Lya Bavoil’s Success Story
Told By Jason Tremblay
They know what they are talking about, & it’s a real pleasure to work with them.
Ben Esgro and Jason Tremblay are very talented coaches with expertise in powerlifting. They know what they are talking about, and it’s a real pleasure to work with them.
Plus, Ben is qualified for nutrition and supplements. He has the capacity to push an athlete beyond their preconceived limits and bring the best out of them.
Jason helps to calm me down and improve my confidence when I need reassurance. He is very well organized and always available for his athletes. He really cares about the success of his athletes and always finds the words to secure you and push you!
Lya Bavoil
First Powerlifting Meet: 10.10.2015
Started with TSG: 2021
The Full Story
2021
Lya Bavoil Becomes a TSG Athlete
Lya began training with TSG shortly after her record-setting performance at the 2021 IPF World Championship. Citing a desire to try something new, take risks, and push herself beyond her comfort zone, Lya started working with Ben Esgro and Jason Tremblay after many successful competitions with her previous coach.
2021
The 2021 European Championship
Our first major competition together was the 2021 European Championship, where Lya aspired to set world records in the newly formed 69 kg weight class. We spent the first two months together as a team establishing the coach-athlete relationship. Intending to retain her status as Europe’s Best Lifter, we quickly had to figure out a minimum effective dosage for Lya to improve her strength.
After a short preparation period, Lya and Ben Esgro traveled to Vasteras, Sweden, for the European Championship. Although the competition started shakily when her first Squat was called a no-lift for depth, Lya performed well throughout the rest of the meet. She finished squats with a new 69 kg world record of 205.5 kg and then tied her personal best on the bench press at 112.5 kg. Lya finished the competition 8/9 by making a 230 kg deadlift, which helped secure the 69 kg world record total and the Female Best Lifter award.
2022
The 2022 French National Championships
After the European Championships, Lya’s coaches, Ben Esgro and Jason Tremblay, transitioned her program fully to TSG’s training system. The main differences of this transition to TSG’s training approach were removing all top sets from her programming and increasing training volume. Ben and Jason prescribed a new peak training volume instead of relying on high training intensities to elicit progress. Within a few weeks of the transition to TSG’s training approach, Lya was lifting more tonnage per week than she ever had before, and within a few more weeks, Lya was showing performance gains with the new training approach.
Lya took the platform at Nationals without touching loads higher than 90% on Squats and Deadlifts and 95% on the Bench throughout her entire preparation. She lifted 210.5 kg on Squat, 115 kg on Bench Press, and 225 kg on Deadlift, with strength in reserve on each attempt. More importantly, Lya’s trust in our training process grew as we moved towards Lya’s next competition at the 2022 IPF World Championship.
Thank you to Lya’s mental skills coach, Brittney Russell, and Lya’s previous coach, whom we highly regard, Panagiotis Tarinidis, for handling Lya and calling her numbers at this competition.
2022
Setback at the 2022 IPF World Championship
After an excellent meet preparation, Lya showed up to the 2022 IPF World Championship in Sun City, South Africa. But, unfortunately, she could not show the fruits of her hard work on the platform because she missed weight as a 63 kg competitor. Missing weight is a difficult experience for any competitor, especially at the sport’s top level.
2022
Redemption at the 2022 Arnold Classic UK
Lya was able to bounce back in the months following IPF Worlds. She was preparing for her next competition, the 2022 Arnold Classic UK. Lya wanted to compete at 63 kg again, and this time she’d be up against fellow 63 kg World Champion Carola Garra. Again, Lya found her passion for the sport, attacking each training session with motivation and performing them with high quality. In the weeks preceding the competition, we knew that Lya’s strength was on a different level and that she was capable of a great performance.
Lya opened the meet by hitting a new WR of 213 kg on Squat, followed by tying her PR of 112.5 kg on Bench, and then edged ahead of Garra after 2nd attempt deadlift, securing the win. With the win secured, Lya loaded a new WR and PR of 231 kg for her third attempt. If she made this lift, she would take over the #1 ranking amongst all IPF women’s competitors across all weight classes. Lya made the lift, achieved her redemption from missing weight a few months prior at IPF Worlds, and achieved her long-standing goal of being the top-ranked women’s competitor in the sport.
We are currently in an improvement period with no scheduled competitions coming up. Stay tuned for what happens next!