Gym And Supplement Discussion

[Birds]

I think people give way too much attention to those beginner numbers, taking them the wrong way and out of context. Not that they aren't a good goal for anyone to achieve, regardless of why they are in the gym, but it doesn't mean you can't achieve what you set out to do without obtaining them. Afterall, they are only based on three exercises.

I had what many would call a decent body before I ever even did a squat or a deadlift. I'm sure Dan did too, because we both worked most of our muscles with different exercises (including lots of isolation) anyway. 2 years ago I gave no fks for being that strong, as long as I looked good. It's still largely the case, but I figure now that as long as I'm in the gym staying good looking (), I might as well aim for something at the same time. It's fun increasing the numbers on the three lifts and I am getting some decent legs now to make my appearance more proportionate. I'm also a convert of the efficiency of compound movements, now that I see I can spend 4 hours a week in the gym for a better looking body than 6 hours a week.

Y'all need to understand that, regardless of clients, powerlifter or non, Markos believes in strength training as ultimate (efficiency and usefulness) for achieving any goals regardless of why you're in the gym; that anyone can benefit from it, whether you want to be strong, maintain a healthy lifestyle, play a sport or just look good. It's sound logic, as he has the results to back it up, be it big numbers or pictures of people or employed by a sporting club. Therefore, he's going to have a bench mark in the 3 major lifts that are quintessential to a sport based on strength training, and apply them to any situation. Now they were originally created as an expectation for people looking to get strong - it just happens that they are useful too, should you want to build yourself a good looking body. So let's not forget the roots of the expectations and the person who created them: it's powerlifting and strength training, but they are useful for anything.

You don't need to take offence to them if you haven't made them yet - you can get a good body without training to these numbers; you don't even have to do the exercises. But is there anyone here who isn't training bench/squats/deads? Is it so bad to have higher expectations than what the rest of society does? Anyone who disagrees with the numbers is forgetting that they are simply the benchmark of a trainer, created for his clients and anyone who wants to listen to him. Don't get caught up in the numbers if you don't like them; they will probably be changing soon anyway, to accommodate higher expectations. But you can't really disagree with them. It's a bit of a contradiction if you do.

[Birds]

tl;dr: keep in mind the context of those numbers; shut up and lift.

[No Crust Racing]

I'm in for most of that. I was more defined with isolation exercises, but I'm stronger and a bit larger now and I think my physique is more balanced than it was more beef on legs and back, and if you recall that was the point of my very first thread in here, balancing out my home gym routine.

And yes, I was not training those 3 lifts initially, but I feel better for doing it now, regardless of numbers.

[markos]

I think the absolute biggest issue is people have forgotten what gyms are intended for, or that "weight training" is actually called progressive resistance training.

Most gym users are what we call mouth breathers. We feel most waste their time in the gym. The only difference with us is we follow progressive resistance training and we teach proper technique. Not what PT's call proper technique, but proper lifting technique.

So some of our clients want to compete in powerlifting, the most accessible strength sport. Whether your in the PL section or not, progressive resistance is the aim.

Injury. I've had many come for injury rehab, namely backs. Wayne has fallen off ladders and broken his back twice. He was a mess, at 40 years old he couldnt pick anything up. His wife was training at PTC and she suggested he try it and see if I could help him. That was late 2010. At 43yo Wayne now deadlifts 240kg, squats 200kg and benches 135kg. Back is good.

Ryan had been seeing a chiro/physio twice a week for years. He is a builder, in his early 30's. His whole family trains at PTC, sister, brother, brother in law, sister in law etc. They talked him into coming in. He deadlifts 250kg now.

Obviously over the past 5 1/2 years there are many more, but you get the idea.

I can see why most think its a PL gym, I dont talk about the regular gym clients as I dont find what they do exciting, not exciting enough to talk about on a forum. By years end I'll have 3 clients deadlift 300kg, I have 2 so far. Thats exciting.

As far as physiques go, even though its not our thing, Martin, Alex, Max, Conor, Dave, Luke, Alen, Jesse, Wayne, Emad, Dan and a few others are very impressive, but whats more impressive is they would outlift 99% of gym goers in commercial gyms.

I should also add, that the "novice tag" was not started by me, but it was something I was subjected to before most of you were born. In 1979, I read that youre a novice until 300/200/400 lbs, I simplified it, 3 plates, 2 plates, 4 plates

[bozodos]

Oh well, at least I only wasted 6 months doing bro routines, not years!

With your beginner program, is the intention still to add weight on every session?

[No Crust Racing]

Do you do anything particular for recovering guys? Just light weights or do you have them focus on isolation exercises to build up supporting strength etc?

How is Emad recovering, what's the plan there?

[markos]

Bozo, no matter what program you do, the aim is to ALWAYS add weight,

Each rehab is individual, guys with crook backs or knees bench, guys with crook shoulders/elbows squat and pull. No one trains light, ever. If you cant train go home and rest

Emad doesnt have the go ahead to lift yet

[No Crust Racing]

What injuries do you find the guys sustain lifting heavy? Do you seem common technique issues that cause certain types of injuries more often than others?

[Birds]

One of the things I loved about Findlays, was the calibre of people going there and leading by example. And there were a lot of them. You couldn't just blame someone's physique or strength on genetics and steroids. As a weak and skinny, you were the exception; the odd one out. Man I felt so tiny going there. I'm certain this is one of the bigger issues in commercial gyms - the goal achievers, the people everyone wants to be like, are few and far between.

I said before that humans are emulators. When your expectations are set by the average commercial gym goer, that's gonna leave you with mediocre goals, advice and examples to go off.

I remember my dad pointing out a Mr Australia (?) competitor at Findlays once. All I ever saw him do at that gym was eat buckets of chicken in the office. I never saw him lift a single weight anytime I was there. You don't see things like this in most gyms - probably why the importance of food in training goes unaccounted for by most.

[bozodos]

All I usually see in my gym are curlbros, footballers and hungry skeleton types, with the odd competitive bodybuilder / obvious juicer who smashes out on the machines and only does light compounds (they also may be training multiple times a day, I don't know). Haven't seen many other fatties doing anything other than sitting around on the pec dec machine though.

I look up to one of my training partners for an example, sub 12% bodyfat, big muscles, and very strong (at least compared to everyone else at the gym). He also has a good knowledge of proper form and mobility movements like stretching, so has been a HUGE help to me.

Markos, yeah I was trying to get an idea of whether I should be trying to add every session - I was reading through your thread on AusBB and got the answer I was after (yes until it slows down, then every week).

[markos]

Very few injuries, oddly enough most done outside the gym, like slicing through a calf tendon, knee playing football

Lifting related, lower back muscle pulls, sore elbows, thats the main ones.

Had a new guy join last night, wants to compete in powerlifting, did a bodybuilding show a few years ago, but lately been concentrating on powerlifting only

He weighs 82kg, squats 160kg, benches 122.5kg and deadlifts 175kg. Decided to bite the bullet and join us. He saw the numbers my guys put up at Nats, swallowed his pride and joined up.

He will do our October Novice Comp, will be interesting to see what we can do in a short time frame

[Birds]

These testing companies are a pain in the ass to get a response or even a call back from. Will give it another week of hassling, if I don't see success I'll just refund people's research donations.

[jangles]

I think the absolute biggest issue is people have forgotten what gyms are intended for, or that "weight training" is actually called progressive resistance training.

Most gym users are what we call mouth breathers. We feel most waste their time in the gym. The only difference with us is we follow progressive resistance training and we teach proper technique. Not what PT's call proper technique, but proper lifting technique.

So some of our clients want to compete in powerlifting, the most accessible strength sport. Whether your in the PL section or not, progressive resistance is the aim.

Injury. I've had many come for injury rehab, namely backs. Wayne has fallen off ladders and broken his back twice. He was a mess, at 40 years old he couldnt pick anything up. His wife was training at PTC and she suggested he try it and see if I could help him. That was late 2010. At 43yo Wayne now deadlifts 240kg, squats 200kg and benches 135kg. Back is good.

Ryan had been seeing a chiro/physio twice a week for years. He is a builder, in his early 30's. His whole family trains at PTC, sister, brother, brother in law, sister in law etc. They talked him into coming in. He deadlifts 250kg now.

Obviously over the past 5 1/2 years there are many more, but you get the idea.

I can see why most think its a PL gym, I dont talk about the regular gym clients as I dont find what they do exciting, not exciting enough to talk about on a forum. By years end I'll have 3 clients deadlift 300kg, I have 2 so far. Thats exciting.

As far as physiques go, even though its not our thing, Martin, Alex, Max, Conor, Dave, Luke, Alen, Jesse, Wayne, Emad, Dan and a few others are very impressive, but whats more impressive is they would outlift 99% of gym goers in commercial gyms.

I should also add, that the "novice tag" was not started by me, but it was something I was subjected to before most of you were born. In 1979, I read that youre a novice until 300/200/400 lbs, I simplified it, 3 plates, 2 plates, 4 plates

just a couple of days ago, a guy i know going to gym frequently, i told him to increase his weights as often as he could.....was stoked with the 'burn' after applying a basic progressive method.. Apparently it's not common knowledge

[SRS13]

These testing companies are a pain in the ass to get a response or even a call back from. Will give it another week of hassling, if I don't see success I'll just refund people's research donations.

You better not leave with our money!

[No Crust Racing]

LOL if Birds skips the country John, I'll cover your $10 for you

[markos]

Alex Deken started with us 9 weeks ago, his PB's were 180kg squat, 140kg bench and a 200kg deadlift, pretty good numbers. He was the strongest guy at his gym but he wanted to get stronger.

He did a Novice comp in July where he went 210/160/230

Tonight he squatted 190kg x 10. That is outstanding progress for a guy who was already strong

By Nats next year he will be very competitive in the 90kg class. He was 82kg when he started, those days are gone. It may even be a struggle keeping him under 90kg. He is very lean with a very impressive physique.

His next comp is the Melbourne Cup - Sunday the 8th of September at PTC

[SRS13]

So what did he weigh 9 weeks ago and what does he weigh now?

How did you get him up so quickly? Please post his routine in here or the other thread you started. Thanks.

[markos]

He was 82kg when he walked in, 89kg now

ALL our powerlifters do PTC Method, a program written by Max

Our powerlifters are on a different membership, they get individual programs, coaching, nutrition advice.

Some join the other section first then migrate over when they see what our guys do. Alex knew all about Max and Martin, the 2 in the same weight class as him, so he joined the PL team straight off.

With the weight thing

Since Nats in mid June

Alex 82kg - 89kg

Martin 82kg - 93kg

Stelian 89kg - 103kg

Daniel 120kg-126kg

Lots of our lifters are moving up a weight class (or 2) for 2014

[SRS13]

That's a good increase in both bodyweight and lifts for Alex.

Did Stelian go from 89kg to 103kg since June??

Is PTC method different to PPP?

[Birds]

Daniel is going to be a monster haha