On February 5, 2022, sophomore Pavan Nawbatt woke up for his wrestling competition. After weeks of training, he felt prepared for the challenge. At the competition, his hard work paid off after he beat four statewide records. Now, after the tournament, Nawbatt feels proud of his achievements and reflects on his weightlifting journey.

Nawbatt decided to begin weightlifting as a way to fill his free time in the soccer offseason. Since then he has discovered his love for weightlifting and feels proud of his accomplishments.

“I feel really proud of myself,” Nawbatt said. “I’ve put in a lot of work into training for those records and getting those records is like my present for putting in all those hours into training.”

Nawbatt has been training for about eight weeks and going to the gym for years. At 123 lbs bodyweight, Nawbatt felt prepared to push himself to beat four statewide records. He was able to squat 290 lbs, deadlift 330 lbs and bench press 170 lbs.

“I saw that, ‘Hey, this record is pretty close’,” Nawbatt said. “I thought I could beat it and I wanted to push myself and see if I could beat it.”

Throughout his weightlifting journey, Nawbatt has enjoyed not only seeing himself improve and get stronger but also the results.

“I think that I gained my love for the sport when I started seeing results,” Nawbatt said. “For example, over time, I would see my quads getting bigger or my abs getting more defined. It is satisfying to see the results of your hard work.”

Additionally, Nawbatt has found it easier to motivate himself over time.

“When I first started going to the gym, I motivated myself by telling myself that by the end of training that day, I would be a small percent better at soccer and weightlifting and that I would be stronger for the work I put in,” Nawbatt said. “But now I have lots of love for the sport and really don’t need any motivation.”

Nawbatt plans to focus heavily on sports in the future. He aspires to beat a national record and feels that he is already close to that goal.

“My main goal for weightlifting is to set a national record,” Nawbatt said. “I was ten pounds off of that for the squat, and I’m really close. I really want to get there.”

Nawbatt feels proud of his accomplishments and recommends weightlifting to anyone who is interested.

“I think if you want to do it, just do it,” Nawbatt said. “Everybody in the community is really supportive and they’ll help you out if you need any, so just do it. It’s really fun, and I think they’ll enjoy it.”