The Iron Raven Method
Five phases. Then it starts over.
Coached by Jason Swalwell and Helen Redhead — world champions themselves, and coaches to world, European and British champions and record holders. Full-time on the floor.
Not a powerlifter? The first two phases are the same wherever you’re headed.
We coach the sport itself
That is the layer a general PT cannot deliver.
Most coaching
- Gets you stronger for a sport
- Generic templates and fixed accessory lists
- Stops at the gym floor
Iron Raven
- Coaches the sport itself
- Commands, standards, kit, federations
- Attempt selection and meet day
Assess and Build are for everyone — rugby, older adults, general members, powerlifters. Sharpen, Peak and Prove are for powerlifters and anyone chasing a max. Same method, different depth.
The five phases
- 1
Assess
Before we write anything, we look at you.
Your build decides how you lift. Arm length, torso, hips — they determine whether you pull sumo or conventional, how wide you squat, where the bar sits on your bench. Most programmes ignore all of that and hand you a template.
We measure first: leverages, movement, and where your strength actually sits today. Then we write the block.
- 2
Build
This is where you spend most of the year.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you the exciting bit.
Blocks written for you and delivered through the app — squat, bench and deadlift, with accessories chosen to fix what we found in Assess, not filler bolted onto the end of a session.
At the end of each block we look at what moved and what didn’t, and write the next one. Rugby player, first-timer, or someone chasing a total — the engine is the same.
- 3
Sharpen
Strong isn’t the same as good.
Depth that gets given. A press that doesn’t drift. A pause you can hold when the bar is heavy and the room has gone quiet. Commands, standards, and the small technical things that turn a lift you made into a lift that counts.
Most people never get taught this, because most coaches have never had to do it themselves.
- 4
Peak
Timing is a skill.
It’s the one that separates a coached lifter from a strong one.
Tapering so you arrive fresh rather than flat. Choosing an opener you’d make on your worst day. Knowing what to do when the second attempt moves faster than it should.
We’ve made these calls on ourselves and on the lifters we coach — at world level, under real pressure, on people who came away with the record.
- 5
Prove
This is the part where you find out.
Everything up to here has been preparation.
On a platform if you compete, on the bar on a Tuesday morning if you don’t — the phase is the same. You’re not proving it to us or to anyone watching. You’re proving it to yourself.
Then we assess again, and it starts over. Nobody finishes.
Nobody finishes.
A max isn’t the end of the Method — it’s the next Assess. Prove, then look again, then write the next block. The cycle is the point.
Ready to train inside the Method?
In Tonbridge on the floor, or online wherever you lift — same coaches, same system.
Why this isn’t just five boxes on a graphic
Any coach can draw a diagram. The proof sits next to it.
- World champions themselves
- Coaches to world, European and British champions and record holders
- British Powerlifting Level 1 and 2 Coaching Awards, NASM CES
- Full-time on site — not passed to a junior trainer
- A floor built for the sport, and an app built in-house
Start with a conversation
Tell us where you are now and where you want to be — we'll recommend the right path on the Method.