Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Kian Terrado is a 21-year-old Filipino-Canadian athlete, a #1 ranked national powerlifter in the 74kg weight class. Kian is more than his athletic achievements, he is a pillar in his community, continuously helping the younger generations upcoming in the sport. Athletics, however, is only part of the story of Kian’s journey, from the start, as a 10-year-old boy immigrating to Canada, he was faced with the challenge of finding his place in a new country.
In 2012 at the age of 10, Kian immigrated to Canada from the Philippines with his mom and older sister, set to join his father who had been setting up a life here in Ontario, Canada. He joined school halfway through fifth grade and was instantly hit with the culture shock of life in Canada, a big change to the tight-knit family community he was accustomed to in the Philippines. His first few months transplanted in this foreign land were punctuated by an inescapable homesickness. Growing up, Kian was accustomed to hanging out with cousins and getting to see his grandparents on a daily basis. It wasn’t easy the first couple of years to make friends, feeling different can be hard, especially being a teenager going through the physical and emotional changes of growing up. It was a big adjustment, starting fresh with only his parents and sister meant Kian had to learn the customs of Canada in order to make friends.
Kian lifting his first attempt of 595lbs for deadlifts at the Nationals 2023 Competition
At 16, Kian got his first job working at Swiss Chalet while simultaneously beginning a co-op program at Goodlife Fitness, learning to workout while balancing 11th grade. Having immigrant parents who worked hard to provide him with a good life instilled the principles of hard work and financial responsibility in Kian. Coming from an immigrant family meant Kian learned how hard it is to succeed in a new country, continuously having to walk the line of adapting to Canadian culture and keeping in touch with your own heritage. It was during his time at Swiss Chalet that Kian understood the importance, not only getting an education, but also following what made him passionate. He learned financial responsibility from his parents and aimed to find a career that gave him this financial freedom, alongside a sense of accomplishment and happiness. It was during his co-op and the beginning of his fitness journey that Kian realized his love for fitness could coincide with a long-term goal of becoming a firefighter, something he hopes to pursue after this chapter of his life is over. A career in firefighting will allow him to give back and help a community that welcomed 10-year-old Kian with open arms.
After working at Swiss Chalet, Kian was given the opportunity to work at Goodlife as an employee rather than co-op. This is when Kian truly fell in love with working out. The life of a teenager can be confusing and challenging, working out allowed him to find a way to work through emotions and gain discipline. With his workouts, Kian gained strength quickly, but even more so, began to understand how having the right mindset can be the difference between success and failure. After a couple years of working out, one of the trainers at his gym introduced Kian to the sport of powerlifting, where you compete to lift maximally in the squat, bench and deadlift. This was a turning point in Kian’s life, he began to train for powerlifting and discovered a community of like-minded people where he felt accepted. Powerlifting has given Kian a second family, a community of people worldwide who encourage each other to be better and celebrate accomplishments.
Kian breaking the National 74kg squat record by squatting 591lbs
Fast forward to 2023, Kian holds the squat and overall total record for his age and weight class in Canada. His last competition in February this past year was the Canadian National competition where he came out on top and qualified to compete in the Junior Worlds Powerlifting competition in Romania this August. Kian worked alongside his videographer to produce a documentary on his journey to the nationals competition that has been uploaded to his YouTube channel, this can be found by following the link at the end of the article. Unfortunately, powerlifting is not as popular in Canada and thus there is no financial help given to athletes for flights, accommodation, team or uniform fees. Kian has created a Gofundme page where he is accepting donations to help fund his international competition so that he is able to represent the Filipino-Canadian community on the world stage (Fundraise A Dream). Kian hopes to motivate the younger generations to pursue their goals and to inspire fellow Filipino-Canadian athletes to work hard and dream big.
Kian winning gold at the Nationals 2023 Competition
If you want to follow his journey Kian can be found using the handle @kiangains on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok, and stay tuned as his Worlds competition will be live-streamed through YouTube!
— Sarah Cronkhite
For more information, please email Sarah atsarahcronkhite22@gmail.com
Watch: The Redemption
