K Ponti – ‘I’m learning and participating in my own physical development’

K Ponti, what were your goals when signing up with me?

I have always struggled losing weight since I was a teenager. Additionally, I’m a really busy guy. I work 40+ hours in a sedentary office job and commute an hour to and from work daily. In my off time I tend to my family, girlfriend, and friends and I am also a musician, often having strange hours and eating schedules. I had been training on my own for a couple years but I kept running into training plateaus or injuries and would get set back months at a time.It felt like a grind and I decided I would look into getting an online coach.

 I was interested in working with Steve because he seemed to be a refreshing alternative to the ego-driven, fat-shaming coaching I typically ran into in the United States. Our focus has been two-fold: to cut my body fat down, and to gain strength to compete in a powerlifting meet.

What reservations if any did you have before we started working together?

I was worried it may be a scam (but I’m paranoid), I was worried I wouldn’t see results, and I was worried I would have to give up flexibility in my life around food.

How was I able to help you with your reservations?

Steve never skipped a beat. He started adapting things to me right away. I like that there are several different ways to get towards my goals and that it is always an option to try something different if things aren’t working. Also, Steve has a good understanding and compassion for the psychological aspect of this.

I’m a really busy guy, and Steve has worked with me to find routines that fit my schedule, lifestyle, and ability, and always tells me he can change things up if something does not work. And he’s always been very accessible. I can send him an email and he gets back to me within the day despite being across seas. Also, in the rare occasion I can’t reach Steve, I have access to the Team Revive community and can run my questions by them. They are a positive bunch of folks and I’m happy to be a part of that learning community.

In point form, can you list your achievements training with me thus far?

• Lost a lot of fat, dropping 14lbs.
• Stronger and with improved form, despite injuries and a caloric deficit.
• More knowledge about my own body.
• New eating habits that will sustain me in my long-term health.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Steve is incredibly body-positive, non-shaming, encouraging, and focused on helping me reach my goals. He also has an incredible amount of knowledge that he is willing to share, and for me that’s what sold me: I’m not a mindless robot being told how to eat and how to train, I’m learning and participating in my own physical development, which is empowering.

I’m stoked with how my body has been progressing and with how much strength I’ve gained in such a short amount of time. I have more knowledge about my own body, and have gained new eating habits that will sustain me in my long-term health.

Steve is truly a pleasure to work with and I would recommend him to other male and female strength athletes, and anyone looking to transform the way they think about dieting and health.

I look forward to the next phase of my training and competing in a powerlifting meet this next year!

K Ponti came to me seeking to drop fat without it impacting his strength, but further to that he wanted to learn. His application form was incredibly detailed and I could tell he had put a lot of time and effort into his training a nutrition already. I changed things up pretty quickly, dropping his previously high fat intake and prioritising carbohydrates. Also K Ponti was doing a horrible cardio protocol 6 times a week, which I dropped right down as well. I am so proud of the results we have achieved together, it hasn’t been without its hardships but through K Ponti’s positive attitude and hard work we have got through it. I can also proudly say that when/if K Ponti decides to take the reigns of his own nutrition and training he has the knowledge of how to successfully do so.

Interested in online coaching? You can check out what I have to offer here.

Hannah Davies – ‘adapted things to suit me’

Hannah, what were your goals when signing up with me?

I wanted to gain control over my eating habits and go onto a productive training programme.

What reservations if any did you have before we started working together?

I was worried that I may become obsessed with my eating and feel stressed by this. Furthermore, due to handing over control of my training, which I love I was worried I would enjoy it less.

How was I able to help you with your reservations?

Initially when we started I began tracking macro’s, however this brought out feelings of obsession and stressed me out. You were able to produce a system that stopped me stressing and kept my nutrition on point.

Also when developing my training programme you discussed with me your suggestions and allowed me to have my own input. I could then incorporate some of the exercises I love.

In point form, can you list your achievements training with me thus far?

• Control over my eating.
• Furthered my education in regards to nutrition.
• Faster progress in the gym, seeing positive strength increases.

I have really enjoyed working with Hannah, she presented new challenges that I had not encountered before. We got round these challenges together by developing a method of nutrition that she could understand, do easily and still be accountable towards. Furthermore, we made sure that her training was productive but also importantly something she would enjoy doing. I have seen Hannah become more and more confident in both aspects and I am very proud of what we have achieved to date.

Interested in online coaching? You can check out what I have to offer here.

The Powerlifting Newb Series – Part 2 – Picking your attempts

So in Part 1 you got to see how the day went and some key lessons I learnt; make a plan, know the process and stay composed. I am going to touch on each of these in more detail to help the new powerlifter out.

First things first, I want you to have a plan of what numbers you are going to attempt for each lift. The only numbers set in stone are the openers, all the others can change on the day, but we will have a plan for that too. Using the below you will a guide that will get you a 100% success rate and give you the best chance of doing well in your meet.

What Weight?

Right, so you have been training with a meet in mind for many weeks or months. All the hard work you have put in is being put to the test on this one day. Hopefully you have been increasing your intensity slowly and have built up a good amount of volume prior to the meet. The last few weeks should have got you pretty well prepared for shifting heavy weights.

In the video below you can see how I recorded my main lifts and noted down how each set was feeling, information and footage like this is very helpful when picking your lifts.

Using your training notes you can look over the sort of weights you were achieving for a given number of reps, you can use these to look at what you estimated 1 rep maxes might look like. This will give you a good idea of what you 1 rep max on the day might be.

Rep Max Calculator

This gives you your starting point, you have your estimated 1 rep maxes. They give you a range to work from, you can set yourself a minimum and maximum for each lift. That way you know if you’re feeling crummy on the day you have a minimum you can hit and if you’re feeling super you have a maximum to aim for.

Picking Your Opener

The way I see it is that your opener is just an extension of your warm up. So this should definitely be something sub-maximal and shouldn’t take away from your next attempts. This is the only lift you have to hand in before you start, so you cannot judge how your warm up is going to give you an indication of how this lift might go. Therefore, it makes even more sense to pick something you can hit any day of the week come rain or shine. 

This should be a weight you could hit hungover wearing the clothes you had on during your night out. That means no belt, no lifting shoes, no chalk, you get the picture; no chance of failure. Furthermore, because it will be easy it will give you confidence for your next lifts going forward.

So because everyone likes rules of thumb;

• Your opener should be 80% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
• A piece of pie, whether hungover or not.

Picking Your Second Attempt

So after killing your first opener you’re ready for your second attempt. Again, we are going in with the mindset of hitting every single lift. Because, a missed attempt is as good as wiping your ass with cling film. Messy, uncomfortable, embarrassing and an all round epic fail. So 9/9 is our aim, therefore the second attempt is again something we are confident about hitting.

However, you have the first attempt to help guide you here. My advise is to have a couple of options before you get to your meet, have a feeling shitty option and a feeling good option. If your opener felt a bit slow, then opt for the feeling shitty second attempt, if it felt like it should, easy, then go for the feeling good option. Too many options will only leave you second guessing, if things are going to plan, you should be feeling good, it will be pretty clear if things aren’t.

Either way this lift again should be a no-brainer, not dead easy but not hard either. Something you could hit for a 2-3 rep max on a good day and hit for a single when you feel like utter crap.

Right so how do you go about picking these two?

• Feeling shitty 85% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
• Feeling good 90% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
• Something you could hit for a triple on a good day.

Picking Your Final Attempt

Right so now you are in a great position, whether you’re feeling good or not, you will have so far succeeded in getting every attempt, 6/6, good job! So using the 1 rep max calculator and your lifting history you have an idea of what you should be able to hit. Again I suggest having a feeling crummy attempt and a feeling good number.

As a rule of thumb set your final attempt at:

• 100 – 102.5% of your estimated 1RM.

Remember, we are going for 9/9, and especially because this is written for the powerlifting newb we are assuming a lack of meet experience. Therefore, you do not know whether you bloom under the competitive environment or crumble. It’s like those kids who know all the answers to the questions in lessons, and do well on their course work, but when it comes to exam conditions they suck. We therefore have little meet history to go off, so we are going to be conservative. As said before, a missed lift is useless, so we don’t want any second guessing.

The Take Home Message

If it wasn’t clear by now the take home from the above is that you want to avoid missing lifts. As someone new to powerlifting you want to be especially conservative, and learn from the process. Having a plan allows you to have better focus on the day, plus by having a minimum and a maximum you have a great way of selecting weights on the day, because who knows how you might be feeling.

In the parts to follow I will talk more about each lift, nutrition, weighing in and all the details of the meet day.