Taylor Atwood’s Success Story

The Full Story

2014

Taylor Atwood Became a TSG Athlete

Taylor Atwood’s Success Story began in 2014 when he was looking for a new competitive outlet after finishing a training camp stint with the BC Lions. He brought the explosive ability that he was known for as a running back into the weight room but needed polish and precision to realize his potential. So we began working toward winning Raw Nationals and setting the National Record on Bench Press. His starting numbers were SQ: 215 kg, BP: 170 kg, DL: 260 kg.

Unknowing of the experiences they’d have together in years to come, Taylor, his father Scott, and Jason would meet for the first time at that meet. Taylor won his first national championship and showed significant progress. In his first meet with TSG, he had increased his squat by 20 kg (235 kg), his Bench Press by 15 kg (185 kg, and his deadlift by 12.5 kg (272.5 kg), for an improvement of 42.5 kg to his total (687.5 kg). Following the meet, we decided not to compete at the 2014 World Championship. Instead, our focus was to set world records at the 2015 Arnold Classic.

2015

Overcoming a Back Injury

A back injury compounded the setback of bombing out at the 2015 Arnold Classic. Taylor sustained this injury in training shortly after, likely due to “popping” his hips forward before initiating the descent in his squat. As a result, Taylor could not perform lower body lifts, so we trained bench press and maintained a high lower body isolation exercises workload. Dr. Quinn Henoch provided guidance that helped Taylor complete a few squat & deadlift sessions with less discomfort before the 2015 Raw Nationals.

Neither of us had an idea of what to expect, but he wanted to defend his national championship, so we decided to compete. The only certainty going into Nationals was that we’d all be there, and Taylor would be lifting for Team De Novo Nutrition to help them on team scoring. We met the Owner & Head Coach Ben Esgro, who agreed to join our game day team.

Although Taylor warmed up pain-free, he re-aggravated his back injury when a loud “crack” occurred out of the hole on his 3rd attempt. He made the lift. Once the adrenaline wore off a few minutes later, Taylor couldn’t stand up without significant pain. We contemplated removing him from the competition until he found that lowering his belt helped manage the pain. He stayed in the meet with an easy 185 kg 3rd attempt on the bench press.

However, things got complicated once again when it came time to warm up for the deadlift. Taylor fainted and fell face-first onto the platform on his first warm-up set with 70 kg. Now bleeding from the cheek, he got up and confirmed that he had held his breath for too long the rep. Half an hour later, he made a 272.5 kg deadlift to win his second national championship.

This win came at a cost, and we had to maintain our focus on Taylor’s bench press from November to April. Then, we began to train effectively again with the World Championship less than three months away.

2017

Another Letdown at the 2017 IPF World Championships

After winning his third national championship, we began preparing for the 2017 World Championship in Belarus. During 2016 and 2017, my quest to develop as a coach led me into sports science. I thought that if we could train consistently, Taylor would win in Belarus. But unfortunately, he sustained a strain less than two months before the World Championship.

Although Taylor had progressed his total to 733 kg, we had again placed 2nd. Only this time, the result was far more disappointing than the previous year. In hindsight, Taylor’s training that year was too conservative, and when the training load did pick up, he couldn’t tolerate it. Little did we know that this realization about training volume, work capacity, and how they relate to injury prevention and performance improvement would later become fundamental to our training system.

2017 – 2018

Finding Our Inflection Point in Late 2017-Early 2018

Taylor sustained another injury during his first week of training with Ben and I. Once again, it was likely due to having a low work capacity at that time. However, he bounced back within a few weeks, and we had a strong end to 2017 Nationals preparation. Taylor won his fourth national championship with a 750 kg total and qualified for the 2018 World Championship in my hometown Calgary, Alberta.

We immediately set our sights on redemption at the Arnold Classic. Now healthy and with more time to build his chronic training load, Taylor progressed by leaps and bounds, heading into this competition. Competing at 75.2 kg bodyweight, Taylor smashed his previous personal best of 750 kg with a 782.5 kg total. This performance showed us the power of the data-based training system that Ben and I were building each week, and it changed our entire outlook towards the World Championship that was to take place four months later.

Worlds in Calgary | TSG’s Hometown

Taylor, Ben, and our entire team arrived in Calgary with confidence levels sky-high. Despite sustaining another muscular strain during the final weeks of preparation, we knew that Taylor had a strong chance of winning his first World Championship. Taylor posted a World Record-setting Total of 758 kg, and we finally had our first World Championship.

We had the best time celebrating it with the entire team and my family, and we agreed that even if he had won in Killeen or Minsk during previous years, the feeling wouldn’t have been as great as it was.

2019

The 2019 USAPL National Championship

Following a well-deserved break after a challenging eight-month training period preparing for his win and Best Lifter winning performance at the World Championship, we began training for 2019 Raw Nationals on short notice. Coming off of a dominant win just a few months earlier, we pushed Taylor hard on a new three-day-per-week training split due to his time restrictions. Unfortunately, he ended up sustaining the second major injury of his career, this time a groin issue, less than a month before the meet. He was hurt, but he was stronger than we’d ever seen him too.

At the 2019 Raw Nationals in Lombard, Illinois, we decided on a conservative game plan for squat. In part, this was a tactic to avoid an injury flare-up during the competition, and it was also a glaring oversight by me. I didn’t scout the competition before that meet, and it took me off guard when the competition matched or exceeded Taylor’s lifts on each lift. Although Taylor won the meet and Best Lifter with margin, it was clear that the new wave of competitors was closing in.

With the inaugural 2020 SBD Sheffield Invitational coming up five months later, we knew that we had to overcome this injury and continue to make progress to retain Taylor’s status as the Best Lifter from the 2019 World Championship.

2020

812 kg at the 2020 Florida State Championships

Taylor next took the platform in October of 2020. With a healthy three-month period of preparations under his belt, he felt stronger than ever on each of his lifts heading into the meet. He started the meet by hitting a 293 kg squat to take the national record with ease on his third attempt and then made a limit lift at 199 kg on bench press to take the national record as well. Heading into the meet, we knew that Taylor was strong on the deadlift, but we didn’t have a true idea of how much strength gains he had made. He secured the first-ever 800 kg total by a 74 kg lifter by lifting 310 kg on his second attempt, and then he easily lifted 320 kg on his third attempt, a weight that we thought would represent the limit of his strength. Something about the training set-up had produced another inflection point for Taylor, and this time it was the deadlift that was rapidly increasing.

After this competition, we were amazed at what we had achieved. The sight of Taylor totaling more than 800 kg reminded me of an old IPF Magazine issue with Brett Gibbs on the cover, and the title was “The Quest for 800” [as an 83 kg competitor]. In four years, this total had gone from an 83 kg milestone to a 74 kg milestone, and what’s more, Taylor’s chief competitor Austin Perkins became the second 74 kg lifter to total 800 kg one month later.

How far the competition standards had risen since we started was quite unbelievable, and we knew that we’d be in for a battle at the next USAPL Raw Nationals.

Achieving the #1 All-Time Points Ranking at 2021 Raw Nationals

We prepared harder than ever before, leading into 2021 Raw Nationals. The venue was the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, the same venue as where Taylor had won his first Weightlifting meet a decade ago. With his family in attendance and fatherhood around the corner, we knew that we had a great opportunity to achieve a personal best performance. Acknowledging the growing strength of the competition, we thought we’d need a personal best performance to win his 7th national championship as well.

The condition that Taylor was in during the final month of competition prep was something we’d never seen before. Each session, he was like a rubber band stretched to its limit, lots of potential energy that was ready to become kinetic, but also ready to snap. We were training on the razor’s edge of fatigue and fitness, yet he’d exceed previous velocity personal bests during each grueling four-hour training session. His condition in the final month of prep was a testament to the hypothesis we formed after the 2017 World Championship in Belarus, that the best powerlifters are the ones who can adapt to performing more work over time, and we knew that if he could make it to the platform in one piece, we could have a shot at achieving a historical total.

As soon as Taylor weighed in, I calculated what he’d need to total to achieve the #1 points ranking by the GL, DOTS, IPF, and Wilks (old and new). He needed to total 835.5 kg that day as a 74 kg lifter to set the new mark to beat, and it was within our strategy for the day. Our first objective was to win the competition, and if we could secure the win, we planned to push his attempts to the limit to achieve the milestone. With the win secured, Taylor and his meet day coach, Matt Gary, decided to load 340.5 kg/750 lbs on his third attempt. He stood up with the weight, and for a moment in time, he held the all time world record for an 83 kg lifter too.

It was an unbelievable achievement for us. In six years, we had transformed from being a bumbling duo featuring a talented and hard-working athlete and a young and inexperienced coach, to achieving the #1 all-time ranking.

Our story is still in progress. Taylor’s next competition will be Powerlifting America Nationals on April 1st. Stay tuned. #BlueTakeover

Achieving the #1 The USAPL-IPF Split

After the best competition of his 74 kg career, we planned to compete at the 2021 IPF World Championships a few months later. We also aimed to surpass the 850 kg milestone at the Virginia Pro in December 2021. However, due to the USAPL separating from the IPF and concerns about potential political repercussions that could prevent us from making the US National Team the following year, we could not compete at the 2021 World Championship, and we decided to forgo the Virginia Pro.

Switching to Powerlifting America

The 2022 season promised to be special for us, with the inaugural SBD Sheffield Championship scheduled for early 2023. We focused on continuing Taylor’s upward momentum by pushing his strength as far as possible to prepare for this groundbreaking event. Heading into this competition, we projected Taylor would achieve a 315 kg Squat, a 202.5 kg Bench Press, and a 345 kg Deadlift (for a total of 862.5 kg). 

 Unfortunately, Taylor suffered an adductor injury on the opposite side of a career-threatening injury he had in 2019.

 At the 2022 Powerlifting America Nationals, we held back our lifts, recording 255 kg in the Squat, a PR of 202.5 kg in the Bench Press, and 275 kg in the Deadlift. This performance earned us our

2022 IPF World Championship

Taylor’s adductor injury continued to limit his Squat and Deadlift training leading up to Worlds. With only a few weeks of limited training to prepare, Taylor arrived at the 2022 World Championship with a flexible meet strategy, as we were uncertain about his form due to training constraints. Our main goal was to win the World Championship without exceeding the World Record, thus allowing us to qualify for the inaugural SBD Sheffield Championships early in 2023. Additionally, we hoped to win the Best Lifter award at the World Championship for the second consecutive time.

Despite his limited training, Taylor performed exceptionally well on the day of the competition, completing lifts of 277.5 kg in the Squat, 197.5 kg in the Bench, and 315 kg in the Deadlift, totalling 790 kg—just 0.5 kg under his World Record—securing the Best Lifter award across all classes.

Preparing for the 2023 SBD Sheffield

With seven months to prepare after the 2022 World Championship, many favoured us to win SBD Sheffield comfortably. However, the next few months unfolded quite differently from our ambitious plans. Taylor struggled with ongoing aches and pains throughout his body, which led to a pattern of compensatory movements; as he adjusted to protect one injury, he would sustain another.

With each subsequent injury, Taylor’s strength and work capacity further declined, creating a downward spiral that we could not halt while trying to meet the community’s expectations.

Eight weeks out from the competition, preparation took a serious downturn. After multiple setbacks involving his groin and back, Taylor began loading his knees more in the Squat, contributing to a painful, career-threatening chronic quadriceps tendon injury. This severely limited his ability to Squat, affected his leg drive in the Bench Press, and rendered him unable to perform the Sumo Deadlift.

Attempting to peak under these circumstances was the opposite of what Taylor’s body needed; instead, he needed time to recover. However, he was determined to compete, and we believed he would still perform well on competition day.

2023 SBD Sheffield

With fewer than five Squat sessions in the last eight weeks of preparation, Taylor arrived in Sheffield ready to compete against the best in each class. Compounding our challenges, he experienced food poisoning two days before the competition, causing him to lose nearly 2 kg and consider withdrawing due to illness.

Taylor decided to go ahead with the competition despite these struggles. For the first time since 2015, he missed a Squat attempt, trying to break his world record of 283 kg by a mere 0.5 kg. He rebounded well in the Bench Press, successfully lifting 197.5 kg. Ultimately, we finished the day with a missed third attempt Deadlift at 323 kg, resulting in a total of 777.5 kg and a fifth-place finish—61 kg below his best performance in 2021.

2023 World Championship

Determined to redeem ourselves after Sheffield, Taylor made a spirited effort to get his body healthy for the World Championship, where he would defend his title against Calle Johansson of Sweden and Tim Monigatti of New Zealand. Unfortunately, he could not escape further compensatory injuries and continued to be bothered by his knee. Midway through preparation, he developed proximal hamstring tendon pain, which likely resulted from compensating away from his painful knee.

Taking lessons learned from our Sheffield preparation, we focused on managing his knee and hamstring issues as best we could despite still facing limitations. As the competition approached, we felt more confident about our preparation than Sheffield and hoped we would be strong enough to win.

However, due to movement compensations and improper execution of the small details during the lifts, Taylor’s initially successful 277.5 kg third attempt was ruled a no-lift. This was because he failed to receive a “squat” command from one side referee and did not meet depth standards on the opposite side. This miss was critical and forced us to perform perfectly to fend off the strong deadlifters in the competition, both of whom achieved 3/3 in squats, with Tim even breaking Taylor’s World Record to gain an advantage with a chip.

Taylor rebounded with a solid 197.5 kg attempt. Moving into the Deadlift, we knew we had to go 3/3 and force our two competitors—stronger in the Deadlift—to pull more than they could. After our second attempt, Taylor looked strong enough to break the World Record, a lift that would secure his fourth World Championship win. We loaded 323 kg onto the bar, and he stepped onto the platform to pull for the victory.

However, Taylor did not accommodate his typical 12.5 kg jump as he usually would when trained and healthy for a competition. Instead of making a challenging but convincing lift, Taylor stood up with the weight but was ultimately ruled a no-lift for supporting the bar on his thighs after a long grind, which allowed the other two competitors the chance to pull ahead of us and take the lead.

This mistake in attempt selection and our failure to meet the referees’ standards on the third Squat cost us the title. Within a year of winning Best Lifter in South Africa, we faced major setbacks: we lost the inaugural SBD Sheffield, which we were heavily favoured to win, suffered a series of compensatory injuries, and ultimately lost the World Championship – finishing 3rd.

To add to the disappointment, Taylor’s rival in the 74 kg division, Austin Perkins, totalled 851 kg at the 2023 USAPL Nationals, breaking Taylor’s historic record of 838.5 kg and establishing a new standard as the top-ranked men’s powerlifter by GL and Dots points.

It felt like hitting rock bottom of competitive powerlifting, which was difficult to experience firsthand.

Time for a Break

Following his third-place finish at the 2023 World Championship, Taylor took as much time off as necessary to recover fully. The next year, he began his recovery by taking a complete break from the power lifts for one month. He underwent PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injections to heal his quadriceps tendon and dedicated countless hours to rehabilitation for the various injuries he sustained.

Graciously invited by SBD to attend the 2024 Sheffield as a commentator, Taylor was accompanied by his father and the rest of his coaching team. During a two-hour meeting, we addressed the significant issues we had faced.

As a busy father, athlete, and full-time professional with over a decade of competing in the same weight class, we agreed to ease the pressure of chronic calorie restriction to help him remain in the 74 kg class. This would facilitate better recovery in training and promote gains in muscle and strength without pushing Taylor to the limits as we had done in 2021.

Taylor Atwood’s 83 kg Comeback

After bringing in Patrick Carr, a powerlifting coach highly recommended by TSG mentor Matt Gary, and Urban Mur, a powerlifting coach, Category 1 referee, and President of Slovenian Powerlifting, Atwood’s coaching team was revitalized. We began to improve his performance and work our way back from the injuries he had sustained.

For the first time in over three years, we started to string together consecutive months of training without encountering new issues. Instead of being surprised by new pains, his discomfort consistently decreased, and his muscle and strength levels increased.

Knowing we had to compete at a local meet to qualify for the 2025 Powerlifting America Nationals, we registered for Scary Strong 2 in Boston, MA, eight weeks out, scheduled for the end of October 2024.

In the final weeks leading up to the competition, Taylor’s strength transformed dramatically as he easily crushed a 320 kg deadlift in training, signalling to the community that this would be a performance to watch.

With over 10,000 viewers tuning in to watch the live stream, Taylor made easy lifts of 285 kg in the Squat and 202.5 kg in the bench press. For the first time since PR’ing his bench press at the 2022 Powerlifting America Nationals, he achieved a small PR deadlift of 342.5 kg, totalling 830 kg—his second-best total ever.

Powerlifting America Nationals 83 kg Showdown

With five months to prepare to compete against a lineup full of champions and elite competitors, we began preparations healthy and eager to win our ninth National Championship and return to Worlds for the first time since 2023. We aimed to fill out the 83 kg class with as much muscle as possible in the first part of our training and then convert that newly acquired muscle into strength with intense, low-volume training to peak him.

After a strong start to the preparation, we encountered some inconsistencies. After a strong start to our preparation, we faced some inconsistencies over three weeks due to life circumstances. The situation was further complicated when Taylor jarred a facet joint in his back while awkwardly stepping out wide to set his stance during a squat walkout. This injury caused him to miss four weeks of lower body training, leaving us with just six weeks to prepare for the biggest challenge of his career.

At this point, I had been training Taylor for over a third of my life. We’ve shared incredible highs and challenging lows, developing a close friendship along the way, and I understand what makes him strong. With our backs against the wall, Patrick, Urban, and I trained him like he was the best lifter in the world. Unsure he could handle the intensity, we pushed him as hard as we felt necessary. Each week, it became clear that his strength was rapidly increasing.

Despite our limited preparation time, we were confident that Taylor had become strong enough to contend for the meet-day title.

Taylor opened the competition with impressive lifts of 287.5 kg and 302.5 kg in his first two attempts in the Squat. He signalled that he was in the zone, saying, “Put whatever you want on the bar. I’m good for it.” For his third attempt, we loaded 317.5 kg onto the bar, and he successfully achieved a personal record (PR) of 14.5 kg—32.5 kg more than his Squat six months earlier in October.

As Taylor warmed up for the bench press, we raised his opener to match his strength that day. He achieved a 5 kg PR with a lift of 207.5 kg on his second attempt and set a brief national record of 216 kg on his third attempt, which Joe Borenstein shortly surpassed with a lift of 218 kg.

In the Deadlift, Taylor successfully lifted 317.5 kg and 342.5 kg in his first two attempts, setting him up to pull for the win on his third attempt. However, Borenstein went all in on his second attempt, successfully lifting 377.5 kg, which pushed us beyond our limits and made Borenstein the first 83 kg competitor to total 900.5 kg.

Taylor attempted 367.5 kg for the win and 901 kg but was unsuccessful.

While we didn’t win the national championship, we left the meet feeling happy about achieving a significant PR and posting the second-heaviest total of all time in the 83 kg class during his second meet in the class. This marked a new chapter following the challenges of the previous four years. We were also inspired by Borenstein’s greatness, reminiscent of our experience in 2017 when we lost to Kjell Bakkelund in Belarus, who set the benchmark for us to aim for and eventually surpass.

Taylor’s next competition could be the World Championship if he receives a reserve slot, the North American Championship in July, or the SBD Austin prize money competition in November. Our goal is to return to the World Championship and SBD Sheffield.