Happy PR Friday to you, sir. Or madame. Whatever. Post your PRs and training updates to the comments. Last week I asked what your least favorite lift was, and it seems that most of you hate front squats.
What is your biggest muscular weakness?

NOTaFlamingTrollCLown Says:

@ JUSTIN
i already fixed grip width thanks to you and my press shot up after being stalled @ 165 3×5 for a couple months so THANK YOU! yes i always have to remind myself to get under the bar.

This wasn’t really a question, but I just thought I’d point out how a proper grip on the press makes it mechanically efficient and properly utilizes the musculature of the triceps and shoulders.

Terrible Says:

I have stupid-long femurs and a short torso. Conventional DL feels the strongest, but I have to pull around my knees which is definitely not ideal (and makes any set longer than 1 rep a mess). I’ve pulled sumo for ~1 year as (obviously) sumo reduces the impact of femur length.

I still just don’t feel right pulling sumo. Could I theoretically make up for less-than-ideal anthropometry by having very good hip mobility (ie, a large amount of external rotation to get my knees out of the way)? Or would the amount of external rotation required be too hard on the hips?

6’2”, 220 lbs., sumo 1RM around 440 lbs., conventional 1RM unknown

Dear Terrible,

You won’t need to “pull around your knees” in a mechanically sound starting position that is followed by “pushing the floor away”. Methinks your butt is too low and stance potentially wide (see Q&A-4 for stance info). If you were able to get your knees out a bit with your shoulders slightly in front of the bar (putting your scapulae over the bar), then push the floor away, then you won’t have this “KNEES KNEES KNEES” business. Long femurs usually means long arms, so you could get by with a grip that is a finger width or so outside of the inside rings (the rings where the knurling starts in the center of the bar). The wider grip would allow your knees to shove out a bit more.

Keep in mind your musculature won’t currently be adapted to lift heavy weight well with the conventional technique if you’ve been doing sumo. In fact, I’d wager you have a hamstring weakness. But, like I said in the reply to your comment, send a video and I can say things definitively.

echo Says:

A question for Justin: a quick wikipeida WR comparison between the classes shows that the heavier the class the lower the total kg:class kg ratio. For example – the 56kg class shows a total that is 5.44 times the lifters body weight, but the 105kg class is 4.15. Why does this happen? Is it because the lower weight classes are shorter and don’t have to move the weight as far?

Dear echo,

There is not a direct correlation with body weight and strength among a population of lifters. There still is a correlation, but it isn’t linear. As with any physical attribute, there are diminishing returns. It’s just what happens. For example, my Facebook friend Klokov went 196/232 for a 428 total. If it were possible to replicate the 5.44xBW total of the 56kg class, that would mean about a 570 total. If his snatch were 84% of his clean and jerk (like in the WWC a few days ago), that would result in him snatching 260 and clean and jerking 310 to make a 570 total. Numerically we can see that this isn’t possible given that 260 is near the clean and jerk WR.

In any case, how many times the BW a lifter can lift is irrelevant since absolute weight is what matters. And even when it does — like in the Sinclair formula — larger amounts of musculature matter since Akkaev and Klokov (105kg lifters) placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Sinclair formula for the WWC.

Paul Sousa, Movember team member (and will be watching Twilight to raise money for Movember…), asks on the Facebook page:

Justin, for someone training 2 days per week who wants to try and linearly progress on press and bench, would going to 5×5 sets across be helpful? Just wondering if the bump in volume would offset the reduced frequency.

Paul has decreased his training frequency cause he’s about to be a daddy. I’m not a huge fan of using 5x5s in general, but especially when that lift is only done once a week. The 5×5 inherently uses a low percentage of the 1RM, and creeping it up over time would primarily get someone adapted to lower percentage, high volume lifting. Instead, I’d suggest using one week of an ascending 3×5 and a second week of an ascending 3×3. The bench and press, especially the press, respond well to encountering some heavier weights. In fact, this is the strategy I’ve used for at least 8 months, and I’ve PR’d at 350 on the bench and 240 on the press (with 250 in reach, methinks, but I’m currently focusing on the push-press).

Ascending sets will let you hit a higher weight on the third set, yet it should be done systematically. I suggest using 10 pound jumps as it will allow for more weight on the third compared to only increasing by 5 pounds (15 would be too large, especially on press). If you have a weak press, 10 pounds would be a greater percentage of your lift, so you could always use 7 or 5 pound jumps. I also like 10 pound jumps on the ascending 3×3.

The good thing about this set up is that every 5 or 7 weeks you could always single on up. It’s a way to test the 1RM (if you want), but it also provides an extremely high percentage stress that usually resonates well when going back to the regular press sets. I never systematically used singles; whenever I got into PR territory with the top triple or set of five, I would try a single. Earlier this year I was only hitting around 215 for a triple, and then I used it for a set of five before attempting the 240 press (previous PR was 230). I typically pressed Monday, benched Wednesday, and use weighted dips on Friday (after sn/cj, or something like that).

I write more about this method in the Texas Method: Part 2 e-book that is almost done (I finished writing the last chapter yesterday), so be on the lookout for that.

EVERYONE asks:

What silly things are all of you doing to raise money for Movember?

Dear EVERYONE,

Several of us will be doing something to raise money and reach our goal of $5,000. I will be doing one clean and jerk for every $50 raised (starting with the total on Wednesday morning) at the end of the month, Stroup is going to be deadlifting or something fucking stupid, Cloud is going to be abiding, and Paul Sousa is gonna be watching Twilight (I would never agree to that shit). I really don’t know the specifics despite the fact that Stroup, Cloud, Brent, Briskin, and I chatted for two hours the other night. Tomorrow I’ll put up a post clarifying what we’ll be doing so you know where your donation money is going.

Mark Motherfucking Marotta asks via telepathy:

I’ve been thinking about using snatch grip for my DE Deadlifts for the increased R.O.M. Is this stupid, smart or are you indifferent?

Dear the Mark,

I know that you are a powerlifter, so the first thing that comes to mind is, “How will these benefit you more than regular speed deadlifts?” You’ll use less weight with abnormal mechanics. The good thing with how I would normally program someone with intermediate deadlifting programming is that they pull a full ROM deadlift 3 times a month (with the other week being rack pulls, most likely) and that’s accomplished with speed pulling — more on this in Texas Method Part 2 e-book.

If you are keen to try it, then let me know how it goes. If I were coaching you I’d have you work with regular speed pulls, emphasizing the fast lockout (after the knees) as it’s more applicable. I’d consider snatch grip stuff worthy of a try for a powerlifter later in their advancement, if at all. This doesn’t mean they won’t be beneficial, but after my analysis, I’d rather you use conventional style.

All right, that’s good for today. I’ll see you guys on the field.

I’m in a hurry today, so this will be quick. Lately there has been more “dicking around” posts because I’ve been juggling various projects. If you e-mailed be about a consultation, I’ll get to you soon, but these projects won’t get done if I keep pushing them back. In the mean time, let’s watch some random vids:

My friend Jake from Chicago sent me this Kazmaier video. I have no idea what the context is, but I know it’s part of a film/documentary called “Tom Magee: Man of Iron”. This is the only part that Kazmaier is in. He seems kind of like a dickhead in this, but he obviously doesn’t act like that anymore. It’s still funny.


Here’s a vid from Robbie that is just…just…perfect.


Follow the jump for some weightlifting videos. Continue reading →

This is a list of people already on the 70’s Big Movember Team who are yet to raise any doll hairs:

Will Cook, Wayne Reeder, Ryan Buck, Ryan Berube, Pete Townley, Neil Sater, Luke Smith, Kevin Diaz, Justin Coons, Jeremy Shepard, Jay Stadtfeld and Jake Golovchuk (my homies, c’mon!), J.T. Matherly, Iman Crawford, Foster Scott Devine, Eli Weber, David Sharp, David Hagrety, Daniel Villava, Craig Kilgo, BJ Fox, Bill Clark, Ben Urich, Andrew Swisher, and Aamir Syed.

Gentlemen, if you do your part in raising some doll hairs, it will help 70’s Big reach its goal of $5,000. I challenge each one of you to raise $100.

Women Can Join the Fundraising Team
This isn’t solely a guys-only thing. Women, you can join the 70’s Big Movember Team and help raise money as well. No, you don’t need a friggin’ mustache and I prefer that you don’t have facial hair. If you’re a fan of dicks, cocks, or penises (or the utility thereof), then help us raise money for the cause. This won’t be the first 70’s Big fundraiser, so we’ll scratch your back (although most of us supported breast cancer awareness). I’m sure the few women who join the team will undoubtedly be better at this fundraising stuff than the majority of guys on the team.
Edit: What I mean by this is that women can create a profile just like the guys have. I believe the site calls it being a “MoSista” whereas guys are “MoBros”. You then could join the team like anyone else, and then have people donate to you specifically. When you are a part of the team, that total would go to the team as well. And you could win the money/book/t-shirt prize too.

What Do you Want
Do you want silly stuff? I’ve got silly stuff for you. Here’s a video of me hitting a mob. There’s no relevance whatsoever, other than I do it with a mustache, but maybe it will give you an idea of the lengths we’re willing to go to raise money. Or something.



Lift-a-thons?
Patrick Stroup, Jacob Cloud, and I have already stated that we’re willing to do some kind of lift-a-thon. Jacob does some deadlifts in THIS VIDEO, and Stroup is going to do squats and yell whatever obscenities that you submit with your donation. Instead, I’ll do clean and jerks. I’m thinking that for every $50 raised to the team from this point on (current total is $2,683, we’ll round it to 2,700 to keep it even). If you want a phrase shouted with the weight overhead, then include that in your donation (regardless of the person you donate it to). I’m sure Stroup and Cloud will join back in the fun for lift-a-thons. It’s your chance to kill us.

14 Days of Movember Left
We only have two weeks. In the first two weeks we raised a bit over $2,500, so the goal is to raise $5,000. I’m killing my dignity (see video above) and willing to do up to fifty reps on the clean and jerk. Let’s get it done.

I didn’t watch most of the Men’s weightlifting. While the lighter weight classes are impressive, I’m just not that interested in watching the smaller guys. I don’t understand why there’s even a 56k class, but the fact that this lightest weight class lifts about the same as me doesn’t help my self-esteem. Besides, the Chinese took gold all those classes. In fact, the damn Chinese had 7 of the top 3 spots in the 56, 62, 69, and 77 weight classes (7 of 12 spots combined). The only close gold battle seems to be in the 62k class, where gold and silver finished with 321 and 320 respectively. The next closest was the 77k class which was separated by 3 kilos, and then the other classes at least had a 5kg discrepancy between gold and silver.

I didn’t watch the 85k class either, and I make not apology. The best total in the 77k class would have placed 4th in the 85 class. The best snatch in the 85s (173) was only 3k more than the best in the 77s (170). Same thing with the clean and jerk, but a 4k difference (209 to 205), and that puts the best total was within 7k. Here’s the 85k clean and jerk session (English TV version).

This post will be full of pics and vids, so… Continue reading →

Last week the World Weightlifting Championships occurred and they were very entertaining. The women were pretty impressive; the 75kg class was lifting about what I currently lift. I was a pube away from quitting right there. If you’re a guy, take 80% of your body weight, match that up with the women’s class and observe what they are lifting. If you can’t lift that, then…look man, I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t…I just can’t.

I don’t have any vids of the 75 session itself, but it included Lidia Valentin, who is…a favorite of this site? Here’s a video from the 2009 World Championships.

In other news, Julia Rohde is one of those bulky weightlifters who causes women to flee from the sport. The 53kg German lifter finished in 14th place with 85/106, yet was 3rd overall at the European Championships a few weeks earlier. Here’s her 102kg opener at the Europe Championships.


Here are some of the final clean and jerks in the 69kg class. The only women sessions I watched were 69 and 75, and both were impressive. The Chinese lifter who takes 140 for her opener hits a beautiful jerk that drives her very low on her final attempt (I screen capped it on the Fan Page album in case you missed it).


Here are the snatches from that session (in case you’re new, snatch occurs before cj). The best snatch in this class was 118 by Russia’s Oxana Slivenko and she also tied the best cj with 148. Those are some impressive numbers. That 266 total is almost the qualifying total for the 94kg class for the American Open. The best 75kg class lifter finished with 130/163=293 which is about what I could lift. Yikes. A Chinese 75+ lifter hit a 182 clean and jerk, which is just fucking scary. She finished with a 328 total.

There will be more information on the men’s results tomorrow. Thanks to Brian Smith for collecting some info for this post.