Doyle Kenady Is A Model Citizen

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Justin

903 pound WR deadlift by Doyal Kenady

Doyle Kenady weighed 305 pounds of, as you can see, grizzled muscle. Dr. Fred Hatfield (AKA Dr. Squat) pays tribute to Doyle (he gives him the honor of Dr. Deadlift) in this excellent article written in Powerlifting USA (November, 1986). The world record at the time was Bill Kazmaier’s 886. This may not seem like much nowadays since the 1,000 pound barrier has been breached and there are amazing deadlifters like Andy Bolton, Benedikt Magnusson, and Konstantin Konstantinovs. Yet it was still the world record, and Kazmaier was a powerlifting phenom before he transitioned to a career in strongman competitions.

Kenady’s performance in this meet is amazing. I’ll let Dr. Squat give you the recap:

Doyle’s lift will take a special place in the history of great lifts because he did his record buster after massive attempts in the squat and bench press only minutes before. His deadlift was done under the most trying of circumstances possible, under near crippling conditions of fatigue.

Moreover, it was his third attempt that cracked the 900 pound barrier. Imagine! Two attempts in the squat, one of which was over 900 pounds; three attempts in the bench press, all over 500 pounds; then two attempts over 830 pounds in the deadlift before pulling the heaviest, official record breaking deadlift of mankind to an erect standing position.

Hatfield also recounts how Doyle called for a 4th attempt (allowed after setting a world record) and got it to just above his knees despite having to follow his own attempt. I’m sitting here in disbelief; breaking past 900 pounds — when it has never been done before — to set the world record without taking token squat and bench attempts is amazing. No wonder they called this guy “Sasquatch” and “Grizzly Bear” — two of the most bad ass nicknames ever.

Kenady was an amazing athlete, yes, but I want to point out that all of the people that met him or knew him said that he was a very laid back guy. He was kind, supportive, and helpful. Humble and amiable. Kenady had the look of a bad ass but was a genuine nice guy; what a man should be. In a time where athletes trash talk each other and want attention, I look up to Kenady for his “old school” personality. I look up to him as an athlete as well as a man; he is the epitome of a 70’s Big attitude.

Edit: Doyle is no longer living; apparently he died of heart disease. His training consisted of the three big lifts without much assistance work, and his schedule had more rest days than training days. Read Dr. Hatfield’s article and he tells a story of training with Kenady a few weeks before the meet — Doyle pulled 895 for a triple!

Dig Your Way Through

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Justin

Beard of the Day

Thanks to Stuart C. for the vid, who says it should be the 70’s Big theme

What have you…

I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio today, and he was addressing two things; that he was allegedly a contrarian, and that Mike Vick is an NFL MVP candidate. Cowherd is in his mid 40s and explained that our society is more “knee-jerk” for a variety of reasons (knee-jerk meaning we respond intensely to things immediately and change our minds collectively). We are a nation of young people; young adults have grown up in the technology era playing videogames, experiencing the boom of the internet, and now we’re in the “social media” age. Information can virally spread within minutes across the globe with Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Our attention spans are much shorter and our actions are hasty. I know that I run out of things to look at on the internet quickly because I navigate it so fast. I type and click like the wind (it’s necessary for StarCraft).

Cowherd blamed this societal development for the knee-jerk reaction of campaigns flaring up for Vick as the Most Valuable Player in the NFL when he is 19th in the league in passing touchdowns, has only played in 6 of 9 games (and only played in half of one of those games), and his best stats come against mid-level or struggling teams (Redskins are strugglin’ like Brent trying to flex his biceps). The Vick argument aside, Cowherd has a point. There are knee-jerk reactions to everything. If you’ve looked in a “Muscle and Fitness” (or Fiction, as Kilgore likes to say) magazine, it is FILLED with one-time studies and over-generalizations. A study will show that something may be vaguely correlated, and those experts will immediately implement it into their advice (and may even draw up a 15 page article complete with 87 pictures of shaved dudes working out and flexing all the muscles that aren’t involved in the movement). M&F isn’t the only magazine that does this; any major magazine that has any kind of health section will list one research study (without even discussing whether it was a good study to begin with) and generalizing the results. And the general public reads this shit and Eats. It. Up. (to clarify: they don’t actually eat shit).

This is part of the reason why the fitness industry seems like it isn’t salvageable. So much crap has been fed to the layman for 30+ years, it’s hard to say that everyone should know better. The only constant among any of this is that progressive overload training with weights yields strength and muscle while intensity is a must for quality conditioning. Those ideals existed long before the aerobics hysteria and they continue their action today behind the scenes. Relevant research that supports the fundamental ideals is kinda shady since the industry as a whole is what drives research (and funding). It will be even harder to dig the layman out of the shit pile that they find themselves wallowing in. But I will continue wielding the shovel, gently displacing piles of poo until so that I can lead them from their cave of shadows (I wish I didn’t have to link my references although I didn’t link the “Of Mice and Men” reference yesterday).

Two things have to be in effect for the truth to sprout. First, the community that “gets it” — and understands how proper fitness works — shouldn’t look down on the unknowing. Plato couldn’t just bust in the cave and say, “Yo my peoples, yous have been checkin’ out da shadows your whole life, and yous is a bit thick,” (apparently Plato talks like Ali G). Instead we will respectfully lead them in the right direction by teaching them how it can benefit them. We aren’t going to scare them into believing (cough — religion, cough, cough) or coerce them into doing it (cough — tyranny, cough, cough). Secondly, we have to be more scientific about mainstream reporting on research studies that allegedly change medicine, exercise, or health. Find the original studies, determine whether or not it was a good study, and see if it can be generalizable to an entire population. Most often it can’t be — imagine trying to say that something applies to everyone in a world where a gothic teen is the same species as an NFL offensive lineman. Keep a clear head in spite of new fangled research, diets, and training methods. Maintain a commitment to the things that work over and over again, yet keep your mind open in light of development. Ask questions and learn all you can. It won’t make you popular (every time I ask questions at a workshop or seminar, people get angry and have even written nasty things on the internet about it), but it will help you learn.

Helping you learn is all I care about.

Warning

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Justin

Beard of the Day

Tyler Mane as Ajax in the movie Troy

Thanks to Christian S. for the submission

WARNING

70’s Big may cause adverse effects in your life by changing your physique and/or mentality. Take careful note of these possibilities and verify that you are prepared for such changes.

Abnormal Increases In Size
Beginning a proper quest to 70’s Big will result in exceptional increases in muscular development. This may cause problems if you are A) emo, B) attend art school, or C) live in California or Europe. Expect the following:
– you will fill out your 70’s Big shirts
– your pants will no longer fit
– there is a 50% chance that your clothing will rip and fall right off of your body in fear
– your underwear/spandex will become uncomfortable unless you upgrade
– if you wear swim trunks with the netting on the inside, it will wedge up your butt crack because you’ll have amazing glutes (if I do say so myself)
– dress shirts will not fit around your neck, even if you get fitted for a tux/suit for the specific reason of having it fit (he even measured my neck, wtf?)

Uncomfortable Gains In Strength
Your abnormal size gains express an uncomfortable (dare I say uncanny?) increase in strength. Take caution with your daily activities as they are now a smaller percentage of your absolute strength. Beware of the following:
– hug your lady carefully lest you suffocate her (don’t be Lennie Small)
– avoid fine China
– exhibit caution when pretending to be a zombie in order to show your friends what it would be like to be attacked by an intense zombie…who lifts weights…
– consider projectile motion trajectory when tossing children in the pool; anything other than a resultant vector in the vertical direction could land the child on the roof, a busy highway, or a grizzly bear den
– ready yourself for accusations of steroids or alien anal probing, for it is unnatural to the average person that you have doubled your squat and gained 25 pounds of muscle in a couple of months

Stark Changes In Personality
With this size and strength you will be overcome with a sense of honor and pride that throws itself intensely into tasks of self betterment. You will find yourself:
– knocking down personal goals
– ready to take on the trials of life
– and doing so with an intensity and focus that ripples the earth to its iron-nickel alloy core

Heed this warning; 70’s Big is a process that results in unfathomable changes.

Story Time

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Justin

Beard of the Day

I hate the Steelers, but DE Brett Keisel has a respectable beard

Story

In the fall of 2008, I was getting bored with the bodybuilding routine I was doing. It had been a few years since I played (very small-time) football in college and intramural sports were the only thing I “competed” in. I decided I wanted more of a performance type training program because I didn’t want to lose my athletic ability. My friend Shawn and I were catching a pump in our workout (it was probably arms, and I was probably pissed), and I spontaneously decided I wanted to run a mile.

You see, back in high school I could run a mile close to 6 minutes routinely (I weighed between 185-195 and played linebacker). I wanted to go upstairs to the indoor track and run a mile in 6 minutes. I don’t know why, but I just wanted to know if I “still had it” I guess. This turned out to be one of the worst experiences ever, and I want you to learn why.

The recreation facilities indoor track was short; it would take 9 laps to complete a mile. It was 15 minutes until the top of the hour, and I had to train someone…so I needed to be quick. I figured that was plenty of time; a few minutes of loosening up, run the mile, change clothes, and get started. Yeah, not so much.

I loosed up briefly (I like dynamic stretching, still do), readied my wrist watch, and stepped onto the track. I beeped my watch and got started at a pretty good click. I’ve got this pretty good pace, and I completed lap one, no big deal. Now, stop and imagine this. There’s this 203 pound guy running on the indoor track. Well, running isn’t the right word, I’m kind of bounding along. And then I have to dodge a person every now and then (there were a few walkers and joggers, what have you). Those pedestrians see me repeatedly, and I’m making more of a fuss each time.

You see, the first two laps weren’t that big of a deal, but all kinds of shit was going on in my body. Lactic acid started filling in my legs. The phospho creatine system no longer could supply ATP at my work load, and the glycolitic system was also unable to do much since I really hadn’t trained it all that much — especially at this workload. It turns out that riding a bike to class isn’t really an adaptive stress.

I don’t remember what happened on the middle laps, but I do remember lap 8 and 9 (this is Brent’s favorite part of the story). At this point, I’m convinced I’m going to die. I felt as if I was breathing through a snorkel and mask. My legs didn’t want to move. But I pushed ahead as hard as I could. By god I wanted to get that 6 minute mile. My bounding turns into more of a blundering as I’m struggling to keep my velocity. My breathing turns into gigantic rhinoceros breaths; I sounded like a cow giving a horned mating call to the African plains. Every time I breathed out it was a mixture of forced expiration and a sharp moan. As I neared the end it became gorilla-like, frantic. I pounded each step and pushed forward as hard as I could. Remember, there are people on the track, so they’re seeing this dude finishing a mile like he’s sprinting the last leg of the Badwater Marathon. I probably looked like an asshole.

I blew by the finish line and beeped my watch. I didn’t fall down on the ground (at this point in my life, it had never occurred to me to fall on the ground after doing something difficult; athletes usually stay on their feet because the game isn’t over), and waved my watch in front of my face. It read “5:31”. Elation. I did it. I continued to hyperventilate forever, but I walked over and told some of my friends who worked at the facility my time. I continuously said, “I’m not doing that ever again. Ever.” I wish I could say this was the end of the story, but the worst part hasn’t even happened yet.

I don’t know if any of you have done something intense when you aren’t adapted to it at all, but your body is confused. It experiences this work load, this stress that it isn’t accustomed to, and there are repercussions for this stupidity. My stomach started bubbling. I sneezed. I was still sweating profusely, still breathing hard, but my system seemed to be shutting down. My eyes became swollen, and my stomach bubbled. Again.

“Oh my god, I’m not gonna make it to the toilet,” is a censored version of what I thought to myself. I staggered to the bathroom, a journey that was more difficult than lap number 9. I sneezed. Again and again. As I walked into the bathroom I sneezed uncontrollably. Snot poured out of my nose and probably flew everywhere. The constant sneezing seemed to be shaking up the apparent chemical reaction in my stomach. I’m not going to explain in detail what happened, but it was very similar to THIS, yet way worse because I was constantly sneezing. I lost count at 47 sneezes.

I sat on the toilet for at least 15 minutes. After I finally stopped sneezing (after what seemed like half an hour), I sat there, sweating, exhausted, and nauseated. What happened next is the worst part about all of this; my sinuses turned into concrete. Everything in my head cemented itself into place and I could only breathe out of my throat. My eyes felt like they were being pushed forward, like when you shoot ping pong balls out of those air guns. I washed myself, dressed myself, and went downstairs to my personal training client 18 minutes after the top of the hour. I could talk, but I was so congested that I sounded like Meg Ryan if she were to get beaten with a golf club and then waterboarded.

So what in the hell is the moral of the story? When you’re doing something new, or something you haven’t done in a long time (i.e. you are unadapted to it), ease into the activity over time. If you have been lifting and want to be able to run a mile without feeling like crap, then do a light walk/run fartlek workout. If you’re wanting to do hill sprints on sand and haven’t even ran yet, then get adapted to running before sprinting. In my example above, I experienced systemic responses because I wasn’t systemically ready for it (by the way, you have to be strong enough to push yourself hard enough to get systemically fucked up, if you’re weak then it isn’t possible). The two running examples in this paragraph are more relevant to the localized structural stress in your joints and legs. You don’t want to have sore knees from jogging a mile when you haven’t ran in a year and half, and you certainly don’t want to pull a muscle trying to sprint since it will limit all of your other training too.

Don’t be stupid or stubborn; ease yourself into new activity. If you don’t, you can have a miserable experience like I did one night, or you’ll cause an injury that will last longer than sitting on the toilet. In either case, bad programming is to fault. You’ve been warned.
<br/.

New Shirt for the Ladies

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Justin

PR Friday

Post your training and life PR’s to the comments. If you didn’t hit any, then update us on your training, ask questions, or talk about this weekend’s football games.

Beard of the Day

Sébastien Chabal – French Rugby player

“Known for his full beard and merciless tackling his fans call him l’Homme des Cavernes – The Caveman”
Apparently he’s 6’3″ and 255 with a rumored 7% body fat.
Thanks to RobE for the submission

New Shirt for the Ladies

A shirt made specifically for women is now available for pre-sale (orders will begin shipping next Friday). The Bella brand shirt is a thinner, softer cotton that form fits to the body with cap sleeves and a modest v-neck (not blatant cleavage). The shirt comes in two flavors, light and dark, and each is emblazoned with the image:

This shirt allows the affectionate women to display their preference for a delightfully muscular man in their life as well as their appreciation for 70’s Big. The light shirt is baby blue with a pink heart while the dark shirt is plum with off-white font and a light pink heart.

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Size

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Dark Shirt

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