Bastion of Fitness

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Happy PR Friday
Post personal bests and training updates to the comments.

When Ellee and I went to do the trapeze thing last Friday, there were at least five women who either did marathons or triathlons. They were probably between the ages of 25 and 45 and were all frumpy. One of them was wearing a marathon shirt so one of the girls asked her how many she had done. When she said she had done 32, the girls were impressed, “Oh my goodness! Thirty-two! Wow!”. I rolled my eyes, scoffed, and shouted, “Nobody cares!” (the last two aren’t true).

The world still defines long slow distance events as the premise that defines fitness. This marathoner, this Bastion of Fitness, carried body fat and did not have a healthy complexion. Guess what happened next? When she hopped off the 35 foot high platform to swing on the trapeze and wrap her legs over the bar…she couldn’t. This BASTION OF FITNESS lacked the strength to pull her knees up and throw her legs over the bar to hang upside down. Pathetic, but more so sad.

The 70’s Big community does a pretty good job of not being elitist concerning other forms of training, and I’d like to keep it that way. However it still bothers me when an irrelevant event like marathons are placed on a pedestal. Maybe it’s because everyone can get in their car and drive 26.2 miles and say, “Wow, what if you had to run that?” I guess there really isn’t an opportunity to look at five hundred pounds and think, “What if I had to lift that?” For example, a heavier average male black bear found throughout the U.S. weighs about 500 pounds. If you see one, the first instinct isn’t to wonder if you could lift it. Or if you could out run it in order to survive (you can’t — they can run up to 25 to 30 mph).

This black bear is unimpressed

It’s pretty unacceptable to not be able to put your legs over a bar and hang upside down. It’s not that this event is particularly specific to any relevant act in life, but the ability to do it should be a base line athletic capability. It’s kind of like PT tests in the military: they shouldn’t be the extent of your physical ability (or the primary measure thereof), but instead should be a minimum capability that someone can do randomly if needed (it’d be better if the events were more specific and relative to the job itself, but that’s neither here nor there).

I honestly feel I could train for a short amount of time and do a marathon. It would fucking suck, but things like that are more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. The previously mentioned BASTION OF FITNESS revealed that she did a marathon at the north pole. Immediately upon hearing that I wanted to do a weightlifting meet at the north pole. Then I remembered that the north pole is located in the middle of the fucking Arctic Ocean, therefore it’s not possible to claim that you have run a marathon there, much less visited.

I’m just unimpressed with the average marathoner or triathlete. This doesn’t mean I don’t respect the good ones. I have a friend who has been to the Boston Marathon, and we’ve participated in a 1.5 mile run. He fucking smoked me, and I did it in about 10 minutes. But for the average goober, running is not the mark of health, capability, and most importantly, athleticism. But neither is only being able to lift. Play sports, work on agility, sprint around, maintain mobility — do these things so that marathoners don’t have anything on you. Not to mention you’ll actually be able to participate in random trapeze sessions. And bears will high five you.

Edit: I still need to edit/upload Ellee doing the trapeze, but here is my vid.

108 thoughts on “Bastion of Fitness”

  4. Endurance sports are a uniquely yuppie hobby. The yuppie will look at you, the lifter, as boorish and unenlightened. He has even a little pity for you, as you go and destroy your health by lifting heavy weights and eating lots of red meat. After all, it’s mostly yuppies in control of the entire nutrition-health establishment, from the USDA and Surgeon General on down. They are the ones proclaiming what is and isn’t healthy. So you are wrong by definition.

    They are repulsed by anything remotely masculine. Endurance exercise, as you’ve noticed, is a good recipe for aesthetic androgyny, for men and women looking the same: frail, feeble and sexless. In general, manlier guys are drawn to lifting, and the less manly guys to things like cycling and long distance running.

    That said, I think younger men are much more receptive to lifting than in past generations.

    Oh, and these attitudes are much worse if they see what you eat. I get teased daily at work for the way I eat, even by fat people.

    (And I myself qualify as a yuppie.)

  5. Had a two week break from lifting after my first 12 weeks on 5×5 LP. Was a chance to heal up some hurt ribs and go on a 4-day motorcycle ride with family. Decided to test my 1rm today (for the first time ever). Weights converted from kgs. BW is ~240lbs @ 6’2″.

    SQ PR – 395lbs
    BP PR – 240bs
    DL PR – 460lbs (Hook grip)

    Got to work out where to start the lifts back on SS 3×5 on Monday, based on those 1RMs. I’m thinking 185/285/350 – thoughts anyone?

    I train alone, so being part of the 70s Big community has helped so much during my first 3 months lifting weights.

    I stuffed up big time on working up to 1RM. Too many warm ups and then jumped up too much with the singles at the top. Being a n00b bites.

    @Justin – a post on how to test 1RM (which I guess should be similar to competing at a meet) would be killer.

  6. As a motorcyclist, I think motorcycles are a good way to relate relative weights IRL to anyone who has ridden a bike. A late model Suzuki Hayabusa weights ~500lbs dry, so you guys that can squat that can say “Hey, imagine putting that bikes on my shoulders and squatting down to the ground. I can do that! Come at me…”

  7. PRs this week
    Press: 5×157.5lbs
    Squat: 20x180lbs. This made me feel like puking even more than last week. I suck. Can’t wait for next week.
    Beef purchase: 1x90lbs now in the freezer. Grillin’ steaks this weekend.
    Marathons run: 0x26.2 miles (tieing PR).

  9. That woman (a fucking woman, dude) doesn’t RUN marathons, she DOES marathons as they say. She would qualify as a hobbyist marathoner, just as there are hobbyist weightlifters, and I’m sure people would be “just unimpressed” by their numbers, but that’s not why they lift, it’s a damn hobby.

    Her lack of upper body strength is no more extreme than your lack of endurance, considering you are a young male and she is a middle aged woman for pete’s sake. And there is no way in hell you could train for a short amount of time and actually RUN a whole marathon, you don’t know what you are talking about.

  13. bean is a marathon runner then. I don’t know what Justin’s endurance level is but I still reckon he could do a marathon, especially as he didn’t specifically define his ‘short time’. What does run a whole marathon mean anyway? If you stop for a walk and get a far better time than some fat woman who jogged at a snail’s pace the whole time is she supposed to be fitter or something?

  16. @domjo54: CT is probably injured and most definitely strong as hell.

    I´m injured and not that strong, so this weeks pb: 1H-DL, 110 kg

    The “problem” about this whole “long-distance-I´ve-done-a-marathon-and-bragging-about-it-with-a-shirt-thing” (maybe to many – but better than + considering the subject) is that those people almost always talk about “completing” this and that race. ANYBODY can complete a race given unlimited amount of time. It´s like to log in to 70sbig and brag about your 110 kg DL…wait a minute!

  17. Clean and Pressed 210 with a lot of layback. Forgot to Post the Video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1y9z9zVlUc

    I am equally pissed off that finishing a Marathon or a Triathlon is viewed as the, as you so aptly put it, the BASTION OF FITNESS. Perhaps you’ve seen the “Stuff White People Like” article on the matter…

    http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/27-marathons/

    People will sometimes remind you that the messenger boy who ran to Marathon died. Well, he was a puss. Lots of people have survived Marathon running since. But Jón Páll Sigmarsson died while Deadlifting, and he was the World’s Strongest Man. If you’re gonna brag about your sport killing someone, makes sure it at least killed someone who was hard to kill.

  19. A buddy of mine who I play beach volleyball with does the long and slow as his core fitness, as well as, crunches and some useless bosu ball shit that he thinks is really cool since their company’s fitness trainer recommended it. He has lost a bunch of weight, but that is due more to changing dietary habits, reducing nightly beer intake and doing something physical. However, he’s weak and can’t jump, can’t move in the sand, and tires much faster then I do and I rarely run anything longer then a hill sprint in addition to the weight lifting. But no matter the actual evidence of my physical capability from my training methods versus his, he’s locked into the group think of low and slow, weak and no muscle tone.

  20. Maybe runners feel the same way about lifting as I do about running. I would rather eat glass.
    Close to 2 months out of ACL reconstruction and I’ve been squatting some. Feels good.

    squats 3×5–185, easy
    press 3×5–125, PR
    Smoked a little guy in a bout of pullups.

  21. Haven’t posted here in a while. Went for a DL single and broke 500#

    503# x 1

    Other PRs since I last posted:

    Squat: 425# x 1
    Bench: 275# x 1
    Press: 175# x 1

    plus – I weigh ~240 at 6-1 and am starting to look like a badass. Thank you 70sbig

  23. Society’s preocupation with lsd is so much so that in my professional life when I am asked what my hobbies are I have to pause for a second and think about what I want to say. I know that if I say that weightlifting is all that I think about all day at work and that everytime I finish my task for the day, I am either reading about weightlifting or watching weightlifting videos, I might hurt my chances for promotion in my organization. If I tell them that everyday when I wake up, I wish I could be dimas or at least crush 3/4’s of what he crushes or that watching school of champions makes my frigging heart sing, I will probably lose my job.

    But when all the fairy runner types go around talking about how many marathons they do and walk around in their gaunt emaciated frames everyone heaps praise after praise on them.

    I have been asked about 10 times why I don’t go down and check out the sweet company gym. Oh you mean the company gym where my boss might potentially be and all they have is a smith machine and ab burner classes? Sounds great, I will see you down there bro.

    Self control PR- saw a fat girl at work sneaking to her desk with a cheeseburger and fries- did not yell at her/ slap it out of her hands. progress not perfection.

    No lifting PR’s yet, but I am heading to my buddy’s home gym to use a nice bar and hopefully hit some sick lifts

  25. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always found it telling that a marathoner always announces how MANY races he’s completed, not how FAST he ran them. Seems to me in a timed event the amount of time it takes to finish should be an important metric to share with people.

    No PRs this week because I’m still coming back from an injury and a little time off. However I have decided to try a new lifting program. I’d previously been doing TM for two cycles. I’ll start this in one or two weeks, after completing a little LP to get me back where I was.

    I’m going to do the Doug Hepburn singles program. I read a few templates, read his book “Hepburn Laws” and consulted with my lifting mentor who has lifted obscene amounts of weight using the Hepburn method, and even knew Hepburn and got advice from him back in the early 90s. Here is the program. Has anyone else done this?

    –Doug Hepburn Program–

    Monday: Squat (4×1 @80%1RM, 2×3 @80% of singles weight ), Bench (4×1 @80%1RM, 2×3 @80% of singles weight ), Barbell Row (3×5)

    Tuesday: Deadlift (4×1 @80%1RM, 2×3 @80% of singles weight ), Overhead Press (4×1 @80%1RM, 2×3 @80% of singles weight ), either curls/snatch/pullups (3xFail etc.)

    Wednesday–Off

    Thursday: Squat (5×1 @80%1RM, 3×3 @80% of singles weight ), Bench (5×1 @80%1RM, 3×3 @80% of singles weight ), Barbell Row (3×5)

    Friday: Off

    Saturday–Power Clean (4×1 @80%1RM, 2×3 @80% of singles weight), Overhead Press(5×1 @80%1RM, 3×3 @80% of singles weight), either curl/Pullup/Snatch (3xFail, etc.)

    Sunday–off

    For the single sets start with 4×1 and increase up to 10×1, then add 5 lbs and repeat; for the mass sets start with 2×3 increase up to 5×3, then add 5 lbs and repeat. Squat and bench weights will progress faster than the others since they’re done more often. At the beginning it may be advisable to add more than 5 lbs to a lift if it seems to easy, but it’s important to use a lot of caution with that.

    My goal is to improve my 1RM in preparation for powerlifting meets this spring. My current 1RMs I estimate are 390 squat, 420 deadlift, 290 bench. I weigh 190 right now, down from 200. I’m prepared to eat like a horse and sleep like a baby. Obviously my deadlift is lagging a bit so I’m hoping the increased practice with heavy weights for singles will help me improve my technique since that’s got to be part of the problem.

  27. About a decade ago I made a bet with a co-worker that I could finish a marathon. At the time the Houston marathon was exactly a month away. Trained for a month and finished it with a crappy time of just under five hours. The next year I trained for three months and finished in three and a half. Anyone with a lot of spare time and willingness to be bored as shot for hours can complete a marathon. Being elite is another matter, of course.

    Dumbass PR yesterday. Had my head forward when doing push presses. Clocked myself under the chin on the push and almost knocked myself the fuck out. Ridonkulous.

  28. In response to Bean, I’ve done several half-marathons (running, not walking) with zero training and finished them all without stopping for a breather. It hurt a lot, but I did it. So I imagine on say three months of training I could run a marathon, as could Justin. It’d hurt a lot, but when did that stop anyone with balls?

  29. @Josh – Mastodon is MY favorite band. I was blown away as to how they can constantly morph their sound each record. My fav tracks on the hunter are The Creature Lives,Dry Bone Valley, The Sparrow, and spectrelight.

    @Maslow – wow holy fuck wall of text.

    Will report PRs this afternoon.

  30. Just a blatant plug for Justin. Had a consult with him last night concerning all my fucked up issues.

    Couldn’t be more impressed with the advice and his professionalism.

    Dude knows his shit.

  31. haha… I guess I’m lucky… my neighbor and I lift weights, and at work several guys lift weights (okay, one is more of a boxer), and the only (half?) marathon dabbler is a very overweight gal who resists even the most gentle advice on fitness and weight loss. FWIW, there is a volleyball player who neither lifts weights nor runs.

    And, yeah, we’re probably all yuppies by Charles’s standards. But we’re the next generation of such.

    Justin–

    – Fit was pretty awesome. I can’t wait for the 2nd edition – with an INDEX!

    – the strength and conditioning chapters were great, but I felt there could’ve been more on mobility from the injury prevention / full ROM stuff, on the other hand, that’d make the book 600 pages long

    – You probably have answered this like a 100 times, but is the strength and conditioning LP an acceptable program for a cut or is that asking for a disaster?

    – Ages ago I emailed you about my weak, immobile (well, not immobile but with poor posture and flexibility) wife… she eventually came around and wants to get stronger and healthier on her own. Right now she’s doing yoga because she’s so tight she can’t fully extend her legs and so weak the novice effect kicks in with yoga, but the next time she complains about feeling weak (which she does from time to time), I’ll show her the “Easing into it” programs from Fit. She’s concerned about not getting injured by rushing into stuff (as some of her girlfriends have don), so the Fit progressions fit a need there.

  33. I’m a huge Mastodon fan, and though I love Leviathan like everyone else, I REALLY love the proggy stuff on CtS and Hunter.

    My standout tracks – All the Heavy Lifting, Octopus Has No Friends, Spectrelight.

  34. i almost entered a marathon once…i wanted a challenge…and believe me, whether or not its a measure of fitness or not, running 26+ miles is a challenge for me, i hate running… which is why i didn’t enter the marathon. The way I saw it, is it wasn’t just ONE day i’d have to run a boring 26 miles…but there would be training days i’d have to run 18 miles, and 22 miles, fuck there’d be days i’d have to run 10 miles, and that shit sucks. I once ran 12 miles with my dad and i don’t think i’ll ever run that far again unless I have Pearl Jam performing on a flat bead truck riding along side of me or something.

    that being said, getting pissed off at other people’s forms of enjoyment is not my thing… even if they brag about it… there’s people who quietly enjoy activities to themselves, and others that brag and are pieces of shit about activities… whether it be running, lifting, baking, sewing, painting, etc.

    also, i couldn’t lift 500lbs if it was the only way to survive a bear attack.

  35. oh, i wanted to add something… theres this aspiring bodybuilder dude i’m friends with on facebook who ALWAYS feels the need to post “KILLER BI’s and TRi’s SESH TONIGHT, GONNA SHRED CALFS TOMORROW”

    what a piece of shit.

  36. I will secod the plug for Justin’s consulting. I’m on week three of a plan we came up with and it is really working well for me. Dude does indeed know his shit.

  37. Power snatch PR – 52 kg. First time I have intentionally power snatched 52 instead of meaning to full snatch it and catching it high like an idiot.

    LBBS PR – 3 x 90 kg. I’ve been doing singles and doubles, so I figured I’d try this as a triple.

    HBBS PR – 3 x 85 kg. Same deal as the LBBS.

    Behind the neck jerk PR – 5 x 70 kg.

    I tried C&Js last night for the first time in a month because of my collarbone. No pain. Worked up to 70 kg. The jerk wasn’t pretty, but I’m cool with it right now. I racked 75 kg three times but didn’t stand it up. Really very super happy to be back to cleans and jerks.

    Lots of PRs by the girls at my gym, so hopefully some of them will decide to be awesome and post here.

  41. PR this week: c+jed 115lb x 5. The clean is pretty easy, but I need to work on explosiveness in the jerk. Missed a few jerks this week, which earned me a few LOOKS from casual gymgoers. But they’re not working on their split jerk, so fuck them.

    Progressing on other lifts again thanks to some aggressive mobbing, eating, sleeping, and hydrating.

    Justin: thanks for the diet advice the other day. I’ve been adding in more whey and juice than usual. I also remembered your “eating like an asshole” post, and I’ve been doing that when I actually feel like it. Feeling better already.

  42. I did a marathon in ’98. Trained up for it properly, adding a mile a week, occasional resets peaking at the event… not a single training run, nor the marathon itself, were ever once “hard” or painful. I was in a rough marriage where time out of the house was a bonus but now with a great wife, I have no interest in hours-long training runs. An hour in the garage under the bar, pushing the kids on the swing between sets works fine though.

    I have a bud who “trained up” for about three weeks before running a marathon; He said it sucked for him the day of, but he made it fine.

    I am also no longer interested in weighing 165 which is another reason for dropping lsd.

  43. Few PRs this week. This was the last week of my 2nd cycle on 5/3/1.

    Squat 135kg*8
    Press 65kg*7

    Was having trouble leaning forward in my squat until I read an article about keeping the chest up in the squat by pushing the elbow down and the head back. I found this really helped, and when I implemented it on my set of 135, I had no trouble maintaining correct posture. Pretty awesome week!

  44. The funny thing to me is the only person I know who ran a marathon and tells his time (because it’s actually a decent time) is also pretty fit in general. At what I would guess is no more than 150 lbs. bodyweight he could bench 185 for reps, and he was very athletic (played soccer in college, and I did some rope courses and climbing with him and he smoked it). He also doesn’t act like LSD is the pinnacle of fitness, but he loves endurance stuff for the high.

    Anyone else I know who runs them fits pretty well into Justin’s description.

  48. Deadlift: 335×5
    Hope to be posting these weekly for awhile and adding the other lifts too. First PR anything since July… That took patience, I hate not making progress.

    I’m reading FIT, specifically the multi-element fitness chapter since I’ve been moving away from 100% strength to a short cardio stuff. (Primarily prowler training). Not sure I want to ever do anything longer than 10 minutes at this point!

    Where’s part 2 for the TM book man?

  50. @cory I dunno if they dont want me to be jacked, but almost everyone at my office is either skinny or out of shape like a mofo and I am supposed to play nice with the other children and stay in my cubicle all day

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