Hi! New comer introducing myself :)

[Cr33g]

I don't really know how to introduce myself on forums, especially when they have an "introduce yourself" kinda section. I know that sounds dumb but I'll give it a go.

 

I'm Cr33g (Craig). I'm twenty five years old and I live in Australia. I'm really into drawing, video games, film and photography, comic books, pop culture and general geek stuff. I work as a multimedia developer, specialising in film and video editing, photography and graphic design.

 

Over four years ago, I used to be very overweight (my highest was at 128kg, about 280ish pounds). Long story short (maybe one day I will post the long one) - I got into some trouble, took up Judo and within 9 months I lost 32kg. Four years later I have maintained my new weight of 100kg - I still train and compete in Judo, I've been power lifting for the past ten months or so and I occasionally compete in other grappling based competitions such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Next to drawing, Judo and exercise are big passions of mine.

 

I've come here because I'm looking to talk to like minded people, even if it's over the Internet. I love nerdy stuff and nerdy people and I love martial arts and fitness. This seems like the perfect place to go. On top of that, I love to see people change themselves and their lives. Maybe I could help somebody one day?

 

Nice to meet you all.

[Pat G]

Gday Craig is good to hear your story so far .Have you competed in any power lifting comps?

Hint: Don't give the Mericans my weights in pounds, make them use a real system to measure mass

[sylkamaru]

Welcome Rebel nerd bro' !

 

have you any specific objective ? we'll be glad to help you with it

[Cr33g]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

 

Pat G - I haven't competed in any power lifting competitions yet. I just like to follow a power lifting style training regime because I feel it really benefits my Judo.

 

Sylkamaru - At the moment my goals are pretty generic, just to try and lose more weight and get stronger.

 

With my weight I have two goals, a short term and a long term. The short term goal is to be 99kg maximum by early June (I currently weigh 100.5kg now, lost 4kg in the past month-ish, so I'll make that goal). The long term goal is to reach low to mid 90ish kg's by the end of the year. The reason I need to get to 99kg is for the Australian Judo Nationals this June. I'll be fighting in the -100kg (90-99kg) division.

 

As for getting stronger... I'd like to be able to bench 100kg (my maximum is 90kg at 4 reps), I'd like to be able to squat 140kg (maximum is 120kg at 2 reps) and I'd like to be able to dead lift more too (maximum at the moment is 130kg with 4-5 reps... seriously my dead lift sucks).

[goodbye_farewell]

What's a kg?

[HoldFast]

Hi Craig,

I've been powerlifting for about 4-5 months now and I also really like that training style!

 

I've really been considering taking up some form of martial arts, and it's nice to learn that Judo greatly benefits this lifting program I'm doing.

 

Our lifts and lift goals are similar!

 

Squat: 260lbs (5x5), goal 305 lbs

DL: 305 lbs (x5) goal 400 lbs

Bench i'm less concerned about, its my weak big lift, because I have a bad shoulder: current 160lbs (5x5) , goal 200

 

Nice to meet you, hope to see you around!

[Cr33g]

Thanks for the welcome, HoldFast. Your squat and dead lift sound great, they sound better than mine!

 

Power lifting works well in Judo I believe, especially for bigger players. Strength isn't really that important in Judo, but explosive power is a very handy tool to have for pulling opponents around and driving them off balance. You don't need strength to pull off throws as long as your technique is good, but to be fair, strength always helps.

 

The only thing I can suggest though, being honest, is your shoulder may not like Judo very much. The reason why is because you have to learn to break fall first, basically falling over "correctly" over and over, then you're thrown by people, which to be fair is the best way to practice break falls. Sometimes in randori (sparring/fighting) and even just throw for throw practice, your shoulder might get a bit sore or hurt even. The reason I say this is because when I first started, I had a very weak right shoulder. It was prone to actually popping in and out of place and would hurt like hell. This happened if I was thrown and landed on my shoulder, or if someone pulled me hard enough.

 

Due to strength training though and I guess training from Judo in general, my shoulder is fine now. No more problems. But I'm just letting you know as a heads up.

[HoldFast]

Cool.

 

My shoulder is actually not that bad, especially since I've been strength training. There are just some things that aggravate it. Most of the time I'm pain free and have no problems wth it, but sometimes it just gets a "weak" dislocated feeling. I had an injury about 10 years ago, and the doctor says although it's basically fine, as a result of the injury it developed some calcium deposits in the muscle and tendon which limit my range of motion and strength. And, the only solution is surgery. At this point I'm ok to get by without getting cut up!

 

Since I just arrived in this area I dont know if there are even any martial arts classes. I'm sure there are, but I haven't had the opportunity to avail myself of any, and it's kind of low on the totem pole with moving and settling in and getting all the bureaucratic red tape done for living in a foreign country.

[sylkamaru]

Nice !  having specific goals helps to attain them. Just "make more sports" usually ends up in the sofa again after a few months

 

I'm much on BW / Gymnastic, but I keep deadlifts and because there is just no equivalent in bw

I aim 130 kgs which is my bw x 2. I think I'm at it, I do reps at 100 kgs, but haven't got enough weights

it's horribly expensive for a pack of steel. I get used disc when I find some to sale, but there aren't that much

For squat I zercher because I do not have a rack at home and I do 1 set of 20 reps. I'm currently at 40 kgs and already dying... I have chicken legs...

[Cr33g]

If you don't mind me asking sylkamaru, how come you're not training at the gym? Are you training at home or else where? If you're working out without a gym - good on you, I seriously couldn't do that. 

 

I don't mean to assume but I can imagine some reasons - sometimes gyms can be a little expensive on the wallet, then there's times of your own availability, gym's time schedules etc. Which is all fair enough. I guess I'm just a little surprised. Either way, it sounds like you're doing very well for someone of your size and the situation you're in, e.g. acquiring your own equipment, weights and so forth... that's dedication right there, nice.  

[sylkamaru]

I did go to gym few years.

But I also had this sad pattern of

"very motivated, I go often... then first sign of results, lesser need of change, less motivation... and then the gym membership take dust somewhere"

 

Here is why :

Time is the key. I had at least half on hour to go the gym, same to return. Makes 1 hour just to go and return. then about 1 hour and half for workout (including warm up, cool dow...)

Half an hour to prepare / shower / discuss a little with people there.... Making 3 hours all inclusive for a workout

I quit work between 19h - 20h, workout, cook and eat and comes 23h30 / midnight and I did NOTHING else

Imagine that 3 days a week... at some point, even if you're very motivated, you want to do something else in your life, otherwise you end up living for workouts.

 

Also, with discovering (the hard way, through testing, failing, testing something else...) the most important things, I tend to dislike the gym "spirit"

For me, lots of trainers in gym are frauds (or have to be because of the gym rules)

Except if you want to compete in bodybuilding, isolation is BS, your body is a functional whole

 

And then I got on street workout and bar hitting since there were a park next to my job

Then I change job, no more park, going on barbells with P. Tsatsouline Power To The People (my bible on strenght)

then I boredom comes and I wanted to mix...

I could go on forever about my journey with fitness

 

And that's why Nerd Fitness "rules" and spirit talks to me much

 

Thanks for the compliment, but it sure is a little dedication and much much much much curiosity. I have read a lot (I like to read, to discover about things, it can be fitness, nutrition, or quantum mechanics, history...), and tested a lot

It has been quite a time I'm in sports, so it's not really good numbers, but the knowledge and the freedom is priceless.

[Cr33g]

Bloody hell man, that sounds difficult... three hours in total for the gym because of preparation and travel time? Okay, I couldn't do that. The gym I train at is a five minute drive from me and I just go immediately after work, which is around 4:30 PM in the afternoon or so.

 

You're right though, you honestly don't really need to do isolation exercises, especially if you're only going to the gym three days a week or so.

 

Keep it up man... sounds like you're doing very well for your circumstances.