My name is Andrew Saillant, founder and coach of Saillant Strength Systems Powerlifting (SSS Powerlifting or SSSPL for short), established in 2022. I am 25 years old, and born and based in Rhode Island. I’ve been lifting weights since 2017 and became involved in powerlifting in 2019 when I did my first competition. Shortly after I started my undergraduate degree at Boston College, I became a certified personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise, and worked at my university's campus recreation department, where I quickly developed a passion for coaching. This new found passion caused me to shift my entire academic path from physics to physical therapy. When the pandemic hit, I pivoted to online coaching to stay productive, offering free programs to what would end up being over 50 people over the course of the summer.

Throughout college, I coached dozens of in-person personal training clients while immersing myself in powerlifting as a sport and as a community. I joined the legendary Boston gym, Cambridge Strength and Conditioning initially just for the equipment, but stayed for the amazing community. Soon enough, students began reaching out to me for help, and through word of mouth, my coaching business began to grow. The founding of the Boston College Barbell Club and the first annual mock meet were pivotal in my early success, and by the end of my senior year of college, I had a small, but fantastic roster of young and eager powerlifters.

When I graduated college in 2023, I had the plan of taking a gap year, and applying to physical therapy school for the following year. However, the early success of my coaching business made me decide to put that off for a little while, and put all of my effort into coaching. After 2 years of focusing solely on coaching, achieving my CSCS certification, and vast independent education, I realized that I still didn’t have all the tools necessary to be truly great. So, I decided to indeed pursue my initial plan of becoming a physical therapist, but now deadset on the goal of becoming a world-leading powerlifting-specific physical therapist and coach. Now, I am a DPT student at the University of Rhode Island in addition to being a continually growing powerlifting coach. 

I take my job very seriously and never compromise my own effort or standards of service, and my expectation is that athletes who want to work with me will hold themselves to that same type of standard when it comes to training and communication. At the same time, I greatly value building interpersonal relationships with my athletes and often go out of my way to have conversations about what is going on in their personal lives, shared interests, current events, etc. Not only does this help me become more invested in each athlete’s individual success, but also increases buy-in on the athlete's side by creating a persona beyond just a name in a spreadsheet or a text thread.