me, but I'm so bored, or, you know, I was just, I'm just not motivated, and I guess the real essence of this episode is highlighting the fact that if you can find even one other person that you can connect with to share that journey, it's a very powerful way to start really taking charge of your health and make your body and your mind stronger.
Speaker 1:So, going on from we're going to just progress quickly through our we, tony and I were basically the only lifters, plus diesel the dog, for a year. We did eventually get enough money to um purchase some bumper plates and that was an epic time for us. I remember getting them in the boxes and our first session where we got to throw them down, get to drop the weights Yay, that was an exciting time. So, progressing on from there, I'm going to get Tony's recollections on how we broadened that connection into the community of With Sunday Weightlifting, because when it was Tony and I, it was not With Sunday Weightlifting, it was Tony and I, and that lasted for about 12 months. So do you remember after 12 months, the progression there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the CrossFit Boxing Town opened then and I think, if I remember correctly, I could have my timeline out a little bit. But we started getting a few like Teal was starting to do a bit of weight lifting with us like and the obviously CrossFitters always need work and at the time I guess we were sort of semi-competent at the time.
Speaker 1:We're a year into it, which is more than someone who's never done it. Yeah, so we, so we sort of.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I kind of feel like we fast-tracked it a fair bit, you know, and I believe around that time then we also had Ben Turner come out and spend some time with us. Those of you who's been around the game you should know who Ben Turner is. He's probably one of Australia's best lifters probably ever.
Speaker 1:I would say, yeah, he was an amazing lifter. I haven't got his stats, but he was a 69-kilo lifter for Australia and he clean and jerked. Was it around? Was it 160? Yeah, I thought it was up there Somewhere around 160 kilos, I thought he was snatching in the 120s somewhere.
Speaker 1:Which is more well, anyway, it was more than double body weight. He was an amazing lifter. Yeah, uh, he was the first, first um outside input that we had into our lifting technique and we were absolutely amazed that he came up and he talked to us about our start position. That was his main thing was the power position, the start position, which is for those of you that don't do olympic weightlifting. He established the basics really well. Yeah, um, and that was news to us in some like. By this time, both tony and I was snatching, uh, um, almost close to body weight um, which which isn't bad going for 12 months of newbies that don't have coaches. But what Ben did was he stripped us back to the real basics and fixed up some of our positions that we weren't aware, where we were making the smaller mistakes and what do you think that the ability to be able to do that does for people's lifting? Tony, just stripping it back and really looking at positions like how many times have we seen it?
Speaker 2:people come to us with some, I guess, less than perfect positions and it hurts, but you've got to take a bit of humble pie, strip yourself back and go. If I'm going to do it, I need to do it right. And I've got a flaw or an error that there's no way that you're gonna ever get anywhere until you clean that. Say, wherever that error is, whether it's off the ground or start position, like step one. You know, probably to this day, when you coach someone you don't know, start position is step one. If you don't get that right, everything else is going to struggle.
Speaker 2:And some people have been doing it that way for three years, four years someone from I shouldn't say this, but someone from a CrossFit box, because they're exposed to those lifts and that's probably the war. I coach a fair few of those guys and that's the one thing. Soon as you clean that up, a lot of other stuff goes away. So start position that sounds basic, sounds boring, but it mate, I can't say enough like. If you can't get that right and you can't do it the same way every time, which is probably closer to the you do the same thing, the same way every time. Properly, things will get better like fast.
Speaker 1:So that's developing consistency right, and consistency takes time and consistency takes reps. So it's all about putting in the reps and what some people might think is in inverted commas boring because you're doing the same thing. Sometimes it is boring as an inverted commas, boring because you're doing the same.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it is boring as batshit yeah, but you're doing the same thing over and over and over just so you can get that movement pattern established. And you can't establish an effective movement and efficient movement pattern in a couple of weeks, all right. So it's this paying attention to detail that was introduced to us by ben Turner, and then from there we continue the evolution of that early Whitsunday. Where was Whitsunday weightlifting born? Where was the community born?
Speaker 2:Jeez, was that when we moved over here, when we did the shed?
Speaker 1:Even before that, where was, do you remember, the third lifter that joined our, our little party? Was that young?
Speaker 2:chelse, uh-huh, young chelsea. Yeah, so chelsea, what would she be like? She was 20, 25 kilos, ringing wet. She was a little tiny. I think she competed as a 45 or 49 yeah, 49, 49 kilo lifter. Um, probably some of the some of the purest technique of anyone would probably ever coach. I reckon. Great lifter, great attitude, and she was like the classic little skinny chick, but moved well. She ended up going pretty high in the national level too in the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she did and she kept lifting for many years. But Chelsea was the first lifter we ever took to a national titles as a youth lifter and we went to Tasmania together. I went down with Chelsea to Tasmania and that memory is very special to me because it was my very first lifter that I got to coach at a national titles and Chelsea represented Queensland. It was just so exciting. So, basically, it was around that time in actually, october 2013. What's that 13? 2013, where we established Whitsunday Weightlifting as a club. So we inaugurated it as a not-for-profit weightlifting club in October 2013 and it just grew in leaps and bounds from there.
Speaker 1:And so, tony, going back to your lifting, you were still at this time, very heavily involved in the club, mainly as a lifter, whereas I was a lifter too, but I took on a lot more of the coaching role only because my background was teaching and I was a gymnastics coach already, um, and a crossfit coach. So you know, my natural tendency was always to coach. Like, as soon as I learned to movement, I'm like I want to teach this to someone else, um, just a natural born teacher, really. But at this time, tony was really heavily still in. Well, he was one of our main lifters and going a few years in down the track, tony.
Speaker 1:There was a really special saturday morning the dreaded saturday yeah, the saturday mornings where we, where we often, you know, we just send it. Well, we, we take a step back from the grind of here's your four or five sessions a week. Here's your program. Then, on a Saturday, we all get together. We don't have the constraints of going to work or being anywhere at any certain time. Funnily enough, we're recording this on a Saturday morning because we have the time. So we all get a little bit excited on a Saturday morning. So you take over from there, tony.
Speaker 2:Yes, I remember traditionally we would just pretty much help each other with a little bit of coaching. But there was just like a fun day. It was just like the coaches would all get in there and just pretty much go ham, you know, because it was just like just let it rip If you wanted to roll in and max a snatch out, we would do that. And I remember that one particular day I was training with nathan at the time and he's like he's like, oh, we're gonna jump from. I can't remember it was like a five kilo jump for me and I was like, oh, that's right up. So it was like five kilos to over my pb. And I was like I remember clearly saying and it's a joke around this gym now it's like I said to lee what possibly go wrong?
Speaker 2:So I make the lift and, as I've saw, I've missed the lift and I've let the bar drop and I've sort of I don't know how I've done it. It's just one of those mind fart moments. I've hung on to the bar and I've just ripped my arm and basically just ripped my arm out of the socket, my shoulder out, and I'm going oh, that hurt. And I remember sitting there and lee's like is that really hurting? And I'm like it's really hurting I said, is the ice hurting?
Speaker 1:because if something's ice hurting, that means it's really serious if you have to get the ice out yeah.
Speaker 2:So then it just went on. It didn't heal and I went and seen a physio and he's like I can't touch that till the swelling goes down and the inflammation's down. It's just too nasty in there and I'm like, oh, this is great. And I don't even think I could basically hold a cup in my hand at the time. So, anyway, this went on for a couple of weeks. I had MRIs and all sorts of stuff and I couldn't get it sorted.
Speaker 2:Long story short, had a little surgery on my shoulder and I don't know a lot of lifters, myself included like if you can't, you whinge about training some days, but when you can't and it's taken away from you, then you realize what it does and that's, you realize like how down you can get because you can't go and kill yourself in the gym for whatever. I don't know how that works, but it gets ingrained in, probably people that do this. It's just your way of life and all of a sudden it's taken away from you and it and it's not a great time, um, anyway. So lee was up up me about it and I'm like feeling sorry for myself after surgery. So he says, why don't you start coaching? And I'm like, oh, I'm not a coach, I'm a lifter, not a coach, all this other crazy shit. Anyway, I started coaching and that was pretty much the kickoff, hey, and I've been at it ever since.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Tony stepped into the coaching world through under great yeah.
Speaker 2:I did fight it under great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did fight it, he fought it and and I really valued Tony's input into the community then, because it's been, it is a it's a bit of a tough gig when you are a lifter, so you're doing the movement, but then you're also responsible for coaching other people who are doing it at the same time as you.
Speaker 1:So you do your set, you sit down, you watch them do their set, you give them feedback and that's okay. That's what I've done since day one. However, it's nice to have a second set of eyes because if you are constantly being coached and this applies to to any sport, it applies to any movement if you only if you have the one coach who's constantly watching your movement and no one else is watching that movement you're the. The coach starts to miss little things because they become so accustomed to that lifter. So it was really valuable for me to have the second set of eyes, tony's that second set of eyes, but not only that. I really wanted to keep Tony in the club because, because of his experience and I he's extremely passionate about Olympic weightlifting Look, even more than me, I have to say I know, I know you find that hard to believe.
Speaker 1:but I, after maybe five or six years of Olympic weightlifting, broadened out because I thought you know, I love Olympic weightlifting but I also love strength Strength's, my other thing. And then I looked at powerlifting. So I went out to that a little while. But Tony's pure, he's a pure blood.
Speaker 2:He's a pure blood.
Speaker 1:He has not strayed away from Olympic weightlifting, so I could see that his passion would be a really big asset to our whole community. And Tony's passion has been there right from day one right up until today. And how did you find the transition from going from athlete to coach? What was some of the challenges of that and what was some? Did you find the transition from going from athlete to coach? What was some of the challenges of that and what was some of the things that you enjoyed?
Speaker 2:about that? Yeah, interesting. So the first thing I noticed I remember looking at people and going, oh yeah, you'd cue someone on something real basic and then you'd almost instantly see a change. You'd almost instantly see a change and it'd be, um, wow, that works, that's cool. Like I can influence this person to be better. And then, over time, you start to pick up little cues. You know you, you see people and you start develop athletes. You start writing, you start to pick up little cues. You know you see people and you start to develop athletes. You start writing programs.
Speaker 2:You start bringing lifters from just, I guess you see them once or twice a week. Then you see them three days a week and you see them go from, you know, struggling with an empty barbell to snatching body weight and you're like, oh, that's, I helped them get there and you know it's very rewarding. Um, and I guess at the end of the day, when you can make someone better, it's, it kind of makes you feel good too when you, like I said, you see someone from an empty barbell to a bodyweight snatch, you just, I don't know, it just gives you a buzz. And I guess at the time because I was not lifting how I like to because of injury and all the rest of it. It gave me something to focus on which was super positive and I've got to say I'm pretty glad it happened now, because now some of my best days, like for example this week, lee, I was saying to you this week, everywhere I've coached, it's just been PB city.
Speaker 2:Everywhere I've been, everyone's getting PBs and like to me, it's been when I go from my work day, which is pretty high level stress most days, and then when I go to coaching, like my day is better. Soon as I finish coaching I'm like, oh, that day is not too bad because the coaching has dragged me out of that funk that I might be from stress levels at work. So for me that's coaching. For me, like these days and in the last probably year I'd say I've really starting to draw that from the community. So it's making me feel better, like I still I'm back training at the moment and it's great. But the coaching part these days is making you know, it's making a positive change for me again. So this is great. You know, with people, mate, just seeing people get better every day is awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a really, really powerful way of connecting to people coaching, because you're not only seeing improvements in their physicality, so you can see improvements in their technique and their strength. But what do you think that does for their mindset and their emotions and their self-esteem and their confidence outside of the gym?
Speaker 2:yeah well, you know like it's old saying like train hard, fight easy. You know, like you go to the gym and you do something. And let's face it, olympic weightlifting. It's probably not the easiest thing to learn, it's not the easiest thing to do, it's not the easiest thing to stay in. But people who hang around, mate I, I just think it makes you a better human because you know what you're going to do this afternoon, like, say, I've got the classic triple clean and jerks. You look at your program and you go, oh, but you get in there and you do it. And I think you take that in the outside world because, well, I did triple clean jerks last night. What am I going to do today? I'll just go to work, that's easy. Triple clean, jerks last night. What I'm gonna do today? I'll just go to work, that's easy. You know like it frames everything a little bit. I guess I did that. So this is going to be no challenge yeah, so you can do the hard things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you can do those hard things, when at the start of the session the thought often goes through most lifters heads I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this start of some sets exactly. So you do it right. You do it and you prove to yourself that you can do the thing, the thing that you thought you weren't going to be able to do. So you might have four sets of three. You might do the first set of three and go oh yeah, I'm in trouble here.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'm in trouble who wrote this?
Speaker 1:it's usually yourself that's wrote it. So then you start punching yourself up. But so you know. But then you, you, you go, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try the second, I'm gonna do this second set. And then you're like, actually this is not as as hard as I thought it was going to be. And then you push through. Before you know it you've done the four sets of three and you've proven to yourself that you can do hard things and if you persist, then you know those. If you persist, then those hard things over time become easier yeah, and they're approaching hard things in it.
Speaker 2:For me, on the outside world is easier. I call it outside world, it's easier, I call it outside world, it's not the right thing to say, but, like in your general life, I look at things and go, oh, that's not going to be a good time and for me it's usually around a hard conversation at work and I'm like you know what I do hard things three or four times a week. This is just another hard thing and I'll get through it and everything will be fine afterwards. And I think there's, I think, couple of lifters we have at the moment. I've been seeing that shift in the last couple of weeks. You know, like that real shift towards yep, I can do it, you know, and I'd love seeing people go from like that half oh, I don't know, dialogue to yep, let's go.
Speaker 1:You know, like that confidence that hitting a heavy barbell brings and I I honestly believe you drag that into your real life as well, your outside life because what you're doing in what, what we consider the small things because, let's face it, we we are doing Olympic weightlifting and strength training because we love it, it's a passion of ours and we choose to do it.
Speaker 1:So if you look at the big picture, our training really could be, could even be viewed as the small things. But like if we keep turning up for ourselves there and we put in the effort and we have that self-belief and self-confidence and we actually tell ourselves we can do hard things, that's right in the small things, which is training, then in the bigger world, like in your job, in your relationships, they're, you know, in in the bigger world, those job relationships that you have in your job and in your family, the stakes are a little bit higher there, right, because that's not just your passion, you know that's basically who you are and that's your life. Well, those hard things in there become easier because what you do in the small things you can do in the big things, right. So it's setting that foundation and going back to the concept of community. We've just outlined to you how we started, tony and I and Diesel the Black Dog, because we've always had dogs in the gym, there's always a gym dog somewhere.
Speaker 1:There's always gym dogs or multiple. Yeah, you've probably heard a few, unfortunately, in this podcast barking in the background. That's my signature thing in Uplift you, it's the barking dogs. So, yeah, going back to that, there were two of us and the dog, and then there was Chelsea and then from that it snowballed. So the one thing that really contributed to the club growing was something that Tony was talking about at the start of the before the podcast, right before we come on, and that is the concept of competing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or okay, so or not. Or not competing, okay. So what role do you believe Tiny competition has in developing the person and the community, and also the ability of people to continue to turn up for themselves?
Speaker 2:gee, there's a lot in that um. So it's kind of like we're talking about before. Like you have some people, um, I'm one of them. If I've got a comp coming up, I'm like dialed in, I'll eat better, I'll sleep better, I'll do the stuff. But then we have other people who don't care for competing and just love coming and lifting, and I appreciate that because I kind of feel like that's even more pure, you know, because they're just doing it for the love of learning to snatch. But I guess that's how we were back at the start. We were in the same boat, even though we did compete pretty early on in the game.
Speaker 1:We competed after 12 months and I've already relayed that story on one of my first podcasts, where we didn't know what the hell we were doing because we didn't have a coach. What's an attempt?
Speaker 2:Anyhoo, but so we have a pretty cool little blend at the moment of people who are on the fence about competing, some that are not interested at all and some are 100% focused in it. And what's interesting at the moment I don't think I've seen this in this club before where we have this blend of people, but they're also keen and they're all so fired up and that whole group of people now just push each other in a positive way, like it's probably the best I've seen at the moment. It's amazing. You go in there and everyone's just yeah, let's go. Um, you know, and I think that part of community is at the moment is unreal, like, I leave training and coaching and I'm like yeah, that was good. You know like, and a lot of other people. I hope everyone that leaves that training session feel the same way. So everyone leaves there to use Leanne's word, uplifted. You know, like and at the moment for me on a personal level, leaving that training and or coaching and rolling out of the gym and just go. You know what. That was unreal.
Speaker 1:You know, because you you get an opportunity to help uplift people through our community in so many different ways.
Speaker 1:It could just be the person's had a bad day at work and they've turned up to gym and they've had a laugh with their mates. They may have not even lifted very well, but that's you know. The lifting is not the central focus, it's honestly what you're talking about. There is, the connection in the community has so many added benefits for for every part of a person's life. They're emotional, they're mental, they're physical, health and, um, all the different people that we get in there, like we have some people that are that are coming mainly for health. Yeah, they don't care about the competition. We haven't. We have another lifter who's about who you've met on this podcast and, um, before ruby, who's about to go into national titles and she's ranked. She's got a really good chance of finishing in the top three in australia in under 23 she is just so she's on fire and very, very competition focused.
Speaker 1:And then you've got another, another lifter, um who, who is there is the cheerleader for ruby, but she's not interested in competing. No, but what she does say is I'll bar load, yeah, I'll help you set up for competitions, I'll come and be your cheerleader.
Speaker 2:So every single person in our community has a role, whether they compete or they don't compete and it's all so positive, like it's yeah, it's so, it's it's freaking awesome to be around like, and at the moment, like you know you get when a normal wednesday crew you have rubes doing her thing and then you have a couple of other lifters going and but there's always something awesome happening like and everyone and there'll be. You know, like you put a bunch of olympic weightlifters in a room, say six of them, five of them, doesn't matter, there's going to be a couple that are just not snatching well, because you know it can be a fickle thing on days. But what I'm seeing is those guys that aren't having a good job are just putting it aside and just having a good time in the whole group and they're just, and that that's awesome, because you're not focused on. You know things aren't going well tonight and they don't get in their head about it.
Speaker 1:They just do what they got to do, enjoy the rest of the session and, like I said, it's it's mint, you know because if one of those lifters is not having a say, not having a snatch session, it's just not working for them on that particular night. Because we're humans and our performance is not linear. We don't continue to get better all the time. It's ebbs and flows and ups and downs and good days and bad days. That's what being human is all about. Then, what I've noticed in our community if those particular people aren't having a good session, their focus will be then on uplifting their fellow lifters and giving them some like great feedback or cheering them on and, just honestly, I've seen people just laugh and go well, mine was shit.
Speaker 2:That's usually the word they use.
Speaker 1:Mine's shit, but you look great. You know and um.
Speaker 2:But they don't let it get it. They don't, yeah, drag anyone else down into that funk. Uh-huh, yeah, and that, and I've seen that happen elsewhere, you know, and I hate it and because, just because you're having a bad day, you, you don't want that rubbing off like and I'm probably guilty of it from time to time, but, yeah, I tried to step away from it now because in the wider group is you. Just, it's much easier if everyone goes up, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:So so what we're talking about here really is a, is a vibe. It's. It's like it's a the vibe that everyone, that a one person, it is that. So the room, the community, can only be as strong as the person in the room with the lowest vibe. And when I say vibe, what I mean is the vibration that you are exerting, because we humans are all made up, we're all vibrating right and other people can pick up on your vibration. So if you're really down and you focus in on that, then other people pick that up without you saying a word.
Speaker 1:And that is, I believe, an indicator of whether a community is healthy or not is if someone, you can see that someone else is down, you can feel that that person is down. Even that means then you go out of your way to lift them up and it shows you how close-knitted community is. And that takes time, and it takes a lot of time. And the same people who train together a lot. You're not going to get that in a really big. You're not going to walk into a globo gym and see old mate who can't do his 400 kilo leg press feeling down. So what it's showing is that not only are we providing that community for people to achieve their best physical self, you know, performance in. We're also providing a community where people um feel supported and safe to um. You know sometimes have those bad days, but not take that as oh, I've had one bad day, so I'm a crap lifter and my life sucks and, by extension, I suck chestnut it's.
Speaker 1:I can't. My snatches are terrible tonight. I'm terrible at lifting and if you want to go one level deeper than that, some people take can take that on as I am a crap person, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what I've found in our community is it doesn't get to that third level, because we have so many people supporting one another that they can just have a laugh at the top level where, oh, your snatches aren't going right tonight, oh well, you know like next time, and you know, because there's so much support there, it doesn't get to the level where the person thinks that they're a bad person because they can't snatch.
Speaker 2:Yeah and there's another piece of that too. Like you watch people come in the door, like I'm a big believer and I watch my guys come in the door. Like I, I'm a big believer and I watch my guys come in the door and I can pick them. You, you've seen it.
Speaker 2:You would have seen me do it I walk in the door and I'm just like, oh, like, this happened, that happened. But what's cool is when you see them walk out the door and they're just like you know that post-training high and everyone's high-fiving, and it's like, yeah, that was awesome, you know, like, so you know that there's been a positive change for those people. Like, within that hour and a half They've come in not in the greatest of mindsets but gone out like everything's good. You know, yeah, I like seeing that, because that's something myself I struggle with. Like I'll come in pretty low but not like, especially probably in the last year of my coaching. It's been a bit of a a step change for me and I leave coaching usually on a high. It's like, man, that was awesome, you know.
Speaker 2:So that I and that's driven by community, because everyone's there once they're warmed up and everything's starting to move, the music's on a couple of people are missing and giggling because they miss, which I love to see. You make a miss, you make a miss like it's, don't get down about it, because it's going to happen again. So it's just the way it is. And now we seem to have in the last little while there's a culture of if you miss it doesn't mean anything, it's just the way it is. And now we seem to have in the last little while there's a culture of if you miss, it doesn't mean anything, it's just you made a mistake. Try to fix it and move on.
Speaker 1:Don't go get sucked into the darkness, you know yeah, and that miss is is giving you a really good feedback on where, why, why did you miss, which part of the lift is where you were out of position or wrong timing. So then you get to improve then. So, without the misses I and all coaches will say this, and anyone who's been in the game in any sport for long enough will will will say that the misses or the failures of any type of movement give you the best feedback to improve that movement. So it's almost like a privilege to miss sometimes.
Speaker 1:I believe I remember there was a lifter and you'll remember the lifter who went in a competition and in Olympic weightlifting you get six attempts, okay, three at snatch and three at the clean and jerk. There was this one lifter who I think for the first two years of watching him compete, he never missed, yeah, and then he went in the first competition and we're talking maybe four to five competitions a year, so that's 10 competitions with no missed lifts, right, yeah? Then the day he missed that was that. That was the honestly. He was in the corner crying, he was bawling his eyes out because he'd missed and he didn't know what to do with that failure because he hadn't done that at a competition before. So as long as missing doesn't become your norm, then miss yeah and that can go that way.
Speaker 2:We've seen it where it's just like it doesn't matter, it's a miss, I'll miss, a miss, miss.
Speaker 1:And then you're ingraining that, and that's not good either yeah, yeah, so, um, it's like what we call a calculated risk. Yeah, okay, olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, um, any sport where you get that, you only get a very short amount of period of time and only a certain amount of shots at it. You need to take the calculated risk. You haven't done that weight before, but unless you try, you're not going to know. That's right. So you get to take that risk and that's an opportunity to see where you're at and if you don't get it, you go. Okay, where did that technique break down? Oh, right, so off the floor, I'm coming forward onto my toes. So now I know that I have to practice the first pull more. Yep, so it's a privilege In a lot of ways. Missing is a fantastic opportunity to improve your lifting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just like I know the lift you're talking about and yeah, yeah, he didn't miss much, hey, and it is being able to miss is like I said, as long as you take it for what it is, it's a, it's an opportunity to get better. It's not an opportunity, or don't think that you're bad. You know, because I've seen. We had a couple lifters many years ago. They'd miss a lift and, oh, they would spiral out of control and you'd have to be a bloody counselor to get them back on track. You know yeah so.
Speaker 1:So going back to like tony's um involvement in the club is as firstly a lifter and then a valued coach. There is just just one thing that Tony needs to work on, and I'm going to say four words here. Tony can explain the story Snake in a box.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, how good was that? So I don't know for the listeners. If you ever come here, you will understand why we call it the bush gym. We're literally in the bush. It's basically a block of land with some trees cleared out and a tin shed, and it's very rural. Well, it's not even rural, is it? It's bush Up the back of it.
Speaker 2:We just call it the bush shed yeah so at the back of our house it's basically thousands of acres of just wild scrub, so lots of things live there and, being that we live sort of north Queensland, there's lots of things that slither, which I don't do well with, so from time to time we used to find a lot of snake skins.
Speaker 1:Eh, Snake skins, yeah, Snake skins.
Speaker 2:And we're like oh, lucky I'd always think, gee, lucky I wasn't here when that happened, anyway. So we were chasing some shirts one day off the top of the fridge there. Anyway, I ripped this box down, me and Leah got it overhead and we lower it down. As we lower it down, I look in the box and there's a snake curled up. It's only like a little scrub python or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we didn't know what it was at the time.
Speaker 2:I just left Lee the box. I was out of there. Lee sat there holding this box and there's a snake and I was just like, oh, that says so much about your character, tony. You were just out of there and I've grown up around snakes, but I just can't do snakes.
Speaker 1:So Tony left myself and two other ladies to deal with the snake. So we're working on Tony's supportiveness as far as snakes in boxes goes. But, um, moving, moving forward with our community. Um, where do you see like our community, um going in the future, like what would you like to see happen in the whitsunday weightlifting community community going forward? Because we've actually been going. This is our 11th year now and I hope to not hope take out hope. I know Whitsunday weightlifting is going to be around for another 10 years. So how do you see the the evolvement of our club and our community moving forward?
Speaker 2:Look, I think, if we keep rolling the way we have been, it's going to be just I'd like to see it a place where, like other clubs, like and we spoke a bit, people like Berserker, barbell, from Mackay, they like be a destination, you know. So people come here and they know if they're going to come and train here, it's going. They know if they're going to come and train here, it's going to be we're going to and we are. We're pretty tight on the technical side of lifting, but it's also going to be a place where you can come and just have a great time, train, get coached, you know just an awesome environment that when you show up, you're just like, oh yeah, this is the place to be.
Speaker 2:You know, like everyone here is so into it, positive. When those people leave, they're just going, that was just the best. You know, like that's what I would like to see and like at the moment, most people who train here feel that way, which is kind of nice. But you know, I guess, through things like this, a little bit more exposure and but that's on us too a little bit. You know we need to invite, like the berserker guys up more often so that that's establishing an even broader community than what we already have and that, and they them themselves.
Speaker 2:They're a good. Like you go there, it's a good time, you know, and that's. There's been other gyms that I've been to. How, how can I say it? It hasn't been super positive, you know, like it's not that welcoming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I've travelled all around Australia and been to many weightlifting gyms over the years and I will say, in general, olympic weightlifters seem to have a very supportive mentality compared to some other sports. So let's take my gymnastics background. In gymnastics your knowledge was protected and there was no way you were going to share that willingly with other clubs and other coaches. Yet in Olympic weightlifting it really does have a sharing culture. So other coaches from other clubs, other lifters, are very, very happy to share what they know to help make other lifters better.
Speaker 1:And this is in Australia we're talking. So you know our community and being able to enlarge our community and reach out to more people. We can do that via things like this, this podcast, um and um, you know, inviting other clubs into the community and um. But as far as um, looking back, like as far as like, list our audience, because I know that the people that listen to this podcast there of course, there are quite a few lifters, but there's also people that are just generally interested in being like a stronger person, either through body or mind, in their body or their mind or both. Okay. So what advice would you give them as a lifter and a coach of you know of Olympic weightlifting and but just generally in the strength world. What advice can you give those people in if they're feeling like very isolated and on their own? What do you suggest that those people could do to create the connection so that they can also experience what we experienced at Olympic weightlifting? How could they approach that?
Speaker 2:I think a lot of times just reach out Now when I say that there's certain things that I love doing outside of lifting. And sometimes I want to reach out to those people but I feel like, oh, you know, that guy's like too important for me to talk to and I think you just need to drop that and just send it, send a message and say, hey, how you going, um, wouldn't mind talking to you about lifting or whatever said thing that you're into. And you know, what I've found is most people are not. How can I say they're not that, how can I say hoity-toity, and they won't talk to you. A lot of these people, if you reach out and you say, hey, man, I'm a bit this or I'm a bit that, nine times out of ten in the Australian community, they will help and they'll be happy and they'll feel privileged to help you, like I do.
Speaker 2:If someone says to me, hey, my deadlift's not real good, blah, blah, I feel like I feel legendary that I can help someone to do it like it's like man for sure. What, what do you need? Like, where you at, like, what can I do? Because if everyone does that mate, it just makes the wider community better.
Speaker 2:You know, like, even though I'm not super deep into powerlifting, when I was training in another gym, when I was sort of working away, I helped heaps of guys with their deadlift and they were just like man. That is the best thing that I've ever learned and I'm like kind of basic for me, but that you know, they get the benefit of easy help and you know, obviously at my end I get a lot of satisfaction the fact that they do that. And then all of a sudden in that environment, those three guys that I helped, every time I go in the gym where I knew no one and it was a globo gym and I was snatching and cleaning, jerking in there, which doesn't go down and that, hey man, how, hey man, how are you going? And all of a sudden I had a little group of people.
Speaker 2:You had a connection, yeah, that I had, instead of walking in there by myself every three days a week.
Speaker 1:And how much easier is it to turn up, because we know, in the fitness world, and in the performance world as well, that it's the people that turn up the most consistently, that get the results.
Speaker 2:You can't beat consistency.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how much easier is it to be consistent when you know you've got someone waiting for you.
Speaker 2:Well, you sort of go on and catching up with your mates.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you don't have, if the people that are listening, if you don't have a mate, if you don't have anyone that you think is interested, that you can like connect with someone that you know you could sort of maybe do a few sets with in the gym. For example, what Tony said there was don't be afraid to reach out. What's the worst that could happen, right, you're?
Speaker 1:not going to tear your shoulder. What could possibly go wrong? Right, yeah, so it's having the courage and also that I believe, the humility in order to be able to walk up to someone who may look like that. Just say, you're struggling with deadlifts and you see someone over in the corner who looks like they've got pretty good form. Then having the courage to walk up to that person and go hi, you know I'm Leanne, I see, would you mind? Would it be crazy if I asked you for some technique advice, Because it looks as if you know you've got quite good form? Yeah, it's just having that first, that little bit of courage to be able to step out of your comfort zone and have the humility to ask for help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the other piece to that, and it's like be coachable, right, which is, you know, don't be like, oh, I know it all. Like how many cues did you give me today? How long have we been lifting? And you're like this, this and this. I'm like, yeah, righto.
Speaker 1:And that's a really important thing, you know, not just in the physical world, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, it's in your whole life, in your emotional life, in your mental, emotional, mental relationships, the whole lot in your emotional life, in your mental, emotional, mental relationships, the whole lot. Just being able to stop, listen, take another person's point of view, take it on board, consider, you know, can I use that information? Is that going to benefit? Like, is that going to benefit me, instead of reacting to it? Go, maybe they've got something here, maybe they've noticed something that I don't notice, because they have more of an objective view. Let's be real, because when you rely on your own feedback, your brain often doesn't register what your body is doing. And can I say we can actually actually reverse that. Your body sometimes doesn't register what your brain is telling it to do. So getting that that bit of feedback from an outside source is a really valuable way to take check of of where you are or what you're struggling with and give you a different point of view to go or. Oh, maybe I could try that. Maybe, if I tried that, that would work.
Speaker 2:And also like in the case of going over and seeing said person that looks like he lifts very well and say, hey man, can you check my deadlift? I think it's not quite right. Is there anything, would you mind? You know, you might end up that person, you might end up being mates with it and that might be your new training partner, and good training partners are. I can't even emphasise how like that's a community Like, even if you're like training by yourself and you get one guy and he goes oh well, come on, I'm doing deadlifts tonight, you want to come and train with me? And then that's where it starts.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's only because you've said you've got out of your comfort zone and said, hey, blah, blah, blah, am I doing this right?
Speaker 1:essentially, and that takes the ability for you to admit that you don't know everything. That's right and you're not the fountain of all knowledge and shared knowledge is a wonderful thing and imagine how good that person would feel by with them coming up to you if I was that person. They were asking and asking for your input into their training.
Speaker 2:You're going to make that person stay yep, and also, I guess, from at my end, I always think, man, that person's really awesome, he's gone outside their comfort zone to come and ask me the question, because I know that's not easy, because I've done it and it's not easy and I immediately have respect for that person because it's like, right, you've done something.
Speaker 1:That's hard, requires a bit of bravery, yeah, right, and so in a fight in the final question I had and I asked you this before we started the podcast if you don't have a connection, a training partner or a community, um, if you didn't have a connection, a training partner or a community, if you didn't have that sorry, over the last 10 years, do you believe that you'd still be enjoying or even doing Olympic weightlifting today?
Speaker 2:Tough, question Because of work things. I've been in and out of training there for a handful of years but I, I don't know. I I still think once I would probably would be training but I probably wouldn't have as high level of interest. So it makes sense, so I wouldn't be as deep in it. Still, um, I'd be doing it, but I'd be just half arsing it so it sounds like you wouldn't have as much enjoyment in the process.
Speaker 2:There wouldn't be that look forward to it factor. Like I said, you have a shitty day. You come out here, you train, you know, pulling up in the driveway you're like my day's going to be good now. It's just got better, yeah, like it's been pretty average today, but we're on the up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like it's been pretty average today.
Speaker 2:But we're on the up, you know, yeah, yeah, and I think that, and because it's on the up, you're more focused, you're more energetic, you're more into it.
Speaker 1:You just your training will be better, you will be better and then, when you go home and you go back to your family and your partners, the big part of that is now that your relationships and your entire life is better.
Speaker 2:Well, there was a stand-up joke in my house for a long time not so much these days, but Kylie would attest to it. She's like I hate it when you're injured and you're not training. It's just like you need to go and train or do something you know.
Speaker 1:So what advice do you have for people that maybe are you know, uh, trying all different types of of fitness or exercise, yet they can't find they're just not motivated for it. Um, how did? How did how do those people because I I know that some of the people listening to this will relate to this how do you find the thing that you love? What do you do to find the type of exercise where it is a pleasure to turn up most of the time and it really inspires you? How do you find that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're lucky. You know, like I said some other people, that I've trained with exactly what we said. You know, hey, I'm not doing this right and they ended up being good friends. But finding those people and finding what you like to do I guess what you're doing is probably less important than the people.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you said that, because so like.
Speaker 2:I've seen like the powerlifting community here grow and I stand back and I watch and I I don't look at it from the sport because I'm I I understand the sport, I like it, but I don't like it as much as snatching clean and jerking. But what I like to watch there is that group, you know, your old geriatrics oh yeah, oh yeah, that's dad's army, that's or but that crew.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another episode.
Speaker 2:Like I'm pretty sure those guys wouldn't be doing what they're doing if it wasn't for the people.
Speaker 1:No, and I'll tell you something If you want to hear a testament to that just today. So today's, may, the goodness gracious. We don't even know what date it is, but it's, I think it's May the 18th. Yeah, if you go look at my episode that's released today, may the 18th, it's my mum, who's part of that crew, talking about how important that powerlifting community group is at Whitsunday, weightlifting, weightlifting, and really honestly, they turn up to be with each other. The powerlifting comes second to the connection, so so, so what you're saying, tony, is find someone that can share any type of exercise with you that you both might like to try together and start there. Start there. If you're struggling, go find someone and say, hey, would you come, and, you know, walk the hills with me. Or, you know, do you want to come try swimming with me, or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then once you go there and say, it ticks the boxes for you, whether, like I said, it's swimming or it's yoga, or it's Pilates or whatever you name it, and or it's pilates or whatever you name it, and you just maybe get one mate that you want to go there with and then, once you get there, you like it and then, because, like minds right everyone that likes that same thing, like you can see it out here any day that we train all those people like-minded and you'll find that community.
Speaker 2:Like dan says all the time, dan Dan's a pretty high-level Masters CrossFitter, I'd say you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's right up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's Australia and worldwide. That dude is fit and he sits back and he says look, I've been around gyms all my life and he's 56.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he said I have never seen a more eclectic group of people that get on the way that they do than what we have out here. So like that's more so that everyone's like-minded, they all like doing that. But we've got a law student, we've got a susu optometrist, you know, it's just this random bunch of people, all different ages.
Speaker 1:The youngest is 16 or 17. Yeah, and the oldest would be mid-60s. Yeah, mid-60s.
Speaker 2:Everything in the middle.
Speaker 1:And we're all doing the same movements and ability doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:No Ability does not matter.
Speaker 1:So if you feel, if you're out there struggling, thinking, oh I'm not a good enough runner to ask someone to come running with me, guess what if you're? If they're better than you, they're going to pull you up. If you're better than them, you're going to pull them up. But it's the connection that you make in both of you striving to become better people that creates the foundation for being able to turn up for yourself in whatever exercise or fitness or whatever endeavor that you're, you're trying it's.
Speaker 2:It's that connection that gets you there, rather than the actual activity that you're doing yeah, it's neither here nor there, that part it's, but there's got to be a level of enjoyment in that the activity as well. Like for me, if you said to me, join a running club, I've probably run the other way literally.
Speaker 1:But hey, have you ever tried it? But because, guess what I did a few years ago? I'll tell you one sport that I cannot stand watching on tv. It bores me to tears. It's boring as batshit, as I I would say. And that is cricket. Okay, it's just. It takes forever, it takes all day. I know there's this twenties thing, but it doesn't matter, it's done it for me. So a few years ago, one of the ladies that I was coaching at with Sunday weightlifting. She wanted to get, you know, stronger and fitter and better muscle tone and everything. She came in. Do you know what? Credit to her? She's tall, she wasn't really strong, she was not mobile, but she still gave it a crack and get this. She even competed. So she, she came and trained for a while. She competed. I took take my hat off to her because that was amazing. However, it backfired because she then said hey, leanne, you want to come and join my cricket team, cause she's right into cricket.
Speaker 1:So you know, being the supportive person that I am and understanding the value of community and connection, I said, yeah, sure, I'll come play cricket. Oh, and I went and did. I can't imagine you playing cricket. I went and did. I joined a ladies' cricket team for one short season. I'm not going to be too proud to tell you. I screamed constantly because when that ball was coming at me 100 miles an hour, I didn't even bother trying to hit it, I was just screaming too loud, trying to survive.
Speaker 1:But you know what I still enjoyed it in the fact that I was with a group of friends. We were having a laugh, we were all struggling together because none of us were cricket players, and it just shows you that it's the connection that really helps motivate you to continue to turn up and get results, because, at the end of the day, we all know how important it is to look after your health, because health is wealth. Okay, without your health, it doesn't matter how much money you've got, it doesn't matter how successful you are in any other endeavor. Your health is your wealth and it is the basis of your longevity and the quality of the life that you're going to have. So if you can find an activity that you can do for the rest of your life, then you're winning. Yeah, yeah, and I'm going to be lifting a barbell until the day they can put the barbell in the ground with me. That's what I'm vowing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it gets very addictive. The barbell is not something in my 20s I thought I'd end up doing, but hey, here we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so wrapping it up, um, the future of with Sunday weightlifting is is looking bright and, um, I thank Tony for being a massive part of that. And you know we're 11 years in and I'd like to say that we're still going to be going strong in another 11 years. Um, and Tony and I'll still be lifting the barbell to some extent In a walker, doesn't matter, I'll sit in a wheelchair and lift it up I've seen that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, in the power lifting world.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, so thanks for being part of um such a and create, helping me create such a wonderful community and um, any questions, reach out and the. If you have a look at the podcast notes, you'll see at the very top now there's a really cool new feature where you can chat, where you can send messages about the podcast. So give us some feedback and tell us, if you know, if you've got a great community, because we'd love to reach out and tell us about that, because you know communities can also support other communities. Yeah, so you know we can also support other communities. Yeah, so you know we're happy to support any other sport or any other community. You know, let's make our small community turn into a larger community and even a worldwide one. And to finish off, tony, who would be the one person who has uplifted you? So we're talking about uplifting other people. Who do you think's uplifted you the most in your journey with um? Your strong body or strong mind?
Speaker 2:you know, there's only one right answer here.
Speaker 1:Right, that's kylie there, you, you go. Kylie, you got a few mentions yeah, no, look she's.
Speaker 2:She sometimes is uh, which is good for someone like me. She gives me some hard love, which is good, um, but she's always like, if I go train and she's like yep, good, you know. So for me that's where I get it from and um that's.
Speaker 1:And kylie is tony's partner, in case you didn't know. But yeah, kylie is also.
Speaker 2:I owe a debt of gratitude yeah, because that's where it all started.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah this is where it all started with sunday.
Speaker 2:Weightlifting started with kylie because she'll take the credit for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the day I day, the day I dropped my kids off to um after school care care and Kylie was there, and that was the day that I mentioned weightlifting and that was the day. Honestly, that was the day Sunday wedding was born.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it was the following Wednesday or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kylie gave me Tony's number and that's where it started. So what a great place to end this podcast. So thanks for listening. Please leave us a comment and if you loved this, please share it, and if you didn't love it, share it anyway. Yeah, just share it all right. Thanks, guys. Till next time, stay strong.