Gym And Supplement Discussion

[markos]

Elliot nailed it

[Birds]

Last vid from me for today...

180kg x 10 (very deep) squat = 5'7 guy dunking. There have only been a few guys that height in the NBA who can dunk at regulation height, and he's only 21 years old.

Also a good message from him about focusing on strength improvements for monitoring progress and keeping short term motivated, whilst trying to ignore the aesthetics until they come later on. This can be difficult to do, but it will keep newbies in the gym much longer than just expecting aesthetic results in a matter of weeks. This is what I try to instill in anyone who asks me for help, and no surprises, those who have embraced strength goals over appearance have stuck it out long enough to see the aesthetic gain - compliments from colleagues etc. before they even realised it themselves.

[markos]

I see the plateau thing most days

Lee came to train at PTC with us after doing QLD States in April, totalled 490kg@89kg

In June at Nationals he went 562.5kg@89kg

In 10 weeks your not going to get 72.5kg stronger are you?

His lifts went from 170/100/220 to 210/112.5/240

April 6 till June 15

Coincidently, he just paid up $1300 for a 12 month membership an hour ago

I have many, many cases of this

Will be another one on Sunday at my Novice Comp at PTC

I'll put it out there now

Alex joined 8 weeks ago, best lifts were 180/140/200, so 520kg, has been training for a few years, weighed 85kg when he started

I'll post on Monday what he does at my comp, my guess is 600kg+

Oddly enough, he was the strongest guy in his gym

We get that a lot lol

He comes to PTC, a guy who totals 520kg, dominates at his gym, and our lifter in the same weight class goes 700kg at Nats

He paid the $1300 for a year straight up, he knew he was in the right place

Just like Elliot was talking about

[No Crust Racing]

Very impressive stuff.

[Birds]

Very impressive stuff.

I think what Elliot said describes you too, Dan. You came back from seeing Matt and already deadlifted more than you ever have. You would probably still be DLing below 100kg, worried about damaging your ankle, had you not been shown how to do it and with higher expectations!

[No Crust Racing]

Agreed. That one session was worth years of home training.

Increases all round tonight, low numbers but increases none the less

I'll definitely see Matt again for checkups so to speak.

[No Crust Racing]

I should add, I still worry about my ankle and have to take it slow but that's ok.

It was more my back I was concerned about and Matt showed me how to trust it.

Edited July 10, 2013 by ActionDan

[Birds]

Yup. Fear, fear, fear!

The weight is only as heavy as you allow it to be

[jangles]

A healthy heart is very important, for everyone.

Problem is, 90% of people who think they are doing exercise for the heart, are not.

We just had the Pacific Ironman event or whatever its called in Frankston in March, they literally close Frankston down for the day

Anyway, a competitor from Austria who flew out for the event asked if he could train at PTC in the lead up. I dont know why, nothing I can do to help a guy whose event lasts a day.

Anyway, I expected this guy to be freaky fit, what a disappointment. He honestly couldnt get through my beginners workout, yet had no problem running, riding and swimming for over 10 hours.

High rep squats had him breathing like a freight train.

I found this with the footballers I trained.

So my point is, exercise for the heart etc is not walking or jogging only, its hard work. The heart is a muscle, most forget that

Those that do cardio for fat loss are just ill informed.

I get clients every week wanting to join, asking about cardio and sit ups, serious. I keep a pic on file to show them of a client who has never done direct ab work and sure as hell has never done cardio, not even a KB circuit

I've been waiting for this pic

[bozodos]

Well Markos, I'd be really keen on training at your gym if I lived in Melbourne, I do find your methods and convictions interesting - I mentioned your thoughts on lifting etc to my gymbros, they reckon it sounds like Crossfit!

We're about to try a really high intensity circuit style method of training next week - though if I were training alone, I'd probably do something like Starting Strength until I could at least have a good enough base to try the more advanced stuff.

With all of this talk about eating to get strong / big etc, and your earlier comments about trying to eat at a calorie deficit and get stronger being akin to treading water, do you accept those trying to lose fat and THEN gain strength and aesthetics, or do you only take those who are trying to get bigger?

I like my 20 minutes of high intensity cardio post workout, not a fan of running beforehand though. I found 2 weeks of doing that has done more for me than the 2 months of walking I'd done beforehand.

As for squatting 2x bodyweight, that would make me the heaviest squatter in the gym (as far as I know) lol. Not all that impressive though given that most would rather do leg press / extensions than heavy squats.

[markos]

That post is a joke, right...........crossfit?

Edited July 10, 2013 by markos

[jangles]

I didn't say 120 is impressive, that was my point. You said BW wasn't an excuse ergo a reason for anything, so why would it make a 120kg squat impressive, that was my point.

BW either is or is not a factor, you can't have it both ways. Or I suppose you can, you can do whatever you want, just don't be surprised when people get confused.

I've said before, I fully subscribe to and agree with your views, approach, training methods, but that doesn't mean it doesn't shit me when you go above and beyond to split hairs on some of these things.

And yes I get why you do it, it's needed, people have their shit all mixed up - me included which you have helped with on a number of occasions.

I hate talking on forums sometimes, life is so much simpler in person.

Get of my lawn.

</grumpy>

Are you talking about when he put up Jessie's results? He clearly meant that no one can use body weight as an excuse if a 67kg person can squat 180kg.

Edit: read you are talking about it..

Edited July 10, 2013 by jangles

[bozodos]

yeah when I mentioned no frills gym with no machines or classes, and high intensity workouts focusing on functional strength, and linked to your website, the reaction I got was 'lol sounds like crossfit'. Doesn't really faze me, I'm still not convinced on any one methodology for training yet, because I haven't tried them all, and I'm still a beginner.

I only dislike Crossfit because of the amount of injuries, cult like mentality and, how everyone who does it thinks that every other training regime is a complete waste of time and clearly inferior.

Birds you seem to have really changed your tune lately btw

Edited July 10, 2013 by bozodos

[jangles]

Your average gym goer who wants to get bigger and stronger doesn't even understand this IMO. That is why you see so many complaining about size despite going to the gym for years...or coming on the forums complaining about a lack of progress while filling out "My Fitness Enemy" or "If It Fits Your OCD".

I attribute it to mimicry and ignorance. Small guy sees huge guy lifting big weights at the gym, but then they both go home to different places, where huge guy eats 1kg of rump steak for dinner and 3 glasses of milk, meanwhile small guy eats only until he's full. This goes on for years and small guy assumes that big guy has been training much longer / hitting the roids or is genetically superior. You can also blame poor PTs, who don't give their clients a proper (or any) meal plan to suit their weight training.

The problem with people not understanding the specifics of muscle building / where it happens, is that you get skinny guys saying "that was a hard session bro, we lifted for over an hour...got a good pump too...we're gonna be huge in no time". Then he goes out clubbing/dancing for 4 hours and says "no time for dinner tonight" or eats his version of a lot of food, which is basically enough to drive his hunger away and that's it. A year later he's on a forum saying I train so hard and do everything right, why can't I get bigger or gain weight? Then people like Markos and I say you need to eat some food and increase some weights, the body will come later. Then the guy says "but I do eat and I have a 120kg squat, that's pretty heavy for my gym". Then we say bullshit!

Don't stereo type and then put we at the end like you're not one of the people you described.

[No Crust Racing]

Yup. Fear, fear, fear!

The weight is only as heavy as you allow it to be

Lol I'll keep that in mind if my fib shatters lol

Jangles: Did I need to respond or not? I've gym'd tonight and have eaten so I pretty chill now

[No Crust Racing]

I only dislike Crossfit because of the amount of injuries, cult like mentality and, how everyone who does it thinks that every other training regime is a complete waste of time and clearly inferior.

Birds you seem to have really changed your tune lately btw

You get that with most movements though. Diets, car brands, training methods etc. it's not a new thing, just do what you like.

Lol yeah I noticed a bit of a change too, maybe Markos comments about Birds not matching girls for squat hit home?

I know I keep it very much in mind each time I make any gain and feel happy lol

Birds: just because I've been stoked for you and your gains of late doesn't mean I won't give you shit still

[jangles]

Lol I'll keep that in mind if my fib shatters lol

Jangles: Did I need to respond or not? I've gym'd tonight and have eaten so I pretty chill now

Nah, I think you've read enough of markos' literature to understand what he meant now.

[Birds]

Don't stereo type and then put we at the end like you're not one of the people you described.

I'm sorry...do show me where I complained about the weights I was lifting and said "gaiz I can't get stronger / bigger, why is this?"

Knowing methods and choosing to utilise them are two different things.

[Birds]

Birds you seem to have really changed your tune lately btw

In what way my African American brother?

[Birds]

You get that with most movements though. Diets, car brands, training methods etc. it's not a new thing, just do what you like.

Lol yeah I noticed a bit of a change too, maybe Markos comments about Birds not matching girls for squat hit home?

I know I keep it very much in mind each time I make any gain and feel happy lol

Birds: just because I've been stoked for you and your gains of late doesn't mean I won't give you shit still

All good, I'm used to your jest now

The 120kg squat reference in my post was for your benefit, afterall, hahaha