About Justin

I have been lifting weights since 1996. Originally I started bodybuilding and competed in 2000 at a local natural show and finished 2nd in the junior division as a 16 year old. After, I decided that the diet and lifestyle of a bodybuilder was not for me. I started training with a strength focus getting over 230 pounds @ 5'8" by age 18 and breaking the push pull record at my school. It was set by Canadian Strongman Ed Brost in the 80's: 340 bench press, and 560 dead lift. On the first day of school I saw it on the board and decided I would beat it. On the last week of school I went into the weight room with my gym teacher and broke the record total by 5 pounds on the press then matching the 560 dead lift. After this I took a hiatus from lifting as I found work on the oil patch making it impossible to train with a 14-12 hour day on, 7 day off schedule. Some time passed as I got into hunting, and then I was inspired by the 2008 Olympics after hearing a local BC resident was chosen to represent Canada in Beijing. I sought out a local Olympic weightlifting club in late 2008 and started training at the Semi Weightlifting club. After my first year I had qualified for Nationals and decided to take it seriously. I have since won bronze at Nationals, 2 BC Championships,  and 4 time medalist at Western Canadians. I am now training under Joel Klassen with the BLM club. My goal is to make the Canadian National team to eventually compete internationally in Olympic Weightlifting. I post regular training and competition videos on my weightlifting channel. I train out of Abbotsford, BC, Canada and also coach. I am dedicated to being a lifetime drug free athlete and promoting this philosophy to others. I want to see the true potential of what we can do with out performing enhancing drugs.

When I started my journey as an Olympic weightlifter I kept a journal on the weightlifting exchange. You can check out my struggles and success along the way here: Journey from 200-300kg competition total.

You can follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/huntbears