Lets go back in time to around July 2009.
Elissa is training at PTC with some girlfriends. She is getting married in September and needs to lose some weight.
She's doing great and the weight is coming off. Shes also getting strong, benching 57.5kg, cleaning 60kg and doing chins.
She talks her fiancee into training at PTC, hoping the best man and groomsman join him, because they cant fit into their suits. One of the groomsman is Simmo.
Simmo eventually loses 16kg, from 147kg to 131kg. He fits into the suit, the wedding goes nicely.
Simmo and his mates stop coming, job done. While Simmo was there, he used to watch Big Simon training. Simon was benching 180kg, squatting 190kg and deadlifting 265kg. Simmo was benching around 50kg, deadlifting around 120kg and squatting 40kg, half squats.
Simmo said to me on a couple of occasions, "I want to be a strong as Simon"
Simon keeps training at PTC till February 2010, then after an altercation I had with his training partners, he goes back to his normal people gym. Simmo stops in September 2009.
when I started the PTC Challenge around 14 weeks ago, Simmo contacted me and told me he was well over 140kg again and wanted to come back.
This time he came alone, on his previous 12 week stint he trained with his buddies. They were short termers, happy to be there, do some hard work, diet a little, look good for the wedding.
This time there was no wedding for Simmo. He had to train with my guys.
Simmo starts on PPP and stops drinking. He sets new PB's most nights, not hard when youre that weak. Steadily he keeps getting stronger, much stronger.
He is 14 weeks into the Challenge. He now weighs 129kg, the first time he's been under 130kg for 10 years.
On Tuesday he squats 185kg and just misses 200kg, I made a mistake making him go up that high, he had an easy 195kg in him. He benches 110kg and then deadlifts 235kg. He has accomplished all this in 14 weeks of lifting.
But what about Big Simon, the inspiration for Simmo? On Wednesday night, he misses a 227.5kg deadlift, hasnt squatted in months, reckons he may get 160kg and his bench is down, we'll find out how far on Sunday. He has been back at PTC for 4 weeks.
So in July 2009, Simmo said something that would have made everybody in the gym laugh, except for me.
The fattest, weakest guy in the gym wanted to be stronger than the biggest strongest guy in the gym.
July 2010, exactly a year later, Simmo has passed him on 2 out of 3 lifts. In fact, Simon will never catch Simmo now in the squat. Simmo is purley a better squatter. The deadlift will always be close, but Simon is an exceptional bencher.
Will Simmo ever catch Simon in the bench? You would be a fool if you said no.
I benched 25kg in my first session ever in the gym. I know better than most what your are capable of if you match your desire with effort and discipline.
Simmo sent me an email last night, he tells me he feels he failed, he had planned to be 125kg this week. He is a hard marker, his next goal is 110kg, I'll be sure to post up in July 2011.
Elissa is training at PTC with some girlfriends. She is getting married in September and needs to lose some weight.
She's doing great and the weight is coming off. Shes also getting strong, benching 57.5kg, cleaning 60kg and doing chins.
She talks her fiancee into training at PTC, hoping the best man and groomsman join him, because they cant fit into their suits. One of the groomsman is Simmo.
Simmo eventually loses 16kg, from 147kg to 131kg. He fits into the suit, the wedding goes nicely.
Simmo and his mates stop coming, job done. While Simmo was there, he used to watch Big Simon training. Simon was benching 180kg, squatting 190kg and deadlifting 265kg. Simmo was benching around 50kg, deadlifting around 120kg and squatting 40kg, half squats.
Simmo said to me on a couple of occasions, "I want to be a strong as Simon"
Simon keeps training at PTC till February 2010, then after an altercation I had with his training partners, he goes back to his normal people gym. Simmo stops in September 2009.
when I started the PTC Challenge around 14 weeks ago, Simmo contacted me and told me he was well over 140kg again and wanted to come back.
This time he came alone, on his previous 12 week stint he trained with his buddies. They were short termers, happy to be there, do some hard work, diet a little, look good for the wedding.
This time there was no wedding for Simmo. He had to train with my guys.
Simmo starts on PPP and stops drinking. He sets new PB's most nights, not hard when youre that weak. Steadily he keeps getting stronger, much stronger.
He is 14 weeks into the Challenge. He now weighs 129kg, the first time he's been under 130kg for 10 years.
On Tuesday he squats 185kg and just misses 200kg, I made a mistake making him go up that high, he had an easy 195kg in him. He benches 110kg and then deadlifts 235kg. He has accomplished all this in 14 weeks of lifting.
But what about Big Simon, the inspiration for Simmo? On Wednesday night, he misses a 227.5kg deadlift, hasnt squatted in months, reckons he may get 160kg and his bench is down, we'll find out how far on Sunday. He has been back at PTC for 4 weeks.
So in July 2009, Simmo said something that would have made everybody in the gym laugh, except for me.
The fattest, weakest guy in the gym wanted to be stronger than the biggest strongest guy in the gym.
July 2010, exactly a year later, Simmo has passed him on 2 out of 3 lifts. In fact, Simon will never catch Simmo now in the squat. Simmo is purley a better squatter. The deadlift will always be close, but Simon is an exceptional bencher.
Will Simmo ever catch Simon in the bench? You would be a fool if you said no.
I benched 25kg in my first session ever in the gym. I know better than most what your are capable of if you match your desire with effort and discipline.
Simmo sent me an email last night, he tells me he feels he failed, he had planned to be 125kg this week. He is a hard marker, his next goal is 110kg, I'll be sure to post up in July 2011.
