PERFORMANCE TRAINING CENTRE NEWSLETTER

ISSUE # 94

FORUMS

 

173cm and 73kg

Deadlift – 170kg

Box squat - 142.5kg

Bench press - 100kg

Overhead press – 65kg

 

10 years total lifting - 5 years lifting solely for strength.

 

I’m going to leave those numbers up there for you guys to keep looking at. You guys know that I am frequently on forums. I get in plenty of arguments, because I am passionate about lifting. I feel I know what I am talking about, so I argue with those I consider pin heads. I’m pretty certain that there is nothing new in the way of lifting for strength. The barbell wins hands down. I get few arguments regarding this.

 

Of late, there has been plenty written and argued about in regards to programs. I’m pretty confident I know the best way to get strong, starting from scratch. I’m pretty sure I’ve read everything there is to read in regards to strength programs. It’s what I do all day. I have been collecting journals for 30 years.

 

Every week a new ass clown pops up and shoots off his ignorant mouth. I always check his lifts first, and then reply. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying, even when I’m buried you’ll hear murmurs coming from my grave, if you’ve never squatted 200kg, stop telling someone else how to do it. I’m not talking about competition lifters, just regular gym goers, ones that want to bench 3 plates or squat 4 plates. Pencil neck poindexters should keep reading advertising material until they can lift something that will make a 58kg woman say “wow”.

 

Lately it’s been beginners. Most shit me. Fuckwits. Destined to be piss weak because they are too stupid to listen. They know best, they’ve read all the advertising material, they’re all over it. Fucking idiots. The internet has a lot to answer for here.

 

I had hoped that my 1000HP newsletter might have given them a heads up. Keep an eye on those numbers at the top of the page. I fucking hate Ferraris.

 

Recently I was trying to tell some of the weakest lifters on the planet, not physically weak, mentally, that maybe 5 x 5 was not the best program for them, that maybe a full body workout with higher reps on some lifts were better. What would I know, these morons won’t listen. For the record, I love 5 x 5, Bill Starr in the 70’s really pushed it. I feel it’s a great program once you develop some strength, not when you’re overhead pressing less than 40kg or squatting 80kg. These are first session weights, and if you’re a man, they should be higher.

 

Keep an eye on those lifts, five years of strength training.

 

Now, I know that everyone has to start somewhere, but if your lifts are a fraction of the guy’s who’s answering your question, don’t you think that just maybe he knows what he’s talking about. Forget for a minute anything I ever lifted, what about the guys who lift at PTC, or those that have followed programs I have designed for them. Then there are the guys who simply followed generic programs, like my skinny bastard routine. I highlight weights that these guys lifted after only 12 months of lifting. Remember those numbers, five years training for strength, ten years total lifting.

 

So every now and again, Max reads a thread I have been replying too, simply because it’s up and he walks over to the computer. He reads the moronic response I get from someone I’m trying to help, and he always looks at me and asks “why do you bother”. Most days I can’t answer him, but there are days when the guy on the other end gets it, like Josh recently did.

 

If I can get one guy like Josh to open his eyes, then it’s worth the hours of frustration I cope with talking to ignorant pricks.

 

There was a thread I was replying to recently where I was trying to help some guy who I thought was using the wrong program for his level of strength. I’ve mentioned before that today’s society doesn’t show as much patience as those of yesteryear. They want the strength now, and if they can’t have it now, they’ll move onto the next whiz bang thing.

 

I should let them fuck off to crochet a scarf for their boyfriends, but I am so passionate about lifting, that I wrongly feel that I can help everyone. It’s like the story of the little girl walking along the beach, where hundreds of star fish are washed up, and she’s throwing them back in one at a time, her father tells her she can’t save them all, and she replies that she can help this one. That’s exactly how I feel about lifting. I only need to help the next guy. There might be 500 morons between two guys that I’ve helped, doesn’t matter.

 

Those two guys will one day help another two guys, and it multiplies. Those weights at the top of the page are still bugging me, have been since I discovered them yesterday. I’m not pissed at the lifter, or the owner of the website, just the ignorance and defiance of the guy who directed me there. Read them again.

 

I discovered them yesterday afternoon, and I was quite upset when I thought what had gone on. I took it out on my clients, sorry, but I’m allowed to vent. Apparently cardio was extremely hard, sorry Mick, Bec, Annie, Kat and Fiona. Those fucking numbers.

 

You know, there are guys out there that will, to the detriment of their own lifting, totally ignore my advice, to try and prove a more ineffective way is right. I struggle to believe that there are lifters so spiteful and ignorant out there. My website is young, but I do have thousands of pages of good sound basic advice. I have pics and videos displaying the lifts my clients have done. I have hundreds of PTC supporters, clients and competitors preaching about their progress on all types of forums. I’ve seen PTC newsletters on lifting forums, computer forums, car forums, drag racing forums and bodybuilding forums.

 

The only negative comments only ever come from those that have never been to PTC or met me. Quite often it’s a kind of denial. Most don’t want to hear that they have wasted time, that there may be a better way. Five years. Some will try and prove me wrong.

 

Most really dislike me because I swear, I’m outspoken, mock them, not politically correct. Fuck em, they’re not the ones that will ever accomplish anything worthwhile in the gym, or health spa.

 

Okay, back to why I’m so pissed. So I’m arguing with a guy on a forum. This guys a beginner, so his lifts are irrelevant. I had told someone that maybe he shouldn’t be doing the 5x5 routine yet, a routine that I mentioned earlier was popularised by Bill Starr in the late 70’s. I say popularised, because none of us can claim a program as our own. Bill cant, I can’t, it’s just a collection of exercises that are not unique, placed in a format that is not unique, and done in a frequency that is not unique. They belong to everyone. Okay, this point pisses me off a little. There is a website out there that has tens of thousands of visitors a day, that’s whole existence, is based on the 5x5. I hope Bills getting a cut.

 

Back on topic. So I’m arguing with this guy, who is defending the guy’s right to do the 5x5. Of course he can do it, but he’s asking for help, because he’s stuck, and I’m offering advice. The advice is, start with a beginners program, at least until you are strong enough to raise your arms over your head to place a cap on your head. What is it with those that want to run before they can walk?

 

Now those that train at PTC understand that I love the 5x5 program, and use it often, but not on weak novice lifters, there are better programs. Problem is, I think it sounds cool to say you’re doing “INSERT NAME HERE” 5 x 5. The dweeb you’re talking too just nods his head in approval. Let’s hope it doesn’t fall off his pencil neck.

 

Five fucking years of strength training, I would be embarrassed to put that up.

 

So those defending the 5x5 program for novices, keep giving me links to the website, asking me to check it out. But being an obnoxious prick that I am, I explain I know all there is to know about 5x5, and its variations. I should’ve checked, too late.

 

So I don’t bother arguing, I figure if they really don’t want to know, I’ll let them stay weak, makes my PTC lifters look even better. So yesterday I finish my newsletter on Competitions. I’m reading away on forums and websites, when this 5x5 website comes up again. Okay, I figure its time I checked it out.

 

I read how many visitors it has, how many countries, nicely laid out, books, only uses compound lifts, which is a very good thing. Then I click onto the “about” link. It has the guys name and his lifting history, all the relevant information. I reckon I read it 50 times, because I couldn’t believe that the poindexters who had kept telling me to check it out refused to tell me what this guy lifted. I kept getting information about the awesome progress, I asked how it stacked up to my lifters, and they all replied how well everyone does on it.

 

Please go back and read the newsletter on Shorty. Then read the one about the 1000HP GTR. I’ve explained in the past that it’s my job to make sure everyone makes the fastest progress possible, otherwise they could lift in their own pleasure centre, and take as long as they like to improve.

 

So this all started because a novice lifter who is not very strong was asking about ways to increase his lifts, and ignorant followers of an inferior program to the one I was advocating to a lifter of this strength level took offence to my opinion.

 

I simply said the 5x5 program was the wrong one to be following at his present strength level. I was told that many make excellent progress following it.

 

Okay, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. I’m not going to bag the guy who owns the website. He’s entitled to make a buck. This is aimed at the moronic majority who flat out refuse to accept that my programs are infinitely more effective than the one their following, from the website I mentioned.

 

I’m going to compare Kiwi fruit with Kiwi fruit, this guy’s progress with my lifters progress, of similar bodyweight.

Lifter:	Mister 5x5 (73kg bw)	Shorty (70kg bw)	Max (69kg bw)
Experience:	5 years ST	2.5 years ST	1 year ST
Squat:	140kg(box)	165kg(box), 170kg	150kg(box), 156kg
Deadlift:	170kg	212.5kg	180kg
Bench Press:	100kg	120kg	90kg
Military Press:	65kg	65kg	65kg

Now I would love to come back and detail what Max and Shorty are lifting after 5 years, but seeing how it’s insignificant already, it would be pointless. This guy preaches the 5x5 to everyone, that’s his biggest mistake. Weak novice ignorant lifters have comprehension issues, that’s their biggest mistakes.

 

There is plenty to like about his information. Basic exercises, emphasis on strength, lifters will progress if they stay consistent, but please oh please, stop comparing shitty Ferraris with 1000HP GTR’s.

 

In half the time it has taken him to deadlift close to 2 ½ times bodyweight, Shorty has gone over 3 times. This guy has been lifting for 10 years in total, Shorty for 2 ½ years, but I was fair, he said strength training ONLY for 5. What the fuck was he doing for the first 5? Max has surpassed all but the guy’s bench press, in 12 months of serious strength training. He is the same height as the guy, a little lighter when he did his PB’s. All of Max’s PB’s are currently higher, and he is now 72kg, but as they won’t be tested for a while, I simply put up his best lifts and made no predictions.

 

In 5 years time his lifts will be hardly believable, let alone as low as Mr 5x5. I’m happy to revisit this next time Max attempts some 1RM’s at his heavier bodyweight, and maybe I’ll put up Mr 5x5’s followers best lifts, again, just to compare.

 

Maybe if I wasn’t such an asshole to weak pricks I could make lots of money like Mr 5x5, but then again, I never want to don the gloves and hop in a Ferrari.

 

I’ll leave you with some images of Shorty and his recent progress. Please read the Shorty newsletter again.

 

120kg bench press.

 

 

170kg squat, deep enough?

 

A triple bodyweight 212.5kg deadlift.

 

I know I’ll continue to argue and continue to help those that truly want to improve, not those just giving lip service.

 

I have deliberately not included Mr 5x5’s name, I have no issue with him and he is doing a brilliant job introducing lifters to heavy weights and basic exercises. I also have excluded the names and the weights lifted by those arguing, I have no beef with them, they are just typical of the guys who know best but lift little.

 

Again, I think it’s mainly spite from them, they don’t like the results posted by PTC lifters shoved in their faces.

 

What about those really weak ones who knock anyone that dares lift for strength over appearance? I leave them alone. Fancy having to go through life looking shit and being weak, yet telling people you train.

 

 

Thanks for reading

 

Markos