Deadlift Day!

Easter long weekend which means 5 glorious days off for the regular religious holiday and the bonus is I am a committed atheist, just got to love it! For my North American friends Australians get a long weekend over Easter with holiday spanning Friday to Monday!

So within this context I backed up for Deadlift day at 9:00am. As I arrived Paul was finishing up with the regular morning conditioning class and everyone was looking suitably exhausted.

Foam rolling gets the muscles activated, Dan and Paul have some 90's tunes pumping and I am transported back to a time when age and aches werent a problem. Sweat starting to kick in a little now the muscles are responding and it feels like game time. Warm up sets are going up easy and with each set I feel the body getting tighter.

Chat a little with Perry he is deadlifting too and watch him pull an easy set of 5 at 180. He isnt doing states or nationals but with those lifts he sure as fuck should.

Worked up to my top sets at 83% of 1RM. Felt good felt strong. I have been working on body positioning and noted that I was a little too low on my set up. Now that I have adjusted the bar feels like its going up in the power path.

Finshed 3 back up sets at 70% and after a few sets playing around with my squat I was done.

Approximately 4 weeks to nationals and things are ticking along.

Stay Strong
Thomo

Focus on your powerifting strengths not weaknesses

In business there is a school of thought that I subscribe to that posits an individual should focus on working their strengths rather than weaknesses.

The anecdotal evidence supports this: generally lots of effort to improve a weakness takes most people from mediocrity to average at best. Unfortunately the opportunity cost is the time that could have been used to spend taking your strength and turning it into excellence.

This got me to thinking about the three lifts in powerlifting. Much of the training talk I hear is about working on the 'weak' lift. However as per the business example perhaps that is not the best strategy. For me the deadlift is my strength partly due to my longer than average arms, while this attribute provides me no end of trouble in the bench.

Now I have spent plenty of time bringing my bench up and though this has yielded a 10kg PB in the last few months there is a point of diminishing returns. Therefore in the run to states while I am busy building my base across all my lifts I will focus on the dead.

Just a thought think less of your weakness and aim to increase your total working on your strength!

Stay Strong
Thomo

PTC Perth is FUCKING ROCKING!!

 A while back I was looking to set up my own garage gym, had the business plan ready to go and then out of nowhere heard of the Rucci brothers and the new PTC Perth. I quickly shelved my plans and fast forward a year and PTC Perth is easily the best training facility in town.

There is far two much equipment to list here but the basics include:

• 6 power racks
• 3 large lifting platforms
• a massive EliteFTS leg press
• monolift ready to be installed 
• two competition benches

Everyone is committed and looking to progress but what I like the most is that there are no geared up juice heads. So the members are doing it the old school hard way.

So if you want to get big and strong leave those shit gyms :

• where the staff where polo shirts and call you bro
• that are open 24 hours and have more guys doing biceps that legs
• that force you to come in before they will give you a price to join
• that require you to book a consultation before they will sell you a supplement
• have the owner making more money from selling deca than he makes from memberships

In fact just keep it really simple and give the lads a call at PTC Perth..its cheaper than crossfit and actually works.

Stay Strong

Thomo

Cyclists shit me...

Breakfast in the city with my toddler daughter today and as lovely as this was we were supposed to go for her first visit to the zoo. That is until I forgot that some bloody charity ride was on and therefore it was the wisdom of this great city to shut down the free way and open it to every halfwit with a bicycle.

Finally navigating the ensuing traffic snarl on arterial roads we settled in for a comfy breakfast until that is the familiar sound of cleat on wooden floor broke the silence. Yes you got it, these annoying lycra clad tools secure in there post ride bliss, were invading coffee shops en-mass to indulge in their post ride self masturbatory fantasies.

Now what shits me about this is not that I have to see these either a) ridiculous emaciated or b) chubby individuals in lycra or that there bikes are strewn about the paths and tables rather it is the idea that they have effectively finished exercising and now are lounging their sweaty stinky assess next to me while I eat. I may well stink to high hell once I am finished training but I sure as hell don't then go out to nice cafe and lounge around amongst the other patrons.

So here's an idea when you finish your ride fuck off home and have a shower assholes!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Post Bench Bliss

Yup I love Saturday training. Quiet in the gym, only Dan, Ninja K, Ando and Matt. With with the music low, sun streaming in and the deliberate clang of steel against steel it was just about close to perfect.
I benched in the rack today and hit 5x5 for 82%of 1RM so things are on track. Bar speed was a little slow but I stayed in the hole and pushed through on a couple of tough reps so overall very pleased.

I interspersed bench with 10kg hanging of my belt as I banged out 8 sets of chins, wrapping up with 3 good sets of pendlay rows.

Dan was coaching 3 newbies, casual members trying out PTC in their first session. Seemed like a good bunch of guys though you can really new guys given they a) all wore thick spongy trainers, b) walked squats backwards into the rack and c) wrapped a towel about 4 thousands timesaround the squat bar.

Actually Dan had the retort of the week when one of them asked why they couldn't wrap a towel around the bar.."because you are men"...end of story!!

They appear to be a good bunch that are keen to get better so hopefully 1 or more join fulltime. Though I was treated to the sight of one of them wearing gloves..things that make you go hmmmm!!! Dan, seemingly on a roll with the one liners asked him if he was a 'hand model'!

Next step squat day on Monday....

Stay Strong
Thomo

Lets Get Ready to Bench

Its 30 mins to bench day and damn I love Saturday training. My routine is always the same...pre-workout caffeine check!...foam rolling and band stretches..check!...PTC white t-shirt..check...foo fighters in the Amarok...yeh buddy!

Today's session will be 5x5 sets across at 80% 1RM which is a little different than my normal Wendler but while the poundages and reps are going up still I will stick with it before switching to pure 5/3/1.

In-between each set of bench will be weighted chins (10kg) for sets of 4-5. My final exercise will be Pendlay rows 5 sets of 6 reps strict.

Check back post training.

Stay Strong Thomo

Loving the deadlift!

Another good deadlift session this week maintaining 5x5 at 70% of 1RM. I am still busy videoing a couple of sets each session to ensure my weaknesses are improving.

I have a tendency to not have the hamstrings dialled in as tight as possible prior to the initial pull. This will manifest itself with the hips raising first. This week I focused especially on ensuring the hamstrings were fully stretched and hips locked into place before the pull. Subsequent video showed my hips stayed down and my hip hinge was much stronger.

I am about 5 weeks from states but I won't be peaking at all. My plan is to use states for platform experience an to get used to the judging standards. I will then shift to pure Wendler 5/3/1 and peak 7-8 weeks later for nationals in Melbourne.

I am lifting in GPC this year but may try IPF in 2014 all depends on what the Masters competition is like. While Powerlifting is a race to improve your PB there is also much to be said for being pushed in competition. Now while I am never going to challenge the top guys it will be good to lift against masters liftersin the same weight class (hopefully) so after this year and next I will have a better idea of which federation is for me. For the moment it is all a learning curve.

The rest of the PTC Perth team look to be lifting well and I expect our lads will do very well. Though there are some absolute drug fucking monsters at a few of the other gyms so clearly these pricks may push our natural guys..lets hope not!

Stay tuned for pics of the new EliteFTS leg press that has arrived at PTC Perth.

Stay Strong
Thomo

To be a powerlifter you have to compete

Someone asked me the other day what I did to stay in shape. Now I always cringe when people ask this question as it necessitates me doing the whole 'Powerlifting oh ok what is that' question that normally just wastes 5-10 minutes of my life!

However it got me to thinking about a conversation I had earlier in the week with Dan (one of the PTC owners). Essentially we agreed that you need to compete to truly call yourself a lifter i.e. you are not a bodybuilder unless you slap on the oil, squeeze into the trunks and get up and pose on the platform and you are not a powerlifter unless you go deep into the hole with the soft suit on and the judges watching. Similarly you are not a Crossfitter in Perth unless you pay too much for your membership.....KIDDING!

Seriously though the act of competing legitimizes the activity, it allows you to claim the title of bodybuilder, powerlifter etc. That's not to say the millions of guys and gals just banging the steel in their basements etc with no competitive urges aren't the real deal. It's just that lifting in competition changes the game.

That's why I am dragging my sorry 43 year old ass to both States and Nationals this year. Now let me be very clear I have a real desire to set the GPC masters record for my weight class and if some other achy back, angry old men turn up I will happily aim to kick their ass.

But it's important to put it in context. Looking at the recent lifts of some of my younger and more experienced competitors in the 75kg class its pretty apparent I won't be coming within 200 km's of their total  unless I can get a fucking forklift classified as legal lifting gear! Regardless I am like Ronnie Coleman at a buffet with excitement at the idea of representing PTC Perth and lifting on the competitive platform.

So once I compete I get to own the title of powerlifter. That means I can in the future bore the shit out of much younger lifters with stories of  'back in the day at Nationals...' Mind you most of my stories will no doubt relate to my best work at the after meet dinner, regardless though my lifts may not be on the PTC top 10 I will certainly be a Powerlifter!

So whats stopping... you as the old tagline says..just do it!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Lifting Weights isn't Complicated

I was reading some old Powerlifting USA magazines the other day, flicking through the pages revealed numerous training articles but what struck me was the simplicity inherent in most of the routines: even for the legends of the sport.

Now most of the articles I read stemmed from the mid to late 70's but damn there was some huge guys back then using what was pretty damn simple routines but today's standard. This got me to thinking that like most things it is so damn easy to overcomplicate lifting and end up making no progress.

In business it's not unusual as companies grow that the level of complexity in the business out runs the capacity of the business processes and procedures. This is analogous to lifting. The more you know the more you tend to overcomplicate things.

Thought for the day: if you cant describe your programming and diet to another lifter in 1 minute then the shit is too complicated!

The old school lifters in the 70's used way less gear had less access to information and yet it didn't stop a generation of lifters looking good and hoisting some nasty poundages.

Stay Strong
Thomo

Miscellaneous Gym Shit

So its the end of another week and so it's time to work out the 3 things I learned about training this week.

1. I have to just let my squat form alone: See I have been doing lots of assistance work to fix the imbalances that are impacting my squat. You name it, butt wink, thoracic mobility tight pec tie ins tight hip flexors...all this shit is making a decent squat hard. Consequently I have been fiddling around being super strict on form. Problem is the more I do that the weaker I get. Soo I am adding the weight back in, videoing every session and just not obsessing on the form.

2. I need extra warm up on the squat: I warm up heavily before I even arrive for my session so by the time I hit the gym I can do a modified Agile 8 and then straight into warm up sets. However getting out of work late and then often having commitments post training means I am pushing to get out within the hour. Now this works well even on deadlift day however not for squats. My sad sorry tight ass hips need a shit load of warming up...so now I make sure I have and extra 15 mins to make sure I have plenty of goblet squats in me before the warm up sets commence.

3. I have to stop carrying a scoop of creatine in a plastic clear Ziploc bag: The other day I am driving to work and given I was in a little bit of a rush I put my pre-workout in a ziplock baggie and creatine in a separate one. Pulling up at the lights I noticed the bus driver next to me peering in at the seat of my car. Subsequently I worked out that said driver must have seen the ziplocks and assumed I was some rampant cocaine dealer with the baggies of white powder on the seat. I am just waiting to get pulled over n a random police check with a couple those supplements bagged up on the seat!

Figure I trained well and learned some shit..not a bad week. What did you learn???

Stay Strong
Thomo

Free Market and Cross fit...a perfect match

I am constantly amazed at the prices people are paying for membership to cross fit gyms here in Perth. I had a conversation yesterday with a girl who is paying $190 a month. I mean are you fuggin kidding me..over $2000 a year for a fucking gym membership where some twat is going to provide a less than average routine.

This is why I chuckle at the free market. See weight lifting has been around for many many years but now we have to call it something different. We have to have some twaty "games" to compete in rather than the perfectly legitimate weighlifting championships. Then we can open Cross Fit gyms with all the standard weightlifting equipment that have always been around at the local YMCA since the seventies. But even better fuck me we are going to gouge these poor dumb suckers for $200+ a month who if it weren't for this new fad would still be fucking around in their Tai Bo class or wondering when the next Zumba video was coming out.

Hey if it floats your boat and you want to piss your money away no problem but remember it's not Cross Fit ITS FUCKING WEIGHTLIFTING!

Stay Strong
Thomo

Deadlift today!

On the back of a long weekend holiday I managed a comfortable 5x5 deadlift session today. PTC Perth was pumping tonight, Dazzer was pulling 4+ plates and the Rucci brothers were grinding out comfortable sets in the squat with their usual impeccable form.

I have varied slightly from my 5/3/1 for deadlifts, instead working a simple 5x5 linear progression. Primarily I am keen to get some volume into my deadlift so I can groove my technique after the injuries late last year. So far so good, the adductor tweaks occasionally but rarely and most often when I am squatting.

Today was a solid set of 5 with just under 70% of 1RM. The hip hinge is still feeling good and the hips aren't going to early on the pull. I finished off with some military presses for volume and then pushed a few body weight sets of reverse hypers. For this I just laid backwards on the glute ham raise and will hold a dumbell between my ankles. Not ideal but I found reverse hypers really helped my deadlift a few years back and I am keen to get them going again.

Followed my session with some creatine and dextrose followed by a great feed to get the calories and protein in.

Some conditioning and recovery work and then I will be ready for squatting again in a couple of days. States are scheduled for late April and so far everything is looking good!

Stay Strong

Thomo

Arnold Classic 2013 - Dexter wins

So this weekend saw the 25th anniversary of the Arnold Classic body-building competition. Now it's moment like these that remind me how much water has passed under my bridge. I remember as if it was just the other day that I watched Rich Gaspari shred his way to the inaugural classic in 1989. Though back then I had to wait until the context results appeared 2 months later in Flex and Muscle Mag magazines, remember no Internet or streaming video in those days!

The following year was an interesting one as Shawn ray was disqualified due to a failed drug test, though even back then I couldn't comprehend that the runner up and new winner was the supposed drug free Mike Ashley. See back in the eighties drug use in body-building was not discussed. Weider very deliberately ignored the concept of drugs and it was only during the eighties with the advent of more hardcore magazines that this view softened. Slowly the champs went from writing that you don't need drugs to be a champion to 'you don't need to abuse dugs to be a champion". To be fair though in the early nineties there was still guys with great natural lines as this was pre the ridiculous excess of gear and GH that infects the sport today.

So this years event saw Dexter Jackson tie the great Flex Wheeler with four victories though it is amazing to see the event grow into the huge sport festival it is today rather than just bodybuilding.

One day I'd love to get to Columbus and see the event up close, given the mainstream sports there it is much less freaky than the Olympia weekend.

Stay Strong
Thomo