Rory Lynch
Powerlifting & Nutrition Coach
Rory's first foray into coaching was as an aspiring black belt in Taekwondo in 2010, where he started taking over the conditioning components of his classes. After being bitten by the iron bug in 2014, Rory started experimenting with programming for powerlifting in 2015 (primarily on himself, for better or worse), and then in 2016 he started programming for other athletes. He now coaches a stable of regular powerlifters of all levels.
Outside of powerlifting, Rory completed a Bachelors of Engineering (Honours) in Biomedical Engineering in 2016, and these days works in technology, where he is a Product Manager (which mostly means having opinions about software.)
Notable Achievements
Head Coach of the New Zealand Powerlifting Worlds team (2020 and 2022)
Manager of the New Zealand Powerlifting Worlds team (2019, 2022, and 2023)
Coach on the New Zealand Powerlifting Worlds team (2017 to 2023)
Coached the University of Auckland 2018 Sportswoman of the Year and 2021 and 2023 Blues Award winner
Co-host of top international powerlifting podcast, King of the Lifts
Given seminars on powerlifting programming and gameday strategy to audiences of up to 50 people, and lifting workshops to audiences of up to 30
Category 1 IPF Referee
Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified Nutrition Coach
Australian Powerlifting Union Level 1 Powerlifting Coach
The Story of Sisyphus
“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
The Punishment of Sisyphus (Public Domain)
Sisyphus was the brilliant King of Ephyra in Ancient Greece - under his rule, Ephyra flourished. Unfortunately, Sisyphus was greedy and prideful, and for his hubris Zeus sentenced Sisyphus to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a mountain in Tartarus.
Many take Sisyphus' story as a tale of futility - it's a story meant to scare children away from hubris, or a story to entertain guests where the unfortunate protagonist ends up regretting his actions, but the myth of Sisyphus can be read another way. Camus talks about the absurdity of life; he says there is no inherent meaning, but that we can either choose to be disappointed in the meaninglessness, or to accept it and to find happiness and contentment in what we do find.
That is the perfect metaphor for powerlifting. Like Sisyphus and his boulder, powerlifting doesn't have implicit meaning. We're not changing the world, and we're not exactly finding money and glory, even when we win! That doesn't mean that we should just let our boulder roll back down the mountain, quite the opposite. What that means, is that we need to learn to take pride and contentment from the process, and that the journey is as important (or even more important) than the conclusion.