Yearly Archives: 2009

HB Recap

Posted on by
24

Guess the quote:
“I simply gave (them) a nudge out of the door.”

Time to recap our trip to Huntington Beach, CA for a barbell seminar this past weekend.

On Friday night Welbourn had our little crew over for dinner. “Little crew” is ironic because Johnny Pain weighs over 240, my buddy Josh is 235, Rip is at or a bit below 225, and I am at least 225. Not to mention Welbourn is almost 6’6″, 300 pounds. I caught a little bit of hell for being “the runt of the group”.

Me (225), JP (240+), and Josh (235).

Me (225), JP (240+), and Josh (235).



JP and I usually have one thing on our mind during these seminars: food. It had been a few hours since we got into town (we went from the airport to the hotel, then to the gym, then to a store, then off to Welbourn’s), and I was seriously worried about JP’s well being. A guy who is trying to get yoked can’t go that long without eating; he was getting 90’s small before my eyes. I assured him that “Welbourn will make us a 70’s Big worthy meal, just you wait.” I tried to make myself believe it. Not for my sake, but for JP.

Welbourn delivered:

13339_1260440666995_1109032435_814987_6520483_n

Grass-fed beef



This wasn’t the first time I had met Welbourn, but the first time I got to hang around him for more than a few minutes. Aside from being a behemoth, he is both highly intelligent and damn funny. John told us some amusing stories from his time in the NFL and is friends with a lot of 70’s Big football players. You’ll here more about Welbourn in the coming weeks, especially if he keeps cooking like this:

Cooked meat. Note the wine in the background.

Cooked meat. Note the wine in the background.



The seminar itself went well. There was the usual collection of skinny fellas that need to gain >30 pounds, and I hope we reached some of them. Matt, I hope to see you in Wichita Falls next summer. In the mean time, be a good boy and drink your milk.

There was someone at the seminar who was actually quite large. After about an hour into the lecture on Saturday morning, a giant walked in wearing all black, short shorts, and combat boots. He was probably 6””””””””””””””””5″, 265 (somebody verify this for me) with an estimated 12% bodyfat. The dude was huge. Pete bent down to fill out his registration, and I walked over, hit him on the shoulder and said, “What the hell are you doing here? You’re not a CrossFitter.” He looked at me and kinda laughed, but I was still genuinely curious. In any case, Pete was a large human being, and we later found out he plays rugby. He also had been eating a paleo type diet that unfortunately caused him to lose between 30 and 40 pounds — when you are that big, you are gonna have to eat something more than just “Paleo” to maintain get enough calories. In such a case, Welbourn recommends eating “Paleo” + milk. This should be substantial to maintain a given body mass, depending on the training.

Later that night (when Pete ordered two entrees at the restaurant), he was a bit malcontent about losing all of that muscle. I was glad to hear that he was on our side, because he can easily conquer several small villages.

JP and I were able to make a milk run to sustain our caloric needs during the (nearly) 10 hour-a-day seminar. Milk and eggnog did the trick.

I do not recommend the dulce de leche eggnog. At all.

I do not recommend the dulce de leche eggnog. At all.



This made us happy. Very much.

Lat spread, front double biceps, and the crab.

Lat spread, front double biceps, and the crab.



Drinking milk in groups becomes synchronized much like the menstrual cycles of female roommates:

It’s science.

It’s science.



Our pal Rachel was some how convinced to drive one of those silly little eco-friendly cars that resembles a go cart. Hilarity ensued.

I still don’t know how Josh fit into the back.

I still don’t know how Josh fit into the back.



Now, I don’t want you women thinking that some of you are allowed to be painstakingly skinny either. My pal Pooja got a head start by drinking milk with her coffee on Sunday morning.

Good girl.

Good girl.



In other news, I’m pretty confident that I convinced Sean and Ruth to compete in weightlifting. They both have comical amounts of potential in their athletic ability, and I can’t wait to hear about their competitive conquest. It’d be a shame to see that talent untapped, so hopefully I gave them a nudge out of the door.
You two are obligated to stay in touch.

Ruth and Sean: the weightlifting couple.

Ruth and Sean: the weightlifting couple.



This pictorial wouldn’t be satisfactory without the inclusion of Michael, our Danish friend who traveled all the way to California to attend the seminar. Mike is an all around cool dude, and we all hope to see him again.

13339_1261196605893_1109032435_817557_5503160_n

Juli, Michael, and I

We ate at Welbourn’s again on Sunday night, but we brought a smörgåsbord of stuff to eat from Trader Joes. After eating I was exhausted and some how managed to fall asleep on Welbourn’s couch when Predator was on tv, so I missed out on a lot of good story tellin’. Oh well. Thanks for the hospitality, John.

Well, it was another successful seminar. We always aim to educate and help as many people as we can. There is never enough time or space to mention everyone, but I’ll get a quick summary in:
Pete, send me your e-mail and stay in touch. Julie (not the one pictured above), let me know how getting stronger improves your Olympic lifts, and good luck at your next meet. Thomas, get your boobs problem situated and continue getting strong (and start thinking about how you would program this stuff). To everyone else, implement this material into your practice, never stop learning (we won’t), and remember…you’re never strong enough.

California Hangover

Posted on by
56

We got back late Monday night from doing a barbell seminar in Huntington Beach, CA. I would not advise anyone visiting or continuing to live in that state. To California residents: I’m sorry I’m not sorry. More on the trip tomorrow…

You may remember that on Friday, I mentioned that AC was going to compete in a USAPL meet. He did 70’s Big justice going 7 for 9, and I’m proud of him.

Competing in the 220 lb class…
Body weight: 204 (on their scale, he was around 208-209 on his scale)
Squat: 529 (raw state record)
Bench: 368 (raw state record
Deadlift: 568

AC’s Powerlifting Meet from A.C. on Vimeo.

Edit: AC went 7 of 9. I typed it wrong last night for some reason. I was in a hurry.

Alexander Karelin

Posted on by
28

“I train every day of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs.”







Justin is still out at the barbell cert, and we don’t have AC’s video yet. So we’re going to take a little time to consider the merits of weight class athletes in the world of 70’s Big.



Moving the iron is all well and good, but I personally cannot think of a more useful application of strength and power than tossing another human around. And nobody tossed humans around better than today’s subject.



Alexander Karelin is one of the greatest wrestlers of his generation athletes of all time. Karelin was a superheavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler that represented the old Soviet Union and, later, Russia. The Russian Bear went undefeated for 13 years in international competition, including a six-year stint where he didn’t give up a single point. Over this period he won 12 European Championships, nine world championships, three Olympic golds, and one Olympic silver (his last match was a loss in the finals). And lest we forget, at 6’3 290, he was definitely 70’s Big.



Greco-Roman differs from other forms of wrestling because all the action happens above the waist. Grabbing, hooking, or tripping the legs is forbidden. As a result, the throws are often quite dramatic. Body slams and suplexes are commonplace in Greco-Roman.



You can get a feel for the setups by watching Karelin in this video:




Karelin wrestled at 130 kg, but he was impossibly fast and athletic. The big guys couldn”t keep up with him. No other wrestler matched his strength, either. Opponents were so scared of being slammed that many sprawled onto the mat (giving up dominant position and possibly points!) hoping to avoid being thrown for big points. Karelin countered this by applying his signature reverse body lift, which was a gutwrench suplex off the mat! This move affectionately became known as the Karelin Lift.



To put this into perspective, try to clean a 300 pound resisting object from the floor. Do this multiple times over three two-minute periods, and you get the idea. Still not clear? Here you go:




As is customary with dominant athletes, Karelin was accused of using performance enhancing drugs like HGH and steroids. Many referred to him as “The Experiment, “a not so-subtle dig at the U.S.S.R.’s tendency to dispense testosterone like it was candy. However, Karelin never failed a drug test his entire career (and Olympic drug tests actually have some teeth). When asked about these rumors, Karelin shrugged and said, “People cannot believe I am natural because I train every day of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs.”







Read more about Karelin here.



Edit: If anybody has any factual training info on Karelin, please send it in. Most of the information on him is in Russian, and my Russian is quite poor. I have read claims of him doing a 420 pound clean and press. Supposedly Pavel remarked that Karelin did 440 pound Zercher deadlifts for a set of 10. That would be applicable to the Karelin lift, as you need your arms underneath your opponent (Karelin was blessed with very long arms). I have also seen a training clip of him running through waist-deep snow with a log on his back and rowing for hours. You know, stuff from Rocky IV.

PR Friday

Posted on by
73

All right ladies and gents, post your weekly PR’s. I had a shitty-ass training week, and the only thing I really accomplished was squatting 455x5x3 on Tuesday. I’ll have to do my Friday workout on the road because we are going to Huntington Beach, CA for a seminar.

In other news, AC is competing in a USAPL meet tomorrow. I don’t believe in luck, but if you want to wish it to him, you can do so in the comments. He will compete in the 220 class and will probably post his openers and body weight here in a bit. AC claims to be making a video documentary of the meet, so we’ll see what happens. And AC; make me proud you little bastard.

Chris will compete in a meet soon as well. Here is a video of Chris from early September pulling 600 and 625 (with a bit o’ hitching).

Starting Strength Seminar

Posted on by
28

“When one teaches, two learn.”
–Robert Heinlein

Some of you may be familiar with barbell training as it has been taught by Mark Rippetoe, whether learning it by attending the Basic Barbell seminar through CrossFit, reading his books, Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training and Practical Programming for Strength Training, that are published by The Aasgaard Company, or viewing the media that has been available through CrossFit.com over the past few years.

In order to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the coaches, the Basic Barbell seminar has been expanded into the Starting Strength Seminar. This new seminar is longer and more detailed with a 3-day format that allows the attendee to gain a better, more thorough understanding of the biomechanical model of the exercises that operate in a gravitational framework, how to appropriately coach the basic barbell exercises, how to program these exercises into an effective strength and conditioning program, as well as learning and performing the exercises.

The SSS is an incredibly valuable learning experience that cannot be attained anywhere else in the fitness industry. The value is augmented by the new testing format that will include an evaluation on the ability to coach and perform the exercises as well as an online exam that can be taken after the seminar. Passing both the practical and written assessments will award the attendee with a Starting Strength Coach certificate as well as access to an online “coaches only” message board, being included in an online directory of barbell coaches to refer trainees to you, as well as instant access to the experienced staff of the SSS. Many will learn extensively from attending the seminar, but only the best will earn the certificate.

If you have ever been interested in coaching barbell training, this is a good place to start. The more coaches we have with their heads on straight, the better the strength and conditioning field will become. More information on the seminars can be found at here. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to e-mail me any time.

———-

Hi Chris

Hi Chris



By now you have read about my training partner (and super friend), Chris. We did a bit of filming last Friday, and the video below consists of his training session. Chris’ “story” is important for a few reasons.

1. Shoulder Injury
In January Chris had pretty serious shoulder injury — we think he had some kind of tear in his supraspinatus. He could barely lift a 15 pound bar overhead. I started working with him, getting him to press that bar for more and more reps every day. Eventually he could do 3 sets of 25. Chris slowly increased the weight while titrating the reps down until he was able to do 3 sets of 5 for sets across. We did the same thing on the bench press, and eventually he worked up to being on a linear progression in both presses. At the end of his linear progression, he benched 317x5x3 and pressed 210x5x3. Not bad considering he started at zero.

Riley v. Lascek

Riley v. Lascek



2. Bigger Guy on the Linear Progression
When Chris started all of this, he was a pretty big guy at 6’ and 250 lbs. We talked multiple times about his diet early on, and it was made clear that he should eat plenty of eggs, meat, and milk and take it easy on the carbs. Larger guys don’t need extraneous calories, they need protein, and calories to fuel their training. Gant always says eat enough protein to maintain or increase your muscle mass, enough carbs to fuel your workout, and enough fat to recover. With strength training, you don’t need a whole lot of carbs if you aren’t trying to gain a lot of weight. Chris loves to grill, so he eats a LOT of meat and eggs. “They are the BAYST”, he says.

Chris and I drinking 70’s Big shakes when we were skinnier

Chris and I drinking 70’s Big shakes when we were skinnier



About 2 months ago, Chris and I were training and he was at the water fountain. When he walked by, his back looked massive. I said, “Dude, you’re lookin’ kinda big, how much do you weigh?”
“250, I think.”
“Well, go weigh yourself.”
He was 265 and didn’t even know it. 15 pounds of muscle in a few months time. I assure you, his girlfriend wasn’t complaining. (Fun fact: Chris’ girlfriend and sister were some of the original gals to be supportive of our 70’s Big idea early on.)

3. Groin Injury
During the linear progression, Chris got up to squatting around 450 for his work sets, but strained something in his lateral groin area (I think it was the sartorius). This kept him from squatting with a bar for at least a month and a half. The injury got a little better, so I had him start squatting with an empty bar while in pain. We went through the injury protocol, working up the weight, titrating the reps down. He got back up into the upper 300’s for his work sets, but he still felt some residual pain. So, instead, we moved his squat to the Texas Method. This injury was not due to a form problem, and so we experimented with the Texas Method (5×5 volume on Monday, light day on Wednesday, and 3RM intensity on Friday) to see if it would heal up with less weekly volume. It did; as you can see in the video, he squats 500 for a very easy triple.

Chris pulling 625

Chris pulling 625



4. Natural Deadlifter
When I started working with Chris on the linear progression, he pulled 445 for an easy set of five. From there, he made quick work of the deadlift (his favorite lift) by making 15 pound jumps up until 500. From there he made 10 pound jumps, then a few five pound jumps to finish with 545 for a set of 5 (the most he had ever pulled). A few weeks later he pulled 600 and 625 (with a slight hitch on the latter). Chris loves him some deadlift.