It has happened again - I am officially en route to the 2019 IWF Senior World Weightlifting Championships (September, Pattaya, Thailand). ​ Reflecting back, the 2018 IWF Worlds was a journey - literally and figuratively. Literally, my journey home took 52h (current PR for number of hours awake). Figuratively, not only did I learn the basic necessities of competing internationally (bring laundry detergent and more protein than you think you need), I learned about my self and how I handle the Big Leagues. I was physically prepared but my mind was not. I was unaware of how the international plat ..read more

May Athlete of the Month is coach and athlete Georgia Cameron! Georgia is an incredibly talented lifter, up-and-coming coach, card-counting & macro-counting whiz and an all-around great person. She is also wise beyond her years… at our last competition I was feeling super nervous and she said “That’s okay, just focus on one lift at a time.” I mean, why have I never thought of that?! She attends the CSI Sports School as the only weightlifter in that program, and at only 16 years old is going to be competing at SENIOR Nationals this month! You can also congratulate her on being a newly lice ..read more

April’s Athlete of the Month is coach and athlete Josh Leangen! Josh is contagiously enthusiastic in both his life and weightlifting. Even on “bad” days he is happy to be lifting and learning what he can, whether it’s in training or competition. He coaches our youth weightlifting program alongside Coach Rachel, where he shares his knowledge and love of this sport with athletes aged 8-16, and gets them hooked early! He also coaches senior classes and several competitions. So… go introduce yourself to Josh this month, ask him what he’s done to improve his mental game and watch the mix of intens ..read more

March Athlete of the Month is Coach/Athlete Kirst! The first few Athlete of the Month posts will be dedicated to getting to know the Siemens Weightlifting coaches… here we go! I first met Kirst when I started lifting with the club, and was immediately drawn to her positivity and the intensity she attacks every lift with. She is fierce, and people pay attention when she lifts. She’s also super knowledgeable- she has several coaching certifications under her belt and is a certified nutrition coach. If you’re new to weightlifting, Kirst is a great athlete to watch. She is persistent, disciplined ..read more

The Red Plate (previous to this), was created for me to vent, expand, and share my feelings and ideas. The Next Plate blog was created to be more professional, but I am throwing that idea out the window now. Welcome to my next rant. Let's talk about FEAR I am no stranger to fear. No human on earth has a life void of fear, save those with a neurological disorder. Fear is real in our mind, whether it is a bear running towards us or the girl from the Ring crawling out from under our bed. Fear is real within us, whether it stems from an external or internal source. Bears or bogeymen, the fear tha ..read more

Our Youth Weightlifting program will be making some major changes starting March 1st! (Until then - things are running as usual! Tuesday & Thursday at 4:30pm, drop in / punch card) Changes in schedule & registration: Tuesday & Thursday 4:00 - 5:00pm (Starting March 1) Classes must be pre-registered for via the CF Vic City Website (Please note: the Vic City website has yet to be updated). Full class schedule, both Tuesday & Thursday $190.00 Half class schedule, Tuesday OR Thursday $120.00 Drop in remains at $20.00, however this option is not recommended due to the nature of th ..read more

10W10Q with Sophie Austin Welcome to the first Next Plate post of 10W10Q! This month, we are featuring Sophie Austin: Athlete and Coach with Siemens Weightlifting! One of our club goals for 2018 was to highlight individual athletes, get to know each other better, and increase community involvement. After this post, Sophie will be heading up our Athlete of the Month 10W10Q posts! 10W10Q works like this: We have 10 questions, and each question must be under 10 words. Each answer must be under 10 words. 200 words. Short, sweet, and hilarious at times. Sophie began training with us near the end o ..read more

This is a post I made to the Club Group about an epidemic mindset: the 'Should' mindset. From observation, this mindset can go from harmless to toxic in seconds. An unreasonable and unrealistic Should Mindset can lead to disappointment, shame, frustration, anger, and defeat. That being said, after creating awareness of the Should Mindset, many athletes I coach have started correcting themselves and seeing themselves with a more positive, motivated, and growth-oriented mindset. They love themselves more. This post comes from the heart - struggled with a Should Mindset for years. I felt like an ..read more

Last weekend was the 2017 BC Junior Provincial Championships, held in Port Coquitlam. What a fun, slightly chaotic, and successful weekend for the Siemens Weightlifting Club! Let's start with the chaos... First, coming from the Island can be a little messy, especially if the weather is bad or its a long weekend. The ferries were cancelled Friday from the afternoon onwards, so Saturday morning traffic was a nightmare. But we made it on the first scheduled sailing. Second, coming from the Island can make the mainland seem like a massive expanse of confusing highways and aggressive traffic. After ..read more

Kuyashii: A Japanese term meaning to use the words of doubters as a fuel for success. Part 1: The Struggle Bus 2016 was a wild year for me in weightlifting. To start, I won the -69kg class at the Canadian Championships. I did not see that coming. At first, I didn't believe it. Some girls moved out of my weight class, some didn't compete... The stars aligned that day. After going 5/6 and winning, I still felt unsatisfied, like I should have lifted more to really deserve it. Deep down, I didn't give myself the win. That night my mom gave me a good talking to about what it means to win and celeb ..read more