Powerlifting

[markos]

Brisbane. Tolga competed at GPC Nats last year and is doing States this weekend, 90kg class

[SRS13]

Spiros using our Westside Bandbell Earthquake bar. Its designed for shoulder health and rehab, most of our team uses it. I can currently tell you that none of our 30 competitors are injured leading into Nats.

Damn that looked very awkward. It looks like it will cause an injury ... but will take your word for it.

Speaking of which, bicep tendinitis has flared again so no benching or chest work. Going to do a heap of squats and deads for the next 2 months.

Did 175kg deadlift yesterday - new PB for me.

[jangles]

Deads won't hurt your bicep?

[markos]

The Earthquake bar was designed to work the stabiliser muscles around the shoulder. Its a rehab prehab bar, will only take 90kg, its not designed to load up and get strong on

We were using a regular bar with bands and KB's from 2008. I reckon only 1-2 shoulder injuries in over 5 years, and we've got some pretty big benchers

This bamboo bar is awesome. You have to remember we have a few guys lifting hard/heavy 7 x week, Max, Martin, Zoran, Dan, plus another dozen doing 6 x week.

We have to be very smart about the way we train and the equipment we use. We have 2 x Super Squat bars with another coming from Elite FTS I think, maybe a rack able Cambered squat bar as well.

You guys dont see a lot of things we do in the gym, would be boring to film and watch, but its important to keep our lifters on the platform

We have a Westside Reverse Hyper 2 weeks away, this will allow us to hit the posterior chain more often without the need to deadlift 3 x week

Its unfortunate we need to import a lot of our gear from overseas, but everyone in Australia simply sells cheaper chinese gear or stuff not suited to PL. You cannot even buy a bench press in Australia with a 30cm wide pad, no wonder so many have shoulder issues. We have 6 bench presses that have 30cm wide pads. In case your wondering, your benching on a 25cm pad

We just received our 3rd deadlift bar, this one from Finland, same supplier we get our 35mm squat bars from

We have 5 SlingShots, so the guys can overload benchers without smashing the shoulders, we have the Maddog one, 3 x regular ones and the mild reactive one. We have 2 Titan ones.

All this stuff isnt glamorous, but it helps keep our lifters lifting

[TTT]

Pro Power will eventually fix all these import equipment issues.

[markos]

It will offer some good stuff, but it wont fix it, too much stuff needed and not enough demand. Rock Solid makes okay stuff here, but the best stuff comes from the USA

We just ordered another 3 bars from Elite FTS overnight, Rackable Cambered Squat Bar, Super Squat Bar and a Super Shoulder Saver bench bar.

Some of this stuff we can get here, but not the quality we demand. Were getting regular commercial stuff for the PTC Frankston side of the business, leg press, lat pulldown, seated cable row, but the stuff for PTC Powerlifting is all coming from overseas, mainly from Elite FTS, Forza and Westside Barbell

[TTT]

It will offer some good stuff, but it wont fix it, too much stuff needed and not enough demand. Rock Solid makes okay stuff here, but the best stuff comes from the USA

We just ordered another 3 bars from Elite FTS overnight, Rackable Cambered Squat Bar, Super Squat Bar and a Super Shoulder Saver bench bar.

Some of this stuff we can get here, but not the quality we demand. Were getting regular commercial stuff for the PTC Frankston side of the business, leg press, lat pulldown, seated cable row, but the stuff for PTC Powerlifting is all coming from overseas, mainly from Elite FTS, Forza and Westside Barbell

Oh Markos.. did you bump your head? lol

what about a donkey calf raise machine and smith machine?

Joking.

[m35stagea]

As you progress bodybuilding style machines are very beneficial.

Markos would know this, however too many begginers skip or forget free weights.

Efs is filled with plate and pin loaded machines. Also very good for infured lifters.

[TTT]

he is splitting his gym in 2 in the next location.

the BB stuff is going in to the average gym users section.

I think this all started when he was introducing a new possible client in to PTC frankston as being a great powerlifting gym when he took the client over to the Monolift they have which the boys had loaded an EZ bar on with multiple plates.. lol

[rev210]

As you progress bodybuilding style machines are very beneficial.

Markos would know this, however too many begginers skip or forget free weights.

Efs is filled with plate and pin loaded machines. Also very good for infured lifters.

Yep. I remember incorporated some heavy work on some machines for assisting development on squats and other movements. Some of the equipment was different to what I have seen in commercial gyms though. Used a hack squat machine (did free weight hack squats as well) , Leg press (machine could take about 1,000kg of plates, I did about 720kg- took forever to load and unload 20kg plates) , a sort of calf raise/ hack squat style sled thing that helped with full calf dorsiflexion strength(you had to squat it upwards before you could do the rest of the movement ). A few of these things people never seemed to use

Edited April 3, 2013 by rev210

[markos]

Its a bit of both. We have over 20 gyms in Frankston, most are $20 a week. For that you get to use the gym equipment, which is sub standard. We charge $40 a week, you get the best gear in Oz, coaching and a program.

Some dont need monos and Eleikos, but everyone loves the coaching and programming.

So by splitting the gym in 2, we offer the best of both worlds, quality bars, racks, benches, DB's and KB's, now with leg press, incline press, pulldowns and rows, platforms and bumpers. Same price as the other gyms in Frankston. Also have Strongman stuff, Atlas Stones, Farmers walk handles, log, kegs, sled, sandbags etc

We also offer a powerlifting gym with equipment thats unsurpassed in Australia, and lots of it, not one squat bar but 4, 3 deadlift bars, 2 Eleiko bars, 3 Forza benches, 3 mono lifts, 3 combo racks, 4 platforms, Westside Reverse hyper, bands, chains, boxes, every specialist bar made. All programming, coaching etc

The other reason for the gear is bodybuilding as Christian said. Muscle moves weight. We do hypertrophy work from either July till January (novices) or November to March, depending on your level. The guys that qualify for ProRaw start later and do an easy States, hence why Max only went 665kg when he's planning 700kg+ for Nats in June.

PTC Powerlifting is a club, PTC Frankston is a gym

Edited April 3, 2013 by markos

[NickR33]

I'm excited!

[Mitcho_7]

Sounds like Markos is gonna have a lot of gear to write off on tax!

It sounds like a good business decision for sure though

[markos]

Ive got lots of help. Emad has become my business partner. He was planning to open a PTC around Blackburn/Doncaster, but said he couldnt replicate our atmosphere, so instead we joined up. He is also a partner in ProRaw.

He has done so much for our sport that most will never know about, but thats not why he does it anyway.

Seeing this is a Skyline forum, I should mention that for my 50th last year I got an R35 GTR for 3 days, from Emad. The weeks leading up I got a 456 Ferrari, a Gallardo and the SL600 Merc. Recently I drove his Audi RS5. Nice car, but the GTR ruins you for anything else.

Back to the gym, he is hell bent on setting up the best PL gym in Oz. I feel with the move and once all the new gear arrives, we've got that covered.

We have some pretty big names in the sport coming out, sponsored by PTC, we have to make sure our facility exceeds anything else they've been in.

I'd do a list of all the gear but it won't mean much to most of you, I am fully aware that our sport is an underground sport followed by a minority of gym goers

[TTT]

I didn't know about the emad side of the story. That's pretty cool.

[Birds]

Incoming tl;dr

So I'll tell you what I love about deadlifts and the lifting standards some of you people have set for me.

For starters, in the nearly 10 years I've been going to my gym, the squat racks have never been so used than they have over the last year or so. This is great, because we now have squats and deads being done by average gym goers - even being taught to them by Tolga's favourite polo shirted folk (albeit 1/4 squats and some very light deadlifts).

However, some big units at my gym do hit the racks and, during this time, I'm yet to see anyone in there deadlift anything close to what I have. This I find surprising, because I've only been doing deadlifts for about a year and consider myself to be at the lower end of the lifting scale in terms of strength...but this is due to my exposure to the kind of numbers lifted by some of the guys on here and the vids from PTC. It's certainly testament to your environment playing a big part in your success. When other people set the standards high for you, it renders personal standards obsolete.

I saw a guy yesterday, who looked twice my size and of similar bf%, struggle to do 1 stiff-legged deadlift with 140kg. I mean he really struggled. He put it back on the rack and turned around with what I assume was his best "I'm a strong motherf**ker" look on his face. Then removed 2x20kg plates and continued stiff-leggeds for a few reps. I really wanted to go over there and challenge him to a deadlift comp for $20...I'm certain he would have taken me on based on our size alone (as per ye olde size-strength perception). I didn't, because I didn't want to come off as an arrogant shit. But the thing is, this guy...I'm fairly certain...thought that what he was lifting was right up there. And if I wasn't on here regularly, I'd probably think it was too. But I am, and when I see people like Martin Nguyen deadlifting over 270kg at a similar body weight to me, it shows me that my <200kg 1RM or whatever, is nowhere near it's potential; pushes me to go further and surpass what would be considered "good" at my own gym.

I do enjoy the stares I get when I load up a bar with plates for deadlifts - people probably thinking that I'm set to injure myself, all the while I'm thinking that I'm lifting sweet f**k all. And now I feel like one of those arrogant, elitist-lifter types who mock average gym goers with different goals to me. Good going guys!

[NickR33]

Seeing this is a Skyline forum, I should mention that for my 50th last year I got an R35 GTR for 3 days, from Emad. The weeks leading up I got a 456 Ferrari, a Gallardo and the SL600 Merc. Recently I drove his Audi RS5. Nice car, but the GTR ruins you for anything else.

GTR better than the 456?

didn't realise you were 50... geez you don't look too bad for an old bloke

[rev210]

Incoming tl;dr

So I'll tell you what I love about deadlifts and the lifting standards some of you people have set for me.

For starters, in the nearly 10 years I've been going to my gym, the squat racks have never been so used than they have over the last year or so. This is great, because we now have squats and deads being done by average gym goers - even being taught to them by Tolga's favourite polo shirted folk (albeit 1/4 squats and some very light deadlifts).

However, some big units at my gym do hit the racks and, during this time, I'm yet to see anyone in there deadlift anything close to what I have. This I find surprising, because I've only been doing deadlifts for about a year and consider myself to be at the lower end of the lifting scale in terms of strength...but this is due to my exposure to the kind of numbers lifted by some of the guys on here and the vids from PTC. It's certainly testament to your environment playing a big part in your success. When other people set the standards high for you, it renders personal standards obsolete.

I saw a guy yesterday, who looked twice my size and of similar bf%, struggle to do 1 stiff-legged deadlift with 140kg. I mean he really struggled. He put it back on the rack and turned around with what I assume was his best "I'm a strong motherf**ker" look on his face. Then removed 2x20kg plates and continued stiff-leggeds for a few reps. I really wanted to go over there and challenge him to a deadlift comp for $20...I'm certain he would have taken me on based on our size alone (as per ye olde size-strength perception). I didn't, because I didn't want to come off as an arrogant shit. But the thing is, this guy...I'm fairly certain...thought that what he was lifting was right up there. And if I wasn't on here regularly, I'd probably think it was too. But I am, and when I see people like Martin Nguyen deadlifting over 270kg at a similar body weight to me, it shows me that my <200kg 1RM or whatever, is nowhere near it's potential; pushes me to go further and surpass what would be considered "good" at my own gym.

I do enjoy the stares I get when I load up a bar with plates for deadlifts - people probably thinking that I'm set to injure myself, all the while I'm thinking that I'm lifting sweet f**k all. And now I feel like one of those arrogant, elitist-lifter types who mock average gym goers with different goals to me. Good going guys!

When I was going to the gym a number of times the PT types actually tried to stop me doing squats and various other movements with largish weights. The really big dudes were the best value for a laugh.

[markos]

Nice story Birds, and it is good to see Joe Public squatting and pulling. On the SLDL, they are included in my beginners program I give out, which is the hardest most effective program I've ever written.

Max and his crew used to do it prior to PL, Max got to 140kg x 15 at around 72kg bodyweight. Max still claims that SLDL for high reps is the hardest thing you can do in the gym.

Nick, I'm 51, and the 35 destroyed all the cars I tested. Emad offered me an Audi R8, BMW M3, some other exotica, and I've declined them. There is a chance there may be an Aventador coming. It would be rude to knock that back lol

[TTT]

Emad going to be staring in the next Underbelly?