Training Down Under (sadly, gravity is not reversed).

[TomV]

G'day Guys and Gals

Tom's the name, I'm 20 years old and currently live in Sydney, Australia. I've been training for 3-4 years and unfortunately only the in 2009 did I finally become more consistent with training (diet is still iffy haha).

I did Crossfit for about 6-7 months at the start of the year and then decided to leave it for a focus on strength training. I've been training consistently for strength for about 10 weeks now and am loving it.

Current Stats
Age: 20
Height: 180cm (6foot)
Weight: 98-100kg(215-220lbs)

Best Lifts:
Squat - 135kg(295lbs) x 1
Bench - 85kg(185lbs) x 1 *paused*
Deadlift - 160kg(350lbs) x 1
Press - 62.5kg(137.5lbs) x 1
Power Clean & Jerk - 85kg(185lbs)
Power Snatch - 65kg(142.5lbs)

Goals (by 31/6/10):
Squat - 142.5kg(315lbs) x 5
Bench - 102.5kg(225lbs) x 5
Deadlift - 185kg(405lbs) x 5
Press - 70kg(155lbs) x 5
Clean & Jerk - 102.5kg(225lbs) x 1
Snatch - 80kg(175lbs) x 1

Current Issues
- Need to increase my flexibility / mobility
- Need to get stronger
- Need to lose some of the fat that I'm carrying that does nothing to aid my performance.
- Get and stay injury free (stuffed right wrist & sore right shoulder atm)

[TomV]

Tom's Texas Method

Monday
Olympic Lift A 5x2
Squat 5x5
Pressing Movement A 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Wednesday
Olympic Lift B 5x2
Back Squat 2x5 *Light Reps*
Chinups 5x?
Pressing Movement B *Light*

Friday
Olympic Lift A 3x2
Back Squat 1x5
Pressing Movement A 1x5
Bent Row 1x5
5-10 Minutes Conditioning Work


Notes
Olympic Lift A = Clean & Jerk
Olympic Lift B = Snatch
Pressing Movement A = Bench
Pressing Movement B = Press
Fortnightly lifts will be rotated i.e. ABA, BAB
- I'll be happy to make smaller increases in the lifts, I've bought micro plates to help with this.
- I'll try take a deload week every 4 weeks or so, I'll cut weight back and maybe even sub in some unilateral stuff.
- Conditioning work will probably consist of a mix of: OH Squats, KB Swings/Snatches, Sprinting, Pushups, Pullups.

[JC400]

Tom, Glad u have made the switch to strength training and are posting your results!

I notice you are using a Texas method type program did you start off with SS, how did you find it? Interested in seeing how far people get with it before they need to drop it for an intermediate style program.

Good to see some olympic lifts in there, especially snatches. I like to include at least one exercise per workout that gets some confused looks from fellow gym users ;)

[TomV]

Tom, Glad u have made the switch to strength training and are posting your results!

I notice you are using a Texas method type program did you start off with SS, how did you find it? Interested in seeing how far people get with it before they need to drop it for an intermediate style program.

Good to see some olympic lifts in there, especially snatches. I like to include at least one exercise per workout that gets some confused looks from fellow gym users ;)

I started with TM mate, maybe should have started with SS but was happy with the progress I was making on TM so stuck with it.

[TomV]

Week 10
Saturday

Squats
2 x 120kg(242lbs)
3 x 120kg(242lbs)

Pullups
4 x 3-5

- I was meant to train on Friday but spent the evening in the company of my lovely lady instead. She's a great girl who supports my passion and will usually listen to me blather on about Rippetoe, a new program or a fucked up day in the gym. Always worth spending time in her company, even if I show up to the gym a tad sleep deprived.

- I was shooting for 5 with the squats. I didn't get it because I was a pussy. I dumped the weight off because it was too hard not because I couldn't lift more reps. This annoyed me a lot.

- Pullups are one movement that doesn't hurt my hand at the moment, palms out is where I'm much weaker though. Tried to mix up grip width.

- Couldn't do much more in the gym and had to cut it short anyway.

- I didn't do scheduled mobility work this weekend because I was flat out Friday/Saturday and lazy on Sunday. Naughty, Naughty.

- Had a lot of fun longboarding in a massive downhill carpark with some mates on a Saturday night. I really enjoy it and want to buy some protective gear to help minimise any damages when I do inevitably stack :P.

[TomV]

Week 11
Monday

Squats
1 x 120kg(265lbs)
1 x 130kg(286lbs)

Bench
Still hurting my hand, should be able to compete though. Just didn't want to aggravate it unnecessarily.

Deadlifts
Same scenario, bit of a pain but nothing major. I locked out 100kg(220lbs) with a bit of soreness in the hand but I should be good for Sunday.

Pullups
4 x 3-5

- Was VERY happy with my squats today. I was only in the gym to work out an opener for Sunday. Felt 100x better and I think that came down to training at North Sydney PCYC with a good group of people as opposed to being alone. Helps a lot with my confidence and also with cues and pointers. I also ripped the ass out of a pair of my shorts haha. I spent the rest of the session walking around with a luvverly breeze :P.

- Getting an ultrasound on my right hand tomorrow to get to the bottom of the pain mystery. For now, smashing the ibuprofen and fish oil.

- Finished uni for the year! FREEDOM!... Though I now start working 4-5 days a week with 5am wakeups haha. Ah well, every silver lining has a cloud. It should give me more money to do a bit of travelling next year as I'd love to trek to some of the gyms around Australia for a bit of travel and to learn from the best.

[JC400]

I started with TM mate, maybe should have started with SS but was happy with the progress I was making on TM so stuck with it.

Good call, why mess with a winning formula?! :)

[TomV]

Week 11
Sunday
Matti Tikka Powerlifting Challenge!

Squats
-Warmups-
5 x 60kg(135lbs)
3 x 80kg(175lbs)
1 x 100kg(220lbs)
1 x 120kg(265lbs)

-Main Lifts-
130kg(285lbs)
135kg(295lbs)
140kg(310lbs) PR!

Bench
-Warmups-
5 x 40kg(95lbs)
5 x 60kg(135lbs)
1 x 70kg(155lbs)

-Main Lifts-
75kg(165lbs)
85kg(185lbs)
92.5kg(205lbs) PR!

Deadlift
-Warmups-
5 x 60kg(135lbs)
3 x 80kg(175lbs)
2 x 100kg(220lbs)
1 x 120kg(265lbs)
1 x 140kg(310lbs)

-Main Lifts-
160kg(350lbs)
170kg(375lbs)
177.5kg(390lbs)

Total
140/92.5/177.5 - 410kg
310/205/390 - 905lbs

- Squats were good, I felt a lot better on the day than I have been in previous weeks. I got red lighted for my second attempt for walking in before being given the "Rack" command, but I still lifted the weight. I wanted to go for 140kg as my second attempt but pussed out and put down 135kg, I'm still happy with 140 however as it's my first 3PPS and >300lb squat.

- Bench was on FIRE today. 1st and 2nd attempts may as well have been warmups but I was still cautious as 85kg was my PB prior to the comp. I lifted 92.5kg quite well and am confident I could have gotten 95kg if I'd attempted it. Ah well, I'll nail it next time. My performance was a big surprise to me as I haven't been able to bench much due to injuries and have only been doing pushups on my knuckles haha. Goes to show the power of squats eh? The whole body grows :P.

- Deadlifts were a challenge for me. 160kg was slow, 170kg being slower with a deterioration in form and 177.5kg felt like an ugly lift. Nonetheless, got my 3 white lights for all attempts so I guess that's what matters on the day. I will keep working hard on my deadlift form and weights, as a raw lifter and with my anthropometry it is the lift I will be moving the most weight with.

- Thanks for everyone that helped out on the day, especially the guys at North Sydney PCYC for hosting the comp and helping me out.

- Not sure when my next comp will be, maybe in February but I'm not too fussed about competing again soon. Just want to keep plugging away in the gym and put more plates on the bar.

- Monday-week I intend on starting a short rather harsh diet to try and strip some of the fat off me that I don't want to be carrying. Seeing Richard Hozjan, who is also a 100kg lifter and FAR more muscular than me makes me realise I've got weight on me that does nothing for my lifts. I don't need to be bodybuilder lean, just drop 5-10kgs.

- I'll hopefully have some videos up soon of my lifts, much thanks to Ray Wong for this.

- MOS, you're not allowed to call me a Crossfitter anymore ;-)

[TomV]

Monday

Press
3x5 @ 50kg(110lbs)

Pullups (Palms out)
3x7 @ 100kgBW

Ring Pushups
3x7 @ 100kgBW

- Just doing light, easy stuff in the gym this week. A little bit more bodybuilding focused maybe, not really planning anything as it's only a few days. My lower back was fried after Matti Tikka then work all day today so I didn't do any lower body stuff.

- Press was a bit difficult, got all the reps though. Microplates shall come in to play soon :P.

- I was happy with my pullups, I'll be trying to switch grips around a fair bit to change it up every now and then. Wide grip, Narrow grip, palms in/out/neutral.

- Ring pushups hurt my right shoulder a bit, in the same way that Ring Dips normally do. I think my problem is that I'm not pulling my shoulders back which leads to me shrugging and "winging" my scapula. This is a shoddy self diagnosis so I'm not terribly certain it's correct but it's a lead I'd like to investigate next time I'm around my more learned friends.

2010
Next year:

I'm not sure when I'll compete next, I'm not in a massive rush to compete again. I enjoyed the day immensely but I'd like to make some solid improvements before stepping back on to a comp platform I think. Maybe sometime around April if there's anything on locally (I'll do further investigation later).

I'll be starting my new program which is aimed at a more holistic strength development (including some olympic lifts and maybe some bodybuilding movements). I realise this will slow my powerlifting gains somewhat but that is something I am willing to accept as succeeding at powerlifting is not my ultimate goal.

I'll work to start tracking calories and try and work out what sort of diet allows me to lift well without putting on a lot of weight. I'm happy to put on muscle but not too keen on extra fat gain atm. This is both a vanity thing and from a bodyweight/strength ratio point of view as well. See what happens.

[Gary Gibson]

Congrats on your first meet. Well done. I've yet to PR in a meet myself.

[TomV]

Congrats on your first meet. Well done. I've yet to PR in a meet myself.

Thanks Gary, I was very happy to PR in the meet.

[TomV]

Thursday

Ring Pushups
10, 10, 8

Pullups (Palms out)
7, 5, 7

1 Arm KB Press
20kg(45lb) KB - 10, 8, 7 each arm

Deadlift
5 x 100kg(220lbs)
2x3 @ 150kg(330lbs)

- Ring pushups felt better today, I was conciously trying to control my scapula as I was doing the movement making sure I didn't shrug up or let it wing out. It feels as if my abs die before my arms when doing these.

- Pullups were good, I'm not trying to push it too hard this week so I was happy with the reps I got.

- KB Press was hard, I think I might be bending a bit at the lumbar spine with these so I will have to be careful but MAN can you feel your abs working like mofos to stabilise.

- Deadlifts were done because... Deadlifts should be done :P. 150kg's felt pretty good, form felt tight. In honesty, they were almost like 3 singles as I took about 5 seconds between each rep to reset myself, focus on what I was going to do and tighten my body down.