The Top Gym competition comprises total weight across three categories – squat, bench press and deadlift, with Ivess adding a 205kg squat and 122kg bench press to his record-setting deadlift to record a total of 566kg, topping his age and weight class.
But despite his incredible performance, Ivess said he had taken up the sport of powerlifting only three years ago with modest ambitions.
“I took it up for mental health reasons. In late 2022 I was really struggling with mental health problems,” he said.
“I was already training at Snap Fitness and I decided I would just start lifting really heavy for a little bit.
“I really enjoyed lifting heavy, so that’s how I got into powerlifting – my mental health wasn’t great and I just wanted to pick up something heavy.
“It’s just a way to let everything out. You’re quite burnt out after lifting heavy, and you’re just puffed. That’s what I found love for and in.”
At about the same time Ivess moved to Horsham’s Anytime Fitness gym to work with coach Ben Hogan.
Ivess said he quickly realised he had an aptitude for the sport, but never dreamed of setting records.
“When I decided to start powerlifting I realised I was as strong as some of the older guys who were 25, 30 or 40. I was just as strong as them, if not stronger than most of them,” he said.
“It didn’t click until later down the line that I could do competitions, but when I started training properly I progressed quite far quite fast.
“It all started to click when people started helping me and really focusing on me getting stronger because they could see that I had potential to be really good.”
With a record already under his belt, Ivess said he wanted to continue powerlifting and one day represent Australia in international competition.
“The federation that I’m in at the moment, Powerlifting Australia, doesn’t lead to anything else, but there’s another federation called Australian Powerlifting Alliance that I’m wanting to move to,” he said.
“They lead to the International Powerlifting Federation, which is kind of like what FIFA is to soccer – it’s the competition that everybody pays attention to and wants to look at.
“I’m striving to compete there against the world’s best, because only a handful of people from Australia can go and compete.”
Ivess said 2026 would be a year of hard training as he prepared to switch to Australian Powerlifting Alliance competition.
“This year I’m just head down, bum up and focusing on training,” he said.
“Because of the swap between federations, there’s a big difference in the expectation of strength.
“In the federation I’m in at the moment I’m quite strong, but when I move federations I’ll become average. So this year I want to focus on training, so that when I do make that move I can compete with the best there.”
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