Louis Keightley-Smith | Powerlifting & Hybrid Coach

About me ⬇️ I’ve been coaching for over 10 years, in general fitness and then specialising in powerlifting Around 4 years ago I left my secure job in the police, a career where I was excelling, to go all in on coaching full time At the time this was a HUGE risk, but one that has paid off a hundred times over I started @4zaperformance with the goal to get people stronger in powerlifting. Having coached and competed from grass roots to international level, the experience I’ve gained going all in paid off I’ve achieved all the goals I set out in powerlifting when I started: squat and deadlift over 300kg, bench over 200kg and total 800kg. These are numbers that I’ll have next to my name for life Now I’m transitioning into a different fitness venture, learning to run again and get fitter whilst maintaining as much of my strength as possible. Be a all round better “athlete” Last year, I bought a gym and we opened @pwrthrgym . Working alongside two other great coaches, we are growing a community in Chelmsford, Essex we are beyond proud of That’s my origin story. Don’t be afraid to take a risk if you want it bad enough… - Coaching & programs in bio 📩 #strengthcoach #squatbenchdeadlift #hybridtraining

2025 was pretty wild. What started off as a quiet year, turned into one full of unforgettable memories, experienced and life milestones. I’ll always be infinitely grateful of the opportunities life gives me and seeing the result of so much hard work over the year. It’s crazy to think I left the public sector almost 4 years and decided to go alone as a full time powerlifting coach. What was thought of as a huge risk at the time by me, turned out to be the first stepping stone in a string of life events. If you’re reading this and on the fence about taking a leap of faith in life, do it. I never want to look back on my life and think “what if…?” “There are many talented people who haven’t fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or they were too cautious, and were unwilling to make the leap of faith.” - James Cameron - #2025wrapped #gymmotivation

3 Months Before & After 😎 123kg > 114kg I didn’t really see it before until I compared these photos side by side.. dropping years off my face I haven’t dropped my calories much at all, roughly 200kcals less on average from mainly fats My activity has increased tenfold, hitting 15k steps on average a day and going up to 4x cardio sessions per week Think the result speaks for itself Will be back when I hit the sub 110kg mark 🫨 - #weightlossbeforeandafter #weightlossinspo #hybridathlete #hybridtraining

Every session at the moment has a purpose. Strength, cardio or both. Tempo squats and tempo RDLs aren’t just secondary movements now. They’re in the programme to help the running and conditioning. The same posterior chain keeping your hips and knees honest when you’re a few km in. Most people lift heavy, run and wonder why their joints are shot and their conditioning isn’t moving. The slow controlled strength work is what makes the cardio work. Not the other way around. And the zone 2 on the ski erg before power intervals isn’t a warm up. It’s programmed to prime my aerobic system so when the hard efforts come, my body is already in the right place. You can’t just sprint your way to a better engine. It doesn’t work like that. I spent years being strong. Now I’m learning what it actually means to be fit and the boring structured stuff is what’s moving the needle. If you’re building your conditioning from a strength background, the order of things matters more than the intensity. Matt and I are programming this to keep balance but to achieve the main goal. First ATHX in 2 weeks.. @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile @esncom.uk code LOUIS - #hybridtraining #hybridathlete #heavyrunner #squat #deadlift

I hurt my foot last week running 🤪 Couldn’t run. Couldn’t jump. Couldn’t load it properly. In powerlifting, that would have wrecked me mentally. One setback and I’d be questioning everything. The programme. The competition. Whether it was all worth it. I’ve been there. It’s a dark place.. This time I genuinely didn’t care lol I swapped the runs for bike and ski. Kept the lifting going. Did upper body conditioning instead of the metcons. Managed what I could and left what I couldn’t. 9 days later, I ran 2.5km with no pain! That’s what hybrid training did to my mindset. It gives you so many tools that one broken piece doesn’t stop the whole machine. In powerlifting everything pointed at one outcome. Now I have options. Always. The same DOES go with Powerlifting. You can work around it. Trust your rehab, keeping moving and don’t let it knock you. @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile - #hybridtraining #hybridathlete #strengthtraining #runner #fitnesslife

Strong in the gym, broken everywhere else. A tale as old as time and how powerlifting training wrecked me. I didn’t want to give up lifting, I’d spent 10+ years building it. But I also didn’t want to go through my 30s feeling broken, still pretending cardio wasn’t for me. If you’re sitting in a similar position right now, strong but in pain all the time outside the gym, this may be that nudge you need to do something about it. Pain is part of the game, but it isn’t the entire game. @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile @esncom.uk code LOUIS - #hybridtraining #gymmotivation #hybridathlete #runner #heavyrunner

Don’t skip your prep, especially when running ⬇️ At 113kg every stride loads my joints harder than someone 30kg lighter. So before I run I prep for it My go to 3 exercise routine: 1) Hop Series 10 back, forth, side to side and diagonal - 2 rounds 2) Hurdles & Hips Can do this using hurdles or a simple “open/close the gate” - 5 per leg for 2 rounds Recently introduced some higher jumps to get my ankles and shins used to impact 3) Calve Raises Angle toes in, out, forward. Tempo 3-1-3 and then some single leg ISO holds All of these before I do any dynamic or floor work. Takes 5-10 minutes. Saves weeks of setbacks. This is the work most running or cardio plans don’t tell you about because they weren’t written for us. Heavier runners. Strength athletes. Ex-powerlifters. Full 4-week prep is in my bio ➡️ @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile - #hybridtraining #fitnesslife #gymmotivation #hybridathlete #runner

4 months ago I couldn’t run 1km.. My shins were burning and calves sore. Felt like I was breaking down within 2 minutes. Today I squatted 260kg, deadlifted 270kg, ran 5km, then did a full ATHX metcon. Same body. Different plan 😎 The prep is what changed it: 4 weeks of bike, jumps and short intervals before I ever started running properly. Then strength sessions that didn’t compete with the running. Then runs that didn’t break the strength. Doing it in the right order for longevity 🙏 Hybrid programming in my bio if you want the structure 🤝 @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile @a7.uk @esncom.uk code LOUIS - #hybridtraining #heavyrunner #hybridathlete #strengthtraining #fitnesslife

Building the base. 4 months in and 4 weeks out from the first SIM! Strength baseline is high, endurance is getting there and the Metcon is strong. Balancing the two has been easier than expected. If you want to learn more, follow for more. @ironmeetsmile for hybrid coaching @pwrthrgym @a7.uk @esncom.uk code LOUIS - #hybridtraining #hybridathlete #runner #fitnesslife #heavyrunner

I started running at 123kg. No prep. Rough plan. Ego sprints in mind. Within a few weeks my shins were screaming. I wasn’t unfit. I just did it in the wrong order. Running at 123kg is not the same sport as running at 75kg. Your joints take 40 - 50% more load per stride. Your tendons aren’t ready for it. I pinged my hamstring after 3 weeks. Sprinting. Shock. So I stopped running like someone half my size and started training for the body I actually had. Bike to build the engine first. Plyometrics to prep the tendons. One short run session a week to build the stimulus without the damage. Then running properly. Went from 123kg with shin pain most sessions, to 113kg, running well, no setbacks. 4 months in. Up to 3 days per work, still building intervals. Distance will come. This carousel is the order I should have done it in from day one. Save it for when you’re ready to start. Follow for the full 4-week programme. @ironmeetsmile - #hybridtraining #hybridathlete #heavyrunner #runner #fitnesslife

260kg x 3 on Sunday morning. Then I went for a run. Then I did a metcon. Three years ago that sentence would have made no sense to me. For 10 years I trained to peak. Every block towards a meet. Every session was measured against a target I had to hit on a platform. The idea of squatting heavy and then doing anything else in the same day was completely outside the way I thought about training. You didn’t run after a heavy squat session. Let alone some HIIT. You went home, ate, slept and did nothing. I stopped caring about overshooting or missing a number. I became a better lifter. The pressure to constantly chase PRs was the thing keeping me from training properly. The moment I let it go I started moving better and actually enjoying being under the bar again. Now my squats sit inside a bigger picture. I’m still squatting heavy twice a week but it’s no longer the only thing. It runs alongside the bike work, the running prep and the conditioning. The lifting holds the foundation while everything else gets built on top. This is what hybrid actually means. Not lifting less. Not running more. Just understanding that strength is the floor, not the ceiling, and building everything else from there. 260kg x 3, a run and a metcon in one day used to sound impossible. Now it just sounds like a Sunday. Save this if you’re a strength athlete trying to figure out how to add conditioning without losing what you’ve spent years building. @pwrthrgym @ironmeetsmile @4zaperformance @esncom.uk code LOUIS - #hybridathlete #hybridtraining #powerlifting #squat #gymmotivation

Most heavier people who start running get injured within 6 weeks Not because running isn’t for them Because they skipped the step that comes before running. Your cardiovascular system is not the problem. Your joints and tendons are. They have not been trained to absorb the impact of running at your bodyweight. So when you go straight into 3k runs, they tell you about it! Shin splints. Knee pain. Hip tightness. And then you stop. The right order looks like this. Step one: build your engine without impact. Assault bike, rowing machine, incline walking. Four to six weeks. Your heart and lungs get stronger without your joints paying the price. Step two: build your shock absorbers. Calf raises, tibialis raises, single leg work. Three times a week. Your tendons start adapting to load. Step three: now you run. Short intervals first. 30 seconds on, 90 seconds walk. Build from there. By the time you actually run, your body is ready for it. You stop getting injured. You start making progress. Save this. And follow if you want the full programme week by week. - #hybridtraining #heavyrunner #hybridathlete #fitnesslife injurypreventio