How I Qualified for the 2025 USA Weightlifting National Championships: A 9-Year Journey

Dr. Taylor Maginnis qualifying for USAW Nationals with 82kg (181lb) snatch PR, 108kg (238lb) clean and jerk PR, and 190kg (419lb) total PR

Dr. Taylor Maginnis, PT, DPT

If you told me 9 years ago that I would one day qualify for the 2025 USA Weightlifting National Championships, I would not have believed you.

When I started weightlifting, it was about passion, challenge, and community. I loved the feeling of hitting a new personal best, the rush of stepping onto the competition platform, the way the barbell demanded everything from me physically and mentally to truly learn a new skill.

The barbell community was so supportive, and I leaned into this immediately. With newcomer excitement, I did everything I could to get better, more training sessions, tracking food, taking any and all competition opportunities. But somewhere along the way, as years went by, the journey got harder.

After finding a new home at TriState Barbell in 2019, a renewed excitement for competing and training in the sport arose. This lasted for a bit and as any new weightlifter who sticks with the sport for more than a year, droughts in progress started to arise.

My coach and I started to work on technique changes and really leaned into phases of strengthening that lead to long stretches without new PRs, competitions that didn’t go the way I had hoped, and even moments when I wondered if I had already hit my peak. 

The Reckoning

As someone who has been in the weightlifting world for quite a while, I was always warned by other athletes that this is all part of the sport. There are the highest of highs when hitting PRs and the lowest of lows usually come with learning something new or really pushing to improve leg strength through a heavy squat cycle. 

Despite knowing all these things and encouraging my teammates through these moments of their own, doubt crept in for myself more times than I can count. 

At the end of 2023, after an abrupt end to my competition season and continued drought of reaching a national level platform, I seriously considered stepping away from competing altogether. 

I had a conversation with my Coach Dan Dodd requesting to just be a coach and no longer a competitive athlete for our club. In the most professional and kind way, he offered his understanding and ultimately left the choice up to me, but he did bring up the fact that one thing was missing in my pursuit for more: prioritizing myself.

The Rise

So, at the beginning of last year, I made a decision.

I decided to go all in — not for anyone else, but for me.

I committed to prioritizing my training, my recovery, my health, and my mental well-being. I shifted my mindset from just getting by to giving myself a real chance to chase something bigger.

I made sure I was fueling my body properly. I committed to a more structured recovery routine, including physical therapy from my generous co-workers and proactive care in warmups rather than just reacting to injuries. 

I trained with more intention. I asked for support when I needed it. I allowed myself to be coached, not just in the gym but also in life. 

The result? The best performance of my life.

For the first time, I wasn’t just chasing a total to qualify — I was lifting like an athlete who belonged on a national platform. Thanks to Dan’s programming and my community encouraging me to train, the strength was there, but more importantly this time, the belief was there too.

What’s funny is that so many of the people around me — my teammates, my family, my coaches, and even my co-workers — they had seen this version of me long before I ever saw it myself. They always believed I had what it took to be a national-level weightlifter. It just took me a little longer to see it.

The Reward

Qualifying for USA Weightlifting National Championships isn’t just a personal milestone — it’s proof that perseverance matters. It’s proof that sometimes the only thing standing between you and the next level is a decision: to bet on yourself.

If you’re in a drought season — if you're doubting whether your hard work will ever pay off — I hope my story reminds you that it’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to question. But it’s also okay to believe in your future before you can fully see it.

The past 9 years weren’t always easy. But today, with the help of my team, I’m standing taller, lifting heavier, and dreaming bigger than ever before. And I’m just getting started.