Nine-year-old Jackson Mackay began lifting weights to gain some confidence – now, just 18 months later, he is eyeing his second world record deadlift title.
In January, the Sunshine Coast schoolboy lifted 80 kilograms to claim a world record in his age category, surpassing his 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 reviewed footage of the lift and formally awarded Jackson the Heaviest Deadlift Title in its boys’ 7–9-year-old division.
The Twin Waters resident said his ambition to break a record developed unexpectedly.
“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 for three hours each week over 18 months, starting with a hex bar to strengthen core stability before transitioning to a standard straight bar for his record attempt.
The Year 4 student said the achievement was emotional.
“[My parents were] jumping up and down in excitement and, like, impressed and… my mum even cried.”
His 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,” 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, who has worked with Jackson since October 2024, described the moment as “really special” and admitted he was “a little bit emotional”.
“Jackson just started to well up with joy and then Cara, seeing her son achieve that, started to [cry],” 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.”
Hodges, who has trained Jackson since October 2024, said the nine-year-old was initially drawn to weightlifting for its social benefits after stepping away from rugby league.
“We sort of found that he was quite strong for his age, he was quite determined,” 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.”
The milestone has prompted Jackson to set a new target.
“I might do the 10-year-old record for deadlift,” he said.
University of the Sunshine Coast sports and exercise scientist Daniel Van Den Hoek said supervised resistance training can be a positive 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 weight training mirror those of other forms of exercise, including improved mental health, stronger academic performance, muscle development and a reduced risk of injury.
Dr Van Den Hoek added that Jackson’s participation in other sports – including rugby league, wakeboarding and motocross – may have contributed to his gym performance 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.”
Images: ABC
