But then that goes without saying when you are a competitive weightlifter Douglas Sekone-Fraser (21) has been lifting for eight years and added a second senior national title to the brag sheet last weekend.
Competing in the 94kg class, he lifted 120kg in the snatch and recorded a personal best by 5kg in the clean and jerk with a lift of 155kg.
His combined total of 275kg was also a personal best. To be competitive on the world stage he would need to be pushing a lot more tin. But Sekone-Fraser, who won the senior title in the 85kg class in 2009, is not that far off the combined total he would need to qualify for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. And that is the dream.
More immediately, though, he plans to compete at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, next year. He has already qualified for the event and hopes to soak up as much as he can at the tournament.
"It won't be about looking to get a medal, it will be about getting some experience for the Commonwealth Games the following year," Sekone-Fraser said.
"The Commonwealth Games is my overall goal. To qualify for that I would need a total of 295kg. It is definitely possible."
His best snatch is 124kg. When you add that to his best clean and jerk, the Otago University student would only need to find another 16kg, and there are handbags which weigh more than that.
Sekone-Fraser, who hails from Invercargill, is mostly self-coached but his father, Liva, also chips in and is a source of inspiration.
"My father coaches me from Invercargill and he came up the week prior [to the nationals] and stayed the week to coach me."
"It all started off as a way for my dad and I to connect. It was just something we did together. We'd head down to the gym after school and also it kept me active.
"I just kept doing it because I enjoy it. The feeling you get when you get a personal best is unreal and you are always chasing that feeling again."
Sekone-Fraser trains two hours a day, six days a week, but hopes to get some university papers out of the way early next year to free up more time for training.
During the Christmas break, he plans to travel to Brisbane and link up with some experienced weightlifters and, hopefully, return with personal bests.
