Note: If you are an SOF operator, I’m interested in having you join other operators in a group where we can talk about different aspects and issues regarding physical training and requirements to optimally perform (among other things). Together we can gain insight on proper physical preparation and potentially synthesize the material. If you’re interested in participating, e-mail me at Justin@70sBig.com or post in the comments.
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I get to meet a lot of people through this site, and one of them is The Scott (I don’t know how this name came to be). The Scott has e-mailed with AC and I over the past year, and he has had some great improvement in his strength. The Scott trains at Ian Carver’s CrossFit Centurion where we did a workshop in August. Scott is a stocky dude at 5’9″ and weighed 216 for this meet. If I remember correctly, he was informed of it just a couple weeks ago (meaning he didn’t have a significant taper).
I helped him out with choosing his attempts before the meet (actually it was when we did the 70’s Big Chat Room last week) and gave him some general advice. Well, The Scott went 8/9 and PR’d on squat and deadlift.
Squat 456.5lbs PR
Bench 325lbs
Deadlift 501.5lbs PR
Total 1283lbs
In his last e-mail he told me
In just over a year since following 70’s Big, my squat went from 320 to 456.5 (+ 136.5lbs), bench 315 to 365 (+ 50lbs), and deadlift 370 to 501.5 (+ 131.5lbs). Thanks again for all your help and correspondence. I’m looking forward to 2011.
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You may remember reader Matt Nolan’s (NolanPower) 325kg (716 lb) deadlift in the 100kg/220lb weight class at the New Jersey State powerlfting comp last year. Well, he’s still training hard and sent me this PR squat vid:
Nice fucking work, Matt.
As a fellow 220 lb.-er, I am humbled by those videos.
Gotta be the Rocky motivation to help that last rep!
As someone trying to get back in the service, Mr. Lascek, I hope you post some findings that emerge from that SOF group.
Incredible achievements by both guys. Really incredible. The result of thousands of hours of toil crammed into a few seconds of intense exertion.
That’s some beastly shit. Nice job guys.
Is there a chat today?
Yeah, forgot to announce. Been working on stuff. Standby.
–Justin
Is the information that comes out of the SOF working group going to be made available?
Justin have you thought about going into the military?
Good videos today, pretty inspiring!
The raw discussion won’t, but the “findings” will be synthesized at some point.
–Justin
What if you aren’t an SOF operator, but are an airborne infantryman turned strength coach who has a keen interest in the military athlete? Any chance of being a fly on the wall in that discussion?
Yeah, I’ll get you in Ryan.
–Justin
Chat tonight at 5:00 PM EST.
Link
http://widget.mibbit.com/?settings=d979218505a306cbee7d9302470fe159&server=irc.synirc.net&channel=%2370sbig
Might need to copy/paste in your browser.
Thanks for making the SOF info available. As a infantry national guardsman I am looking forward to what comes out of it. I will be sure to spread the info the officer candidates I train at my state’s officer candidate school.
Justin: Awesome! Thanks!
RD: What state?
Ryan: Kansas. Where are you out of?
RD: Im in the Texas Guard now. Was in the 82nd when I was active.
Texas National Guard that is, not State Guard.
Ryan: Are you in a line unit or do you teach OCS? I was 1st BDE 1st ID on active duty.
I’m not a SOF operator, but will be looking forward to reading about the findings as 70’s Big member in military law enforcement. Looking forward to see how some people train to be strong and ruck/run/whatever for miles until the mission is complete. I think there are many 70’s Big military folks who will benefit from this topic.
Also what is the “Crossfit Division” in the powerlifting video talking about?
@Yosh, It was basically to get crossfitters interested in strength portion of training and competing. Crossfit uses a lot of squating and deadlifting in their programming. I was in the 100k flight with everyone else, however, my numbers were really only stacked up against other crossfitters however, my numbers did well placed against other powerlifters in my flight.
I’m in the WA Guard, another guy in the unit and I are attempting to start a powerlifting team. any of you other Guardsmen ever try anything like that and have success?
I wasn’t real clear, I mean a unit-specific powerlifting team signed off by the CDRs and all that stuff. I’m hoping that we may be able to get meet entry fees paid for, but in the short term I just want to be guaranteed some time each drill to squat/bench instead of Army PT, heh.
@”THE SCOTT”
I thought your numbers would have been respectable in the open raw division, but I have only been at a couple meets. That’s awesome that you PRed and in your squat and got over 500lbs in your DL for your first meet.
I am very familiar with crossfit. I cherry picked some workouts from the website to supplement whatever I was doing off and on from about 2005 or so until 2010 when I switched to just barbell strength training.
Why couldn’t the crossfitters just sign up for the meet without the specialized division? It looks like the meet was in a crossfit gym anyway and I bet if the WOD said do a powerlifting competition then everyone would do it anyway. Other than maybe not getting a medal or something from the crossfit division, I don’t see the difference.
RD: Oh no, I’m in a line unit. Though my commander did talk me in to going down to an OCS symposium next month in Austin. I’m still on the fence.
All right guys, this is a question for all the younger guys out there (I’m 17 and live with my mom):
I’ve been into lifting for a little while, but ever since I started training hardcore and everything, my mom likes to blame lifting and everything that comes along with it for anything that goes wrong in my life. She now wants me to go in for tests to my doctor and sit in while I break down all the stuff I do, from high protein/calorie consumption to deep squatting to taking creatine and all that stuff. I think it’s safe to assume that the doctor will definitely find fault with at least some of my training routine. Given the fact that over the last couple months or so we’ve had posts about educating those around us, how the hell am I supposed to deal with this? I already tried to point out that a pediatrician, despite being a good guy, most likely doesn’t really have education in this field, but since he’s an MD, my mom thinks he knows everything there is to know about the human body (he already mentioned once that taking in whey protein shakes of more than 40 g or shakes period more than every other day is bad for the human body…when I asked how whey protein is different for the body than regular protein, it is no surprise that he danced around it). She is also into all those shows like “The Doctors”, and despite everything I show her, she thinks that if MDs don’t think it, it’s wrong, especially because a 17 year old could never POSSIBLY have done his own research and been more informed than an MD (even though I send it to her). She sends me “studies”, which are nothing more than articles written by “weight loss guru” type people that mention common myths without ANY research to back it up outside of attempting to use fancy words.
Anyone have any advice/experience here? I’m really in a big dilemma with it…
Hey Justin, I noticed in The Scott’s video that he drops his butt quite a bit before starting his deadlift. Is that common when dealing with PR weight? I’m 6’2″ and when I deadlift I reach over and grip the bar with my knees locked, then drop my shins to the bar, pull my chest up as much as I can, and lift. I try not to drop my butt at all. Is that a proper set-up?
Scott may have the bar a bit forward of his balance point (the middle of the foot). However, the bar has a straight bar path and stays on his legs the entire movement. His build (stockiness and body dimensions) might mean that his current position is the most efficient, but it’s hard to say from the front view we have. In any case, he’s fine.
As for you — a “proper set up” is whatever gets you in an efficient position to pull. The set up doesn’t have to be locked into one kind of way, but it does have to adhere to the mechanics. If you’re a beginner, then the set up in a book like Starting Strength would be what you use until you’re experienced.
–Justin
Ryan: Do you mind giving me your contact info, I’d like to shoot you an email. Thanks.
I’ll do it so you guys don’t post your e-mail addresses on here.
–Justin
The Scott man you are a big dude. I’m 220 and i feel like you make me small. Nolan is just a beast like always. Good job guys.
@domjo54
My parents weren’t that bad, but similar. I started lifting at 17 too, same crap. They were “concerned” with my diet. GOMAD, meat galore, eating animal fat, bringing home 9 McDoubles, etc. Give it time and she will probably realize she was wrong. My parents sat me down and tried to get me to stop, they seriously thought I was going to kill myself. I did what a good teenager does and ignored them.
Fast forward a few weeks. 2 weeks after I started conditioning again, I immediately dropped the fat. I was lean with sick ABZZ … just kidding. But after they saw the dramatic increase in athletic ability, they got really quiet. I have never had an issue with their concern of my diet. My dad actually asked advice.
I lifted for 8 weeks, 5 weeks extreme bulking (40lbs), 3 weeks lifting with some but little weight gain. 2-3 weeks cutting (-20lbs). Yielded ~20lbs lean gain.
@Nicola, Thanks, I have been happy with my size proression, lots of quality food in my bulking then I got a weight I wanted and have been maintaining. As far as size and strength, just been following Starting Strength, Texas Method and 5,3,1.
@Chris, yeah I think the bar was a little in front of my mid foot, However, I keep the bar in line to get a good path. I ended up with a slight scrapping on my shin.
@Yosh, the next meet in March I plan to compete in the open division.
@Justin, now I need a good training routine for the next 2 months to get ready for the next meet. BTW, I have been tired all week so I haven’t been to the gym recently. Hopefully, tomorrow or Friday I’ll be able to get back in there.
How long does it take to loose strength if training crossfit style with high reps and lower weights?
Eating less food also, eating a Zone diet with 175 grams protein, 108 grams carbs, 48 grams fats……weight 190 lbs.
> I think there are many 70′s Big military folks who will benefit from this topic.
yeah! that said, the redux of the CFWF program was pretty helpful.
things i find myself wondering about:
1. for us guys taking a PFT on the regular, is there a value to doing crossfit-a-little-bit-of-everything-style workouts for conditioning, or keeping specificity in mind, does it make more sense to just focus on pushup-and-situps-and-run workouts? do you taper from one to the other, maybe?
2. ruckmarching–is it conditioning? strength?
1. If you’re trying to get ready for the PFT, then specific conditioning will be more beneficial.
2. Rucking isn’t strength building (although it may for weak individuals, but not enough to be significant). Think of it as sustained work conditioning. When getting into rucking, consider it an avenue to condition the structures from the ground up (starting at the feet). I’m not an expert on it, though. Go see MOA at StrengthVillain.com if you have specific questions (Go in “military” section of the message board and there is a thread called “MOA Q&A”).
–Justin