About Me

I started training and competing in Olympic weightlifting in my 30s after not participating in a competitive sport for around a decade! I quickly discovered that the routine of weightlifting was grounding for me, and the speed and power output of moving heavy weights felt incredibly empowering. Olympic weightlifting became a form of harm reduction for me, a passion, and something I wanted to share with as many people as possible.

I passed the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)’s Certified Personal Trainer exam in February 2023 and United States Weightlifting (USAW) L1 in July 2023. Wanting to link my background in liberatory mental health with weightlifting, I took the Center for Trauma & Embodiment’s Trauma-Informed Weight Lifting Certification in Fall 2024. I also serve as a USAW Technical Official at national competitions.

My Training Ethos + Offerings

For me, trauma-informed weight lifting (TIWL) offers a space where all of us can show up as our whole selves and utilize lifting weights as a way to move through trauma, feel empowered, and reach personal ideas of success. TIWL centers autonomy and disability justice, seeing each person – no matter their level of experience, the way they move, or their goals for training – as important. TIWL also recognizes how our identities affect our individual and collective experiences both inside and outside of the gym. We cannot exclude the ways in which discrimination and oppression exist in gyms, recreational spaces, and competitive environments, and we cannot overlook how many people feel excluded, marginalized, and harmed in these spaces. By offering personal training and coaching from a trauma-informed perspective, I hope to help acknowledge and mitigate these harmful aspects while co-creating spaces with my clients to experience the joy of lifting all the heavy things.

Starting in 2025, I will begin taking clients for trauma-informed personal training and coaching in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and Allegheny County. I will be starting with the following training options:

• Olympic Weightlifting: I am interested in working with anyone who wants to explore trauma-informed applications of Olympic weightlifting (the snatch and the clean and jerk), especially beginners, individuals who want to lift recreationally, or those who want to compete at a local or lower national level.
• General Strength: I love helping clients feel more comfortable with a barbell, focusing on exploring the movements in a way that aligns with your personal goals. I am happy to write programming for you, focus on cues and applications of specific lifts, or serve as an accountability buddy.
• Small Group Workshops: Check back soon for details!

Contact Lyss