Project Lift

Clear your mind in seconds with this simple process.

If your attention is on your breath then it isn’t fully on your thoughts..

Get good at this and those thoughts that push you around will only be background noise.

I often hear the Olympic lifts are very complex. 😵‍💫

Thats only because you’re over thinking it. 🫣

There is a very simple flow through this process that gets results for athletes who are new to us in under 12 weeks in our Lift Strong program. ⬇️

These athletes come to us with a range of experience.

Some have been lifting for years... some are new... all of them are frustrated with their progress.

When you have the coaching that makes the complex simple then you see progress again. 💪🏼

I hear from athletes often that they’ve continued to get stronger, and their Olympic lifts haven’t continued to increase in kind. ⬇️

Well... there is a difference between explosive strength you use in an Olympic lift, and absolute strength that you use in a squat or deadlift.

👉 The Olympic lifts require the force to be generated in a much shorter amount of time than a squat or deadlift. That is why your absolute strength doesn’t apply completely to the Olympic lifts. Its the time variable...

Strength is important... But so learning how to turn that absolute strength to explosive strength!

I see it so often. I’ve been there too.

No right or wrong... It doesn’t make you a “bad” person.

If you have a goal and you know you’re getting in your own way... then it is time to find support.

Take a moment to appreciate the results of the work you’ve put in...

Even if there isn’t an easily visible tangible result... If you’ve put in intentional effort... there has been a shift toward your intention..

When you boil water... there is no visible change to the surface of the water until higher temperatures are reached... however, going from 50 degrees to 70 degrees is progress toward the physical result of a boil.

Love you all!

Learning anything is a process. ➡️ The process starts basic because we need the basic skills to develop the advanced skills.

We’ll stumble with the basic skills at times. This will challenge our identity and the ego will hate it.

Where are you avoiding the basics in the skill you’re learning?

Why?

It seems to be a human condition.

To believe and strive for a “finished” state of being.

We often apply this to areas where there is no such thing as “finished”.

Our training, our bodies, our minds, even our houses!!

Getting frustrated when life presents a new challenge in these areas ⬇️

One of the reasons that it is frustrating is because you believed it to be “finished” and now you’re in a fight with reality. 😣

Fighting reality always equals suffering.

Wishing you the best gains this holiday weekend! 💪🏼🇺🇸

The Olympic lifts are fast explosive lifts, and knowing this often athlete try to be fast ⬇️

In this effort to be fast they place the speed at the wrong areas of the movement ➡️ and the result is they slow themselves down because they break the rhythm of the movement.

We need to understand the movement, we need to build consistently in the movement, and then we can emphasis speed in the right way in the movements.

More ≠ Better
Better = Better

When it comes to training technique there are a few things you can do to make technical changes stick FAST!

Most athletes slow down their progress by trying to train more and more...

However, if you’re wanting to fix technique you need to let the body guide you...

1. Have a fresh body to train
2. Have a specific intention
3. Carry your progress forward

This will help your body respond to new technique so much faster! 💪🏼

20 years from now you won’t remember that training lift you just missed... But, you will remember the relationships around you. ❤️

Learning to hear the messages your body is sending you can enhance your training, provide bigger gainz and keep you training for the long run! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

So much time, dedication, and training for 6 lifts.

6 lifts... each one done in seconds...🤯

Some powerful questions for any athlete on the big stage is...

👉 Did you enjoy it?

👉 Was each moment a thrill?

👉 Were you fully present?

So often athletes only focus on the result... the several seconds after each lift... or several seconds after the competition is over ⬇️

There is so much more juice in the process ➡️ In the moments of preparation ➡️ the moments of the build up of the meet ➡️ the moments during the meet!

However, often we’re blocked from this ❌ focused on the what if’s 🤷🏽‍♂️ focused on the imagination of what would make us happy in those few very short seconds after 🤔

Choose the process. 💪🏼🔥

The start position is the ONLY position you have complete control over ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Understanding where to be and how to move out of it will dramatically improve your Olympic lifts. 🚀

Train hard so you can play hard! ⛱️ hahaha

Honestly though… I hope your training is play!

I’ll never forget when Olympian Holley Mangold shared a story from her taking the USA Weightlifting Level 2 test ⬇️

They asked a question around what they called the triad of training - physical, mental, recovery...

They asked what was more important? 🤔

Holley wrote in what she learned from experience... Mental.. (She had found great ways to train her mind for her success)

She got the answer wrong.. USAW’s answer was they’re equally important 🤷🏽‍♂️

I see where USAW is coming from... they each need attention...

And, I know from experience ⬇️

👉 The mind is often the culprit of poor performance for most athletes.

The mind is what fights them on recovery... Heck.. they always want to train so their physical is often strong (but could be better if their mind didn’t fight recovery) ⬇️

Mind... mind... mind! 🧠

This is why we train ⬇️

For our loved one ❤️

For the ability to show up and give the best we can in our day.

👉 Strength supports this

👉 Happiness supports this

👉 Consistency supports this

All things your training can provide if you allow it. 💪🏼

Mindset support for athletes in sports is hollow! 🫙

Show me one athlete who is supported by being told to “get out of their head?” 🙄

No Sh*t! 😂

You know you want to get out of your head... but how? 🤷🏽‍♂️

Where do you go if you get out of your head? ⬇️

There are exercises for your mindset just as there are exercises for your body... 🧠

With sets and reps... you’ll watch your relationship to your mindset grow stronger and change in a way that support your ambitions and success. 💪🏼

Want an exercise you can do today? Just comment “Mindset” and I’ll shoot it over 👇

What is better to you...

A packed busy training environment?

Or...

A close crew of training partners?

To each their own... but, l’ve always picked the latter!

Take a moment this weekend to ask yourself, “why am I training?” 🤔

Training provides us the opportunity to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. ✨

We can get stronger, have more energy in our day, and more excitement about where we’re going.

So, why do you train?

This lands in the feels.

Love yourself, be kind to those around you and have fun training and getting strong! ❤️💪🏼

Here is how Jose () increased his total by 16kgs/35lbs in just 12 weeks ⬇️⬇️⬇️

A little background on Jose... He had his CF-L1 and had been training CrossFit for 5 years when he came to us. Lots of experience!

He was stuck in his Olympic lifts, and hadn’t seen a PR in about a year... even though his strength in the squat and deadlift had increased...

Jose joined our Lift Strong program and we discovered his training rhythm was off ⬇️⬇️⬇️

If he wanted to improve his Olympic lifts he needed to change his approach to training.

Going through our process of deload to reload we found the point where Jose began to feel explosive again... 🚀

Then using that baseline we built a new training rhythm together based on the demands of his life.

And boom! Solid training and solid gains were the result. 🎉

Its a true testament to the work Jose put in because change is uncomfortable!

Jose’s lifts increased as follows:
Sn**ch 84kg/185lbs to 94kg/208lbs
CJ 115kg/255lbs to 121kg/267lbs

Great work Jose and congrats again. You were a pleasure to coach! ❤️👏❤️👏❤️

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday we celebrated our friends baby at their shower and today got to use some of his favorite outdoor tools (chainsaw and 4-wheeler) to clean up the back yard, as took a much needed recovery day after a long week in the yard herself.

Grateful for the training we do to support our wide variety of hobbies and lifestyle. 💪🏼

Sending you all much love today! ❤️

I hope your training and your time in the gym is fuel for the things you love.

I hope you’re feeling the excitement of progress... 📈

I hope your body feels strong and explosive... 💪🏼

I hope vour mind is calm and supportive... 😮‍💨

Chelsea and I took a week in Florida to celebrate friends of ours reaching their 10 year wedding anniversary. 🎉

Love you all! ❤️

We help weightlifters stuck for months hit PR’s again in 12 weeks, without spending hours in the gym.

All of the athletes that we work with are motivated to get better.

They just don’t know what they don’t know…leaving them stuck, frustrated and lost.

They typically are already:

👉 Training 3-6 times a week
👉 Follow some kind of program (e-book, pre-written, coach, etc)
👉 Had progress at the start, but it’s been stagnant.

We help them find the rhythm in their training that allows their body to respond, build olympic lifting strength, hone in technique that works for them, and strengthen their mindset for their best performance.

We help them create a foundation for continued gains in the Olympic lifts and the sport of weightlifting, without the grind of traditional training programs.

Quick PR’s are just a fun side product of the process. 😉

For more details on our coaching - just DM us “INTERESTED” for more details.

-Drew & Chelsea

We help weightlifters stuck for months hit PR’s again in 12 weeks, without spending hours in the gym.

Here’s how it works:

1️⃣ We will build the right kind of strength that actually improves your lifts.

2️⃣ We will teach you how to master technique for you, each athlete is unique.

3️⃣ We will create a rhythm with your training, so you see the progress you know you’re capable of making.

4️⃣ We will show you how to get out of your own way and build a mindset as strong as your body to keep making progress for the long run.

Want to see progress in your Olympic Lifts?

DM us “INTERESTED” for more information on how to get started.

-Drew & Chelsea

Hi, we’re Drew & Chelsea Dillon. Founders & coaches of Project Lift.

We each found weightlifting in our own ways. And, we found each other through weightlifting (2009 Ohio State Championship to be exact 😉😍❤️)

Drew was a lifelong athlete looking to compete in something again. Chelsea was a young girl who wanted to workout with her dad & brother.

We each found weightlifting & fell in love with it. The explosive strength, the power & the beauty of the movement. We both were drawn to it. We both knew there was something here.

We each set a HUGE goal. Make an international team. Truthfully, deep down, we wanted to be the best we could be..To truly find the best version of ourselves.

It turns out we trained pretty similarly…What we now call “classic weightlifting programming”...5-6 days a week, focused heavily on sn**ch, clean, jerk, squats, & deadlifts. Sometimes even train twice a day.

The mindset was “more is better”

And it worked at the beginning…until it didn’t…

We saw improvement fast like many beginners then the plateaus started to happen…then the injuries.

The sad part is we thought all of this was normal. That we just had to push through & learn to be tougher.

It took big injuries for both of us to learn a different way.

A simple approach that allowed us to build more strength & resilience in our bodies than we had before, with less time in the gym.

The result was more power and precision in our Olympic lifts. Enjoying our training, enjoying the process & seeing continued gains in training & competition.

We found a process to reach the best version of ourselves. Our biggest lifts, our best performances, & our strongest bodies & minds.

👉A short training on the strategy is in our link in bio

Here are some more fun facts about us & PL:
👩🏻‍🌾We have a suburban homestead that includes our own bee hives
🐱We have two cats (Thor & Flash)
🛞Drew: ATVs over UTVs
⭐️Chelsea: Star Wars & Star Trek
🏋️‍♀️Project Lift has a strong female presence
💪🏼Project Lifters age from 10-72!

We share helpful information on all things training & competing in weightlifting.

Follow us for daily content & to connect more 🤚💪

-Drew & Chelsea

**ch

This is why you will hear us talk about the mind, the emotions, stress, recovery, feeling our feelings, community, and so much more.

The physical is just one piece of this beautiful puzzle that we call training and life.

**ch