ItalianDemon’s BodyBlog

Well, I feel like I should write a blog telling ya’s all about me. More exactly about the path that has lead me to the weight room.

To start when I was very young, 4 or 5, I went anorexic. I know it sounds dumb, but it’s true. My older brother would call me a ‘fat, little worm’ and being young and idolizing him, I believed what he said. So, I decided not to eat anything.

 My mother would cook my favourite foods, spaghetti, lasagne, hot dogs, etc. But, I refused to eat. This went on for a short time, until my brother talked to me. Then, I went back to eating healthy, (as healthy as a 5yo could).

I’d always been involved in sports. I played soccer from about 8 or 9 t about 14. I wasn’t really good at it. I only started playing because my best mate played and I got a little chubby about my anorexic stint.

The captain for all those years was the coachs son. Me and him were the best and second goalkeepers in the Junior league. I started playing soccer to run around and hopefully lose some fat. Become a little leaner. But, since the captain was the son of the coach he always got to have a run and I was always stuck in goal. And being the 2nd best team in the comp, I got hardly any ball.

After soccer, I played a bit of basketball, softball, mixed netball, AFL, and some others that didn’t last long.

When I was 13 I started playing rugby league and union seriously in high school. It was here that I first entered a gym, to get stronger for weights, all thanks to my mate. I had a fair bit of size, I was chubby. So, I just needed strength to play my position.

 I continued playing footy up until Grade 11, where it took a back seat towards the end of the year where I got into Olympic weightlifting. I trained hard, and used the explosive nature of the sport to help me on the field.

Along came my senior year and I played as much footy as I could, but weightlifting was the forerunner in my sportng endeavours. It was in this year, 2007, that I entered my first Olympic weightlifting competition. A state league competition in which I weighed 71.3kg and lifted 53kg in the snatch and 76kg in the clean and jerk to secure 4th in the Open Mens 77kg division.

Now, I work fulltime at a pretty physical job at the mines, and train whenever I can for weightlifting. Having my coach (my older brother) also working at the mines on shift work, makes it somewhat difficult to secure definite days and times to train. So, I often train by myself doing raw strength moves, squats, pulls, deadlifts, shoulder presses, push press, as well as some bench work, pulldowns/ups, general ‘bodybuiding’ work.

Being a weightlifter means I do alot of ab/core work. The foundation of a good weightlifter is a strong core musculature. I train my core every training and most othe days away from the gym.

At the moment, I am trying to bring my legs up (especially my front squats) so that my lifts will be able to produce better results. (I can clean 100kg but can’t stand it from the hole). My shoulders are another area I am trying to get stronger, lots of push presses and power jerks, dumbell presses/barbell presses.

As for my muscular goals, I want to bring up my upper chest, well, bring up my overall chest, it is very shallow. I would love another 4 inches on my chest. My legs are another area, would love to add another 5 inches to them.

 When I get down to it, I want to add about 2-3 inches over every muscle group, and lose about 2 inches off my waist and hips.

Competitions…. I am hoping to compete in May, if I can get time off from work, and just use it as a progress check. Hoping to snatch 80-85kg and clean and jerk 100-105kg to total 180-190kg.

Then compete again around August to qualify for Nationals, again. Lift 110kg in the snatch and 120kg in the clean and jerk, to total 230kg. By this time I wish to be about 72kg bodyweight and about 6% bodyfat.

Dunno how I am gonna go with these goals, but I will just do my best and try to get there.

I’m also going to start taking Nitric Oxide along with my creatine and protein shakes. And eat a very protein rich diet, with lots of red meat, chicken and tuna. Heaps of fibre from fresh fruit and vegetables as well.

Try and stay healthy. Thanks.