What do you think is a begginers major error?

[Christian]

I was in a commercial gym for the first time in years yesterday.

This is one of the better gyms around. It has a separate powerlifting corner, some of the best equipment available, and Australian Powerlifting Champions training there. Its a serious gym.

While there for 30 minutes, I witnessed things I couldnt explain to Max. There was a guy squatting in a power rack, touch and go to a serious of stacked plastic seats, around 75cm high. I'm not kidding, he had a trainer instructing him, around 40kg on his back, a 6" dip. Stunning.

But the guy who was standing on a balance board, doing rack pulls, while sitting back to a bar, with his hands in the curl position, WITH AN EMPTY BAR, took the cake. Max was dissapointed that his dad with 30 years experience couldnt tell him what exercise the guy was doing. He too had a trainer.

This is a gym that has guys that squat 200kg raw and 280kg assisted lifting in the corner, and 300kg deadlifters on the platform.

The guy who took an $1800 Ivanko bar off the bench press, placed it in a power rack, put a 10kg plate on each side, then complete with gloves and a belt, proceeded to do military press.

I dont know how you guys can train in these facilities, that would drive me nuts. We had to go looking for the Ivanko bar as its the one to be used at the State Titles.

The gym was quite busy, but in the corner, there was thousands of kilos of Ivanko plates, bumper plates, 50kg chrome plates etc, unused, squat racks, lifting platforms, bench press, not touched.

Very strange.

i love it lol welcome to the jungle..

 

[PTC]

I still class myself as a begginer. I train from home because I dont know of any gyms that have guys moving big numbers.
I'd say my biggest mistake is lack of drive. Im VERY determined to move the numbers that i have set in my goals this year, but I think because im stronger than the other 3 guys that come round (except 1 guy benched 130) im only pushing 90%.
I need to go to a strong gym in brisbane from time to time just for a wakeup call about how weak i really am.


Anybody go to a strong gym in brisbane?

Your not weak at all, in fact, your pretty strong, nice work

 

[Sticky]

Your not weak at all, in fact, your pretty strong, nice work

HAHA, thanks mate, I appreciate it. Believe it or not, I may be new to this forum, but have been taking your advice for a while. It got me that deadlift .

I think im not that strong for my weight, but am keen to work hard. I just have a stupid injurgy (not from lifting) that may take me out for a few months.
For me to call myself strong(ish) I want to:
bench 120 3x5
squat 160 5x5
deadlift 220 3x3

Ill be happy then ,

 

[PTC]

Oh, okay, glad the advice helped you, have you been reading the newsletters?

 

[Sticky]

Yeh mate, well the 1st 100 at least. I also followed a deadlift program you wrote a while ago which got me from 172.5kg to 205kg. I'm also going to get the progressive poundage program off you at the end of the month (that's when I find out if I can lift again) if you think it will help me hit the goals in my sig this year.
I've been lifting for under 12 months and in this time, I've gone from 6'1@69kg with a 350kg total, to 6'1@82kg with a 622.5Kg total with a BF increase by about 3% - would be about 15% at a guess.
Thanks for all the advice mate, I'll be staying tuned.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[PTC]

Thats brilliant progress.

The Progressive Poundage Program is now finished. It ended up being over 20 pages long.

I think it will help anybody that truly wants to get stronger. It has every rep/set/weight listed, you'll never have to think again lol

Its based on a lifter improving by 40kg on each lift in the first year. Obviously the more advanced you get, the lower the increase, but I still think that 20kg per year for the top guys is possible, by top guys I mean those squatting well over 200kg and benching over 150kg to go with 250kg deadlifts.

The guys using it at PTC are in career best form. I reckon for $20 you cant go wrong, it should last indefinitely.

 

[Dancelot]

How do I purchase that program, Markos?

 

[PTC]

I dont think its right I sell it on here.

Contact me on ptcfrankston@three.com.au or read the thread on ns.com

PTC Progressive Poundage Program - Hardtuned.net

Cheers

Markos

 

[Dancelot]

Ah sorry. Thanks, I just emailed you.

 

[Goosey]

A couple of interesting points:

you wouldn't find one piece of cardio equipment in a gym prior to the 70's

more people are going to gym than ever before

more people are fatter than ever before
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[PTC]

My first job out of school was Lifestyle Gym in Frankston.

They had a treadmill that was 4 metres long with a massive noisy engine running it. If someone got on we would simply switch off the power.

A year later we got the first lifecycle in Australia. It sat in my office and you needed to make an appointment to use it. Under my supervision.That was 1980.

Andy is spot on with his observation.

Another thing that started in 1980 was aerobics classes. We had our girls take them, they were called circuit work. The female instructers would walk around the gym announcing another circuit was about to start.

 

[Dancelot]

I took my dad, who lives in a busy & crowded Asian city, to my gym this one time. He only does bodyweight training (chin-ups, push-ups etc.) and running, so he checks out the cardio area. After seeing so many machines, he asked why do people here like running on a machine indoor so much, when there are lots of beautiful parks & plenty of space outside? Where he lives, it's so crowded that you barely have space for walking.

He's also constantly amazed at how fat people here are, as he's under the impression that Australia is a very sporty country.

 

[nievs]

He's also constantly amazed at how fat people here are,

I noticed it when I got back from a holiday

I think a major error would be to follow the advice of friends/pts blindly

 

[amac38]

a few of my mates just lost motivation, they said they were too busy with uni, church, family and whatnot.

here's a great read i found, it was posted on OCAU:

Training Ideology #1: Moving North of Vag

I can’t take credit for this name. I wish I could, but both the idea and the name come from my good friend Jim Messer. Jim and I have been friends since junior high, and we have the kind of friendship that doesn’t require us to talk every week. Or even every year. This is more of an idea. A concept, if you will.

Jim started training with the 5/3/1 method without my knowing it, and he’s had great success. He emailed me and let me know about this. Here’s part of an email he wrote to me:

I feel compelled to tell you that after a few months of using the now-legendary 5/3/1, I have now moved somewhat north of being an utter vag. I f**ked my body up pretty badly last winter, stopped all physical activity, and thought that was pretty much gonna be it. Just another skinny f**king wimp. It’s been a really long time since I’ve felt this good physically. By God, last week I puked in my mouth and almost blacked out squatting. I’d thought that time in my life was over.


After I stopped laughing, I began thinking about his statement and about how many people seem to be moving and staying well south of vag. To quote Black Sabbath, this is a symptom of the universe. Then I started to contemplate how one stays in the Northern Hemisphere of the Holy Holes. What followed was the training template I’ll show you now. It’s very simple to follow

1. Warm-up: foam rolling, static stretching and jumping rope (or something similar).
2. Lift Weights: 5/3/1; keep it basic and strong.
3. Condition: Run hills, push Prowler.

That’s it. Do this 3-4 times a week and you won’t fall into the trap of being normal. You’ll be strong, healthy and in shape. You won’t make New Year’s resolutions because you’ll be living every day. You can eat that final piece of pie and not count carbs because you just ran 20 hill sprints for the third time this week. You can wake up and not feel like shit because you’ve actually taken the time to foam roll and stretch. You actually have some traps from deadlifting.

You don’t fall for fitness trends, because you know what works. You stop caring what people say on the internet, because you’re always making progress. You’re always moving forward toward something. People ask you how to train, and you answer, “I look at what you do, and then I do the exact opposite.”

You’ll actually be able to move because your feet will be fast from jumping rope. You won’t be out of breath all the time. You’ll be able to take on any physical activity you want. You’ll be different once you’ve spent time straining to get a rep PR in the squat or pushed a Prowler for 40 minutes. Dealing with the idiots at work or your boss will no longer be an issue. It’s hard to bring a man down after he’s had three weeks of personal records in the gym. It’s hard to get mad at the guy who cuts you off in traffic after you’ve left your lunch on top of the hill after bearcrawling up it. Who cares about all that meaningless stuff? When your training and your life aremoving forward, you certainly won’t.

It doesn’t take a lot to do this. You already give 8-10 hours a day to your boss and to your work. To boredom and to people and organizations that couldn’t care less about you. Then your family and friends get the rest of your time.

What about you? Do you really think so little of yourself that you can’t sacrifice an hour or two, 3-4 days a week, for yourself? This “me” time isn’t spent shopping, watching TV or getting on the internet. You’re spending it reinvesting in your body, building strength, and building character. Kicking ass and training consistently – and with some balance – will do wonders for
both your body and your mind.

Get rid of all the meaningless crap in your life and your training. Get rid of the things that bleed your energy in the weight room and in life. What’s better for you? The Prowler or a stroll on the treadmill? What do you think is going to make you better?

Don’t fall for the crap that people are peddling on message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn’t matter. Start doing and believing in the stuff that works, and do it today and forever. You
want science and studies? **** you. I’ve got scars and blood and vomit.
This is a call to arms for some of you. It is for me, too. Stop all the things that make you a pussy and steal your energy. Get your life back.

 

[Kyle Aaron]

Slight correction Kyle, seeing your a PT now.

Not yet really, on honeymoon posting in quiet moments, not a PT till I get back. As you say, I have to have the experience to back up the qualifications. Unlike most PTs and most strength and conditioning coaches, I recognise that both experience and qualifications are useful.

I deleted all the rest about macros and stuff because neither you nor I are nutritionists or dieticians, so we´d be speaking beyond our level of knowledge. But the simple observation that people are doing less and eating more is I think a common-sense one.

Here in Peru most people don´t own cars, we met a 70 year old lady with arthritis in both knees carrying 20kg of spuds 1,100m up a canyon to market, I´ve seen guys pushing trolleys with 5 or 6 50kg bags of rice on them, petrol is $4 per litre here so roadworkers use hand tools. In the evenings people meet in public plazas and go for walks and have dance lessons in public squares.

Not many gyms here, but lots of fit and strong people, and very very few fat people. That´s because they do more physically for work and entertainment, and they eat less. Are they as strong and fit as the best PTC members? Of course not. But they´re stronger and fitter than the typical Aussie.

We in Australia do less physically in work and entertainment, so we need gyms to get to a healthy weight, strength and fitness.

Sure, when it comes to an individual person we can get fancier with diet and exercise. But talking about a whole country, we can just look at lifestyles and diets generally.

All that macros stuff was a really just a nice sidestep of my correction of your idea that PTs are the cause of people becoming fatter.

Sometimes clients fail to achieve their goals. According to Markos, when one of Markos´clients fails to achieve their goals, it´s the client´s fault (his newsletters are full of this). When some random PT´s client fails to achieve their goals, it´s the PT´s fault. So a client´s failure to achieve their goals is always the trainer´s fault, unless that trainer is Markos.

Funny that.

Truth is, sometimes it´s the coach/trainer, sometimes it´s the trainee, sometimes it´s both or neither. This applies whoever the coach or trainer is, though obviously some are better than others at motivating people, and some trainees just can´t be helped, while yet others would succeed whoever they worked with.

Sticky, you have done very well mate, and I think part of it is thinking of yourself as a beginner. Many beginners don´t. That´s why we get some guy who can´t even do 10 pushups asking about some elitelifts.com routine, or some woman who lives on KFC and cigarettes worrying about her macros. Basics first.

 

[stralian]

Truth is, sometimes it´s the coach/trainer, sometimes it´s the trainee, sometimes it´s both or neither. This applies whoever the coach or trainer is, though obviously some are better than others at motivating people, and some trainees just can´t be helped, while yet others would succeed whoever they worked with.

How very true.

 

[PTC]

Kyle, when I started lifting, there was 1 gym in Frankston, and it went broke.

There are over 25 now and they are packed.

Maybe there is less manual work now, but far more people are exercising.

Would you say we are fatter now than 30 years ago. I know we are.

Maybe the exercise they think their doing is not exercise at all. Maybe the people surpervizing the exercise are numbnuts. I dont know which is the right answer.

Back on macronutrients, do you REALLY think I dont understand them lol

Wanna come and stand next to Max with your shirt off and we'll compare pics to see who may have a grasp on them and who doesnt

If you dont understand the relationship between nutrient timing and macronutrient breakdown, just say so, dont hide behind your treadmill.

These 2 subjects are the MAJOR reason why most people that visit gyms look shit.

These are the 2 major things that trainers and clients dont understand.

If they did, they wouldnt have a trainer in the first place

Have a nice honeymoon and dont stress too much, and congratulations big fella.

One last thing.

In my gym all my clients train exactly the same and get exactly the same nutrition advice, men, women and children. If one loses 9kg and the other loses none, since the PTC challenge, and they train side by side 4 times a week, do you think its my info or the client?

I know for a fact that gym goers dont have the same trainer, some gyms have 20 trainers, PTC has one, thats why regular gyms are full of men deadlifting 120kg and 1/4 squatting 75kg.

If someone fails at PTC to get the body they want, its their failure, I dont feed them. If somebody fails to get strong, its my failure. Want to come and lift with my boys Kyle? The only person I feed and train is Max, is he doing okay Kyle?

You fail to acknowledge that some of my clients have trained as long as you and put your deadlift overhead. Do they listen to me?

Make someone strong and beautiful then tell us how you did it Kyle, until then, read and learn.

 

[apiewithhoboliftingaroma]

The beginners major error is being a fag and not lifting like a real man.

 

[EnergizerTaz]

The beginners major error is being a fag and not lifting like a real man.

Ah, homophobia! Who says we've evolved since the 50's, folks?

Major error in the beginning is consuming numerous steroids as a teenager only to notice your balls have shrunk to the size of marbles by the time you're in your twenties.

Screw sex-ed classes in school, warn us about tiny testies teachers.

 

[Christian]

Ah, homophobia! Who says we've evolved since the 50's, folks?

Major error in the beginning is consuming numerous steroids as a teenager only to notice your balls have shrunk to the size of marbles by the time you're in your twenties.

Screw sex-ed classes in school, warn us about tiny testies teachers.

The amount of young people that juice is beyond me, teenagers think they know every thing yet they know ****ing nothing. Myself included