Impressed

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I’ve had a pretty solid week with Brent Fucking Kim, Jacob, Nate, and co. in Monterey, California. Thanks to Jacob Tsypkin for letting us infest his gym, CrossFit Monterey, over the last few days. Also, thanks to Jacob and Mariah for shuttling us around. I could take it rather than leave it.

I’m actually still in Monterey (taking the red-eye flight tonight), so it will take a day or so to filter through all of our video footage. I assure you, there is plenty of good stuff. They will pop out over the course of the next few days. Here is the first video that portrays a normal one minute and fifteen seconds.



As far as the lifting workshop itself, I had a great time with the attendees. Remember, if you were at the workshop feel free to e-mail me with questions or videos for form checks — just put “MONTEREY” in the subject line. There was a funny story from the weekend. One of the attendees, Joan, competes in Olympic weightlifting. She said that she had attended one of Mark Rippetoe’s seminars (when he was doing them with CrossFit) in Seattle. I said, “Wait, when was that?” Turns out, she attended the barbell seminar that I was coaching at. Joan was on my power clean platform back in the fall of 2009, and she was real springy. I kept telling her over and over how she would be good at Oly lifting (I think she was power cleaning 115 with ease?) and it turns out that she started Oly lifting more after that seminar. Now she’s a strong lifter and I aims to get to Master’s Nationals (I believe — correct me if I’m wrong, Joan). Anyway, it was a cool story because she and I had met a couple years ago and she says I’m the reason she got into weightlifting. Sweet.

B: Nate, Justin, Brent F: Briskin, Jacob



At the end of the day, we all went to Central Texan Barbecue. Joan actually bought a bunch of beer for the group, and it was a jolly good time. Briskin and I broke bread together and everyone drank ale and consumed animal flesh. It was glorious.

As for training, Brent trained every single day we were here (in typical intuitive training fashion). Brent snatched and clean and jerked on three of those days. If you’re keeping score at home, here’s what we did.
Wednesday — Sn, CJ (I only snatched), weighted pull-ups
Thursday — Bench, High bar squat
Friday — Sn, CJ (I only CJ), bent rows, barbell curls (Briskin was here for this)
Saturday — Sn, CJ (I didn’t train, coached workshop)
Sunday — Press, Deadlift

Not a bad week of training. Lettuce be real tea: I could be more sore. I could be more tired. I could have mobbed more. I could have played more StarCraft with Brent. I could have eaten more Papa Chevos. I could have seen more sun fish. Antigen could have not quit in the middle of our 2v2 game last night to go to bed (does he really think 15 minutes of sleep made a huge difference?). I could have frolicked more in Big Sur. By the way, Brent hates nature (among other things).


13 thoughts on “Impressed”

  1. Brent’s shorts in that last photo by the tree…. I have no words.

    If I did have words, they would not be good words and would probably be quite vulgar.

  2. How exactly do powerlifting world records work? There is this massive guy at my gym who I’ve seen lifting the past few years. He approached me on Friday after watching me squat and deadlift to say he’s enjoyed watching me become a better lifter during this time. What a compliment! He easily benches 400+ for reps and I’ve seen him deadlift in the high 600s. I talked to him for the first time last Friday and learned that he is 69 years old. I shit you not. WWII was raging in europe and the pacific when he was born. He first competed in powerlifting in the early 1960s. I had previously guessed he was around 50 or so. He told me he’s planning to try for the deadlift world record in the grand masters class. He thinks he’ll be able to pull close to 800 next year but he’s not sure exactly what the world record is because he hadn’t checked for a while. Naturally he’s always got a WAG with him at the gym. What a champ.

    “World records” are dependent on the organization, and then masters world records are based on age and weight class. Not to mention you can have equipped AND raw records for each weight class and each age group. It can get quite numerous in one federation, and then you consider that there are 9,000 powerlifting feds. The guy you know is legit either way. Getting a world record may not mean much in some feds, but in the IPF it’d be pretty legit.

    –Justin

  4. Looking forward to seeing more vids from the weekend. Also, got any good replays to share?

    I just moved near a temporary job-site, and don’t have access to a gym. I’m planning to buy a bar & bumper plates, but can’t get a feel for exactly what to buy and where to buy from.

    I’m new to the olympic lifts, and I’ll be using the equipment outside on concrete/asphalt. Storage space is limited, but I might be able to store a small press rack as well, so I could continue to backsquat. The only problem is, I’d have to haul the thing outside and back in every time.

    If anyone could provide advice on the purchase, I’d really appreciate it.

    Replays to share? Not any worth looking at. I should put a replay up when Nate and I played against Brent and Saul/Antigen. Saul is diamond and fucking steam rolled Nate and I, but the banter was pretty good. Other games Brent talks a lot of shit to opposing players. I’ll look through a few and maybe make a zip.

    –Justin

  5. I hope I remembered to tell all those goobers at the workshop that they need to start reading/posting on the site.

    Also, I am aware that my pose is not an actual pose that any actual bodybuilder has ever actually done. But ooooKAY.

  6. Thanks for a great seminar, Justin. I will be guarding against elbow flare in all my pursuits, including presses, push-ups, and standing near old ladies on the subway.

    Mr. Briskin: I vaguely remember you muttering something under your breath. There could have been more shouting and accusatory pointing.

    Remember to put the bar higher on your back. You had it low when we started and that will definitely exacerbate the medial elbow pain.

    –Justin

  8. An actual weightlifting gym opened up in my hometown of Asheville, NC – a town usually known for vegetarians, hippies, and cyclists. I filmed yesterdays training. Click for no other reason than to see around 1:21 this guy Dan and I throw down our barbells at the exact same time and the exact same speed. His looks like a 94kg warm-up he should have full cleaned. Mine is a missed one-arm snatch. Dunno which is sillier.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVoWDNd1R3o&feature=channel_video_title

    I think Brent should get a part time job at U.S. Customs in L.A. just so he can tell anyone coming from across the pacific to turn around and go back. Maybe just wear a singlet and a badge.

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