Christmas of 2008-2009 my now Fiancée called me skinny... And whilst it was a bit of a hit to the ego, at 6ft and 69kg wet, who was I kidding...... She hit the nail on the head.
I was a member of a huge car forum at the time, which had a small "diet and fitness" section in it.
I went in for a look, and that's when I saw this rude, no bullshit, meathead of a member "M&M"...... That was my first impression of Markos lol.
I didnt read any of the posted stickies, and posted this horrible routine I made up to reach my goal of getting stronger and bigger. Everyone took the piss out (and deservingly so) except a member, Ghosty.
He invited me around to his house to go through the ropes showed me the big movements and got me on the original skinny guy routine that Markos posted.
While I was there, I weighed in at 69kg... I squatted 80kg, benched 60kg, and pulled 120kg... These were my 1 rep maxes not 10's lol.
I got stuck into the program, ate lots of food, got onto GOMAD and started making a bit of progress.
Around this time, Markos was gaining popularity interstate for funning fun powerlifting/strongman comps out of his garage. The CAPO president of the time, contacted him and asked if he would be interested in bringing his lifters over to do a proper meet. CAPO had 12 lifters at their states, Makos had ~30 in his garage. He jokingly said that he should bring his 12 and join his garage comps.
Markos ended up doing the VIC states in 2010 I believe, then started pushing competitive PLing on the forum.
After the VIC states, the QLD ones were rapidly approaching... Markos called me up and talked me into competing.
I was nervous as fuck.
I had all these ideas on what powerlifters were.... Big, massive, steroid abusing arseholes.... I couldnt have been more wrong.
I met the nicest blokes of any sport.
I lifted 145kg squat, 102,5kg bench and a 190kg deadlift at 82.5kg. I competed against an 80yr old man who squatted 160kg, a 90kg lifter that benched 230, a jnr that pulled 250+..... at the end of the comp I was feeling pretty weak, but all the guys came over and congratulated me on doing the comp, and made me feel like one of them..... Even though my atg 3 plate squats were no where near their level.
From that moment on, I knew this was a sport I wanted to be apart of.
following that, I went to the CAPO Aus champs, got my arse handed to me by Matt Middleton. I went 150/115/220 I think.
My bench sucked, so I sought out the strongest benchers in QLD to help me out. Jeff Lam (200kg raw at 89), Jason durbridge (200kg raw at 107), Allen Kliese (250kg raw and 340kg? equipped) and Dan Cann (cant remember his numbers but he is fucking strong too).
The help I received from these guys was invaluable. Jeff also help me transition from high bar to low bar.
Since then Ive done a fair few comps....
My latest comp was the GPC Australia QLD States where I went 245kg squat, 150kg bench and 272.5kg deadlift. I currently hold the open mens and jnr mens total in the 90kg class at CAPO with 610kg and the GPC Australia open men and senior men squat, bench, deadlift.
From here, on a personal level, I have nationals coming up where Im aiming for a 680kg total, then Europe for the world champs in September where Ill be aiming for 700kg+.
I'm also working towards build up our PL team at PTC Brisbane so we can have the open mens records in every class from 75kg to 140kg. That would be truly awesome.