Training Efficiency

Edit: The e-mail below was entered incorrectly earlier. To inquire about a consultation, e-mail 70sBigConsult@gmail.com. The link below is fixed now.
2nd Edit: When I wrote the edit above, I left the bold HTML tag open, hence the big, bad boldness. I’ll close this italics tag now.

Earlier this year I talked about how I observe levels of efficiency in everything; a “proficiency in efficiency”, if you will. I think about what order I should complete my daily tasks and how to best run errands when I leave home. I observe and analyze walking gait, posture, and running and lifting mechanics. I can see every mechanical problem in a person through observation. That left foot is rotated out when walking; I remember my first navicular drop. That thoracic flexion, internal shoulder rotation, and cervical extension is gonna continue your downward spiral, champ. Oh, you’re chronically anteriorily rotated in your hip? Have fun with that hyperlordosis, chief.

It’s different than ascending from Plato’s cave. It’s more like seeing some 60 year old guy’s balls in the locker room; you can’t un-see it. But I do not long to be like all of you, those who are naive and ignorant of a wrinkly pair of grandpa testicles. No, I must teach you to abre los ojos and SEE! I must show you the way of the plums. I must teach you that which from of. It is my density.

If we’re going to spend five to twenty hours of our week training, then we damn well better be efficient in how we spend that time. That’s a large portion of our waking hours! There’s 168 hours in a week. 56 of those should be spent sleeping (8 hours/night). 40 of those are spent at school or work. That leaves us with 72 hours of waking hours. Depending on how much you train, eat, and spend doing recovery work, that could be 10 to 20 hours of activity; about 14 to 28% of your non-working hours respectively. That’s time that we could be spending with our family, making money, doing the horizontal rumba, or doing anything else that relaxes or makes us happy. It damn well better be efficient.

Teaching efficiency at the 70's Big Seminar in Tucson

Take a step back from your programming template. Is it working towards your goal(s)? Do you even have a goal? Does the set/rep scheme fit that goal? Do the selected exercises meet that goal? Are you fluctuating training variables appropriately for your current state of adaptation? Does your template provide adequate recovery? Are you properly implementing sound diet and mobility habits? These are all things that will dictate the success of a program. If these things are not dialed in, then you won’t be making efficient progress. It means that your hard work in and out of the gym is resulting in less of a return on your time investment. That, my friends, is bullshit.

This website exists to help with that problem. New and old posts (use the search bar) aim to help improve your training from an acute and chronic perspective. I don’t like seeing guys drive their dick into the ground because of poor programming choices (last weekend in Arizona, the female equivalent of this term was affectionately coined “burning the labia off”). I give readers the chance to ask questions every week, and I write posts, articles, and books to help with common issues. If something is inefficient, you (the reader) have plenty of ways to find out why and how to correct it. I’ll back up everything I say with logic and physiology or I’ll find someone who is smarter than me to answer your question. All you have to do is ask, because I’d hate for your to have to lose your dugan in the garden of inefficiency.

Lastly, I’ve been on a hiatus from doing Programming Consultations. Those will start back up next week. They will consist of a one time consultation and programming template creation. We will also be starting to do “Weekly Programming” in which you have contact with the consultation team each week to have regular guidance. 70’s Big does not create cookie cutter templates and all programs are custom made for the individual. If you are interested, send an inquiry to 70sBigConsultation@gmail.com. Here is a video that briefly shows some of what is done for consultations.

I enjoy helping people make their training as efficient and productive as possible. I’ll continue doing my best to help (and entertain you) by writing for the website, conducting seminars, writing books (there are many en route), consulting, and, of course, answering your weekly questions on this website. Whether it’s through me or someone else, make sure your training is proficiently efficient. Take this opportunity to get it figured out ascend from the cave…and see an old man in budgie smugglers.