PR Friday and Q&A – 30 January 2015

PR Friday is a forum to allow you to share your triumphs and failures with your strength training brethren. How has your training been this week? What questions do you have for your peers? Talk and mingle.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good ol’ Q&A, so ask away! This gives you a chance to ask anyone from the 70′s Big Crew a question in the comments below, on Facebook, or Twitter. Follow 70’s Big on Instagram

In the meantime, enjoy this 440 bench at 187 bw. Happy Birthday and Happy Friday!

PR Friday – 23 Jan 2015

Happy Friday!

PR Friday is a forum to allow you to share your triumphs and failures with your strength training brethren. How has your training been this week? What questions do you have for your peers? Talk and mingle.

Need a little motivation today? Check out this training compilation of Hafthor Bjornsson! Weighing in at 420# at a height of 6’9″ it’s no wonder he’s a perfect fit as The Game of Thrones’ The Mountain.

Burgers and Potatoes

Many of you have requested meal plans or paleo recipes. For those of you who are limited on time and want to eat clean try this “recipe.” I use quotations because it seems obvious but maybe it’ll add some variety to your routine. Justin and I make this once a week or so because it’s quick, easy, and relatively cheap. I’m going to preface this recipe with saying burgers are almost ALWAYS better on a grill, but if you’re pressed for time, or just lazy, this way works too. I recommend starting the potatoes first since they take a while to cook thoroughly (~20-30 minutes). Depending on how strict you are with eating clean, a good burger sauce is: equal parts mayo, ketchup (Simply Heinz has no HFC), and relish. It’s the closest thing to In-N-Out sauce you’ll get east of Nevada. Without the bun these “hamburgers” are really just ground beef steaks, so if you’re hankering for a burger but don’t want the bun you can always top with sliced tomatoes, sauce, and wrap in a lettuce bun. Justin and I do that when we’re feeling fancy.

Potatoes:

potato spices
Ingredients
– 2 large sweet potatoes
– 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– 1-2 teaspoons of the following: onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, thyme

Steps
1. Dice two large sweet potatoes into small, bit-sized pieces. The smaller the pieces thePotatoes quicker they’ll cook. Try to make them uniform so they cook evenly.
2. Heat a large skillet to low-medium heat and add grease (bacon grease, olive oil, Pam, you get the idea).
3. Add diced potatoes and stir to coat with grease.
4. Add 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 spices.
5. Stir regularly to keep from burning. After about 15 minutes taste one of the potatoes for doneness and flavor. If too crunchy cook an additional 10-15 minutes. If too bland add the second teaspoon of each of the seasonings.

 

Hamburgers:

burger seasoning
Ingredients
– 90-93% ground beef
– Burger seasoning

Steps
1. Form ~1/2 lb patties (slightly larger than palm and ~1” thick). You can add seasoning before forming the patties, but unless we’re throwing burgers on the grill we keep it really simple and just sprinkle both sides once they’re formed.
2. Heat a large skillet to low-medium heat and add grease (bacon grease, olive oil, Pam, you get the idea).
3. Cook burgers to desired doneness. It’s better to keep the skillet heat super low and it take longer to cook than to burn the seasoning on the outside and have the patties rare in the middle. You can determine doneness by the patties firmness (obviously firmer is more done) or by cutting into one (although that is not preferred as you will lose all those delicious juices).

I hope you enjoy. If you have recipe requests or a simple paleo recipe you like put it in the comments below.

-Aly

Chalk Talk #18 – General and Specific Warm Ups

Warming up is an incredibly important part of training, but even experienced trainees don’t utilize or understand it. This video teaches you the physiology behind both general and specific warm-ups and how to do them. By understanding the physiology, hopefully you’ll have a proper respect for doing it.

What kind of warm-ups do you like? What other benefits do you see in warming up properly?

PR Friday – 16 Jan 2015

It’s Friday again, folks!

PR Friday is a forum to allow you to share your triumphs and failures with your strength training brethren. How has your training been this week? What questions do you have for your peers? Talk and mingle.

Check out Derek Kendall pause squat 755 unbelted! What’s your lifetime squat PR?