Okay, so you love Weightlifting and you really want to be a part of a future Australian team to the Olympic or Commonwealth Games!
If you have any chance of achieving such a goal, you will need to make some tough decisions.
Decision 1: Can you devote 30 hours a week to this goal?
Before everyone throws up their hands and says “What!”, consider the following. If you want to be a High Performance sports person, then your training is your job. You will need to train 8-10 sessions per week, each of which will take approximately 2 hours. As a more serious athlete, you will spend more time warming up and more time on flexibility. So 2 hours per session is not unreasonable. You will incur a significant amount of travelling in order to attend training. If you live close to the gym, you might be lucky to keep travelling down to around 4 hours per week. The remaining 6 hours a week will be a combination of many factors including visits to the physiotherapist, injury management, planning training, monitoring training, discussions with your coach, and travel to and waiting around at competitions. This does not even take into consideration that you may need extra sleep.
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Leo Isaac at the 1980 Commonwealth Championships on the way to a new Commonwealth Record in the 67.5 Kg category
This website has been developed by Leo Isaac whose career in Olympic Weightlifting spans 40 years as an athlete, coach, coach educator and administrator. He is an accredited Level 3 (National) coach and recently (2015) completed a Masters in Sport Coaching through the University of Queensland.
He is currently active as a Weightlifting coach in Hobart, Tasmania, and as a leading coach educator for the Australian Weightlifting Federation.
Academic
- Masters in Sports Coaching, University of Queensland
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BSc (Hons), Physical Education, Sports Science and Recreation Management,
Loughborough University, England
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Grad Dip Teaching, University of Queensland
Voluntary Roles Currently Held
- Member of the High Performance Program Panel of Australian Weightlifting Federation
- Director and Head Coach of the Weightlifting Academy of Tasmania
- President of Weightlifting Tasmania Inc.
- Coach Education Program presenter for the Australian Weightlifting Federation
Overseas Coaching Appointments
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2017 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships, Gold Coast, Australia
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2016 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships, Penang, Malaysia
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2016 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships, Suva, Fiji
- Head Coach, Australian Team, 2015 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships, Pune, India
- Coach, Australian Team, 2014 Pacific Cup Weightlifting Tournament, New Caledonia
- Head Coach, 1991 Junior World Championships, Wolmirstedt, Germany
Professional and Voluntary Roles Previously Held
- Former National Coaching Director of Australian Weightlifting Federation
- State Administrator of Queensland Weightlifting
- NSW Coaching Development Officer
International Appearances
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1979 European Championships, Varna, Bulgaria, 9th place, 67.5Kg category
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1979 World Championships, Salonnica, Greece, 10th place 67.5Kg category
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1980 Commonwealth Championships, Cardiff, Wales, 1st place 67.5Kg category
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1980 European Championships, Belgrade, Serbia, 8th place 67.5Kg category
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1980 Olympic Games, Moscow, Russia, 14th place, 67.5Kg category
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1982 EEC Championships, Lommel, Belgium, 2nd place, 75Kg category
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1982 Commonwealth Games, Brisbane, Australia, 4th place, 75category
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1985 World Championships, Stockholm, Sweden, 9th place, 67.5Kg category