Find a membership that fits you and become part of the Lifting Club!

Watt is Lifting?

Heriot Watt Lifting Club is one of the newer clubs in the Sports Union, running since 2022. Whether you have never held a barbell before, or are a seasoned ‘gym rat’, Lifting Club is the perfect place for you. We hold training sessions every Tuesday (17:45 – 19:15) and Friday (18:30 – 20:00) during semester time and are proud to train in the Performance Suite – allowing us access to the highest quality gym equipment the Oriam has to offer – the same gym used by Scotland Rugby and Hearts Football Club. 

Our club is split into two main disciplines – Olympic Weightlifting, and Powerlifting. However, our training sessions are open sessions so you can choose to either follow a programme provided by one of our experienced coaches, or to carry out your own training in an encouraging environment surrounded by people who all share a love of the So, what is Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting? 

Olympic Weightlifting

Olympic Weightlifting is a sport where the goal is to move a loaded barbell from the floor to an overhead position. The two lifts performed in competition is the snatch, where the barbell is taken directly from the floor to above the head; and the clean and jerk, where the barbell is initially taken onto the shoulders (the ‘clean’) before being thrusted into the air until the legs and arms are fully extended (the ‘jerk’). In competition you get three attempts on the platform for each lift, with the goal being to achieve the highest possible ‘total’ weight lifted! 

Training for Olympic Weightlifting is more than just the two competing lifts and is an effective way of dynamically training your entire body as well as your strength, which will help your performance in many other sports! 

Powerlifting

Powerlifting is a sport where an athlete performs three core lifts: the squat, bench press, and deadlift (SBD). Barbell back squats involve position a loaded barbell on the back of your shoulders and squatting down until your legs reach at least ‘parallel’ (a 90º bend at the knee) and then standing up with straight legs. Bench press involves lying flat on a bench holding a loaded barbell above your chest, then lowering it until it touches your chest and pushing it back up until your arms are fully straightened again. Finally, deadlift involves lifting a loaded barbell from the ground until you are standing fully upright with straight legs and a straight torso, before lowering it to the ground again. As per Olympic Weightlifting, in competition you get three attempts at each lift to achieve the highest possible ‘total’.

Competitions

In competitions for both sports, the lifter has three attempts to gain the maximum total across all the lifts. Both sports have amazing, supportive communities and there is no minimum required to compete in the ‘open’ competition or Scottish Uni’s (the main competition we focus on for both sports). Competing is not required to be a member of our club, but we will do everything we can to encourage and support members of any ability in competing if they want to!

Coaches

Erin O’Donnell – Olympic Weightlifting Coach

I’ve always loved being active and doing sports since a young age, I started out doing baton twirling from age 7 to 18. I sadly got a hamstring injury which led me to going to the gym and this is where my love for weight training started. I loved not only that weights changed the way my body looked but how they mentally made me feel. My passion for weight training got me into becoming a personal trainer and qualifying in 2018, I then went on to graduated with a First Class degree in Sports Coaching in 2026. I coach youth athletes at The Glasgow School of Sport and a company called Project You, the athletes come from different sports and levels. I enjoy supporting them to achieve goals they never thought could be possible and building up their confidence.
I began Olympic Weightlifting in 2025 and I just knew that this style of training was for me, plus l like to walk the walk and felt I couldn’t train athletes without being able to do the Olympic weightlifting myself. I have another business called In Sync Performance which is all about helping regular females and female athletes to learn about their menstrual cycle, coaching them how to thrive with their cycle rather than just survive.

Mairi Scobie- Powerlifting Coach

I first got involved in fitness back in 2015 where I joined a gym purely to lose weight and get fit. Through that I was introduced to strength training. I absolutely loved it from the get-go!! I competed for the first time in December 2018, and have since competed 16 times, including internationally, representing Scotland at the 2024 Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships in South Africa.
I gained my qualifications in Personal Training in 2022 and started coaching powerlifting, which has led me to handle Team Scotland athletes on home turf in Glasgow for Home Nations in 2024, and internationally at the 2026 Luxembourg Open.
I also work full-time in Content Marketing and do online coaching on the side too.

Committee

Our committee is comprised of eight key members who work together to keep the club up and running and running

President – Kyle Leavesley

Vice President – Chris Keerie

Treasurer – Miriam Glen

Social Secretary – Callum Leithead

Weightlifting Captain – Alexander Khan

Powerlifting Captain – Fraser Lindsay

Wellbeing Secretary – Rafe Siddique

Socials

Socials

Alongside training, we have an active social side to the club. Our social secretary Callum has been working hard to plan a variety of socials to help decompress during a hard week of studying and training! Some of our favourites include snooker nights at Marcos, pub crawls through the city, and the Sports Union Ceilidh.

We try and find something for everyone and aim to help building friendships and a strong community within our club. The best part about Lifting Club is training with a group of people who all support each other and help hype each other up for our big lifts!

Contact

Email:

Lifting@hw.ac.uk

Instagram:

@hwuliftingclub