Almost all our Performance Menu interviews are with American coaches and lifters, but that’s not intentional. We’re trying to get more international contributors, and our good Maple Leaf friends from the north never let us down. So…let me introduce you to Amanda Braddock.
 
Amanda is currently one of the best female lifters in Canada. As you’ll read, she’s been dominating the 48 kg class in her home country for the last four years, breaking national records and earning spots on multiple international teams. A 101 kg C&J at 48 kg bodyweight is no joke, and her recent results tell us that she’s ready for much more soon.
 
Her accomplishments are even more commendable when you understand the difficulty of being an elite weightlifter in Canada. I can remember my top years at the national level for the US back in the 90s, when my teammates and I used to gripe about not getting enough support from USAW. After we finished our grumbling, the conversation always ended with, “Well, at least we don’t have it as bad as the Canadians.” Amanda was too gracious to say anything about it, but Canada gives almost no support of any kind to its lifters. There are a lot of great weightlifting people up there who are doing it purely on their own for the love of the sport.
 
For better or worse, the situation demands a huge level of self-reliance and determination from the athletes. That’s one of the things that has propelled Amanda forward to the exciting results she’s already produced, and laid the groundwork for future greatness. Catalyst Athletics is proud to give you a look at Canadian National Champion Amanda Braddock.
 
 
Tell us about your background. Where are you from, where do you currently live, what’s your occupation (if you work in addition to training), family life, what kind of sports background do you have outside of lifting, etc.
 
I was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario, a large suburb about 45 minutes from Toronto. I’m the oldest of four, with two brothers and a sister. They’ve all recently started dabbling in strength training, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to convince any of them to pick up weightlifting. We’re a stubborn bunch.
 
I currently live in Oakville; a much smaller town which I moved to nearly a year ago to be closer to work and training.
 
I’ve worked as a weightlifting coach at a great gym called Radix Performance Centre since 2015. I’ve previously balanced training with all sorts of odd jobs ranging from licensed exterminator to working overnight in airports cleaning charter jets, just trying to find something that allowed me to make training times and pay off student loans. Coaching can be mentally taxing at times, but is by far the easiest to balance with training. It helps that the gym owners at Radix are fantastic and always accommodate my training needs.
 
As far as a sports background goes, I really don’t have one. Weightlifting was my first introduction to any kind of competitive sport outside of high-school gym class. I wasn’t unathletic as a kid and would climb trees and go on hikes regularly - I just never had an interest in team sports and was never exposed to individual sports. I only learned to swim a few months ago and still can’t skate or ski, although I should probably learn before the government finds out and revokes my citizenship.
 
Describe your weightlifting history. When/how did you start? Who have your coaches been? What championships and international teams do you have on your record? What are your best lifts?
 
I picked up weightlifting in my final year of university at UTM in Mississauga, Ontario. I was 22 years old. I had been looking for ways to get in shape, and my boyfriend had spent a few months convincing me to do basic strength-training and bodybuilding-type exercises with him. It was an important first step because I hadn’t seriously considered weight-training before, for the usual reasons (I gain muscle really easily! I don’t want to look like a man! And so on).
 
I stumbled upon weightlifting through an internet rabbit-hole after googling CrossFit at my dad’s suggestion, and I badly wanted to try it (weightlifting, not CrossFit). Looking into it further, I discovered that a weightlifting team trained out of the basement of the newly renovated gym at my university. Once my last year started in the fall of 2011, I dropped in on a learn-to-lift session with one of the team members, Richard Gonsalves (who now works for Eleiko). At the time, I didn’t even have proper training clothes, and I showed up in cotton cargo shorts and an old t-shirt. But I was hooked immediately and haven’t missed a training session since. I tend toward hobbies that are technical and hands-on, and weightlifting barely felt like exercising.
 
I spent a few months training under Richard until he decided I was ready to “graduate” to the competitive team coach, Steve Sandor. I was still a total novice, but Steve was a tough coach and pushed his athletes hard from Day 1. Having never played a sport before, I didn’t know any different and just tried to work as hard as I possibly could every day. I was also lucky to have really great teammates that I could learn from and who helped keep me motivated to continue. At times it was extremely challenging, both mentally and physically, but I do think it helped develop and strengthen a tenacity and stubbornness I already possessed.
 
I trained with Steve for nearly six years, won a few National titles and made five international teams before deciding it was best for my lifting career to make a change. It took me a long time to come to the decision, and I thought it through from every angle. Late last year, I reached out to Catalyst and asked if Greg Everett might be able and/or willing to take me on as a remote athlete. I had a mutual contact in Adee Zukier, who was a former teammate at UTM, and she put me in touch with Greg (thank you Adee!). Greg was kind enough to take me on despite some challenges with the Canadian Weightlifting Federation, and it’s been the most productive and enjoyable year of training I’ve ever had.
 
As far as my resume goes, I’ve been Canadian champion in 48kg three times (2014, 2015, 2018).
 
I’ve made eight international teams in the past three years (technically nine, but I declined 2014 University Worlds for funding reasons):
 
2015 - Pan Am Games, Toronto; World Championships, Houston
2016 - Pan Am Championships, Cartagena
2017 - Pan Am Championships, Miami; World Championships, Anaheim
2018 - Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast; Pan Am Championships, Santo Domingo; World Championships, Ashgabat
I also broke a longstanding 48kg Canadian record in the clean and jerk, with 101kg earlier this year. Current best lifts are 79kg snatch (77 in competition) and 101kg clean and jerk.
 
Please give a basic description of your training. Just tell us as much as you can about your program, weekly/yearly planning, etc.
 
Right now, my training is based around the international competition schedule, which varies from year to year. I’m training six days a week, with strength/technique/competition prep cycles rotating throughout the year. We’ll typically train through qualifying competitions with the intention of peaking for international meets.
 
I came to Greg with a large number of imbalances and gaps in my lifting education, having been trained in a Bulgarian style since my first day. Up until this year, there was very little variation in my training, which made me really strong in some movements and incredibly weak in others. We’ve been working on bringing up a lot of my weaknesses and improving my technique in jerk and snatch. I’ve become much more well-rounded, and hopefully that translates to bigger numbers in the classic lifts over the next year. Accessory work has also become a much larger part of my training.
 
Depending on the volume that day, each training session takes about two to four hours from warm up to stretching and cool down, so I’m training between 15 - 20 hours a week. I’ll usually work through one or two technical movements, one or two strength movements and two to four accessory exercises in each session.
 
Describe some of the obstacles you face, or maybe some things that frustrate you in your weightlifting life. What kinds of changes would you like to see, either personally or with the sport in general?
 
I don’t really like complaining about the challenges of being an amateur athlete in Canada. The more I compete and meet athletes from around the world, the more I realize that I literally only have first-world problems, and being able to mold my life to suit my training is an enormous privilege. Not to say that things haven’t been hard - before I had funding or accomplishments of any real sort in the sport, it seemed crazy to continue to work so hard, commute long hours and dedicate my time to training. I had nothing to show and was in a terrifying amount of student debt for years.
 
But even that barely felt like sacrifice because I enjoyed the sport so immensely. I also knew that if I really couldn’t stand it anymore, if it proved to be too much, I could simply quit and blend into society and have a normal life doing whatever. I’m glad I didn’t quit, but it’s a freedom not all high-level athletes have.
 
I will say that some things within the Canadian WL Federation could be organized in a way that better serves athletes, but I won’t go into details. I’m contractually obligated not to say too much. Hopefully one day I can be involved in a more administrative way and help progress the sport in Canada, because we have an enormous amount of talent countrywide that isn’t being managed especially well.
 
What are your plans and goals for your weightlifting career? How do you see your future in the sport? Do you plan to stay involved in weightlifting after your top competitive years are over?
 
For a long time, my goal was simply to learn and study the lifts as best I could. I can be a competitive person, but I never trained to compete, and I did it simply because I could usually place well and qualify for things and represent my team and my province. As I got better, I understood that competition is really part of the craft and allows you to lift with all the heightened emotion and adrenaline that regular daily training never quite simulates. I also had a few competitions where I got into really cool flow states, and I started to find the mental aspect of lifting more and more interesting.
 
Now my goal is to make as many international teams as possible in the next Olympic cycle. With the new weight classes, I know I can break the current Canadian records for 49kg, and consistent performances around those numbers would give me my best shot at Olympic qualification. I still feel like I’m only just getting started and have a lot of improvement and potential ahead of me.
 
After my competitive years are done (give or take another decade), I’ll definitely stay involved in weightlifting somehow. I have an obligation to give back to the sport that has shaped a large part of my life and identity. Whether it’s as an official or coach or something else, I’m not sure. I have a lot of other interests that I’ve put aside to focus on lifting (not to mention sacrifices made by my family, boyfriend and close friends). I put my academic career on hold after graduating, but I still have an interest in entomology and forensics that I might return to in a few years.
 
Who are some of your major influences, people you look up to, etc.? Who are the people you want to thank for your success?
 
One of my earliest influences was Miel McGerrigle, a fantastic 58kg lifter on the national team and Pan Am gold medalist. She lent me my first competition singlet and was always willing to offer advice on lifting and navigating funding/qualification systems, and so on. She had mostly retired from lifting when I started but would occasionally come in to show us how it was done.
 
I started weightlifting before the era of Hookgrip slo-mos and Instagram stars (probably for the best), but I must have watched a YouTube training video of Erika Yamasaki a thousand times. Other influences were Maryse Turcotte and Marilou Dozois-Prevost, who both held 48kg Canadian records and were generally amazing lifters. Rachael and Daniel Thiessen at Radix Performance are also owed so many thanks for giving me basically whatever I needed when I was first learning coaching and trying to pursue this dream.
 
Thanks for the interview, eh! We appreciate your time, Amanda. Keep up the good work, and we hope to see you representing Canada at the Olympic Games someday!