How this Columbus 12-year-old set three Georgia state records in powerlifting
Nash Earwood already is 5-foot-10 and 264 pounds as a 12-year-old, so being stronger than most preteens isn’t surprising. But here is what impresses his strength coach, Terrence Flowers, about this Columbus kid nicknamed Big Nash:
Not only did Nash set state records for his age group at the USA Powerlifting event Sept. 13 in Ringgold, Georgia, it was his first powerlifting competition — and he set those records after failing to lift with proper form on some of his attempts.
“He’s a very, very confident individual,” Flowers told the Ledger-Enquirer. “He also has a calm demeanor. So he’s confident but not cocky.”
Nash set three records:
- Squat 385 pounds (previous record was 374 pounds)
- Deadlift 396 pounds (previous record 390.5 pounds)
- Total weight for all three lifts (including bench press) 1,012 pounds (previous record was 1,001 pounds).
“I had no clue what I was doing,” Nash told the Ledger-Enquirer. “I was literally figuring out as I was doing it, … so I knew I was gonna make mistakes. But the main thing that I had to do was just put that perspective on it.”
His father, Ryan Earwood, appreciates that perspective.
“It’s refreshing to see that he didn’t just go into an extremely downward spiral after that,” Ryan, the assistant fire chief at Fort Benning, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “He was just like, ‘Hey, I’m learning here. OK, we got this, or we could do it next time.’”
Nash Earwood was down to his last attempt in the squat
In the squat, Nash was down to the last of his three attempts to set the record after his first two attempts were disqualified because he didn’t bend low enough.
“I got a little mad at that, and I just put it toward the lift,” Nash said. “So, on the third one, I just went as low as I could go.”
When he saw the green lights flash from each of the three judges to indicate his lift was clean, Nash figured he could set more records during the meet because the squat is the first of the three categories during the competition, followed by bench press and deadlift.
“Seeing my progression through the whole thing,” he said, “that was awesome.”
Nash trains at 4.0 Fitness, attends Aaron Cohn Middle School
Nash joined Flowers’ gym, 4.0 Fitness, in January to get in better shape for middle school football during the offseason, but he didn’t start powerlifting until June.
“I never imagined it would turn into this at all,” Nash said.
As a seventh-grader at Aaron Cohn Middle School, he plays offensive line on the football team and baritone saxophone in the band. He also likes to hunt and fish.
Ryan has seen Nash be self-motivated throughout his childhood.
“He makes his own goals,” Ryan said. “He gets very focused. He’s like a dog with a bone. He doesn’t let go until he’s done.”
Needed to refuel
Being unfamiliar with powerlifting competitions, Nash didn’t come prepared with the type of food participants usually eat as they wait sometimes hours between lift categories to boost their energy. As a result, his heaviest lift in the bench press was 235, at least 20 pounds less than his max in the gym.
“He was basically carb-depleted during the bench press,” Flowers said.
“I was pretty low,” Nash said.
So his mom and dad left the competition and brought back a power breakfast to go — eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuit and gravy — for Nash to refuel.
By the time it was Nash’s turn in the deadlift, word had spread at the venue that he was on track to set the state record for total amount lifted by a 12-year-old during a competition.
“He definitely became a crowd favorite,” Flowers said.
The increased attention made Nash more nervous.
“It was a scary thing because I don’t like being in front of a lot of people doing stuff,” he said. “But when I actually got up there and did it, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not that bad,’ because I kind of just got used to it.”
After struggling during warmups with a 360-pound deadlift, the carbs finally kicked in before Nash started his competition deadlifts. He easily did his first two deadlifts at 355 and 380. Then he told Flowers, “Let’s go for it.”
Flowers knew what he meant: Try for the record.
‘It was just like an explosion’
Nash left no doubt as he performed his final deadlift.
“It was just like an explosion,” Flowers said.
But they did doubt the result as they had to wait for the judges. Nash finally saw the three green lights flash when the video of his lift played on the competition screen.
“I was very happy and also very surprised,” he said, “because I didn’t know what was going on when the lights didn’t pop on.”
His father gushed with pride.
“We were all clapping and cheering,” Ryan said. “It was almost surreal. It still kind of is.”
The coach also is proud of his protégé.
“Man, it’s a great feeling, knowing that your training helps somebody achieve a goal that they set for themselves,” Flowers said. “Just being a little-bitty gym on the east side of Columbus, and having somebody with a state record, even if somebody breaks it, it’ll forever be remembered.”
As word of Nash’s achievement and where he trains spread on social media, Flowers said, three more teenagers asked him to be their strength coach.
“I guess everybody wants the sauce, but Nash is a phenom,” Flowers said. “He’s a great kid, and he has a great family.”
State records-setter praises his coach, Terrence Flowers
Nash praised the coaching Flowers has given him during their hourlong Saturday sessions, plus Thursdays during the football offseason.
“Having someone that you connect with very easily, you actually build a bond,” Nash said. “When you build trust with your coach and believe what he’s teaching you is correct, and he actually helps you see that it’s right, it just brings more trust.
“… We’ve never had a single argument about anything we’ve ever done. It’s just always been working together, smoothing it out. And even when there’s rough spots, when I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ he’s just like, ‘Well, if you don’t think you can do it, you can stop. But if you want to give that little, small chance of doing it, try it out and see what you can do.’”
During his seven years as a strength coach, Flowers said, he never has seen gains as large as Nash’s improvement. In eight months, Nash raised his performance by 92% in the squat, by 25% in the bench press and by 93% in the deadlift.
“We’ve had kids here with great work ethic not make those kinds of gains, so I think with Nash, … it’s something genetic, but he’s also got a great heart. He really wants it. … He has the will. He’s always pushing real hard. We have to tell him to quit.”
Nash credits Flowers with shaping his form on the squat as it went from his worst lift to his best.
“His rep range with squats is crazy,” Flowers said.
Flowers recalled a group of Central High School football players working out in his gym and watching Nash do squats.
“They were swearing because they saw how low he could go,” Flowers said, noting the lower someone bends on the squat, the more power he can generate.
‘I’m great at it’
Nash shrugged when asked what he enjoys about powerlifting.
“I really don’t have an exact idea why I like it,” he said. “It’s just something fun for me to do, and I’m great at it.”
His next goal is to qualify for the national competition by winning the state championship for his age group Feb. 14-15 at the Dalton Convention Center — then, maybe one day, qualify for the Olympics.
“If there’s a path that brings me up that high,” Nash said, “I’m taking it all day long.”
Even if that doesn’t happen, his powerlifting success has helped him attract recruiting attention from high schools to reach his other goals: playing college and pro football.
And he would choose football over powerlifting as a career, Nash said, “because you get to hit people, and you can get paid millions.”
Nash also wants to serve in the U.S. Air Force, like his father did. But regardless of the career path he follows, Nash is grateful for the life lesson he has learned through powerlifting.
“Even when something stops you, and you have that boulder in front of you, and you have no clue how to get through it or over it, you’ve got to look at it as a different perspective and think about it in multiple different ways,” he said. “I didn’t know how I was going to bench over 205. I was stuck at that for so long.
“But I started looking at other people. I started watching people on YouTube. So I started learning more, and I also got stronger, of course, and all the pieces came together. … Watching other people do it and learning what they did to get there, you can take those things and turn it into what works for you. … Then, if you want it enough and you care about it enough, you will do everything you can to get across that boulder to break through.”
No wonder Nash likes to wear Demand Greatness apparel when he lifts.
“It means to just go for better, not go for normal,” he said. “Go beyond what you think you can do, and set a new limit. … Even when you get to that point where you think that’s just it, you can’t go no more, try to just get one more percent out of yourself.”
