Each year I put together a list of my top workout tracks. These are the songs that were released (or released on an album) in that year, and form part of a playlist for my training sessions, that I continually update.

In October I competed in my 5th consecutive Australian Powerlifting Championships, as a 52kg lifter. I finished the day going 7/9 with a 125kg squat, 65kg bench and a PB deadlift of 150kg. Both my squats and bench were down from my best, but it was great to walk away with a 150kg deadlift. If you had asked me 5 years ago, whether I thought I could ever deadlift 150kg, I would have yelled 'HELL NO!', but now I can.

This isn't my own recipe, but i made it recently for an event, then again for myself because I enjoyed it so much! Great dish for the warm Australian weather!

The recipe below has become quite a regular one for me. I love using the slow cooker. It makes for delicious, healthy and really easy to make recipes. This recipe has been modified from another recipe I found online, I altered it to suit the slow cooker - where you can just throw all the ingredients in together and 8hrs later, a delicious meal is ready!

It's been just over a month since I competed at the IPF World Powerlifting Championships. A month already!!! It will definitely go down as one of the best experiences and trips of my life.

Love pizza? But need to find an alternative to the doughy variety? I really love this cauliflower pizza recipe. The base is simple and easy to make and you can change the toppings to suit your appetite!

I was invited to compete at the annual Matti Tikka competition, held earlier this month. This was my first competition of 2017.

Being a powerlifter, I do a lot of bench pressing. I lift heavy four times a week, and most weeks that includes benching six times. One of the most popular exercises in the gym (especially for men) is the bench press, but you see far less people working on their opposing back muscles. Building a strong back is essential to gaining and maintaining good posture, and if you're someone like me, who is interested in building a bigger bench, it's also essential for bench gains!

In the last few months of last year, I started to feel some shoulder pain while squatting, as frustrating as it was, I found I could push through it and still make some great squat progress. However, I wasn’t making any bench progress. I put this down to going on an overseas holiday and not benching as much during that time. My bench definitely suffers if I don’t keep it up regularly. However, my bench started to go backwards and my shoulder pain increased. I knew it was time to get it checked out (I wanted bench gains!).

Summer is a great time of year for an abundance of seasonal fruit, and right now there are plenty of berries in season. Choosing seasonally is an excellent way to get great tasting produce at a good price. Below is a salad recipe that incorporates my love of berries. It's a refreshing salad that is great for hot summer days and also an easy dish to make to take to BBQs. Yum!