ST. CLOUD, Fla. — St. Cloud’s Michael Ziss makes lifting weights look effortless. 

But it wasn’t always this way for the senior. During his freshman year, he was barely lifting 90 pounds. 

Fast-forward four years later, Ziss can do a clean-and-jerk with 275 pounds. 

What You Need To Know

  • St. Cloud's Michael Ziss has won six individual weightlifting state FHSAA championships 

  • Ziss represented the U.S. at the Junior Pan-American Games and World Youth Weightlifting Championships 

  • Ziss will join the Florida State University weighting team later this year

  • He hopes to compete in the Olympics in 2028 but said he will wait to see how he feels in a few years

To make sure every exercise is done correctly, St. Cloud weightlifting coach Cory Aun puts the steps on a whiteboard and tracks Ziss' progress in a notebook. 

"It’s based on volume and where we're at in the training cycle,” Aun said.

Ziss' accomplishments don't just live on paper, but on the walls of the St. Cloud gym. 

He’s a six-time Florida High School Athletics Association state champion weightlifter. 

“It doesn’t feel real," Ziss said. "I worked hard for it with my diet, sleep and training, and it’s very fulfilling. I made my dream come true.”

But his biggest success came when he was competing for the red, white and blue. 

Ziss is the top-ranked lifter at 55 kilograms. 

"Then, coming up at nationals in June, he’ll be competing in the 60-kilo weight class," Aun said. 

Ziss finished second in his weight class at the Junior Pan-American Games and eighth at the World Youth Weightlifting Championships. 

Later this year, he’ll start competing for Florida State University. 

“I’m just taking it day-by-day, and the end goal, I guess, is the Olympics," Ziss said. "But I want to see how I’m feeling the next few years.”