Q&A – 30

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Justin

PR Friday

Post your mudda crunkin’ training PR’s, PB’s, and DD’s to the comments. Add in ‘yo training updates too, son.

Weekly Challenge

Last week’s challenge was to “add in a day or two of conditioning after your training session(s)”. Anybody do this? How’d you feel? Not something that’ll interfere with training, eh? Think it’ll help with regular daily activities or fun?

Next Week’s Challenge: Eat vegetables in at least one meal every day.
Not very 70’s Big? Where’s the burgers and ice cream? I’m not afraid to say that I want to set an example for everyone. Honestly? Honestly? HONESTLY? I want you banging your wife at 80 years old after you do a powerlifting meet. That’s what I want. If you eat like someone who doesn’t do the “purge” part, then we aren’t accomplishing anything. This is an EXTREMELY simplified way to say this, but: a cleaner, higher quality diet is going to reduce your overall systemic inflammation and allow you to recover better. That means better progress. That means your wee wee in the hole hole when you’re a FOG. Cha-CHING! Do eet.

Weekly Recap

On Monday I wore cool sunglasses and gave weak-backed ladies and guys something to do at the end of training. On Tuesday I released the BIG KAHUNA, the biggest even of everyone’s lives, the ravishing, the outstanding, The Texas Method: Advanced book that will remove three inches from your shorts and turn your skin eight shades darker upon purchase. No lie. Wednesday I got to drive all day, but Chris is a champion and Nolan is competing at IPF Raw Worlds. Thursday I pointed out that a 300 pound squat for a guy is unimpressive. Every man can squat 405; it might take more effort for some than others, but it’s doable. I promise.

Oh happy day!

I’m travelling to Washington DC to get kicked in the balls at the GoRuck Challenge starting at 9PM. It was probably an excellent idea to travel and then do it. I told the fine folks at GoRuck that I was going to do a post on training for the GoRuck. I’m still gonna do this, but I figured a post of the aftermath would be more sufficient given that I’ll know what I did or did not do correctly. I’m sure the event will teach me a lot, but at the very least clarify the stressors that are similar to the first day in most military SOF selection courses. How do you prepare for a kick in the balls? You can’t; you just smile when it happens.

I thought it was really funny to see former infantry guys say, “Why the fuck would I want to do that? I had to do that for 4/6/8 years in the Army/Marines.” I get it, and they’re right. But something like this is a test of mettle for someone who hasn’t done it. It’s also apparently good at team building. At the very least, it’ll allow someone to learn or remind themselves what their limits are (instead of doing a 25 minute workout and feeling empowered). Should be fun. Interesting? I’ll let ya guys know.

Q&A

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Every Man Can Squat 405

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Justin

Brent was telling me about some dickhead somewhere on the internet that was making a big deal about squatting 300 pounds. I can’t recall exactly what quote Brent used, but the guy apparently said it was “AMAZING” or something. It’s really not. It’s kinda amazing for a girl to do that, but not a guy.

I coached a 14 year old kid a few years ago. He had hypothyroidism, which means that his metabolism was super slow. They had him on some meds that provided thyroid hormone, yet his dose may have been a bit high. This made his metabolism super high. Therefore, he was a smaller, thinner kid. But god damn did he want to be big and strong — he’s still one of my favorite people. The first day of training, he squatted 95 pounds for some sets. Less than half a year later he squatted 305. I don’t have video of that, but here’s old an video of him squatting 275×5 (there are two more sets, this was the first).

This 14 year old kid was able to work up to a 300 pound squat. It’s pretty good for a 14 year old, but I certainly wouldn’t call it “amazing”. For a grown-ass-man, it’s not a big deal. People have been accidentally squatting 300 for 50+ years. Every man can squat 405.

This, of course, assumes a healthy individual with no existing pathology — anatomical or otherwise. A regular guy can squat 405. And when he does, it may only be amazing if he was a weak-ass dude when he started. I’d be proud if “less genetically gifted guy” squatted 405, but I still wouldn’t call it amazing, or breathtaking, or whatever stupid thing the stupid under-achieving guy Brent was talking about said.

What should you do if you can’t squat 405 yet? The simple answer is to squat twice a week and don’t stop until you squat it. If you garner the accumulated work of squatting twice a week for a year, that’s 104 squat sessions. If you do that for 18 months, it’s 156 sessions. Two years is 208 sessions. It doesn’t have as much to do with set/rep schemes, or volume/intensity; it’s just that you continuously get the acute and chronic stress of squatting.

It’d make the most of your time to emulate a linear progression for several months at first, then a volume/intensity approach (like the Texas Method), and then tweak it from there. At the end of the day, it only matters that you squatted.

I’m not asking you if you think it’s possible, I’m telling you: Every man can squat 405. If this is a goal of yours, then get started yesterday. There are plenty of factors that would effect the success of this goal, but none of them are more important than just getting under the fucking bar and doing it. Then do that consistently. Don’t lower your standards for yourself or to make other people feel better about themselves. You’re not a beautiful butterfly, chocolate starfish, or whatever. 405 will make a statement, one that says, “I am average, but I busted my balls to do this, so eat shit guy in the corner who is doing wrist curls with the smith machine.”

Do eet.

Nolan to Worlds

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Justin

Quick post today due to travelling.

NolanPower
70’s Big reader Nolan Power has gone to Sweden for the first ever IPF Raw World Championships. He decided to cut down to the 93kg class (the weight classes are different nowadays in the IPF). You can read his post about his planned attempts HERE; it’s part of his training log. The stream for the meet is in the post, and he lifts some time on Friday. Good luck, Matt.

Criley
I just learned this morning that Chris is now considered the first place winner in the 120+ weight class from the 2012 NAPF Raw Challenge that occurred at The Arnold Sports Festival in March. This means that he won his first international IPF meet, and it also means he is the North American Champion! The guy who won the weight class tested positive for some kind of PED, so he was disqualified.

To celebrate, here is a video of how Chris trains bench press:

In case you missed them in the Facebook/Twitter feeds, here are some videos of Mike and Chris training recently. Mike squats 530×3 pretty easily and then reverse band deadlifts 615×6; Chris rack pulls up to 675×3 about a month and a half after injuring his lower back. Oh, and this video was part of Chris’ “rehab” of working back into things; I’m linking it cause Mike says something funny at the end.

If you’re still hankering for more vids, then review the “hip torque” concept:

The Texas Method: Advanced

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Justin

The wait is finally over…

The Texas Method: Advanced

You’ve been on the Texas Method for a while, and you’ve even implemented some of the changes from The Texas Method: Part 1, but progress is starting to slow. After all, no program will work forever. Do not fret, for over the last several years we have been learning and tweaking this program into an amazingly efficient machine that has yielded a 661 competition squat, a 705 competition deadlift, 402 competition bench press, and a 275×3 standing press.

The Texas Method: Advanced teaches you how to control dosages of volume, how to structure the program for use in raw powerlifting, and a variety of important programmatic tweaks like “Intensity Day Rotations” and a new template that will push you past your sticking points. There’s 90 pages of information, and most of it can be pulled and used in almost any program. This is the most proven and effective programming tool 70’s Big has created to date. And did I mention that the forward is written by Brent Kim? Now you know it’s good.

Table of Contents
FORWARD From Brent Kim 04
CHAPTER 1 Relativity of Volume 06
CHAPTER 2 Using the TM for Powerlifting 10
CHAPTER 3 Modifying the Texas Method 26
CHAPTER 4 Advanced TM Modifications 51
CHAPTER 5 And Beyond… 68
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, CONTACT, AND PRODUCTS 88
REFERENCES 90

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Experiment for da ladies

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Justin

Some females that lift still have weaknesses in their shoulder girdle or upper back despite the fact that they have lifted for at least one year. This is more common when the female is taller or has longer limbs because they won’t have large amounts of muscle mass to improve the angle of muscle attachment (this concept was discussed in this post — more on the same topic). Doing presses and rows are good at developing this musculature, but some times a specific deficiency needs specific work.

Band pulls are typically used in powerlifting programs to strengthen the shoulder girdle. Many powerlifters and their coaches despise overhead because it’s labeled as “injurious”. We know that by pressing correctly in external rotation and achieving a good overhead position is not injurious and is exceptional at increasing the strength and stability in the shoulder girdle. My hypothesis is that assistance work like band pulls were created to help keep shoulders healthy because there was an absence in quality overhead work. They were also developed in the realm of physical therapy to address muscle imbalances, which would be the case in a guy/girl who has a weak upper back.

Here’s the experiment: throw them in at the end of your training on a daily basis for at least a month. If “daily” won’t work, then do them at least three times a week. They can be done on the weekend, and could probably be done the day before a lifting session (though I’d avoid it before the heaviest session). Let’s see if there’s a significant improvement in pull-up strength, overhead strength, or the ability to stay in external rotation on the bench or press (elbows staying in and under the wrists). Guys, if you have issues with flaring elbows or a weak upper back, then do this experiment. They will only help the shoulder and won’t cause any harm. Remember that most of these “female topics” also apply to guys.

The video below explains how to do them. Cliff notes:
– use a light band
– use a supinated (underhand grip) that is at or right outside of shoulder width
– horizontally abduct shoulders (reverse fly)
– keep elbows/wrists straight
– control out and in (don’t flop back in)
– use 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
– wear cool sunglasses