Australia's discus champion Matt Denny hopes losing weight will add distance as he sets his sights on becoming a "more ballistic" athlete in a career-defining period.
Denny has lost 10 kilograms, and wants to lose five more, since winning Commonwealth Games gold in August last year.
The 26-year-old, a drawcard at Saturday night's Adelaide Invitational, wants to be "more ballistic" by improving his athleticism and speed in the circle.
"A little bit lighter, a little bit more athletic, and hoping that is going to lead to better throws, being a lot faster and a lot more dynamic in my throws," Denny told AAP.
"It's just body fat, just trimming down really.
"I tried being heavier and I still threw far but it didn't really make enough difference on my distance to warrant being that heavy."
Denny aims to reduce his weight to around 120kg.
"Being 137kg and being that kind of size, it's a tiring lifestyle," he said.
"You recover from things a lot slower and it just takes a lot to do things.
"I definitely feel a lot healthier and a lot happier at the moment, general wellbeing it will be better for me.
"Also just the velocity side of things, for me to throw over 70 (metres), the only thing missing is the athleticism and velocity."
Denny weighed around 125kg when fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 - his best throw of 67.02 metres was five centrimetres shy of a bronze medal.
He weighed 134kg when he won Commonwealth gold last year with a personal best of 67.26m.
The weight drop is part of his grand plan centred on the Olympic Games in 2024 in Paris and 2028 in Los Angeles.
"Paris and LA are the two that I have the best chance at winning in regards to training age and ability and where your body should be at that time," Denny said.
"It's making sure I have the right knowledge and information in my court. It's not about over-reaching, it's about redirecting energy into the right areas."
Denny's initial competitive outing this year comes at an Adelaide meet also featuring 2021 Olympic decathlon bronze medallist Ash Moloney.
Moloney will race the 100m in a field headlined by Rohan Browning and also compete against Denny in the discus while American Matthew Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic 1500m champion, will run the 800m in Adelaide.
