You’ve got a 38 inch ass and you need guidance on what comes next. It’s okay, we’re here for you.
1. Training Partner Keeps training energized.
2. Transportation Dying 1990 Taurus not mandatory.
3. Beer Self explanatory.
4. 70’s Big Man Ignore this guy’s shorts.
5. 90’s Small Skinny Guy Sorta like midgets, but by choice.
70’s Big Female Tasks of the Week:
• Compile your list of 70’s Big Female essentials! Post to comments.
• We want to hear more from the 70’s Big Female community – submit to Justin if you would like to be featured in the weekly edition. We would LOVE to hear about you!
— Cori & Ellee
PR Friday. Post training updates and PRs to comments.
I have a friend who is in the Army. To date, he’s been in over three years of combat deployment. Before his last deployment he went to Ranger School, a grueling 61 day combat leadership course that is known for a lack of sleep and calories. It’s typically the most difficult thing an American soldier will ever do. It’s not uncommon to lose 40 pounds in this course. All of the students don’t fantasize about women or a hot shower…they fantasize about food. Very elaborate things like Oreos dipped in chocolate or a Snickers ice-cream bar that is halfway thawed out, wrapper sweating with condensation. At the end of the course — assuming the student doesn’t get hurt or voluntarily quit — the new Ranger not only gets to eat a shit load of food, but he gets to have the Ranger tab placed on his shoulder. It must be one of the most powerful moments in their lives knowing that they accomplished this unbearable, rigorous task. Once that tab was on my friend’s shoulder, do you know what he did? He picked his eyes up, looked forward, and said, “What’s next?”
My friend had a goal set before him: pass Ranger school. Never quit. Once he completed that goal, it took him approximately two seconds before he pushed towards the next goal. Getting complacent in training is a curse, something that makes you soft. You are never good enough, strong enough. The moment you think you have “enough” of whatever it is you think you have — you have failed. The moment you think there isn’t anything left to improve — you have failed. Attack your training, and attack your weaknesses. Avoiding something because you aren’t good at it? Looks like you’ve gone soft, my friend. Strive ardently to improve; it isn’t enough to complete your training as if you were clocking in and out of work. Instead, tear open its rib cage, rip out its still beating heart, and consume it like a dangerous, dangerous animal.
What the fuck have you done lately? It doesn’t matter; you could be better.
The summer is open for doing workshops around the country and potentially the world. There are now two different kinds of workshops that 70’s Big presents:
1. Programming workshops
These workshops have a focus on learning the fundamentals of programming strength, conditioning, and then a combination thereof. These workshops also include a “lift around” where attendees can get form checks, learn a new movement, or practice coaching.
2. Lifting workshops
This type of workshop is more focused on the lifting. After a brief fundamentals lecture on equipment (especially belt use), mechanics, and prehab/rehab/mobility for lifters, the day is focused on lifting. All lifts are fair game: squat, press, bench, deadlift, snatch, and clean and jerk. The gym owner and/or attendees will dictate what lifts are included, but the stock plan is to get work on the strength lifts.
It’s also possible to combine these workshops for a two day weekend event. If you are interested in hosting a workshop, e-mail Justin@70sbig.com. If you want to attend a workshop and want to campaign for 70’s Big to come to your city, shoot an e-mail (it will help if you have a place in mind or know someone who is interested in hosting). Please note that tank-tops, facial hair, aviator sunglasses, beer, and meat will be a constant presence in these workshops.
Denver, June 8
There will be a Lifting Workshop in Denver, CO at CrossFit LoDo on Saturday, June 8th, 2011. A full schedule with details will be released soon.
Australia
I’ve been working with my mate on getting a workshop in Sydney, Australia. We are going to tentatively plan a date in July, but need to gauge interest before spending money on travel. We will have a “registration” (with no payment) process until June. If we don’t get enough people by then, we’ll call it off. If we do, then we’ll finalize the schedule for the workshop a month later. E-mail Justin@70sbig.com if you are an Aussie who is interested.
Videos You Should See
Most of these vids are old, but impressive. Weightlifting doesn’t get enough attention on this site.
World record snatch in training, 202.5kg:
Listen to the fucking music they are jamming to (from bsmith9):
Berestov presses 150kg for an easy single:
Koklyaev push-pressing fucking 200kg for a triple:
This happened yesterday. 220kg for 10 reps.
AC and I were laughing about this chick’s vids. Feel free to pick it apart. We aren’t just assholes, so tell me what is wrong with her teaching, the lift, and the mechanics. Then go back to being an asshole.
I’ve always been interested in talk radio and wanted to start doing podcasts. They will allow me to interview various people and get the information to you succinctly. I aim for my podcasts to be short and to the point — no more than 15 minutes. As always, I aim to inform, educate, and entertain. To get my feet wet, the first 70’s Big Podcast is with our own AC. AC is a young, raw powerlifter who has won several meets and has benched a paused 380 at 212 lbs. We discuss various topics like his training history, karate chops to the throat, and why he’s on such a power trip lately.
If you have questions for AC in a future podcast, put them in the comments.
Feel free to submit a “Reader Mail” question that will be addressed in subsequent podcasts.
Here is a post by Brent that he wrote for his training blog. You can find his site HERE. Everyone here at 70’s Big loves Kelly Starrett, and Brent probably wishes Kelly was his dad. Go to MobilityWOD.com for a daily mobility video.
I started out with a shitty overhead position and 0 degrees internal rotation. Couldn’t get the bar behind my ears without hyperextending my lumbar spine. Couldn’t keep the bar close in the snatch because I had 0 internal rotation. Benching often hurt.
I’ve always leaned on a lacrosse ball to roll on sore spots on the anterior capsule of my shoulder joint, but the 3 mobs that I did early on that helped like, 30-40% were:
– Rolling on the external rotators that wrapped around the humerus, i.e. lateral part of the shoulder and then towards the front. Had to get in creative positions, but I think this helped with some generic shoulder tightness that affected my benching and overhead position. See informed free-styling video regarding periscapular regional death above.
– Hip flexor/quad stretch. Couldn’t go completely upright until my 3rd or 4th exposure, but this definitely legitimized my hip extension in the snatch and clean.
– Anything involving external rotation of the femur with hip flexion. My deadlift feels a lot different now, in a good way, feels like I’m utilizing more musculature in the movement. Squat bottom position feels more legit. I used to feel tight before but weak coming out of the hole, now I feel looser but stronger driving out of the hole. Improving end range function means greater force production?
Something that Kstar and other sources/people have mentioned is you can’t address mobility in isolation; i.e. if your shoulder function sucks, you can’t just do shoulder mobs and expect to get a lot better. Have to address movement as a whole, shoulders and hips are analogs to each other, I don’t fucking know, I just do every mob ok? My life fucking sucks and I am taking it one step at a time to try to make it better. Sometimes that means laying on a lacrosse ball every night. Other times it may mean wrapping a band around a limb or perhaps asphyxiating yourself while masturbating, while injecting nandralone.
Another guideline is, “you have to find where you are tight.” The mobs that helped me may not help you that much, but you may discover shit that really hurts to do that might be related. Do the shit that really hurts to do.
There’s probably shit that I don’t even know that I need to address. Basically I check the site and do the mwod and if it hurts or is difficult for me to do, I incorporate it on a regular basis.
[edit 9:13pm 4.23.11] – I was asked to link the mobs that I like to do. Really the best thing to do if you are looking for shit to do is test/re-test, which Kstar generously has for each mob that he posts a day. If your shit sucks for a certain test, do the mob. I’ve provided my history and how I approached my particular problems. In all honesty, I’d probably see a lot more benefit if I could see a PT of Kelly Starrett’s breed and get guidance from there. I move better now, but there are still some gaping holes in how “healthy” I should be.
