• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workout
      • Best BCAAs
      • Best Testosterone Boosters
      • Best Bodybuilding Supplements
      • Best Creatine
      • Best Supplements for Weight Loss
      • Best Multivitamins
      • Best Collagen Supplement
      • Best Probiotic
      • Best Non-Stim Pre-Workout
      • Best Greens Powder
      • Best Magnesium Supplements
    • Protein
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Protein Powders for Muscle Gain
      • Best Tasting Protein Powder
      • Best Vegan Protein
      • Best Mass Gainer
      • Best Protein Shakes
      • Best Organic Protein Powder
      • Best Pea Protein Powder
      • Best Protein Bars
    • Strength Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Equipment
      • Best Squat Racks
      • Best Barbells
      • Best Weightlifting Belts
      • Best Weight Benches
      • Best Functional Trainers
      • Best Dumbbells
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Kettlebells
      • Best Resistance Bands
      • Best Trap Bars
    • Cardio Equipment
      • Best Cardio Machines
      • Best Rowing Machines
      • Best Treadmills
      • Best Weighted Vests
      • Concept2 RowErg Review
      • Hydrow Wave Review
      • Best Jump Ropes
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Gwen Sisto: A True Story of When Olympic Weightlifting Meets Juggling

For Gwen Sisto not weightlifting has never been an option. From aerospace engineering, to MIT, to motherhood, Gwen has met all her challenges head on, and with a few weightlifting medals, too.

Becca Borawski

Written by Becca Borawski Last updated on Oct 19, 2021

For Gwen Sisto not weightlifting has never been an option. She was first introduced to the sport as a child, when her brothers read a newspaper article about a local Olympic weightlifting team and started training there. She tagged along, thinking if she couldn’t be the fastest woman out there, like her hero Flo Jo, then she would be the strongest – even though she’d never done a squat before. Years later, in 1994, Gwen participated in her first junior novice competition and has been a competitive weightlifter ever since.

She also has a degree from Georgia Tech in aerospace engineering, a Master’s degree from MIT, a husband, a daughter, and an equipment company called Risto Sports. And yet, for Gwen Sisto, not weightlifting has never been an option. She keeps on juggling everything life has to offer, no matter how heavy the weight.

That doesn’t mean the journey has been easy, however, and giving birth to her daughter halfway through college was one of the toughest times, as Gwen shared:

I was literally sleeping maybe one or two nights a week. It was that bad. I feel like it definitely slowed my weightlifting process, than if I was able to train twice a day. After that I got my full-time job and they took me through this engineering leadership program, so there was all this extra work I had to do. And when I finished that program I did my Master’s at MIT, and again I went back to sleeping like one night a week.

The way I look at it is, I spent most of my twenties focusing on my career and education, and not just focusing on athletics, where other people focus on athletics first.

Gwen doesn’t see the fact she is older than her competitors as a disadvantage, though. In fact, she believes her mental maturity and the challenges she worked through have provided her with unique physical and psychological advantages. Gwen shared her analysis of her training, given her previous years of stress:

The interesting part is I can handle loading now much better than I could when I was a teenager. There are some weeks where I do like 800 repetitions. Which probably most American weightlifters only do about 300, but I can take it because I’ve been through all that central nervous distress, like when I was doing my degrees, because this is a central-nervous-system-heavy sport. It’s really interesting because I think I’m a much better athlete now than I was when I was a kid.

gwen sisto, risto sports, weightlifting, usa weightlifting nationalsAccording to Gwen her weightlifting career began in earnest in 2004 when she met her future-husband, weightlifting coach Ivan Rojas. She and Ivan would go on not just to create a family, but also their own gym and their own gear company, Risto Sports. Their daughter even comes to the gym and lifts with them, which as Gwen shared, is a dream come true:

At this point in my life, because we have Risto Sports, we’re able to have our own training space and that makes such a big difference. It’s just such a big difference from training in your garage, especially when you have other athletes around to motivate you.

The seed for the creation of Risto Sports came during a training trip Ivan and Gwen took to Bulgaria in 2008. After being inspired by the shoes of the athletes there, but unable to coordinate with the Bulgarian businesses, they decided to just start their own company to put out a better weightlifting shoe in the States.

Despite the addition of Risto Sports, these days Gwen is able to dedicate more time to weightlifting since there are fewer elements to juggle – school is behind her and she is settled into her career with an aerospace company. She trains eights time per week, following the Soviet system of weightlifting training. Mondays are Gwen’s day off, then she trains one session per day Tuesday through Friday, and two sessions each on Saturday and Sunday. Gwen explained:

We use the Soviet system, which is the basis of the Bulgarian system. In the Bulgarian system they actually do less volume; the Soviet system does more volume at high reps. The Bulgarian system is famous for maxing out, which isn’t necessarily true. If you look at the data, the Soviet system, they actually do more volume at heavier weights. It’s just that you’re doing more volume in general. And because in the Bulgarian system you’re not doing as much volume, you’re not as physically prepared and you get injured more.

gwen sisto, risto sports, weightlifting, usa weightlifting nationals, arnoldFor Gwen staying strict to her training schedule is what allows her to still juggle job, family, and training, while keeping herself healthy. The start time to her evening training varies only by a few minutes from evening to evening and she gets up at the same time every morning. And most importantly, after years of stress, Gwen tries not to think too much and just show up and lift.

At her most recent competition, at the Arnold Sports Festival in Ohio, Gwen went six for six on her lifts – successfully finishing all three snatch attempts and all three clean and jerks, landing herself a third place finish at the USA Weightlifting Nationals. She considers this one of her most successful competition experiences so far.

And now Gwen has her eyes on even bigger prizes: breaking American records, medaling in international competition, and qualifying for the Olympics. But in the meantime she wants to provide for other people what she didn’t have growing up:

My parents, they placed no emphasis on sports, especially for girls. My dad likes the Yankees, so certainly if my brothers were able to play baseball for the Yankees, he’d be cool with that, but for me, my parents didn’t push any sports. If anything, because I did really well in school they were like, “Why are you wasting your time with weightlifting?” And then when we started Risto Sports they were like, “Why are you wasting your time with that company?” So my dream is to be an awesome weightlifter and have an awesome weightlifting company that helps other athletes.

From the looks of it, Gwen is well on her way to her awesome dream come true.

Becca Borawski

About Becca Borawski

Becca found her way to a career in health and fitness through Martial Arts and CrossFit. Originally a music editor for film and television, Becca started studying Martial Arts in 2000. Though she started with traditional Martial Arts it was not long before she discovered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and her path was forever altered. She began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Muay Thai and started working with professional MMA fighters, building websites, working on fight promotions, and producing videos.

As a competitor in BJJ herself, Becca wanted to get stronger and fitter. In 2006 she discovered CrossFit and became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles. In only a couple of years she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her career in the film industry, and dedicated herself full time to coaching. She has since been certified through CrossFit in Olympic Lifting, Powerlifting, Nutrition, Endurance and Kids coaching. She also held an NSCA-CSCS from 2006-2008 and is a certified IndoRow instructor. In addition to coaching adults, she founded the CrossFit LA Kids program in 2010 and taught children aged 5-17.

Becca regularly takes on new sports, which have included indoor rowing, fencing, and most recently, cycling, as she believes it makes her both a better athlete and a better coach. In order to reach more people with her coaching, Becca also created ModernAthena.com – a website dedicated to women in pursuit of physical fitness and self-improvement.

View All Articles

Related Posts

Fergus Crawley 5K Run Tips Photo
Fergus Crawley Shares 5 Tips For Running a Better 5K
Actor Chris Hemsworth in gym performing dumbbell row
Chris Hemsworth Diagrams a Killer Upper Body Workout Fit For an Action Star
Hugh Jackman Deadpool 3 Workouts Spring:Winter 2023
Hugh Jackman Returns to Wolverine Condition in Workouts for “Deadpool 3”
long-haired person in gym lifting barbell overhead
How to Do the Clean & Jerk for Total-Body Strength and Power

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

New Year’s Fitness Sales (2025)

XWERKS Motion BCAA Review (2025): A Registered Dietitian’s Honest Thoughts

Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X Review (2025): Assault’s Best Bike Yet?

13 Best Exercise Bikes for Home Gyms (2025)

Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine Review (2025): The Key to Post-Workout Recovery?

Latest Reviews

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt Review (2025)

Omre NMN + Resveratrol, Lifeforce Peak NMN, and partiQlar NMN on a red background

Best NMN Supplement: Fountain of Youth in a Bottle? (2025)

The Titan Series Adjustable Bench on a red background

Titan Series Adjustable Bench Review (2025)

A photo of the NordicTrack Select-a-Weight Dumbbells on a red background

NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbell Review (2025): Are These Value Dumbbells Worth It?

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2025 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About