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How powerlifters tick: Interview with Ryan Stinn, Powerlifter from Canada

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Apr 6, 2020 6:43:29 AM

Athlete Articles

How powerlifters tick: Interview with Ryan Stinn, Powerlifter from Canada

Ryan Stinn used the time in 2020 to go through his Emails and dug up my interview questions and answered them.

Ryan is now 12 years on the world stages of lifting. It is encouraging to see that some of his best numbers are more than six years apart. Besides this his wife build a successful business related to strength apparel. Learn more in the full interview.

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About Ryan Stinn

 
First Name Ryan
Last Name Stinn
Weight class 120+
Raw total: 822.5, I mostly compete equipped: 1067.5kg
 

1. What are your goals

 
In the short term I want to squat 900lbs, it's been a long time goal of mine and I've knocked on the door a few times but I feel like I'm quite close to this one now. In 2021 I also become a master where i'm hoping to take the M1 120+ Squat WR of 425kg. I would also like to total 1100 if that is in the cards. If I could somehow sneak into the World Games again in 2021 that would be amazing as well!
 

2. What are your plans

 
I plan to focus mostly on equipped lifting at least until after 2021, although I may do a raw meet in there at some point just for fun. If I can put everything together I'm hoping to win M1 worlds in 2021 in Newfoundland Canada, which was actually where I competed in my first World Championships in 2008 so it feels kind of meant to be. I am currently working with Mike Tuchscherer which went very well going into Open Worlds in November and now Nationals in March so am continuing to work with him for the time being. With the current state of things I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to compete will be but hopefully Worlds in November in Norway at the very least.
 

3. What are your biggest challenges

 
Past injuries coming back to bite me. I hurt my back very badly in 2009 which lead to around 3 years of a cycle of rehab, recovery, reinjure. Around 2012 I began to make the climb back up and hit my biggest total at the time in 2015, that fall I again reinjured my back. I haven't had a major flare up since then so here's hoping I can keep it happy. My right elbow also had some ostephytes removed in spring 2018 which has been a fairly long road of recovery from. I still have a lot of pain in the forearm and some limited ROM both in extension and flexion. This can make a lot of movements painful. 
 

4. By when do you want to reach your goals 

 

Yesterday! Realistically my biggest goal right now is to build up to a competitive total at M1 worlds in 2021 and possibly squat the record. So by fall of 2021!
 

5. How did you overcome your biggest plateau 

 

Most of my plateaus have been caused by injuries, so patience and dedication to getting myself healthy before pushing too hard to make progress. I went from 2009 to 2015 between squat personal records!
 

6. How will you fix your biggest weakness 

 

By admitting they are weaknesses! Most lifters only want to do the things they like, those are rarely what they are weak at. Identifying your weaknesses is the first step. For me my biggest weakness right now is core strength, my programming does not contain enough direct ab/oblique work and it's showing when I'm squatting max loads. I need to start doing these movements as a warm up. 
 

7. How will you improve your biggest strength 

 

My biggest strength I would say is confidence and comfort with heavy loads. I am not scared of weights, nor am I intimidated by certain numbers. I believe this has come from competing at a high level for so many years, so I guess I will continue to do that!
 

8. What was your biggest success off the platform

 

This is a very open question. I will say that running Inner Strength Products with my wife Rhaea. She started it as a clothing supplier for Canadian Powerlifting Union in a spare room in her parents basement and it has grown into a large company with two other employees and a 2500 sq/ft warehouse. 

 

9. What will you do when you reach your goals 

Set new ones! However I will also take the time to enjoy the feeling of reaching them. 
 

10. What happens if you don’t reach your goals 

 

As long as I'm having fun I'm reaching the most important goal. I think it's important to have fairly fluid goals and realize that they need to be changing and adjusting. In the end lifting is a huge part of my life and I've had so much fun with it. I hope I'm able to compete for a number of years still but when it's finally time to hang up the singlet I'm sure there will be some goals that I never reached and that's okay. The point of goals is to have them hanging out there like a carrot to keep you moving and pushing.