In the past, lifters have always joked around that somewhere in the world, there’s a little 97 lb. Asian girl who can outsquat them. Well folks, come over to Dublin at CSA! Tiffany “Tiny Tiff” Leung is a powerlifter in the 97 & 105 pound weight class, and she is stronger than most grown men at your local 24 Hour Fitness. Having recently squatted 292 lbs. raw (with knee wraps), she is the current all-time world record holder in the squat at 97 lbs. and she is still continuing to improve during her journey as a competitive powerlifter.

I had first known of Tiffany back in 2013, and she was still new to the powerlifting scene & involved as a team member of her college powerlifting club at San Jose State University. While helping Kim Valentine (my former teammate) during a meet at the San Jose Fit Expo, I took note that her only opponent was Tiffany in the 97 lb. weight class division. Though Kim was the much stronger lifter at the time, Tiffany persisted and put up respectable lifts of a 215 lb squat, 77 lb bench, and 253 lb deadlift.

Fast forward to 2017, and Tiny Tiff is now known all throughout social media as both an elite strength athlete and a fitness coach for women of all ages. Her vision is to inspire other women to possess a passion for fitness & health, while building the confidence that comes with the experience of weight training. Learn more about Tiny Tiff in this interview, and gain insights into the mindset of an all-time record holder that will further your road into powerlifting!

For those who aren’t yet too familiar with you, can you give a summary of your background and how you got into powerlifting?

I kinda stumbled into powerlifting! Since I was five, I played soccer growing up all the way through college. I played soccer on the club team at SJSU, and my teammate asked if I could join powerlifting the team so they’d have enough bodies on the roster. So, I went to practice, signed up, and met my former coach Zach Trahan! I did a few meets and it was really low key. We had practice every Saturday, so I did not have a real program during most of my time at the club. By the last semester of college, I had really grown to love the people I got to train with. That is really what kept me going, and I started a program with Zach. You are perhaps best known as the current 97 lb. record holder for the squat, along with also being the former record holder in the deadlift. What is this experience like for you, and what would you attribute your success to? It’s pretty cool, especially being able to do it at my home gym – CSA in Dublin. My family was able to be there for it, so it was special to me on a personal level. I don’t even remember when I started looking at the records on Powerlifting Watch. I had just done a meet in April, and saw Jesse post about Summer Slam (our meet held every June). I messaged Zach and asked if he thought a 275 squat was out of reach in two months. I had just gotten out of a year long squat slump, so why not go for it?! It was a mutual ehhhhhh, but I have crazy ideas sometimes.