Gym And Supplement Discussion

[No Crust Racing]

You'd think after being told so many times you'd have the details...

Dislocated ankle, broke leg..

Get your shit together man.

[Birds]

I don't keep track of other people's injuries, tell him jangles.

[No Crust Racing]

lol yes I remember.

[L33SH]

Babe you've only just started deadlifting and squatting; these are major muscle building exercises. I gave you strength goals to work towards, because when you reach those (if you're still eating healthy), you will have a much lower body fat due to more muscle burning more calories with the same caloric intake.

There's a reason I still have ~10% bf, despite not having run for months and still eating large quanties of food all day. The muscle keeps the fat at bay, and I don't even have that much muscle.

I agree with everything Markos has said here and it's what I've been trying to instill in you, because you can't alter a training and diet regiment and expect it to work for you in the same way. You want to throw in cardio with it or leave out some exercises and you are going to be waiting a lot longer for your results.

As to what she looks like, Leesh has made some good improvement in the upper body...lats and shoulders are doing great. But she has been doing bench and lat pulldowns / rows a lot longer than she has squats and deads, so that's to be expected and there's still plenty of work to be done for the latter two.

I've been squatting and dead lifting for 3 months now and you know the only reason I wasn't doing them earlier is because I didn't feel my technique was correct; I wanted to wait to be shown correctly by you rather than get into bad habits with incorrect form or cause injuries. It wasn't a case of leaving them out because I felt like it. I did substitute exercises until how I learnt how to squat and deadlift properly in April. The rest of the program I've been doing for 8 months and I just expected more definition than what I have at the moment because of what you said to me.

And why wouldn't I still be eating healthy? You know I eat healthy and I' ve changed my diet and increased my calories because you want me to eat more protein and carbs.

Markos how am I not listening to Birds? I do his program, I eat how he wants me to eat, I use the protein powder he wants me to use, and if I'm not sure of anything I ask him and listen to his advice. The only thing he is not happy with me doing is my aerobics and boxing classes once a week. I've explained to him why I can't give them up and I thought he was supportive of my decision because there is a valid reason why I want to continue them.

[Birds]

I am supportive of you doing whatever makes you happy, Leesh; all I said was that cardio would hinder your goals and make things take longer. The training program I initially wrote for you contained squats and deadlifts, so because you've been unable to do these until recently, you need to be a bit more patient and give them time to pay off. A visit to PTC Perth will hopefully aid your confidence in the movements. Keep in mind the big three:

1. Regularly try to increase weights on major compounds and assistance exercises. This is the only form of exercise you need to do. Don't do cardio.

2. Eat LOTS of good, protein rich food to push through strength plateaus and support muscle growth. Focus on messing with calorie deficits AFTER you've reached your strength goals and built a decent amount of muscle.

3. Get plenty of sleep and rest - rest days are for resting and stuffing your face.

There are obviously more specifics to these three commandments, that I will continue to help you with in private...but do realise that any deviation from the big three is not doing exactly what I asked of you! No buts!

<3

[No Crust Racing]

Leesh 3mths in the grand scheme of things is SFA.

I've been having a go at Squats and DLS since about Feb, and then finally went and saw someone to get a bit of guidance on the moves, it's only been I dunno a months or so tops since I saw Matt.

So after all that time fluffing about, I'm "just" getting to get to the point where most guys at Markos gym START OUT (or manage in the first few sessions).

My point is, this stuff takes time. My Bench was semi OK but I had literally had a couple of years former experience with it so that came back easier.

When I decided after school that I wasn't going to be Stick Man anymore, it took a bit over 12mths of absolute slogging dedication to the cause to pack on some beef EVERYTHING I did or ate was about that goal. Not 3mths of decent commitment, but 110% balls (ovaries?) to the wall dedication.

I'll clarify that a little though, I'm not saying you're not putting in, not at all, I dunno what you look like, what you started out at etc etc, all I'm saying is that it's very likely you've made some really good gains in the time you've been at it, but that it takes either a massive level of commitment (to get results fast) or a solid level of patience (to get results in a reasonable time frame).

I also think that Markos one of the "mores" each session is a big kicker in why his guys advance so quickly, more weight/reps/sets EVERY time you make the rep/set/weight goal in any movement. That's constant overload which will mean constant progress. Progress means more strength and likely bigger muscles, more muscle = more fat burned.

I personally do not do this as I'm scared of injuries and like to consolidate at a given weight for a few sessions (I like to make sure I can do the weight even on my worst days before going up again) but that's because I've had a bad history with secondary muscle/tendon type issues from over doing it thinking I was He-Man so that's how I manage it.

If you are not doing some kind of "mores" then progress will also be slower - which is fine so long as you have patience

Keep on trucking slugger !

[Trozzle]

Back on the gain train, and already in only a couple of days just about all definition I had has vanished LOL. f**king carbs and causing decent water retention for me. Meh, the 120kg bench is only 5kg away - which is next session considering I'll actually have energy again

Birds will be happy to hear how much of my proclaimed "evil carbs" I'm slamming down lol....last night almost half a kilo of wedges and fried into the oven, just over a whole chicken breast pounded flat and panfried with somewhere around 100g of short cut bacon, all topped with cottage cheese and some tomato sauce. No I'm not suggesting this was particularly healthy, lol. This was only round one, which was followed by multiple skirmishes involving another half a loaf of bread and condiments.

ZE GUTS, ZEY ARE CHURNING.

[No Crust Racing]

What the hell Troy that's terrible lol

[L33SH]

I am supportive of you doing whatever makes you happy, Leesh; all I said was that cardio would hinder your goals and make things take longer. The training program I initially wrote for you contained squats and deadlifts, so because you've been unable to do these until recently, you need to be a bit more patient and give them time to pay off. A visit to PTC Perth will hopefully aid your confidence in the movements. Keep in mind the big three:

1. Regularly try to increase weights on major compounds and assistance exercises. This is the only form of exercise you need to do. Don't do cardio.

2. Eat LOTS of good, protein rich food to push through strength plateaus and support muscle growth. Focus on messing with calorie deficits AFTER you've reached your strength goals and built a decent amount of muscle.

3. Get plenty of sleep and rest - rest days are for resting and stuffing your face.

There are obviously more specifics to these three commandments, that I will continue to help you with in private...but do realise that any deviation from the big three is not doing exactly what I asked of you! No buts!

<3

Okay.

<3

[No Crust Racing]

Obligatory image.

A man and a woman being affectionate?

[-FIGJAM-]

^^ lol

on an upside, not sure what the go is but my reflux seems to be easing so I am starting to be able to eat a bit more without throwing up.

win win. Now just need to gym regularly.

[Trozzle]

What the hell Troy that's terrible lol

What part of it? hahaha

[L33SH]

Sounds like something from Epic Meal Time, Troy.

[Trozzle]

LOL god no! No where near that level of nasty

[markos]

Leesh, PTC Perth in Malaga is an incredible gym. Paul and Dan are 2 of the nicest guys you could meet in this game. They are only a year old so most of their lifters are novices, but they do have a handful of strongish guys and girls.

It is not expensive to get a little coaching there, its not like a commercial gym, I cant recommend you go see them enough, even if its just once a blue moon for a check up on technique and to get some reassurance

I think they only have around 10 competing powerlifters there, 2-3 are girls, the rest are just like you, working hard to improve

[markos]

Their novice comps are very, very friendly

[No Crust Racing]

That's what I'll be doing Markos, I'll be dropping by to see Matt from time to time. $40 for an hour is well worth it every once in a while to make sure I'm on the right track.

I'm very glad I followed your advice in seeing him the first time.

Edited July 10, 2013 by ActionDan

[markos]

Amy Hapgood is their best female lifter, she used to Crossfit but now powerlifts

[markos]

[bozodos]

interesting re: cardio - this is one of the things where the advice is literally so opposite and confusing that I can understand why Leesh feels frustrated.

Do cardio, don't do cardio, do HIIT, do steady state, do it before training, do it after etc etc.

FWIW I do 20 minutes of intervals after training at the moment simply for cardiovascular health. I thought the whole cardio kills gains thing was disproven :S