Built because life moves faster than the program.
Heavy Medal began with physical weight, earned weight, and a coach’s refusal to accept that serious training still had to stand still.
Make the decisions for me. Keep me in the decision.
I’m Kevin Shanahan—a father of two, a disabled Marine combat veteran, and a strength coach of 15 years. I have coached athletes competing in strongman, powerlifting, and bodybuilding. The last thing I wanted to do after making training decisions for everyone else was program for myself.
But this was bigger than convenience. Athletes travel. They get injured. They get sick. Equipment changes. Work runs late. Families need them. They still want to compete, improve, and walk into any gym confident that the work in front of them makes sense.
The mission had always been getting better, faster, stronger, leaner, or bigger. The method had not kept pace. Life changed by the hour while training programs stayed frozen on paper for eight weeks. That was unsatisfactory.
I also served beside Marines living with severe combat injuries. I wanted them training toward something again, not treated as if their goals disappeared when they were wounded. I could not always be there to answer every question. SORN became a way to be there.
Two kinds of weight.
The name comes from the physical weight of metal in training and the psychological weight of the military medals combat-wounded veterans carry. One builds the body. The other can hold a lifetime of sacrifice, identity, memory, and expectation.
Earned weight.
Shared purpose.
Every SORN membership helps carry the system forward for athletes who paid a different price.
Paid memberships help keep SORN free for combat-wounded veterans.
A portion of Heavy Medal’s profits supports organizations serving combat-wounded and service-connected disabled veterans.