Weightlifting has been most of my life. I lifted for Great Britain, held a British record, won the international Grand Prix in Fulda back in 2011, carried the Olympic Torch and worked as a Games Maker in 2012. These days I still pick up a bar with St Birinus Weightlifting Club, and I coach — one-to-one and in groups — because there’s nothing quite like watching someone catch a snatch they didn’t believe they had in them.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, in 2015, I started Lifting Times. The idea was simple: a place for the Olympic lifting community that wasn’t a forum full of arguments or a feed full of PBs and nothing else. Proper writing. Coaches and lifters talking honestly about the sport we love. For a while it did exactly that.
And then it went quiet
Life happened. Client work, other projects, the usual. The magazine didn’t die so much as drift — the articles were still there, still good, but nobody was tending the place. Every so often I’d get a message asking whether it was coming back, and every time it stung a little, because I knew it should.
So I finally did something about it.
I’ve rebuilt it from the ground up
Lifting Times is live again — properly this time. The whole site is new: fast, clean, and it actually works on your phone, which matters when half of us are reading between sets on the gym floor.
Everything that made the old site worth visiting is still there. Every classic article has been preserved word-for-word — I wasn’t about to throw away years of good writing from people who know this sport inside out.
But it’s not just a facelift. There’s new stuff too:
- Step-by-step beginner guides to the snatch and the clean and jerk — the articles I wish I could hand every new lifter who walks into the club.
- A free Practical Guide to Olympic Lifting for anyone who subscribes.
- Honest gear recommendations — what’s actually worth your money, from people who use it, not affiliate spam.
- Writing from lifters and coaches who’ve done it, GB internationals included.
Come and have a look
If you lift, coach, or you’re just curious about the two most technical, most addictive lifts in sport, Lifting Times is for you. Have a read of the guides, dig through the archive, and if you want the free Practical Guide, subscribe here — it lands straight in your inbox.
It feels good to have it back. This one’s for the community that never quite let me forget it mattered. See you on the platform.