Tilly is a 17 year old powerlifter from Auckland, New Zealand who has dreams to become a great lifter in all categories (squat, bench, deadlift) in the coming years.
Tilly recently won the best overall SubJunior (U18’s) Female lifter in Auckland while also winning best overall SubJunior U76kg Female.
I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and am 17 years old. I have one more year of highschool left. I plan to do my last year of school online, so I can focus on having a healthy training/school balance. During school I played many team sports, my main sport being Netball. When training with my netball team we would go into the gym and have a weights training session. This is where I found my love for the gym. I decided to get my own gym membership, and began going to a commercial gym by myself. Then, I was recommended to my coach, Dom, who coaches some of the best powerlifters in the world. I was super excited to begin training with him. Straight away I fell in love with this sport. Ever since I began training at New Zealand Powerlifting academy (Dom’s team) I have had a lot of success in the sport, and me and my coach believe I too could become a great lifter.
In everyday life, my biggest accomplishment has been finding my own crowd of people who understand my crazy goals in life and who support me. This has especially helped in recent years as I have begun to train more and miss out on a lot of social events.
My best career highlight was April 2023, when I won best overall SubJunior (U18’s) Female lifter in Auckland while also winning best overall SubJunior U76kg female. This meant a lot to me, especially at the time as I had actually had a bad competition that day.
In the next 5 years I see myself holding the Junior(U24s) New Zealand record for all lifts in powerlifting (Squat,bench,deadlift). I can clearly see myself representing New Zealand and seeing myself winning the Junior world’s championship, and breaking the Junior World record for bench press.
I would tell her that it’s okay to feel like you don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. And that you're not weird for not wanting to do what your friends are doing.
The best thing I ever did was join New Zealand Powerlifting Academy. This is because my coach is one of the best in the world, and can teach me exactly how to become a world champion. I also love training here because I get to train with other older female strength athletes who I can look up to. It has been strange as I am the youngest female team member for New Zealand Powerlifting Academy, and am surrounded by adult athletes, but at the same time I love it because I get to grow up with a higher ceiling of what I know is possible for me if that makes sense. I entered this world because I put myself in a position where I was surrounded by like minded people, and none of them slack off, so I always thought why should I? Eventually after my first few competitions, I had a winning streak, and thought “Wait, I could actually become super successful in this sport.”
Hold yourself accountable for your actions. I firmly believe accountability is one of the most important traits an athlete can have. When I injured my back, it was because my core was not strong enough to hold the weight I was lifting, and my spine took over, leading my disc to herniate. Although my coach gives me core everyday, I was not training it hard enough and consistently. I had to take accountability for my actions and become aware that my injury was partially my fault. This led me to work on my core more, and become a better overall athlete. I also believe to be a successful athlete you must be prepared to accept a lot of criticism and negative feedback from strangers or acquaintances. You must not allow yourself to be too sensitive to criticism or it may affect your self esteem. This is not good as you must have a lot of confidence as an athlete.
My routine has been the main factor. I do pretty much the same thing everyday, and eat the same things everyday. This helps me to stay consistent as well and stay on track with my goals. It is very easy to become so caught up in training that you see your family less and less, and your school work declines. This happened to me during this year and last year, so me and my family have decided it is best I move to online school. This will allow me to follow a different routine, and will allow me to see my family more often.
I use my PainPod to help reduce pain in my lower back as I have a large disc herniation. Alongside this I use it for recovery, applying it to sore muscles and tweaks I get from training.
My favourite PainPod accessory is the Bio Belt. This is because it is small enough that you can comfortably wear it around the house, and it works very well on my lower back. I also like that you can use it on other body parts, for example your legs.
I am most proud of my ability to continue showing up to training everyday, despite having a back injury. This back injury had a negative effect on my training, and for a period of time I could not train at all. I am so proud of myself as I am well down the recovery road, and will even be able to begin competing again next year if all goes to plan.
I do this so often. Last week I tripped on a weight in the gym that was on the floor and it was straight after I announced to the whole gym that I was “really cool.” Everyone laughed at me but it was a really funny memory.
I fail lifts all the time. If it’s in training or in a competition. I remember the first time I failed though, it felt like the world was going to end. I was so dramatic and upset about it haha. It was a deadlift in training. At the time I did not know what it was like to fail a lift. I did not like the feeling and thought to myself “I’m never going to fail a deadlift again.” I was very wrong. I used to take it extremely hard when I failed in the gym, but now I have failed lifts so many times that it does not faze me. This is such an important skill to have as a powerlifter. This is because there will come a time where you will fail a lift in a competition, and you have to regain focus and move on quickly before your next lift. Or else it can negatively affect your performance.
Head to Tilly's Instagram profile to keep up to date.