Bam!

“Today is Evaluation Day. The key word being value. Do you have any? Not yet you don’t”

Well, there are lots of things to announce on this fribbling Friday, so let’s get on with the bloody thing.

1. New T-shirt…BAM!



The image was dictated to my new pal Al Viquez, who until recently was a graphic designer in the videogame industry. He belted out a draft, and it was damn near perfect. A few adjustments later and we have this sweet, succulent image that bleeds 70’s Big. The t-shirt will be going to print in a day or so. There are also four other t-shirts that will be announced soon.

2. WFAC Training Camp
We still have some spots open for the group training package Josh Wells and I are hosting at the Wichita Falls Athletic Club (a shrine of sorts). Coached training sessions include all of the barbell lifts: squat, press, deadlift, bench press, power clean, power snatch, snatch, and clean and jerk (along with assistance exercises). For more information, go here or e-mail me.

3. PR Friday
Post your weights lifted, consumed, or gained to the comments. We also like silly stories about lifting spouses, tossing children, and ripping clothing.

4. Online Programming
70’s Big will now be offering online programming to monitor your training regime and gear it towards whatever your goals are. Do you train on your own and don’t know what to do when your deadlift peters out while your squat rages on? Are you trying to figure out a way to include some conditioning for your rugby season, judo match, mountain bike race, football season, deployment date, etc. into your strength program? Need the advice of experienced coaches? All of those shenanigans and more with a month-to-month subscription of help for under $100. Oh, and form checks are inherent to make sure you are doing the program properly.Shoot me an e-mail to learn more, and stay tuned for further information on the site.
———-

Leda belts up for some lifting


78 thoughts on “Bam!

  1. Prs’

    Squat 140 5×3 Did it monday and repeated today to try out a new cue to keep my chest up so I don’t do real heavy good mornings every time I squat.

    Bench 100 5×3 was done on monday moved fast felt good. After the monday workout I was given a conditioning workout that included aux movements. That workout fucking destroyed my elbows and I failed my press’s on wed and bench today.

    I need stronger elbows.

    Deadlift 167 5×1 second time at this weight after a reset, form was much better.

    I also PR’d on making funny comments all over the internet.

  2. Not interested in politically correct, just interested in a shirt that women (like lynn) could wear with pride. Don’t have any problem with hot trophy woman but if you’re a lifter you want something where you are the center of attention. Of course, making a t-shirt for the very few women who lift might not be economically feasible.

  3. Damn, I hate living on the west coast and consequently being one of the last to post my PRs.

    Squat: 400×1
    Press: 165×1
    CrossFit Total: 1,020

    Next week is going to be a combination of deloading, learning how to lift with a belt (something I’m long overdue on), and getting readjusted to high altitude. Woo.

    Oh, video of the lifts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aErLV8UDem4

  4. @ WCM025

    Congradulations on hitting 310. Breaking 300 for me was tough, and it felt like the last couple 5lb jumps to get there were just damn hard!

    I’ve watched the video a few times and I think I can help you a bit. It appears that you aren’t setting your back before you pull. Next time try this: Line the bar up over the middle of your feet, lift your chest (which will set your back), and lastly lower your shins to the bar(will get your hips in the right place). What I observed was that you were rolling the bar back into your shins instead of bringing your shins to the bar ultimately keeping you from achieving a flat back and good starting position because it left no room for you to adjust your hip position.

  5. Body Weight PR 214 @ 6’2″
    Squat PR 215 5×3
    Press PR 105 5×3

    My right elbow/bicep hurts like hell after squatting. (I’m left handed.) After searching the Rippetoe Q&A I’m taking the following steps:

    Ibprofen/Aleve
    Ice
    Elbows UP!!!
    Try wider or narrower grip
    Eat More
    Find a coach?
    Switch to highbar :(

  6. I had a very anti-70sbig week. I have been experiencing shoulder pain in my right shoulder, then last Monday, I tweaked my wrist doing OHS. I saw this as a good time to lay off for a couple weeks and repair. It has been almost two weeks now and the wrist is slowly getting better.

    Even squats were hurting the wrist so I did a lot of box jumps. I am almost up to a 4′ box. Ran a lot and did a lot of tabata squats.

    I cannot wait to get back under the bar, this wrist injury sucks.

  7. BW PR: accidentally weighed in at 230 being 5’8″
    DL- 430×5
    Bench-3x5x240
    Power Cleans- 5x3x225
    squatted 400 30 times in one session (not one set)
    Deadlift finally pulling away from BS. getting over my grip issue

  8. Loads of PR’s from a glorious week:

    Squat 295 3×5 (up 15# from last Friday! Last rep of last set was spotter-assisted, though… lost focus in the hole)
    BW 195 – only up 3 lbs., but a gain is a gain.
    Ripped two more pairs of boxers.

    Got a bit of a 90’s small story too:
    There’s a trainer on staff at my gym who always offers a spot, helps moves plates around, and is generally a great guy. He looks strong and at first he seems to know his stuff about lifts, but my experience is leading me to believe otherwise. A month and a half ago when I was just starting my strength program there was another, bigger guy (he was 6’2 210ish, I was 6’0 165 at the time) starting along with me who was getting coached by this trainer. We both started with shaky 5RM squats of 225#. Fast forward to now and my BW and 5RM squat have gone to 195 and 295, while buddy’s squats are languishing in the 260 range. The trainer commented on my fast progress, and I told him it was all about the food and the whole milk. I told him about my routine of picking up a 2L jug on my way to class and pounding it back before lunchtime. He gave me a funny look and said “But isn’t there a lot of fat in whole milk?”.
    I had no reply.
    Needless to say I found out why the guy he was advising wasn’t making great progress with his squats…

  9. Got to the bottom of my pressing pass out problem.

    At both gyms I use I have to press in front of a mirror and it turns out if I wear my eye glasses I can balance much better and don’t feel woozy as often. In the past I took them off so keep the bar closer to my face.

    I’m not sure if the improvement’s it’s due to a change in bar path, placebo or allowing me to have a clearer focal point. Maybe a bit of each but it’s good to be able to complete my sets and make progress again.

  10. Squat-3x5x295
    Bench-3x5x225
    PFT run time has gone to shit, so I gotta start running again. Goodbye squatting 3 days a week. It’s been fun.

  11. The plan was supposed to be 395X5X3 today but allergies kicked in today full gear and I wasn’t feeling great-biceps/elbows again..(excuses excuses excuses)…I only hit 395X4 and called it quits. Moved on to presses and did 205X4. I felt like shit and it was time to go home. I may reset, I may not. I don’t want to reset because it will be my second one and I don’t want to see my linear progression come to an end.

    Other news: May15th 1st PL meet coming up soon. Daughter’s 2nd birthday party tomorrow. I feel old.

    Justin, my first stall on squat was at 365 with an injury. After a huge reset, and starting to go 10 lbs a week instead of 15, I stalled today at 395. Does this make sense, or do you think I should be able to keep the progress going?

    I really am not good at making these types of decisions.

    Allergies can be a big hamper to training. I remember when I first moved to Wichita Falls, which supposedly has one of the highest concentrations of particle content in the air, and it started getting warmer…I was hit pretty hard with allergies and it affected my lifting.

    In any case, try the weight next training session, assuming you are recovered. If you don’t get it then, then another reset may be in order (if you have only had one so far).

    –Justin

  12. @ whiskeyjack- you hit it right on the nose! I’m not looking for a PC argument, I just want a shirt that represents and celebrates my female 70’s big-ness!

  13. Next shirt should say “Got Whole Milk?” on the front, with “70sBig.com” on the back neck of the shirt.

    Sweet and simple.

    The new shirts are ok.

    There is only one new shirt. I didn’t tell you what the other ones are.

    –Justin

  14. @ USMC.Scot :

    Are you shifting to 2 day lifting 2 day running? Are you doing the WFAC Crossfit prgm? What is the time cut for your age bracket?

    I am doing the same thing for Navy PRT and wondering what your programming is going to be.

    I still think you can lift twice a week and condition at least twice a week in a military situation. I have a friend who until recently was a PJ in the AF, and his run time went DOWN when he gained 20 pounds of body weight and increased his squat significantly (without even doing any conditioning or running). Nevertheless, you should get conditioned at your new body weight and strength, and you’ll be better off for it.

    Oh, and you can always peak for INDOC, BUD/S, basic, boot camp, deployment, PFT tests, etc.

    –Justin

  15. @gottatri2 & Justin,
    I’ve been rereading PPST and juggling around in my head ways to get my run time acceptable and continue novice programming. I’ve been doing the SS novice program and adding 5 pounds to every lift every workout, and I don’t feel like I’m going to stall anytime soon. I’ll do three lifting sessions this week (with squats in all three dammitall) and add in 2 conditioning sessions and see how that feels. Conditioning will be quarter mile to half mile repeats, for 2 to 3 miles total. If that’s too much I’ll put one of the squat sessions as a light day, probably the Wednesday/DL session. Right now I’m hung up on where to put the conditioning sessions. Whether to do them as two a days with the lifting sessions or to put them on tue/thurs, the off days.

    Do them on the lifting days, after lifting if possible. Use your rest days. You could do one session on Saturday.

    Ease into the running. Have your volume increase on a weekly basis (not that it is a lot of volume, but if you are sprinting these, then you’ll get plenty of adaptable stress through less volume in the beginning).

    –Justin

  16. also,
    I have to get my 3 mile run in under 24 minutes, I’ve got three weeks to do that. Ran an atrocious 25:30 last weekend. As someone who’s run it under 18 minutes before, that was disappointing, but I was skinny and weak back then.

    What do you weigh now? When I weighed 195 I ran the 3 mile for the USMC PFT in 19:00 min. It’s doable.

    –Justin

  17. Can’t wait to see what the other shirts look like. Will you have any more of the original 70s big shirts or will I have to grow to an XXXL if I want to wear one?

    Any idea when the new shirts will be available? I started a new log and part of the commitment was to buy a 70s big shirt +1 size so I have to work hard to fill it out.

    Yes, the store will be transitioned to my website. I have smaller sizes of the original shirt in stock, and it will be a few days before they are available.

    –Justin

  18. Had to switch to 5×5, so weights are all down.

    BS: 300 5×5
    Bench: 190 5×5
    Deadlift: 395 x 5

    Does anyone have any experience with a PL competition that included a “strict bicep curl?” The meets in my area seem to have, for some reason I don’t understand, substituted the “strict bicep curl” for the squat.

    If you have experience, how did you train for the strict bicep curl?
    Just 3 sets of 5, linear increase?

    It feels retarded to be doing bicep curls again after reading Rip’s explanation of why they’re a waste.

  19. We want shirts! We want shirts! I will start a hunger strike soon, if the masses don’t get shirts.

    Well, I can’t make the place print them any faster.

    I expect them Monday.

    –Justin

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