Meet Alex. He can grow excellent beards. Then he crops them excellently. Observe.









And for the finale…


No Shave November is coming…

There’s a lot of shenanigans on this website and most of it pertains to lifting weights and eating meat. I’ve always thought that 70’s Big was more of an attitude, a mindset that could be applied into life. This mindset would entail gritty determination mixed with blood and sweat.

There are moments during training where I’ve hung my head, drained. My sweat would drip to the floor and blood would trickle into my socks. It’s a feeling of being truly alive when being battered, bruised, and bloody is worth the gain.

Typically I don’t like to share too much about my personal life on this website. It keeps it from becoming too “bloggy” and reserves my sense of privacy. However earlier today I helped bury my grandfather and learned a great deal — enough that I thought it would help you.

When we the pallbearers finally placed my grandpa’s casket in place, the men from the local Veteran Affairs played Taps for him one last time as they readied, aimed, and fired their rifles. It was at this moment that I realized how great of a man he was and how proud I was to have been loved by him. After serving in the Air Force, he and my grandma had a family in a rural area. He worked every day of his life on railroads and farms to provide for his family, including my mom. There was never any doubt my grandpa was committed to his family. Not ever. He was married to my grandma for over 50 years and took care of her despite having heart attacks and strokes in the last ten years. He and my grandma were always there for their children including when any of us grandchildren were born. He poured himself into working hard his entire life, always smiled, and was at peace with loving his family. My grandpa was the epitome of a father figure, one that every person should have.



The reason I bring him up is because his consistent hard work and good nature are a beacon in a cynical society. He toiled throughout his life for the benefit of those that he loved. Nowadays we have the luxury of avoiding such labors, yet training is one of those activities that can knead this lesson out. It is the physical representation of committing to something, doing it with fervor, and accomplishing what you set out to do. Look inward to your own life for that source of inspiration whether it be a loved one, a public figure, or character and combine that inspiration with what you’ve learned under the bar. Now harness that feeling, that bleeding conviction, and use that in your life whether it be for your love, passion, or ambition. Use it to achieve more than what you have right now. Family, love, work, school, knowledge, skills, or abilities…never again will you lay idle.

Some men rollover and quit. Others step out into the world every day to be the best they can be. Which are you?

To all of you who may be checking today’s post for a “70’s Big Female” post, I apologize; I traveled all day yesterday and need to be with my family for a bit. In the mean time, enjoy this video and get excited for “No Shave November”.



Notice the opening line says that “bearding is a sport”. What else is a sport, MIIIIIKE?

Thursday I went to Judo class with Gant and got to see my buddy Devin again. I started training Devin to get stronger when he was 12 years old, 6 feet tall, and weighed 200 pounds. Now he’s 14, is 6’4″, and weighs 220 pounds. I worked with him during last night’s class and we threw each other around for a couple of hours. It’s very humbling to have a 14-year-old man-handle you. Here’s a video we recorded a little over a year ago. Devin is 12 here (updated videos will come soon).



Of course I regret not getting involved with Judo more when I lived in Wichita Falls. I’ve always been very interested in using the physical attributes built in the gym into athletic endeavors. Personally, I haven’t been involved in a sport that requires athleticism, reaction, and finesse in quite a while. Learning new things is a humbling experience, and it’s something I encourage you all to do.

Lifting may be a new activity to you, yet I hope it’s your gateway to other things as well. I grew up loving weight training, but it was a means to an end regarding football preparation. I’ve been involved with competing in weightlifting (including Senior Nationals) and coaching powerlifting (including USAPL Raw Nationals twice), but sports and activities that require more are very interesting. In lifting, the same motions are repeated over and over, and there isn’t an exceptional amount of athletic ability inherent in it. This, of course, isn’t a knock on lifting. I love lifting and will always include it in my training, but using the strength and power developed through lifting into another sport is just as rewarding (if not more) as competing in the barbell sports alone.

Some of you are merely strength training enthusiasts. Others of you aim to remain more capable than the average person and want to preserve your health. Some of you may have picked and fully committed to powerlifting and weightlifting. Objectively, only a small percentage of you will be competitive at a high level that would require long-term specialization. In the same way that I encourage you to enter your first lifting meet, I encourage you to try a new sport or activity and even compete in it.

I can’t imagine anything more vulnerable than agreeing to do a Judo tournament in two months from now. I’ve had one session of getting my ass kicked by a young international competitor, and the thought of doing it live against an opponent who has their shit together is intimidating. But that’s the point. Competition isn’t supposed to make you feel nice; for the majority of us it’s going to be a character building experience.

Trying a martial art like Judo can be rewarding in many ways. You will improve your coordination, agility, and body awareness while improving your ability to throw someone through a table when necessary (it often is). Gant once rhetorically asked me, “What’s the point of being strong if you can’t throw someone across the room?” If you can find a place where you can also get some quality striking/sparring and actual real world self defense, then you’re automatically more useful. Being strong doesn’t make you more useful — conditioning your body to utilize that strength is what makes you useful.

Happy PR Friday — Post your training updates and PRs to the comments. Ask questions about or discuss some other sports to get involved with. If you have questions on Judo (including where to go and how to get started), put them in the comments and I can get some resources to you from Gant.

Follow the jump for a video from last night.
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I just wanted to give some shout outs to some guys that were at the meet this last weekend. For those of you who don’t know, this year’s USAPL Raw Nationals drew an impressive crowd because the top lifters from this meet would be selected for the Raw World Championships next year in Sweden.

Mike Tuchscherer
I wouldn’t think that you guys haven’t heard of Mike by now, but we’ve always watched his videos at 70’s Big. He runs Reactive Training Systems, is an officer in the Air Force, and is a really nice guy. We briefly met him, but I didn’t really want to bother him with the meet going on. He did very well in the 125kg/275lbs weight class weighing in at 120.2kg (120 is the new weight class with “super heavies” being 120+, so he wanted to get experience there). You can read his meet recap here, and this video is what he did one week out:

I’m sure there is plenty to learn from him.

Matt Nolan
Matt has been posting as “NolanPower” on the site for quite a while, and is a friggin’ awesomely strong 100kg/220lbs lifter. I’m not the most experienced powerlifting coach/handler, and it was Matt who encouraged me to use the “last warm-up on the platform” method that I implement at meets. More importantly, he was in a tight race all day in the 100kg class. After squatting 573 (his first PR since some time in 2010) and benching 380, the competition was TIGHT going into the deadlift. This of course didn’t stop him from talking to Brent and I about RTS games (not Mike T’s website, but real time strategy games) in between sessions. Anyway, it all came down to his third and final pull; it was either hit it and win, or miss it and walk away with second place. Honestly, this was the most entertaining lift I’ve ever seen — maybe it’s because Matt posts on the site, maybe because he’s just a real nice guy, and maybe it had something to do with the do or die situation. Here is some footage I took of the lift and seeing him immediately after the pull. Nice job, Matt.

It also looks like Matt will be keeping a training log on RTS here.

Ettore Ewen
There isn’t any footage of this fella on YouTube…under this name. He is also known as Big E. Langston in the WWE stable in Florida. I can’t explain to you guys how big this former Iowa football player is. He’s about as tall as me, but 135kg/297lbs of fucking yoke. He is absolutely massive. When he walked in the room, Chris just stared and said quietly, “That guy is JACKED.” He won the super heavy class and benched an easy 240kg/529lbs. I watched the second attempt at 512…he fucking killed it like it was me doing 225. I’ve never seen anyone that big in person before. He looked bigger than he does in this video:
Edit: I posted the wrong video (he got one hit in and lost the match). Here is the other one I watched that shows more of his strength):

He also had a shirt that said, “I got 99 problems, but my bench ain’t one of them.” He was pretty badass.

There were lots of other good folk, like the girls from Pretty Powerlifting and some other guys that hung out on Saturday night, so it was good fun. Nationals meets can be long, tiring, sometimes boring, but there were really good people and excellent lifters.