Author: Oliver Quinn

From a young age, Oliver had a keen interest in bodybuilding and fitness—at school competing at boxing, while lifting homemade weight training equipment to improve his physique. Trained and working as an industrial plumber, he yearned for a greater mental and physical challenge. And so, in 2007 he went after his boyhood dream and joined one of the world’s elite fighting units, renowned for its grueling 8-month long selection process—the Royal Marine Commandos. Here he saw ground operations in Afghanistan and Libya, and worked as an anti-piracy boarding team member off the shores of Somalia. Being a Commando forged his love for fitness and strength. During his service, he came across kettlebells and a man called Pavel Tsatsouline from Russia…this new type of training was exactly what he was looking for! Oliver became a StrongFirst Certified Instructor and hasn’t looked back since.

On leaving the Marines, Oliver fulfilled another ambition and opened his own gym, Battlebells, a unique place to train with only one rule: ‘leave better than you arrived.’ He has had great success as an accomplished StrongFirst Certified Elite coach, training sports people, physique models, strength athletes, aspiring SFG coaches, and people from all walks of life wanting to improve the way they perform, look, and feel. Also, since returning home, he has trained and competed at Kickboxing, Savate, and MMA. His core focus now is on strength and fitness. He currently competes at Strongman, Powerlifting, and StrongFirst Tactical Strength Challenges. He has qualified for the Republic of Ireland’s Strongest Man finals in the open weight division, come first in his weight division at a National deadlift competition, and come in first place in the Elite division when competing in the global Tactical Strength Challenge. In addition, he became one of only two men in Ireland to complete the notorious StrongFirst Beast Tamer Challenge. He also performs classic old-time strongman feats of strength regularly…just for fun! Ollie is now a StrongFirst Certified Team Leader, based in Texas. You can follow him on Instagram @OllieQuinnTraining.