An Eccentric Renegade Malaysian Weightlifter

Well, as my coach doesn’t love me and the entire team is down south in Johor today for a weightlifting tournament. Dammit! I wish I could go, my coach asked me to participate to gain some experience too but I’m stuck at work. Bloody fuck…I know my lowly snatch and clean and jerk isn’t going to hold much even against the 69KG category but it’ll be a great learning experience. To see how they lift, how their technique differs from mine and how to improve my kip so I can snatch even more and hold a more steady overhead position. It would be tremendously exciting!

But NOOOO, I have to work so I’m stuck here in my little corner thinking about the fuckup that almost had nothing to do with me yesterday afternoon. Anyway, fuck that I’m done ranting over that little idiotic incident.

Since I won’t have a place to slam my weights and attempt maximal heavy weights, I’ll just have to do a bit of simple deadlifts, power cleans and front squats today. I’m going to attempt to hit a 185KG deadlift for a single today. Maybe 100KG power cleans for five singles and hopefully I’ll touch 130KG for 3 today on the front squats. No I do not believe in a light training day, days that I do clean and jerks and snatches to the maxes are already considered light. So I don’t need anymore light days. I want to squat at least thrice a week and twice has to be heavy.

And know what’s the best part? While the other trainees have to fast because they’re muslims, I can train! Wahahah!! This one month, they’ll be concentrating on not losing muscle and strength, while I can keep working at being stronger. Ego siot….

And WATCH this video. The second clean and jerk is the most phenomenal view. He did an overhead squat with 207KG’s. That my friend, is a feat hard to beat.

I can finally return to Olympic weightlifting. Thank you, Majilis Sukan Negara Malaysia for letting me train back there, although I’m not in the team. Absolutely delighted about it.

Yesterday’s training was just so I could get back into the groove again. All I did was some simple power snatches. It felt really awkward because I couldn’t get the explosion at the right moment, but I somehow managed to produce enough power this time to easily snatch the 55KG. previously I was struggling with 45KG’s only.

 Then when my new coach asked me to do some squat snatches, I fell to the front and then to the back. He asked me to pull more gently instead of with the same speed and I dropped into a squat snatch, pretty easily. Moved to 60KG and accidentally power snatched it again with a SLIGHT pressout. Reminded myself to squat snatch this time and did 60KG’s very nicely for a few sets of singles.

Moved to CNJ’s and did a simple 70KG power clean and jerk (3x) Then to 90KG, same thing power clean and jerk twice. Then I felt a little adventurous and moved to 100KG x 1, 105Kg x 1, 110KG x 1 and finally a nice 115KGx1 with a shaky jerk but that’s okay.

 Moved to some high bar squats and did 70KG x 5, 90KG x 5, 120KG x 2 x 5, 140KG x 6 and 150KG x 2 x 1

Nice workout. Nice getting back to oly. I’m doing squat snatches much better now and my squats feel stronger than ever. Nice.

Being in KL, the best thing I feel is that I’m able to meet more people. People that are like minded as I am that train for a purpose. And that purpose isn’t for leisure. Isn’t for looks. Isn’t for fun. Their purpose is to be better at what they do. I don’t dislike any sort of trainees except those that train and then look down on others. Sure I may ridicule people who like to pose and admire themselves but tell me, who doesn’t like to ridicule another individual in the gym that does that?

A guy will try to massage his ego by posing in the mirror after a few reps of lateral raises. The smaller guys will make fun by saying something along the lines of “Aiya, show off only lah” while the bigger guys will make fun by saying something like “Cheh, a bit only also want to show off. Wait till you see mine” and proceeds to flex beside the fellow. And you wonder why I hate the state of the Malaysian fitness industry? While this isn’t a definitive attitude and way of all trainees, it is quite the way in MANY places. Perhaps it’s just that men put this image.

Perhaps it’s men whose ego are larger than the two butt cheeks of J.Lo put together. However, this definitely isn’t the way I’d like to see the fitness or ANY industry. I strongly believe in, “Do upon others, what you want others to do upon you”. Truth be told, you can ridicule me however you want, because I do it to others. But I really don’t care how you think. It’s all cool with me.

However, I see this phenomenon improving. Seriously, I went to Fitness First and I really noticed that those fuckey trainers are no longer there, or just couldn’t be bothered with clowns like me. I just helped a friend fix his deadlift a bit and managed to pull 160KG’s for a single. He slammed the weights on the ground because his grip was giving way. Nobody bothered him. They just stared like “Woah! So much weights ah?” but didn’t go on bitching at him. That’s nice. It shows that perhaps finally, people are understanding that weights isn’t about silence. It’s about…..not to sound hardcore, it’s about strength, grunt, sweat and effort. Real mental and physical effort. I see that there’s finally respect, or awe whichever tickles your goatee, towards people that are in the gym to get stronger not just “look” stronger.

If such respect is continuously cultivated among clubs like this, I can see myself joining one in future. IF they finally allow Olympic weightlifting. Then again I’ll probably have my own home gym so forget it. I need to be able to slam weights without people staring at me like I’m nuts. And I promise, I will STOP to ridicule them if they stop ridiculing me. Perhaps I should stop first, then pray that they follow suit?

Honestly if someone does something peculiar in the gym which I think has a purpose, a point, what’d I do? I really, I ask why do it, is there a better way, does it help improve and how can I put it in my boring training method. Trust me, squatting, pulling, pressing DOES get a bit boring sometimes. And I just did calf presses just now. Hoh yeh full stack bebeh! Range of motion? 2 inches.

Anyway today’s training was a bit messed up. Was trying to teach a friend how to deadlift right and he did phenomenally well. He pulled better, his back doesn’t ache anymore after training, he’s learning to use more of his hips instead of back and he managed to pull 160KG’S albeit an ugly rep, no lockout but VERY close. He just needs to learn to keep the bar closer to him. He’s got a monster strong back and is shorter than me. Stocky build.

I was just supposed to coach him but I also ended up training.

 

Pulled a few times, and did a 160KG pull to show him how it was done. Howlee shit! Either the 140KG x 5 x 2 worked phenomenally well or I just found god. I pulled the 160KG’S like it was a 100KG bar. Breaking off the floor was as usual, inconvenient thanks to my absurdly long torso, but it didn’t take more than ½ a second. Then the moment it left the ground, BLAM! It shot up SO fucking fast I almost fell backwards. The entire lift was finished in like 1 seconds with most of the time stuck on the floor. Phenomenal…I’m going to drop the weights to 130KG’S this week and pull it for 5 sets of triples. Then the next week, 120 for 8 sets of triples. This is my theory;

If I was going to wave load progressively from low to high, I’d fatigue my back by the forth week. However, since I’m actually doing VERY well on more sets, I can actually handle higher reps very well. Just not heavy weights when it comes to the deadlifts. So I go heavy first, then lighter and increase reps and see how it responds, but speed is of ultimate importance.

Then did 100KG x 20 for squats. Apparently he said it was really ATG, so that’s nice. I felt it was rather difficult already at the 5^th rep, but just went on. By the 8^th rep I was having a pretty good time till 13. At 13 till 15 it was difficult. 16 was a sick rep. 17 and 18 he said I looked like I was going to die. At 19 I knew I was going to get 20 pretty easily. The moment I hit twenty, I walked wobbly and threw it back to the rack and just fell. Time taken, 1 minute 26 seconds. Pretty fast.

This Friday, 102KG x 20. Ah…joy.

To be honest though, it has become much easier since the first time. It’s not easy to lift the weights, but it’s easier to breathe. I don’t pant for 20 minutes after I train anymore, it’s more like I shiver and pant for 5 minutes, and then I can go around jumping playing around again.

Gawd!! I could feel my legs exploding and my butt putting in 20LBS of muscle in a blink. Argh!!!

Woke up in the morning and went straight to the gym, drinking water as my breakfast. Not that smart. Then went to train, did 60 for five and 100 for five and then 120 for a few more reps. Dropped to 95KG’S and started. Rep 1-5 was easy. Reps 6-8 was slightly harder. Then I breathed really hard and told myself two reps each time I breathe. Managed to get up to 14 reps and then everything else was a combination of pushing for a single rep or two reps.

By the time I hit 18, my shoulders fatigued. Had no choice but to put the bar back to re-rack it. Did the final two reps and slammed the weights to the power rack and fell flat on the floor. Blergh……two reppers are really something that requires you to really “tahan” really hard. Can’t like fuck up or you’ll be pinned by the weights and although 95KG’s are really light, when it hits the double digit reps, it suddenly turns into a whole different game altogether. Damn hard to rep….that’s why la…everyday also 1-3 reps. Anything more than 5 is a marathon. I just did two rounds of mega marathons then. 20 reps sial. Gileor…

After that just did some sets of overhead squats from the rack. Urgh….not that easy at all….

I’m going to incorporate some more cleans and front squats from decline position.

Didn’t go that well…..Was aiming to do 5×2 of 140KG clean pulls. Ended up doing just 4 sets of doubles.

Started off simply enough, 60KG’s for 5 reps, felt a bit heavy for some reason. It didn’t feel weightless as it usually does. Up to 100KG, I decided to use somewhat closer to a deadlift stance. Pop! It went up fast and powerful for the next four reps. Good. 120KG’s felt pretty dammed fast too, 3 reps and it was up. All these reps were done with a strap mind you, and I’m proud to say that I use the strap. There’s nothing really wrong about using a strap, especially considering the fact I don’t clean 140 yet. No biggie. Yes I use straps once again, so BITE ME!

140KG’s for the first set felt fast and powerful, second rep I used those weight brackets to avoid them from falling around. Small mistake, they weighed 5KG’S in total, bringing the lift to 145KG’s and making it considerably slower. Something about your CNS wiring itself to lift 140KG’s and suddenly you put in an extra 5KG’s. This makes the brain unprepared, but enough with the science, I dropped it back to 140KG’s and pulled fast again. The last set was rather…..disappointing. Perhaps my upper back wasn’t my strongest point, so it curved over slightly. Ugly. I didn’t grind the rep out, but my back wasn’t 100% straight. Felt a soreness after this rep. Not good.

Decided to skip the last set and dropped to 100KG’s and pulled for a quick five instead.

Did a lil bodybuilding nonsense after that, with 60KG’s x 10, 70KG x 8, 80KG x 6 of Pendlay Rows. Felt my left trap have a stinging pain. I have no idea where that pain came from, it wasn’t a muscular burn sort of pain. It was a sharp pain. Irritating. There was a huge back pump and stretch though. I now remember why I don’t like to do direct back work. The pump isn’t, enjoyable. I can’t understand how bodybuilders can enjoy the “pump”. It’s both irritating, tight and shits my flexibility off badly. Good god.

Then proceeded to do some kipping pull-ups. About 20 reps for the first set, 15 for the second set and about 12 for the last set. I’m horrendously bad at maintaining the momentum for the kips. I’m supposed to push away, but my timing’s always off when I’m trying to get under the bar. Sometimes I push too soon and I end up stuck at the bottom and have to reactive the kip once again. Stupid…

Did some stretching and bouncing about. That’s about it and called home. Had an oily dinner thanks to my aunt’s mother’s cooking. Oh whatever. Saunas and a freezing cold bath, is incredible. It leaves a tingling feel on your skin. Nice.

Woo…been sickeningly busy with work these few days combined with the silly (Embarrassing) fact that I actually flunked my law paper which means I’m stupider than a bodybuilder makes it even more tiring for me this week. Training hasn’t been too consistent but that’s not much of the biggest concern right now.
In my free time I’ll usually read some articles regarding strength training and speed development. Apparently there is a point that getting stronger doesn’t make you any faster (Duh), but the thing is, getting faster almost always makes you stronger. But there’s actually a point that your speed doesn’t increase any more because of insufficient top end strength. (Maximal strength), so there’s actually a ratio that’s considered optimal for maximum strength and speed production.

I’m not really sure how that works so I’ll be reading more of Vladimir Zatsiorsky’s articles to understand better how this system works. Many a time, too many athletes train way too much for strength but not enough for speed. Ever wondered why the Westside Principles held high regard to Dynamic Effort (speed) work, combined with sufficient Maximal Effort (strength) work? Many guys  who train for speed can end up much stronger than guys that train specifically for strength. But guys that train for strength purely, may NOT be as fast. In fact, will DEFINITELY not be as fast, if there’s no balance in training.

Ever wondered why weightlifters can be SO bloody powerful and yet maintain a deceivingly small size? Or why powerlifters that use the method of training both strength with speed, are so huge in size yet tremendously fast on a 40 meter sprint?

Anyway, I’m on a 20 rep squat routine. I’m starting my 20 rep squats with 90KG as a base. Moving up to 95KG x 20 this Friday. Next week, I’ll move up t0 100KG x 20.

Training on Monday and Friday’s going to be working up to 20 rep squats and then an upper body speed movement.

Wednesday’s going to be some pulling off the floor.

Thursday’s going to be nice speed work. Sprinting, jumping. Stuff like that.

Anyway, 20 rep squats were brutal. But…..actually pretty much doable with enough rest in between. Not too long but not to short either.

NICE!

Nice right? Wouldn’t you want a dip belt as well? Can add weights and train heavier. Don’t need to go so many reps till your hands rip into half because of callouses. Just add an extra 20KG’s and just do 10 reps, instead of having to extend to nearly 15 reps for hell sakes. And only getting half the benefit.However, it costs RM150-250 to buy it from the internet and I’m not sure if that includes the delivery costs. Which would equal to a pretty bad figure on your wallet.

I has solution. It be called safety belt. Old safety belts.

Yes this isn’t rocket science. It’s just an old safety belt with a bracket and two holes. You need such safety belts because you won’t be able to secure the weights without these brackets. (I seriously hate wordpress for constantly jumping my mouse to the top when I align the pictures to the center)

Now what you need to do is, put this one dangling side on the gas tank as your weights. If you’re not strong enough to carry a gas tank, then obviously improvise and use dumbbells instead. Don’t be a single track fool and not use your brains. Malaysians generally use their brains on silly things like “What dress to buy” or “What shirt would look good tonight when I club?”.

Make a change. Think of what to use as weights. The mother of all invention is? Smart…good dog.

Then you’re going to need something to secure the weights. I used a padlock. Solid and HIGHLY unlikely to break. See? It just hangs there. Then lock the padlock but make sure you have the keys. I don’t know what you’re going to do if you don’t but that was about what we were going to do, but we didn’t know where the keys were. My brother and I, not so smart.

Jeng jeng jeng jeng!!!!!! Then we do pull-ups! Now I thought it was 14KG because the tank said, 14KG’s but little did I know, it was only 14KG’s when empty. When it’s filled….it’s pretty bloody heavy. So I only managed two, which was a pretty big dent to my ego. I didn’t know I was so weak.But when I got down and decided to weigh the thing, hehehe, apparently I is not so weak after all. It’s approximately…

31kG”S!! I be strong baby! Hahahaha!!! So yes, the pull-up belt that cost RM0.

Items needed:

• Old safety belt (Can be gotten from junk yards)
• Padlock
• Dumbbell, kettlebell or gas tank, whichever suits you
• Creativity.

Good luck you lazy Malaysians that think the only way to get strong fit fast and look good is by going to fitness gyms and having silly personal trainers teach you things that’ll screw your back while you think it’s dangerous for me to snatch overhead.

 

Having had trained in facilities that have Eleiko barbell sets, full Eleiko competition sets, there’s one thing you can say about them. Orgasmic. They ARE wonderful, barbells. Their knurling is beautiful, not too deep, not too sharp. Just the perfect depth, nicely enough to give you a solid grip around the barbell and fill the flesh around your hands. It fits like a “Size-XS” condom on a “Tongkat ali” drinking “Pakcik”. The perfect companion for a world weightlifting champion.

It’s wonderful.

Just chalk it up, spin a few times to find the perfect position and align the legs. Look straight ahead, and execute the clean portion, first pull slowly and explode upwards with a high shrug and kip it in! Catch the bar with your delts and squat upwards. Roar!!!!!!!! ROAR the triumphant roar that the first portion is accomplished. Here comes the second portion.

Stand straight and prepare for the jerk, keep back straight, bend knees and BOOM! Explode and catch the bar while holding the position steady. And bring legs to line.

That ladies and gentleman. The clean and jerk, the method to get the most weight from the ground, above your head without a rack. It’s an awe inspiring movement where men, the elites, can move 3x their own bodyweight above the ground. It’s the world’s most explosive movement.

That’s not even the snatch yet. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it’s actually possible to move 600LBS above your head. A man can do that. Chemerkin attempted that in a competition once, but no doubt it’s been done in training. This is the sport that nobody but the athletes themselves will understand. The enormous power a 5′10″ physique can generate.

 

Problem is….one bloody Eleiko bar, can cost close to RM20,000 and sometimes above, depending on sources. Drat…..Never fear, there’s the training set. Costing a mere RM10,000……why the fuck does this sport have to be so expensive? Let’s thread softly on the mechanics of these barbells and their plates.

Each plate, is made of rubber and metal. The metal collar holes and the rubber plates. In each plate, there are numerous layers of solid rubber that make up the weight of the plate. These layers, promise the solidness and strength and lasting properties of these plates. Wonderfully arranged by the Swedish finest craftsmen, these plates are loved by weightlifters, powerlifters and athletes all over the world. The perfect combination of metal and rubber, makes a solid and durable plate that will last a minimal of 10 years.

The bars……ah, these…..these are as magical as the muscles that operate them. A solid steel bar,  crafted by Eleiko’s wonderful technology and machinery, they consist of two main parts. The bar and the sleeves. Attached, they are smooth, solid and spin wonderfully. Perfect for any application. Able to handle 1500LBS of weight without bending, they’re monsters.

But they cost bloody expensive. SO any sponsors!!? You can email me at kirksman [at] gmail.com or subscribe to my posts. I’m not as boring as this all the time. I just need my dad to return my bloody mouse so I can use my laptop more efficiently.

Malaysia is a beautiful country, really it’s beautiful. Now shove aside the racial issues and political baloney for a few minutes and you’ll actually notice this country is really wonderful to live in, although the “leaders” are bickering among themselves like a pair of ferrets chasing after the last scorpion.

The recent few years, have seen a tremendous emergence of places I wouldn’t call gyms, but “Fitness Clubs”. Celebrity Fitness, Fitness First, California Fitness. Already they’re called fitness, you probably cannot expect much real knowledge. First let me say that I understand fitness. Fitness is a different field altogether from what I was involved in (Powerlifting) and currently involved in (Weightlifting). I know different people have different goals, and it’s their right to enjoy what they indulge themselves in.

Fitness Club For Chubbies. Service With A Smile

However, one of the biggest issues I have against such fitness clubs is their personal trainers and the layout and equipment of these places. I’ll talk about the layout and equipment first. Okay, usually, it’s upstairs machines and free weights, downstairs all cardio machine and drinks.

What’s messed up?

No Dropping Weights

Having the free weights upstairs, writes a restraining order on dropping weights. Not dropping weights in the game of weights, is utter nonsense. Complete! For those that think the “clink and clank and booms” of these weights are scary, noisy and disturbing, let me first say that your bloody presence annoys me then.

The dangers of holding to a weight that you’re unable to lift anymore and just trying to put it down silently, is beyond words. If you’re doing a bench press (I’m going with the easiest example that everybody understands), a barbell itself puts your body at a very disadvantageous position. Our human biomechanics aren’t exactly catered to suit the bench press perfect. Our rotator cuffs move in angels, 360 degrees, but a barbell restricts movement and disallows the body to find the most efficient path to complete the exercise.

Till today I’ve no idea what McDonalds is. A clown? Burger flipper? Badawi’s little brother?

However, with solid muscular strength, you can still hold to it, but there’s an issue when you get tired after a few repetitions. You HAVE to rack it back quickly when you’re done with the particular set to conserve energy for the next three or four sets if you’re a bodybuilder and up to ten sets for a powerlifter on his speed days. You also need to rack it quick before it puts any extra unnecessary tension on your shoulders and pecs. However, some stupid gyms have this idiotic; “If you can’t put it back silently, you’re probably not strong enough for it” policy.

That’s just promoting, playing in your comfort zone. Now ALL bodybuilders and weightlifters and powerlifters know this, being in your comfort zone, brings no progression. Your CNS has already adapted to the movement, its time to overload your muscle. You’re not learning a snatch, it doesn’t take 10 years to perfect.

Read Rippetoe’s studies if you don’t believe me, but I’m not lending you the book.

The pesky “know it all, actually know nothing” personal trainers.

Now don’t misunderstand my beef against personal trainers. I’ve none if they’re knowledgeable, patient, nice and non-obstructive. Sometimes, you get REALLY pesky trainers that’ll stare like you’ve just murdered their mother. I understand their job is to keep people safe, sell hours to people that require their help and assist people that need help in the exercises. I’m all for that. What spoils my image about them, is when they do NOT even do well training others.

First off some of them look like they need trainers to train them themselves.
Second off, they’ve not even teaching the proper way to train. I’m serious. You think the barbell row is easy to teach?

Ass sticking out, back arched, knees bent, depending on you, some deload, some do not. Those that deload take a 90 degree angle. Those that don’t, take 50 degrees

Trust me, it’s not.  It’s probably one of the most difficult exercises to teach. Yes, snatches and clean and jerks and squats are difficult as well, but this is pretty dammed difficult as well. BUT, these personal trainers can mistake the most important part of the movement. When their clients are ROUNDING their back instead of arching the lower back as shown in the picture above, they say;

 ”Good good, okay now row to your chest some more”

I walked past one guy and nearly spit my drink at his face.

Refer to this image while I give you free PT classes

Your lumbar spine (lower back) MUST either remain neutral or arched. This helps the muscles support the position. You can have your thoracic curve bend (upper back), but not the lower back. There’s 33 bones down there, screw one up, you’re in for trouble. Screw your lumbar area, say bye bye to leg functions. Screw the sacral curve (unlikely), your sexual and bowel functions go haywire. You’ll probably ejaculate when you intend to crap and crap when you want to ejaculate. Not a very pretty sight especially for your girlfriend or wife.

How can you put your sexual life to the hands of these fools that don’t know what a lumbar curve arch is! And their prescriptions to people that want to build muscle, I’ll tell you. I asked once just to see what they know;

“Okay, so you beginner right?”

“Oh em, yes…beginner, never touched weights in my life” (But my hands have callouses that just cut your skin when you shook my hand)

“Okay, so first, you want to have big chest and 6 packs?”

“Oh em, yes. Of course”

“Okay, so we do bench press, 3 sets, 10 reps. Then after that, we do bicep curls 3 set 10 reps. Then abs, 3 set 10 reps. After that must do cardio and drink protein. We sell them.

“Oh okay, so it’s a 3×10 system for everything?”

“Ah yes, no we call it 10 reps 3 sets, so usually I call it 10×3″ (Oh wow, 10 sets of triples, sounds like powerlifting)

“Oh. How do I lose this fat at the side of my stomach?”

“That one, we usually do twist. Like, you sit on the chair and twist left and right”

By now, I said to myself, one more comment from this clown and I’ll explode to laughter. So I got out of the places, and used the one day pass. Inside, I think I was doing squats, and I remember the look in his eyes. Hilarious! I’m all for personal trainers that mean well. However, sometimes when these people mean well…….they also give you a lot of nonsense which cannot be applied. This I feel is just not right.

And let me tell you, I went to all three, Celebrity Fitness in Subang Parade where the sales lady was extremely EXTREMELY rude. She was one of those that didn’t wear a uniform and was sorta plum. Obviously she knew nothing about exercising and only knew about selling. This was the one that referred me to her “Get results quick!” instructor which told me that. I nearly died.

California Fitness in Sunway Pyramid, I was attended by this angmoh and just nicely took his free pass and took a tour. He told me to do chin-ups……….on an ASSISTED machine. What an insult, but I just took it nicely.

Fitness First in The Curve. There wasn’t even a pull-up bar!! And no dip bars. What is wrong with this place?? I did enjoy the shower and steam room though. Ah, heavenly!

CANNOT CANNOT!! Mus repair the conditions of these gyms. I shall teach you what a real gym is.

Well…I PLANNED the 180KG. Getting it or not was another question altogether.

So probably by the video, it’s quite unlikely that I got it.

Today was snatch practice. I had to snatch a particular weight 5 times, each fall don’t count. Worked up to 55KG from 40. I REALLY need to get the balls to squat under faster. I was scared at the beginning, now I think I sorta ingrained it into my neuromuscular movements. It’s getting better now…..I guess my balls grew slightly bigger and I dare to squat under more quickly now.

Clean pulls felt okay, 100KG and 120KG was pretty quick. I’m pretty sure I’ll clean the 120KG soon enough. Very SOON. 150KG, out of my reach at the moment, but that’s okay. Give me about another 6 months, I’ll get that. Hey, it ain’t no harm hoping okay.

Now I must remember to pull off the ground quicker. That’s what’s breaking me down, bloody deadlifts.