Mannum open

Yesterday was the Mannum open Powerlifting meet. There were 10 competitors and the competition level had greatly improved. I had jumped up to the 82.5KG class weighing in at a colossal 76 and a bit!

This was the heaviest I have lifted at in competition and qualifies me for the nationals in that class.

Many of us hit PB's I hit a 220KG squat, a 225KG Deadlift that gave me a P total of 587.5KG

This was enough to win my weight class & best overall lifter on the Wilks formula (pound for pound).

Results can be found at www.powerliftingaustralia.com

That was the last meet for this year, so I will do some other strength training and do a bit more strongman training.

If you are interested in competing in either contact me

The USA and a strongman comp!

Hi There,

It has been a while since I posted something. A lot has happened, I had the pleasure of visiting the USA. It was a fantastic trip, the people I met were extremely generous and very open and easy going. It was a very enlightening trip in many regards.

I had my eyes open to some different training perspectives, and not just the physical side of it. I had the opportunity to meet some incredibly successful people, who had the time and the heart to share some of their pearls of wisdom with me.

It was a very intense trip, in terms of learning and the limited time spent there.

I would highly recommend going for a look!

Since then I have been preparing for a new project that is coming up, an exclusive training club, if you are interested let me know, then we can arrange an interview to see if you match the profile we are looking for.

On Saturday I competed in the Murray bridge Viking strong man challenge. It was a great experience, I met some great people, and learned a few new tricks. I was the lightweight in the comp, and all competitors had a solid strength background. We had strongmen, Olympic lifters, powerlifters and a shotputter. We competed in 5 events, an overhead medley ( pressing rocks, kegs, car axles and a log over head in the quickest time possible), a carry medley( carrying a rock, keg and an atlas stone over a 20M coarse as fast as possible), a farmers walk ( 85kg, then 105kg and then 125kg in each hand up the 20 m coarse), log press for max weight and finished with the atlas stones ( big concrete balls weighing from 100kg to 150kg).

Both competitors and spectators did well to brave the temperamental weather and make it a fantastic day.

I had a brilliant time competing and am looking forward to doing it again. The competition was dominated by a 17 year old power house Casey Snodgrass, followed closely by his Dad Pete.

If you are interested in learning more or competing contact me.

Eat well and train hard!

Results from nationals

Fridays technical meeting was interesting, we learned the ins and outs of drug testing. There is a massive amount of time and effort involved. Super tough glass canisters and specifically assigned codes, it was quite mind boggling. Some funny stories of competitors dashing out of events, leaving partners and children behind!

We also set our bar and safety bar heights. ( this stops the bar landing on your throat and face on the bench press). A handful of people die performing this exercise every year!

I weighed in at exactly 75kg, was almost scared to eat. Decide to eat plenty and go easy on the water, plenty of lifters were heading to the sauna before the weigh in. In stark contrast plenty were scoffing to make weight, or because they were some where in the middle.

Saturday came along, I weighed in at 73.5 KG's all good!

Checked out some of the female competitors, there were some strong chicks who were also easy on the eye ( doesn't lifting big weights make you bulky!), great poster girls for the sport.

Some were not poster girls but lifted some impressive weights.

I had left my Rev 3 energy drinks, next to my bed ( doh!) so I purchased some ammonia capsules.

I hit my opening squat 210kg's, then failed on depth at 220, it felt easy so I jumped to 227.5, I got up but only on one side, it felt like someone was pulling one side. It turns out (Robyn took a pic and it showed my knee wrap had slid up off my knee) so I only got assistance from one side, failed lift no 2.

This was not going to plan, especially because the weight felt good.

The bench was next, I had been struggling with the shirt in the lead up, and continued with the theme. I was initially opening at 145, but opted for 135 to be safe. Good plan, I nailed 135 jumped to 145 and missed both lifts (doh!)

It all came down to the deadlift, I opened up at 210, hit that 220, nailed that. Now at this point I was tied for 2nd place, but David weighed less than I and would win by default. I jumped to 227.5 but bombed the lift.

I came home with a bronze, great to place, and plan on winning it next year!

I met a great bunch of people over in Sydney and was blessed enough to have support from my girls, Terry and Andrew who coached and wrapped me (involves sticking hands up shorts pulling shirts down and more!).

Tom a fellow South ozzy representative and top bloke scored a bronze in the bench contest.

A great weekend was had by all, I am now looking for people to train up for the Mannum comp in October, let me know if you or somebody you know is keen.

Sunday we took Olivia the birthday girl to Tooronga zoo, it was a great day & a fantastic way to finish the weekend. We then attended the awards dinner and prepared to fly home.

There were some very strong competitors Odell Manuel a former rugby league player hit a 350.5kg deadlift and and a total of 916! Plenty of national records were broken.

I learned a lot from the weekend and will return all the better for it.

Eat well and train hard!

Big drop and PB

Had my last big training session before Saturday. Many thanks to Terry, after a long day of presenting some great content, he then wrapped my knees & will be assisting me in Sydney. Competition is strong, I can't wait to indulge. Around like minded individuals who love lifting and making progress.

Some big results to report

I hit a pb in the squat of 220kg's a 10 kg improvement

Ed has dropped 9kg's in just 19 days! A fantastic effort

"I would recommend the reset plan if you want to lose weight, it is easy to follow and works"

1 week to go

Nationals are a week tomorrow, so my last big session is tomorrow. Still a touch of fine tuning to do, in regards to knee wraps and bench shirt. I shall address these tomorrow.
Then a light training week and then full bore on the Saturday.
We fly over early Friday, have a technical meeting on the evening and comp the next day. Sunday I will be taking my wife and daughter, who will be 1! to Tooronga zoo, to check out the new addition ( baby elephant). Should be a great weekend around like minded people. The dinner & presentation is on the Sunday night, then fly out early Monday morning.
Will post on progress

Eat well & train hard!

Core training

Enter core training on google and this is what you will get. Now core training is widely misunderstood, using an unstable surface is not necessary and can be detrimental to your training.

Especially if your suffering back pain!

What we really want to achieve with core training is stabilising the trunk in a neutral posture. To create a greater training effect we resist movement against a load (gravity etc...) whilst maintaining optimal alignment.

Just like a baby we start on the ground, work up to our knees and finally on to our feet.

We also need to be stable in all plains of movement (Sagittal, Transverse and Frontal). Stuart Mcgill ( the foremost knowledge on lower back performance) recommends the big 3 the curl up, side hover/bridge and the bird dog. I would definitely recommend these as a great starting point.

Balls like everything have a role to play in exercise, however this isn't core training or functional.

Train for your goal with deadlifts!

Why we should do more deadlift work to bring up our posterior chain as opposed to leg curls. Every day we become more quad dominant, sitting on our ass too much, running on treadmills etc…Now you may be doing leg curls for your hamstrings but that will not help you to lift an object from the floor or be enough volume to balance out your quad dominance. Personally I think leg curls are a waste of time & should be left to body builders, who are to scared to perform deadlifts. They also put a lot more sheer load through the knee. A better alternative is the Glutham raise or any other deadlift variation, this way you work from the knee and the hip, more bang for you buck!
If you see someone performing deads, checkout their trap, glut and hamstring development. One they will look strong, and unlike most bodybuilders they will be real world strong! ( able to move stuff!)

Now there is no reason why you can’t have real wordstrength (see Marious) and still be big and shredded. There is a myth that you cant be strong, move well and look good. Now a lot of body builders are like ornamental swords. They look good on the mantle piece but fall apart in battle. Watch the world strongest man, abloute beasts who run while carrying mind blowing loads!
So if your training like a body builder but you have a different goal i.e. fat loss, performance enhancement, rehab etc… You should ask yourself why?