Local Resident Fin Suttie Tells Us About His Powerlifting Journey

Fin Suttie is a second-year student studying chemistry at Nottingham Trent University. 

He is originally from Wythall. When he’s not studying, he’s competing in national powerlifting competitions with his younger brother, Ivor Suttie. This is the interview Leigh conducted with Fin from his perspective.  

"Before I did power-lifting, I played rugby. Both me and Ivor, played and it reached a point where the people we were playing against were getting bigger. 

To keep up with them we both started going to the gym. That carried on for about three or so years and it reached a point where, for both of us, the gym started to become more enjoyable than rugby. 

I wasn’t training at the gym to get big for rugby I was training at the gym because I wanted to. 

From there, we started focusing more on strength and trying to lift heavier weights and that's when Ivor found powerlifting. 

Powerlifting itself is quite simple, its three lifts: squat bench and deadlift. You get three attempts in each lift, so you'll have your opener, your second attempt and then your third attempt. 

We found programmes online that were free and started following them. 

Ivor found the first competition that we both entered; the West Midlands Development Competition in July of this year. We won both our weight classes. 

We also qualified for the British Junior Classic Championships. 

As it was a national competition, I decided to go to a lower weight class - the 83-kilogram one. I thought that if I managed to cut down there using a water cut, I would be more competitive as I would be stronger but competing in a lower weight class.

When I finally weighed in, I was 82.6kg and the night before I was 85.4 kg, so I lost almost three kilograms of water in just over 12 hours. 

This is dangerous, but competitors in this sport (and other sports like wrestling) do it because loosing water weight is a way to enter a lower weight category without compromising muscle mass. 

Unfortunately, because I lost so much so fast and I couldn’t rehydrate properly so I wasn’t anywhere near as strong as I was hoping to be. 

But that was a learning experience - I'm going to go back to the 93-kilograms now. 

Weightlifting a very long process and we’ve only been doing it just over a year now and we did it without coaches. 

Online coaches or, coaches in person play a massive role, so when Ivor and I told people we were competing at the nationals and we'd got there without a coach they were very shocked. 

Ivor now has a coach and I'm going to look into getting one eventually. 

We won't compete until 2019, mainly because my mum doesn't want me to compete until after I've finished second year at university. And we both want a bit of time just to get stronger. 

It is all about balancing it, and I’m not training every day. Only three or four times a week and the rest days are important, just as important as the training. 

Strength takes time, so I’ve got a long journey considering I’m only one year in, but it’s something Ivor and I know were going to be doing for a very long time."

It was such a pleasure to interview Fin and we wish him and his brother every success with their future competitions!