Interview with ESBB member Kaz Podstolski (by Graeme)
Kaz, can you talk a bit about how you got in to training, and how you eventually ended up as a member of Eastside?
I first started playing around with some weights at home when I was about 15 or 16. I wanted to get bigger and stronger, unfortunately I had no idea how to do so. I thought I had to train as much as I could, so I ended up doing a pretty awful full body routine that I had devised once or twice a day. But my bodyweight wouldn’t budge, I couldn’t get my massive 68 kilo frame to put on any size. Who would have thought that I had to eat a fair amount of food to put on weight? As obvious as it seems it never clicked in my head back then.
Around the end of 2007 after my 17th birthday I first went to Pioneer Gym with a friend. I started training quite consistantly 3 to 4 times a week and I was eating more too. Nearing the end of 2008 I was up to about 77kgs and I had started thinking about doing a Personal Training course. So I enrolled to do an 8 month Certificate in Personal Training at the Southern Institute of Technology, which the entire course conveniently took place at the facilities at Pioneer. I really enjoyed studing there and I learned heaps of things which heaped a lot me in the gym. However, one of the things we had to do was shadow trainers at other gyms to see how they work with clients, and I was pretty slack at doing that. As the course started to come to an end I was looking around for trainers to shadow before it was too late. At the same time I was also looking for cheap protein powder, and one of my friends on the course showed me the Eastside website with $40 for a kilo. It sounded like a good deal so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and I emailed Eastside asking for a couple of kilos of protein powder and if maybe I could shadow someone there. I got my 2kgs of whey and instead of shadowing a trainer I ended up training with Graeme. Best thing I ever did for my training and I was keen to join up.
You’re the tallest guy at the gym at 6′5, and one of the younger ones at 19 but you’ve taken to powerlifting with a lot of enthusiasm. Most tall guys who are new to training wouldn’t jump into powerlifting, and generally tend use their height as an excuse for not lifting heavy at all. What made you want to compete?
I reckon being tall is even more of a reason to try and lift heavy and get bigger. I want to be able to move big weights and I just have to keep packing on the weight. Looking at Worlds Strongest Man all the guys there are about 6′-6′7 and 300-400lbs, being tall there is a big advantage, but being tall and light is not.
I wanted to get right in and give powerlifting my best shot and see what it was like. I don’t care if I’m lifting the lightest weights, it’s just more motivation to get stronger.
I was really exhausted, I didn’t realize it would be so draining, but I was really proud with my self, I got a new PB on my squat and deadlift so I was pretty stoked about that. It was a really supportive environment as well, and it helped me get through, especially after some shocking first and second attempts on my squats and deads. I was happy I got a certificate too. I’m hoping next time I’m going to get my numbers up and keep getting better.
