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How did you get into powerlifting?
- Thread starter kaz
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- powerlifting
Sticky
Active member
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.
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.
Last edited:
0ni
Registered Rustler
I had trained for cycling since the age of 11
I was doing well but noticed that while I was a better cyclist than most other people the older people were a lot stronger than me. Other cyclists just said that this was an age thing and I'd become a stronger cyclist as I grew older. Well they obviously didn't know shit so I started reading into sports training
Started going to the gym aged 20, didn't really know what I was doing but I knew that I needed to do the big exercises and looking in my old journals (lol!) I see that I weighed 50kg and on my first session I did a 70kg squat (high as fuck looking back, nowhere near parallel), benched 40kg for 5, pressed 30kg for 5 and deadlifted 100kg once.
I could only go weight train once a week so I just did as much as possible. I'd do squats first up to a 5RM then bench, deadlift then press. Then I'd do chin-ups or something last. I quickly discovered that when my deadlift went up, my cycling improved so I started just training for the deadlift and not much else. Within 4 months of this I was strong enough to compete at county level (equiv to state level here). After that I dropped cycling almost altogether choosing to cycle once a week and spent the rest of my time doing weights and interval training. It was at this time when I had proper coaching at a proper facility. I then brought cycling back in again a few weeks prior to racing. It seems funny to say this but when I was in the race that would qualify me for nationals people were saying stuff like "too big for cycling, too many muscles it will slow him down" etc haha. Then I pretty much embarrassed them all. I then competed at a national level a few times and did "ok" but then moved to Australia.
After moving here pretty much all I've been doing is strength training and I really like it, much easier than cycling and more fun. The people in the sport are the nicest I've ever met as well, I will agree with that 100%. Outside of forums where everyone is a dick lol. I'm pretty sure in cycling people gave false advice so that people would not succeed. In this sport people will give stella advice to their biggest rival
I was doing well but noticed that while I was a better cyclist than most other people the older people were a lot stronger than me. Other cyclists just said that this was an age thing and I'd become a stronger cyclist as I grew older. Well they obviously didn't know shit so I started reading into sports training
Started going to the gym aged 20, didn't really know what I was doing but I knew that I needed to do the big exercises and looking in my old journals (lol!) I see that I weighed 50kg and on my first session I did a 70kg squat (high as fuck looking back, nowhere near parallel), benched 40kg for 5, pressed 30kg for 5 and deadlifted 100kg once.
I could only go weight train once a week so I just did as much as possible. I'd do squats first up to a 5RM then bench, deadlift then press. Then I'd do chin-ups or something last. I quickly discovered that when my deadlift went up, my cycling improved so I started just training for the deadlift and not much else. Within 4 months of this I was strong enough to compete at county level (equiv to state level here). After that I dropped cycling almost altogether choosing to cycle once a week and spent the rest of my time doing weights and interval training. It was at this time when I had proper coaching at a proper facility. I then brought cycling back in again a few weeks prior to racing. It seems funny to say this but when I was in the race that would qualify me for nationals people were saying stuff like "too big for cycling, too many muscles it will slow him down" etc haha. Then I pretty much embarrassed them all. I then competed at a national level a few times and did "ok" but then moved to Australia.
After moving here pretty much all I've been doing is strength training and I really like it, much easier than cycling and more fun. The people in the sport are the nicest I've ever met as well, I will agree with that 100%. Outside of forums where everyone is a dick lol. I'm pretty sure in cycling people gave false advice so that people would not succeed. In this sport people will give stella advice to their biggest rival
strong enough?
Member
Great stories so far.
For years I had been training with no particular strength goal in mind, weighing 80kg, just lifting weights for "fitness". I can't remember how, but I read about Starting Strength on the internet, bought Starting Strength edition 1 and started doing the program. In about 3 months I put on about 15kg and got my 5RMS to 115/92.5/145.
At around this time, by chance I went to a high school reunion and was chatting to an old mate David Jame who I knew was a decent powerlifter. He invited me to a comp and to come to a training session. The rest is history.
I did one cycle at Melbourne Uni and went 140/105/180 raw at my first comp. Then unfortunately in my next cycle, I suffered a bad back injury which had me bed-ridden for a day. It healed pretty quickly but I kept on reinjuring it if I got anywhere near my previous bests. I was told I would never deadlift again and went through several physios trying to figure out the problem. I eventually came across Adam Larcom, who trained AFL clubs and olympic sprinters. Long story short he fixed my problem, but in the meantime, I had sacrificed many months of potential progress. I still have lingering issues, but I can train smarter and am better able to work around them.
After my injury comeback and another layoff due to the birth of my first child, I have managed bests of only 147.5/115/185 raw. I have just come back from another involuntary 5 month break from lifting. My goal is to improve a lot on these numbers and prove the physios I initially saw wrong. I know I have a lot more potential if I stay dedicated to consistent training and work on the weaknesses that led to the injuries in the first place.
My biggest problem is consistency. Since I started in 2009, I have never managed more than 6 months of continuous training, and have spent 6 months in rehab and another 9 months in total not training at all. I've learnt the hard way that however many months you take off - it takes about the same time (or more) just to get back to where you were.
Thats a phenomenal bench improvement. I saw your bench vids and you weren't joking when you said you had long levers! Was the help you received technical or a programming thing? Whatever it was, the advice is no doubt invaluable and might help a few other lifters on here who struggle with bench. If a guy with your arms can bench 150 at your bodyweight, surely anyone can (meant entirely as a compliment to you btw). Might be worth another thread.
For years I had been training with no particular strength goal in mind, weighing 80kg, just lifting weights for "fitness". I can't remember how, but I read about Starting Strength on the internet, bought Starting Strength edition 1 and started doing the program. In about 3 months I put on about 15kg and got my 5RMS to 115/92.5/145.
At around this time, by chance I went to a high school reunion and was chatting to an old mate David Jame who I knew was a decent powerlifter. He invited me to a comp and to come to a training session. The rest is history.
I did one cycle at Melbourne Uni and went 140/105/180 raw at my first comp. Then unfortunately in my next cycle, I suffered a bad back injury which had me bed-ridden for a day. It healed pretty quickly but I kept on reinjuring it if I got anywhere near my previous bests. I was told I would never deadlift again and went through several physios trying to figure out the problem. I eventually came across Adam Larcom, who trained AFL clubs and olympic sprinters. Long story short he fixed my problem, but in the meantime, I had sacrificed many months of potential progress. I still have lingering issues, but I can train smarter and am better able to work around them.
After my injury comeback and another layoff due to the birth of my first child, I have managed bests of only 147.5/115/185 raw. I have just come back from another involuntary 5 month break from lifting. My goal is to improve a lot on these numbers and prove the physios I initially saw wrong. I know I have a lot more potential if I stay dedicated to consistent training and work on the weaknesses that led to the injuries in the first place.
My biggest problem is consistency. Since I started in 2009, I have never managed more than 6 months of continuous training, and have spent 6 months in rehab and another 9 months in total not training at all. I've learnt the hard way that however many months you take off - it takes about the same time (or more) just to get back to where you were.
Thats a phenomenal bench improvement. I saw your bench vids and you weren't joking when you said you had long levers! Was the help you received technical or a programming thing? Whatever it was, the advice is no doubt invaluable and might help a few other lifters on here who struggle with bench. If a guy with your arms can bench 150 at your bodyweight, surely anyone can (meant entirely as a compliment to you btw). Might be worth another thread.
Sticky
Active member
Thanks mate.
All the info was technical, but not so far as to be "science".... Just a few good pointers and having the right attitude.
My programming is always simple.... Its what works for me.
Thats why Im so dead set in those numbers - 140/100/180.
If you have trained for 12 months injury free, is see no expectable reason for not getting them.
The thing with benching, its hard to help people over the Internet. I could write something, but I doubt very much somebody would be able to take it and apply it properly.
I can give it a shot though.
All the info was technical, but not so far as to be "science".... Just a few good pointers and having the right attitude.
My programming is always simple.... Its what works for me.
Thats why Im so dead set in those numbers - 140/100/180.
If you have trained for 12 months injury free, is see no expectable reason for not getting them.
The thing with benching, its hard to help people over the Internet. I could write something, but I doubt very much somebody would be able to take it and apply it properly.
I can give it a shot though.
Bench Polkov
SIR BENCHALOT
I was always a powerlifter even when I was a "bodybuilder". I always valued strength as much as size and all of my workouts started with working up to a low rep max of a major compound lift before moving onto hypertrophy.
Eventually I started hunting down proper strength programs then discovered that there was a sport called powerlifting which involved all the lifts I'd spent so much time working on. Finally I'd found a sport I was good at.
Eventually I started hunting down proper strength programs then discovered that there was a sport called powerlifting which involved all the lifts I'd spent so much time working on. Finally I'd found a sport I was good at.
D1cko
Extra Large Member
I started going to the gym when I got a transfer back to Perth (FIFO) In October last year.
I had no idea what I was doing, never heard of a Deadlift, and a squat was something I was never interested in. I stumbled across this site in Novemeber from memory, and started by revamping my routine into a proper training routine, using Markos' beginner program as a template, I modified it slightly to fit with FIFO, and added some of Fadi's flying through space exercises, such as Dips, Pullups, One arm rows....
I achieved the 'beginner' lifts about a month ago, and now have my sights on getting to 500 total in the next month or two. I am currently running 5/3/1 ( against some peoples advice) and will give it a shot for 3-4 cycles. I intend on doing Smolov through some part of this year, looks like a brutal program
I really want to compete, but I'll probably wait till towards the end of the year as I am a big fella and I'll need bigger lifts for my weight class lol....
I'm pleased to say I'm hooked and it's a lifestyle change for me
I had no idea what I was doing, never heard of a Deadlift, and a squat was something I was never interested in. I stumbled across this site in Novemeber from memory, and started by revamping my routine into a proper training routine, using Markos' beginner program as a template, I modified it slightly to fit with FIFO, and added some of Fadi's flying through space exercises, such as Dips, Pullups, One arm rows....
I achieved the 'beginner' lifts about a month ago, and now have my sights on getting to 500 total in the next month or two. I am currently running 5/3/1 ( against some peoples advice) and will give it a shot for 3-4 cycles. I intend on doing Smolov through some part of this year, looks like a brutal program
I really want to compete, but I'll probably wait till towards the end of the year as I am a big fella and I'll need bigger lifts for my weight class lol....
I'm pleased to say I'm hooked and it's a lifestyle change for me
do it!
Long story but after a hiatus of almost 20 years I decided to get into powerlifting again and basically it was a "Fuck You" to all the surgeons and physios that I had seen for 15 odd years that had told me I would never be able to do competitive sports again. A large part of being able to say "Fuck You" was training with Henry Day at the Musclepit so cant thank the guy enough.
my story is similar to stickys , although i never went on to do much competing outside of markos garage.
i was a soft and flabby 109kg, girlfriend hinted i should get fit, i never really noticed how soft and fat i was. that was in 2007, started reading on the car forum that a lot of ppl started on, followed markos programs he had and they all worked, yes he may seem an arse but he has helped a lot of people and given powerlifting a MASSIVE boost compared to what it was. first gym session benched 50kg, Squat 70kg DL 90kg, have gone on to not do heaps but gotten a lot stronger, DL240 sqaut 210 and bnch 130 all raw with zero equipment, read all his newsletters competed ina few of his comps, and eventually got down to 94kg was lowest, stayed at 99kg for ages but body composition has changed significantly, now due to now playing ice hockey im down to 97kg and will keep leaning up the way im going as ice hockey is by far the most intense sport ive ever played, constant sprint.
but i lift now and do it for personal fitness and enjoy the benefits of being stronger than 90% of the populaiton.
i was a soft and flabby 109kg, girlfriend hinted i should get fit, i never really noticed how soft and fat i was. that was in 2007, started reading on the car forum that a lot of ppl started on, followed markos programs he had and they all worked, yes he may seem an arse but he has helped a lot of people and given powerlifting a MASSIVE boost compared to what it was. first gym session benched 50kg, Squat 70kg DL 90kg, have gone on to not do heaps but gotten a lot stronger, DL240 sqaut 210 and bnch 130 all raw with zero equipment, read all his newsletters competed ina few of his comps, and eventually got down to 94kg was lowest, stayed at 99kg for ages but body composition has changed significantly, now due to now playing ice hockey im down to 97kg and will keep leaning up the way im going as ice hockey is by far the most intense sport ive ever played, constant sprint.
but i lift now and do it for personal fitness and enjoy the benefits of being stronger than 90% of the populaiton.
Yes I am mate - went across to the 2009 Nationals with him and havent looked back since. One of the finest strength coaches in Australia and I have the priviledge of being coached by him.
benrok
New member
I started lifting weights with a mate from work in his garage about 6 years ago just hypertrophy training but no real structure or program, did everything except for legs and deadlifts, pretty much did curls, bench, shoulders ect took a few years for us to learn about squats and deadlifts but we started doing them.
Mate moved interstate and I was training at home. Ended up going to southbank tafe in 2009 to study my cert 3 and cert 4 in fitness. Two current very very strong CAPO powerlifters used the tafe gym and were impressive to watch. As part of my cert 4 in fitess I did a strength and conditioning elective which introduced me first hand to strength training, I did 5x5 training for deadlifts, we had to follow our chosen strength program, recording everything and we were asessed on it. I kept following 5x5 as I found I enjoyed strenght training and got my deadlift and squat up to where my bench was sitting in terms of level.
Became a forum member here and attended a lifting comp at stickys (scottys) place and the rest is history..
Mate moved interstate and I was training at home. Ended up going to southbank tafe in 2009 to study my cert 3 and cert 4 in fitness. Two current very very strong CAPO powerlifters used the tafe gym and were impressive to watch. As part of my cert 4 in fitess I did a strength and conditioning elective which introduced me first hand to strength training, I did 5x5 training for deadlifts, we had to follow our chosen strength program, recording everything and we were asessed on it. I kept following 5x5 as I found I enjoyed strenght training and got my deadlift and squat up to where my bench was sitting in terms of level.
Became a forum member here and attended a lifting comp at stickys (scottys) place and the rest is history..
At the same height and 7kg heavier, I was about 20kg weaker on the bench, 30kg weaker on the squat and 40kg weaker on the deadlift the first time I tried them
i got into lifting about 8 months ago just started looking on the net and got into stating strength now ive been runing 531 for the last 2 months its goin realy well i went from 76kg to 84kg in this time and my 1rm is 90(crap) 140 190 and im going to compete in a local powerlifing comp cuming up soon in my town
callan
The official ghetto booty
ti all began when my brother started lifting, i bought a shit standard weight set with a 6ft barbell and the biggest plates were 5's. i undertook an intense search for articles on technique for all the lifts that could be done with a barbell, a lot of these articles were from stronglifts, one night after a few weeks of doing stronglifts 5x5 my brother offered to take me to PTC frankston, i jumped at the offer straight away, markos had me do a bit of everything, he was shocked at how i had taught myself the technique by reading slabs of writing off the internet, more so for my powerclean, he asked how i had learned, the look on his face was priceless when i told him lol
about 3 months after that my brother bought some TK knee sleeves from minh, the payment didnt go through so my brother and minh started talking and aaron started to go and train with minh, so with aaron no longer going to ptc i started to train at home, the weight set didnt last long, so i got some stuff from IE and did the best i could without racks or a bench.
not long after that aaron (my brother) showed me how to squat low bar and tryed to explain the stretch shortening cycle to me the best he could, he then filmed my squats and posted them on facebook, minh saw them and told him to bring me to train with him. one of the first questions was do you want to compete? and i said yes. then the PL specific training began. and hasnt stopped and loving it, training is the highlights of my week lol
about 3 months after that my brother bought some TK knee sleeves from minh, the payment didnt go through so my brother and minh started talking and aaron started to go and train with minh, so with aaron no longer going to ptc i started to train at home, the weight set didnt last long, so i got some stuff from IE and did the best i could without racks or a bench.
not long after that aaron (my brother) showed me how to squat low bar and tryed to explain the stretch shortening cycle to me the best he could, he then filmed my squats and posted them on facebook, minh saw them and told him to bring me to train with him. one of the first questions was do you want to compete? and i said yes. then the PL specific training began. and hasnt stopped
and loving it, training is the highlights of my week lol
kaz
iLift
I only started lifting in January, completed my first program finishing ahead of the final recommended weights and have only competed in a bench comp, so still technically just a lifter.
I was poached from crossfit to go train at PTC Sydney, already having good muscle mass put me ahead of alot of other females, I had never benched before PTC and my first 1RM test was 47.5kgs at 54kgs.
Issues that have arisen are mostly with mobility and breaking away from bad habits learned from crossfit.
Current 1RMs are in my sig, have squatted more but wouldn't have passed in comp.
I was poached from crossfit to go train at PTC Sydney, already having good muscle mass put me ahead of alot of other females, I had never benched before PTC and my first 1RM test was 47.5kgs at 54kgs.
Issues that have arisen are mostly with mobility and breaking away from bad habits learned from crossfit.
Current 1RMs are in my sig, have squatted more but wouldn't have passed in comp.
This pretty much sums up why I like lifting for strength.
I am not a powerlifter but i play footy. Decided one pre season needed to get stronger. Did some searching on the net. Came across bb.com and luckily read Madcows posts. From there found starting strength and discovered the powerlifts. I didn't even know what a deadlift was. From then on just loved the challenge of getting stronger Had a lot of interruptions in my lifting, always due to footy injuries.