Monday is 70’s Big Females day, presenting:
Growing Up Oly
by Cori Safe

Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to grow up in a strong, loving, and quintessential “70’s Big” community since birth. While we did not define it as 70’s Big, looking back I think we can name it as such. This is a story about growing up in the strength world.

One of my earliest memories from childhood is from my play pen. I remember sitting there watching my mom pound away at the stationary bicycle day in and day out. Obviously working on her six pack and getting ready for her next bodybuilding competition. I remember squats. Big squats. Powerlifting style with large men grunting, steel plates and bars banging against the floor and the racks. I remember my dad kicking a hole through the gym wall after a heavy squat. My brother and I would scoot our big wheels through our garage gym while friends of my parents would do endless pullups, deadlifts, and bicep curls. Yes, I grew up in a powerlifting and bodybuilding gym.

Luckily, my father Scott Safe (founder of Safe USA and coach of Team Cannon Weightlifting) learned from years of dealing with his own back pain and agony that competitive powerlifting was probably not the best way to train for sport or health. He had a different idea for his children. My brother and I were going to be Olympic lifters. And the plan was that we would be really, really freaking amazing at sports. Not to sound arrogant, but it worked.




As my father held an inventory for his weightlifting supply store, my brother and I would have free reign to the bars and plates in the shop after school. I remember playing with the “kid bar” around the age of 9 and thinking how empowering it was to power snatch. I absolutely loved how loud and annoying I could be. My father would say, “Okay that looks good, now try to take that snatch into the hole!” I would practice this afterschool until the age of ten when I decided that it was time for me to do my first weightlifting meet; The Minnesota LWC Open at a YWCA in Minneapolis. I was ready to show off my 20kg snatch with perfect technique, all the way into the hole. I stepped on the platform and completely forgot about the squat. My dad had told me prior to the meet that if I did not squat the weight, the judges would give me red lights. Of course, that is not correct, but he wanted me to lift correctly and I did not know any better. After my first snatch which I powered right up I said, “Hey dad, they gave it to me and I didn’t even have to squat!” He laughed and told me that I was correct and that he was just trying to get me to do it better than the other girls. Then, of course, I squat snatched from that moment on. Must be better than the other girls!

Speaking of, I remember showing up at meets and thinking that I needed to show these other girls who was the better lifter. I would take the bar during warm ups and be as loud as possible. When I would catch the bar, I would smack my feet down like it was serious business. (I realize that you should not be jumping and stomping, but you have to realize that my thinking as a teen was not about having perfect technique.) It always worked. Girls would stare at me, filled with fear and intimidation. Win!

Luckily, we always had a large competitive weightlifting team coached by my father. One of my biggest influences was my brother Nate and his circle of friends, all of which were excellent lifters. Not many girls wanted to lift with me, but the guys would always let me play. I would watch my brother finish his pull and explosively land the heaviest weights with ease. I would play copycat. I will credit having good technique to years of watching my brother and his friends and learning from them. It also proves how important it is to have good training partners and people to look up to.

After my brother graduated high school, he moved to Fargo to play football for North Dakota State University. He used his strength and power to become one of the best college left tackles in the nation. After he left, I struggled with my training. I didn’t want to lift and I did not feel that training was fun or inspiring anymore. I still ended up competing nationally and doing the Olympic trials for weightlifting in 2004, but I never felt the same about lifting. During the Olympic trials I acquired a bad case of Mono and was out for months.

I tried lifting again in college. We even started a team at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. There were a handful of us training together and we took a team to the Collegiate Nationals in Reno. I coached the team and lifted. Even still, my drive for weightlifting was dwindling. I was mentally burned out. So, I retired.
I took a few years off and I spent my weightlifting hiatus doing cardiotard classes like TurboKick, Zumba, and riding endless hours on the Elliptical machine trying to be skinny. Time to face the truth. My quads and shoulders are big. And strong. They are not meant to be compared to the twig fairy. They are 70’s Big. And beautiful.

Mentally, I was ready to lift again. I was ready to embrace the fact that I was born to lift. I was living in Chicago and wanted to lift and try this thing called CrossFit. A good friend of mine, Casey Burgener, suggested I check out Windy City CrossFit because they have an “Oly” program. GREAT! I can try out CrossFit and if I fail….I can just go back to lifting! While I will admit that I will probably never win a CrossFit championship, it has been great to push myself in new ways that I probably wouldn’t have done on my own. It is also nice to learn about other lifts besides the snatch and clean and jerk. And this thing called the pull up – moving my body around a bar rather than moving the bar around my body! What a concept! Anyway, I am not poking fun at CrossFit, but it is nice to have a balance between CrossFit and Oly lifting. It has helped me define my weaknesses (arms/shoulders/”core”) and strengthening these can only help my Olympic lifting.


And here we are today. Ellee and I both lift in Chicago and we are proud of our 70’s Big Female Asses! I feel good knowing that strength is appreciated in these parts. Again, I will say that I am lucky to be in a community full of strong females (and males) who believe that strength is more important that being skinny. I am lucky to have been in these types of communities my entire life.

I hope you enjoyed some of my stories from growing up Oly. I would like to thank my parents, brother, and friends who have molded me into the person that I am today. Thank you. 70’s Big Females – thank YOU for being YOU! Now go lift some heavy weights!

Love,
Cori