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"Form"

my lifts are average 220/150/275 at 110 no equipment.

3 bulging discs, last one was serious, had me in bed for 3 days almost unable to move.

Started training at 79kg in 2007, made the above lifts early 2010, took a few holidays and injurys in those 3 years no not solid training the whole time.

It's a piss in the pan compared to people like adam, steve, Wayne, Shane and plenty of other younger guys too like jdizzle, fergiez, freako and plenty of others.

Stronger than me and the OP. I know who I'll be listening to
 
Stronger than me and the OP. I know who I'll be listening to

You guys know how highly I think of Nick, so I dont have to go on about his accomplishments. He has always finished top 3 in any kind of comp I have held, as well as second at the CAPO State titles in the Open Men's class.

But to dismiss Ghosty so easily because of Nicks lifts is foolish.

What if Ghosty was to say he can squat bodyweight for 50 reps

Overhead squat bodyweight for 10 reps

Do a Turkish get up with a 60kg BB

Nick has been just as injured as Mike has, Nick cant do any of those lifts I just listed, neither can I.

To simply look at a 110kg guys lifts against a 65kg guy and dismiss him as irrelevant is foolhardy.

Mikes biggest downfalls are his lack of consistency with training and diet.

He trains way too hard for a guy who eats so little.

Ghosty has only entered one official PL comp, he doesnt really train for 1RM.

Ghosty has military pressed bodyweight at PTC, Nick hasnt, Ghosty can for reps. Ghosty has done reps with double bodyweight squats.

Dont be so dismissive of Mike based on lifts, he is WAY stronger than you think.

If you dont believe me, try some of his lifts
 
I can confidently say that Mike is not talking about form, but rather guys spending time perfecting a technique whilst ignoring the reason we go to the gym, to get strong.

He is not stupid enough to tell people to lift with shit form, thats not what he's trying to say.

How many times has someone posted on here that they dont squat or deadlift because they dont know how and want to get their technique right before they start.

How the fuck did anybody ever pick anything up in the beginning.

Mikes not the best at explaining himself, but I've been reading his posts for years and understand what he means.

You shouldve too Nick before having a crack at Ghosty, when has he ever been clear in his posts.

When I began lifting, the goals for lifters were simply 200-300-400lb. Once achieved, you could stray from the basics.

Mike is saying guys cant do that and are straying from the basics in search of an easier way. Thats all.

And for the record, Mike has done 204-303-369 at under 150lb. Thats not too bad

Strong is Strong

Doing the exercises wrongly can benefit you by progressively building up strength in those bad positions in a safe way, so in the future when you're doing a lift with real weight and you come out the groove you don't break in half.

As you grow more experienced you will learn yourself what corrections you need to make to make your lifting more efficient (i.e. correct FORM) - that's a given and comes with the territory. I just cannot get over how many people I see wasting so much time on the little things when they are insignificant. As you start to get stronger they become significant, but for a novice, in my opinion, the most important thing is time spent LIFTING.

The above is very clear. And clearly incorrect.

The forum gets clogged with shit like this and then anyone looking for good info has to be a fucking detctive to find the valuable info from people like steve and adam. Guys who have put in the hard yards and are elite lifters rather than still waiting that elusive 100kg bench press.
 
lol..........I didnt see that, I skim most of Mikes writing because, well, you know why.

But I know you understand what he means, he is poor at expressing himself.

Look at the furor of Rory's deadlift. Most were shocked and the comments scathing

Fast forward a few months, Rory is stronger, fitter and has a $250,000 full ride scholarship with an oppurtunity to play in the NFL

He no longer needs to perform exercises in the manner he did to impress the clueless coach.

If Rory was elsewhere, he would still be doing 140kg deadlifts in perfect form and paying for his own college tuition in Melbourne, with zero chance of playing NFL

No one has said much about what he achieved in a handful of months with ZERO training beforehand.

I think THATS what Mike is talking about, in a roundabout way.
 
Markos you've written MANY times if you cant go 100/140/180 you're a novice.

And yes Rory has now got himself a good deal, a damn good deal!
 
I remember on NS.com that you made Nick and Kelly moderators of the PTC section of the forum so that people can good advice instead of bro science.

Doing the exercises wrongly can benefit you by progressively building up strength in those bad positions in a safe way, so in the future when you're doing a lift with real weight and you come out the groove you don't break in half.

As you grow more experienced you will learn yourself what corrections you need to make to make your lifting more efficient (i.e. correct FORM) - that's a given and comes with the territory. I just cannot get over how many people I see wasting so much time on the little things when they are insignificant. As you start to get stronger they become significant, but for a novice, in my opinion, the most important thing is time spent LIFTING.

that's bro science.

I'm not taking anything away from Mike.
he is strong, and has crazy work ethic (when he works)...

but the post (which is his opinion and advice) is incorrect or worded very wrong.

something I'm curoius about from ghosty..
your vid is of you doing 100kg for 20 reps at 58kg I think it was..

What is your 20 rep weight now and what do you weigh?
what was your bench max (or max weight for what ever rep range you train) when you were 58kg and what is it now at whatever you weigh?
 
From someone who is farking injury prone, I'd rather take a little extra time in getting the form right than pushing too hard with incorrect form and getting yet another injury. Injuries make me want to give up :(

There is a fair amount of roid rage going on in here :p
 
Nick, if I wasn't injured and I could train for 1RM strength, and I added a measly 12.5kg to my deadlift, which would then bring me up to a 400lb deadlift, and put me in 200/300/400 club, how would ANYTHING I've written change? My views would still be the same.

Let's take drifting for example - it doesn't matter how much reading up on theory and watching videos of guys drifting, until you get in a car start driving and develop the feeling and responses needed to control the car, it means jack shit. It can't be taught, you have to learn it. A tiny bit of base knowledge does help before getting in the car of course, but there is a point where you're just wasting your time sitting in the class room and should go straight to driving because the quicker you rack up some seat time the quicker you can start the real learning. Once you have established some experience (actually driving) then you can go back to the classroom and start to work on technique because it will actually make sense.

In my opinion, it's the same with lifting. It doesn't matter how much someone tells you what to do, you have to learn it yourself. When you start squatting with a barbell, it doesn't matter if your form is not 100% perfect because (1) a new lifter has zero experience and doesn't know what to expect, and (2) they are not going to get injured from an empty barbell. The important thing is getting them under the bar and going through the motions. I have gone out on a limb here and said this process should continue till a lifter hits 100kg in the lift, then it's time to head back to the classroom and start analysing form and technique because they have built up some experience and talking about form and technique will actually make sense.

Obviously that little bit of prior knowledge to ensure the basics of the lift are being done correctly is essential, but spending hours talking theory on form to a fresh lifter is a waste of time when they could have had the 5min summary and started lifting.


Doing the exercises wrongly can benefit you by progressively building up strength in those bad positions in a safe way
Lets say I want to enter a strongman competition. I have to lift a big rock up with a rounded back. Do I start off trying to lift the big one first? No. I start with the small one and progressively work up to the big one. We know lifting with a rounded back is opening yourself up to injury, so we train to be strong in that compromised position. Is it really such a hard concept to grasp?

When a fresh lifter starts squatting, their form will not be perfect and I’m saying it doesn’t have to be because all they are doing is building strength in a compromised position. After they’ve spent some time lifting and their form improves, it just leaves them with a safety net if they ever come out the groove they won’t break in half, slip a disc or tear a groin muscle because they’ve built up some resistance to it.
 
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Nick, if I wasn't injured and I could train for 1RM strength, and I added a measly 12.5kg to my deadlift, which would then bring me up to a 400lb deadlift, and put me in 200/300/400 club, how would ANYTHING I've written change? My views would still be the same.

A lot of ifs there mate.

Your a determined bugger but It seems your currently injured and have been for a while and really haven't gained much strength over the last couple of years despite gaining some weight.

Maybe time to rethink if your approach is working that well.
 
something I'm curious about from ghosty..
your vid is of you doing 100kg for 20 reps at 58kg I think it was..

What is your 20 rep weight now and what do you weigh?
what was your bench max (or max weight for what ever rep range you train) when you were 58kg and what is it now at whatever you weigh?
A lot of ifs there mate.

Your a determined bugger but It seems your currently injured and have been for a while and really haven't gained much strength over the last couple of years despite gaining some weight.

Maybe time to rethink if your approach is working that well.
My 1RM’s have only increased by a few kilo’s in the last few years because I have only been doing maintenance training.

A bit of background on myself - I was working 2 full time physical jobs ~70hr weeks (allowed me to spend close to $80k on cars in the last 4 years), didn’t leave much left for training. It’s only recently I’ve gone back to doing an office job that I have the time and energy to train again.

When I weighed 58kg my best effort was 105kg x 18 reps and 130kg x 2 in the squat.
Fast forward to now, with 2months training I did 100kg x 22 reps without much concern, and squatted 137.5kg at the ProRawOne comp, new PB, and it was a very hard lift.

I have always just wanted to be bigger. I don’t really care much for lifting comps, they are fun and I enjoy competing, but I also like going to support PTC which is why I’ve rarely missed any and don't compete at local ones. During 2007-2008 I trained the hardest I’ve ever trained and that’s where I built my base (strength that you will never lose), which is why after a layoff from training, after only a few weeks of training I can almost be back to where I was at my best, which is what I’ve been doing the last few years for all the PTC comps.

Anyway during the period where I trained the hardest I was getting stronger but wasn’t really getting bigger or putting on weight. It’s only recently I’ve realised (from quantitative results) that by training less, (but still hard), only once or twice a week am I actually starting to grow, which is why I’m now up to 68kg. Obviously training less is not conjunctive to building outright strength, but that’s not really my goal, I just want to hit 80kg on the scales, and I’m going with what’s working at the moment.
 
From someone who is farking injury prone, I'd rather take a little extra time in getting the form right than pushing too hard with incorrect form and getting yet another injury. Injuries make me want to give up :(

There is a fair amount of roid rage going on in here :p

Youre assuming Mike has poor form.

Did you watch his videos?
 
Youre assuming Mike has poor form.

Did you watch his videos?

You're assuming I was taking about Mike ;)

Don't be so defensive Markos.

Is this thread about Mike or 'beginners' in general? He did specify those that can't lift 100kgs yet.
 
But to dismiss Ghosty so easily because of Nicks lifts is foolish.

What if Ghosty was to say he can squat bodyweight for 50 reps

Overhead squat bodyweight for 10 reps

Do a Turkish get up with a 60kg BB

Nick has been just as injured as Mike has, Nick cant do any of those lifts I just listed, neither can I.

To simply look at a 110kg guys lifts against a 65kg guy and dismiss him as irrelevant is foolhardy.

Ghosty has military pressed bodyweight at PTC, Nick hasnt, Ghosty can for reps. Ghosty has done reps with double bodyweight squats.

Dont be so dismissive of Mike based on lifts, he is WAY stronger than you think.

If you dont believe me, try some of his lifts

Turkish get up- FAIL. only got 30kg
BW x 50, got it
OH squat- cant (torn tendon in my forearm), but to be truthful even if i wasnt injured (not through lifting, through work) i cant do OH squats, i lack the flexibility and balance.

My bench, squat and dead are 123.5, 165, 205 respectively at 82kg.

Ghosty, i apologise to you. i grossly underestimated you and your lifts. I am sorry for dismissing your point of view, and i will show more respect.

If you dont mind me saying though, it does seem that your mental toughness is perhaps your biggest problem in relation to your injuries, perhaps if you harnessed that your lifts and well being would both benefit.
 
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