After joining a gym to boost his confidence, Jackson Mackay, nine, is aiming for a second world record deadlift title just 18 months after he first started weightlifting.Â
In January, the Sunshine Coast boy claimed a world record with an 80-kilogram deadlift, beating the previous record of 72 kilograms.
“I can’t believe I just beat a world record. That’s insane, I never thought it would come to this,” he said.
Kids World Records verified footage of the lift and awarded the Heaviest Deadlift Title in its boys’ 7-9-year-old category.
The Twin Waters local said his desire to achieve a weightlifting goal was initially sudden.
“I just woke up and… because I was at the gym, I’m like, ‘Well, gyms are for weights, so I’m gonna break a world record,'” Jackson said.
He trained three hours a week for 18 months, initially using a hex bar designed to build core stability before claiming the record with a standard straight bar.
Jackson achieved the world record with the support of his coach, Joshua Hodges (left), and his mother and father, Cara and Brett Mackay. (ABC News: Jake Kearnan)
The year 4 student said achieving his goal was an emotional moment.
“[My parents were] jumping up and down in excitement and, like, impressed and… my mum even cried.”
Jackson’s mother, Cara Mackay, said she “couldn’t believe” her son had completed the lift.
“He’d set this goal a year before, and he wrote out on a piece of paper what he wanted to achieve in the next 10 years, and seeing him actually achieve that was just amazing,” Ms Mackay said.
“I felt really, really proud as his mum to be able to see my son do that.”
Strength and conditioning coach Joshua Hodges said it was “really special” witnessing Jackson reach his goal, and he was also “a little bit emotional”.
“Jackson just started to well up with joy and then Cara, seeing her son achieve that, started to [cry],” Mr Hodges said.
“I was like, ‘How cool is this?’ I get to be a part of this moment Jackson’s wanted to do for quite a while now.”
Jackson’s coach Joshua Hodges was emotional when the young athlete completed the lift he had worked towards. (ABC News: Jake Kearnan)
Mr Hodges, who has trained Jackson since October 2024, said the boy was drawn to weightlifting for the social aspect after dropping out of rugby league.
“We sort of found that he was quite strong for his age, he was quite determined,” Mr Hodges said.
“He came to me just to help build that self-confidence back, really … he’s got back into team sports since being with us, so his confidence has grown.”
It has also led the nine-year-old to set a new goal.
“I might do the 10-year-old record for deadlift,” Jackson said.
The science of pumping iron
University of the Sunshine Coast sports and exercise scientist Daniel Van Den Hoek said supervised weightlifting was a great option for children and adolescents.
“We hear myths like resistance training stunts growth, and it damages growth plates, but those things, they’re just not true,” Dr Van Den Hoek said.
“Resistance training is quite healthy as long as we make sure that it’s supervised and progressed correctly.”
He said the benefits of weightlifting were similar to other exercise, including improved mental health, improved performance at school, muscle growth and injury reduction.
He also said that Jackson’s pursuit of other sports — rugby league, wakeboarding and motocross — may have contributed to his success in the gym, and vice versa.
“We see it at the elite levels of Australian sport… [athletes] that have grown up playing multiple sports, getting new skills, new knowledge about how their body moves and adapts that they then apply to each of those different sports,” he said.
“And as a child, the evidence says that engaging in more sports and more diverse programmes is really beneficial later on for specialising.”