David C asks, “If you were going to hire/follow one of the bigger CrossFit coaches out there to help you prepare for the Open, Regionals, and Games, who would you choose?”
Rudy Nielsen of Outlaw. In part because he has a deep and sound understanding of how to program effectively – but there are a lot of people with that. What Rudy has that a lot of others lack, is a deep and sound understanding of how CrossFit – the SPORT, not the fitness program – functions. He doesn’t debate silly shit like “is CrossFit too strength biased” or “has too much cardio” or whether the “definition of fitness” is legit. He observes the parameters of the sport, and trains people to compete in them.
Dave F asks, “I am training the Olympic lifts three times a week, one day being committed to the snatch, one day to the clean & jerk, and one to both. What is a good rep scheme for a novice?”
First: if you are a novice, I do NOT think that 2x/week per lift is enough. You need to be doing them 3x/week so that you can learn the patterns and learn them well.
About rep schemes…don’t worry about them. Focus on sets of 1-3, get a lot of good reps in, and when you feel great, go for a new PR, whether it be a single, double, or triple. If you’re training alone, don’t do so much that you are exhausted for the last third of your session and do nothing but shitty reps.
Vee G asks “I was trained using the ‘scoop method’ ala Coach Burgener. A lot of my fellow weightlifters have been taught in a style more similar to Coach Pendlay’s, which does not teach the scoop. What are some advantages/disadvantages of either technique?”
I’m assuming that by the “scoop method,” you mean teaching an intentional rebending of the knees – sometimes referred to as the double knee bend – under the bar before the second pull.
Did someone say scoop method?
I personally do not teach the scoop/double knee bend as such. I teach the lifter to move into the correct position, and the knees move into the right spot – slightly in front of the bar – just before the lifter extends into the finish. It is my opinion that teaching the intentional double knee bend only serves to confuse new lifters, slow down the transition, and lead to the lifter pushing the bar forward and shifting the weight onto the front of the feet too early.
Although there are certainly good coaches who have made this method work, I cannot see any advantages this way of teaching has over those which do not coach the lifter to intentionally perform the double knee bend.
Editors’s Note: Please remember to ask Tsypkin anything your crazy little heart desires on our facebook page. Otherwise, he’s going to have to come up with his own questions to answer, and that would just be crazy.
Jacob Tsypkin is a CrossFit and weightlifting coach, the co-owner of CrossFit Monterey and the Monterey Bay Barbell Club in Monterey, CA. He is available for weightlifting seminars and has excellent taste in shirts and gainz.
Aaron is a PJ, or pararescue jumper, as well as a general badass. He’s already written a couple inspiring articles for us (Excuses? No. and Lessons From Lifting). In this one, perhaps his best yet, he has a call to arms. Are you ready to answer? Ladies and Not-so-Gentlemen, are you ready for some old-school 70sBig? – Cloud
Three years ago I was drawn to this site by the unapologetic, brash braggadocio only a true miscreant could love. Idolizing forgotten mastodons wearing short shorts and high socks. Celebrating facial hair and real meals, encouraging real men and women to be real men and women in a time of androgyny, man-scaping, skinny jeans, Twilight, and other things so horrible they shall go unmentioned. Like 50 Shades of Grey. Those things are not cool, bro, and like my personal heroes Michael Douglas, General Patton, Tyler Durden, Vlad the Impaler, the Techno Viking (that guy took ZERO shits), John W. Creasy, and Walter- this aggression will not stand, man.
In the movie “The Rock”, voted “the best movie of all time in the history of the world” by NATO and the Illuminati, it was said, “sometimes the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots.” Well sometimes the tree of 70sBig must be replenished with the fuel of attitude, with the liquid reduction of our resolve. In the interest of re-focusing ourselves, I charge you to live your life a little more recklessly this next week. Just for a while, think to yourself, “What would Ricky Bruch do?” I assure you, that answer is almost always, “Get extra mayonnaise, lift some heavy shit like a damn boss, and proceed to not give a shit, two monkeys or a damn.” Would Ricky pass up an extra conditioning session? Absolutely not. Would Ricky pass up the 4th steak in 2 meals? Not up in here. Would Ricky wear long, pleated slacks and watch NASCAR drinking a light beer at a tofu tasting party, politely discussing HOA fees? I just got a phone call – the message was, “Ricky Bruch’s estate wants to kill your family for associating his name with that scenario.” It’s that serious.
“But Aaron! I am entrenched in the corporate world; I can’t go stomping around like a heathen, shirtless, scaring the villagers! Also, I don’t know any villagers and my shorts are of an acceptable length for ‘casual Friday’.” Well, first of all, that’s unacceptable. If you say “Casual Friday”, you better be ready for aviator shades and some damn boat shoes. If that’s not the case, it’s time to get your swole back. It’s time to remember who we all are, at our base. Boil us down to brass tacks, twisted steel and ball bearings, and we all realize several immutable, undeniable, irrefutable facts.
We are human. That makes us all physiologically the same, genetically capable of tasks very much the same. If you are reading this saying, “Well, X person is bigger, stronger, I don’t think that’s totally correct…” STOP IT. That’s half the problem. Who’s to say you can’t do anything you want? Me? You? Anyone? What if you just refused to believe impossible things, and simply did them? That wouldn’t make you a superhuman; it would simply mean you refuse to be limited. Do you really have limits? Do you think that’s air your breathing? That’s a Matrix reference. Keep up.
Slap anyone that uses the term “swag”, either ironically or seriously, right in the gob. They know better. Go to YouTube, and look up every video of Leonid Taranenko clean and jerking 266KG, then cook a damn steak and do some mobility. Disagree with someone. Seriously, get into an argument, and instead of worrying how their feelings will recover, wondering how you’ll be viewed, so on and so forth- just disagree. Tell someone they are wrong, and that you don’t agree with what they are saying, and that you won’t be wavering. If the term “agree to disagree” is uttered, wage total war and destroy the room. The world understands. That phrase is about 10% of the problem today. So help me Zeus, if anyone around you says “YOLO” and you do not immediately beat him or her to death, I will find your house and mail you a strongly worded letter.
Here is the hard truth- there are no trophies for 5th place, no consolation prize in real life. It does pay to be a winner, and too often in today’s environment it has become acceptable to trivialize a loss, to rationalize poor effort, to soften heartbreak. Well I am here to call bullshit. If you work hard, you get rewarded. If you don’t work hard, you lose, and you don’t get a prize for that. I don’t know when ‘Murica, – the home of first place, the inventor of competition for everything, the bastion of bacon-wrapped-filets and filet-wrapped-bacon-filled-deep-fried-chocolate-coated-turducken-sandwiches became OK with second place, but I am here to tell you it stops now, and it stops with each and every one of us. It starts with me, and it starts with you.
So this week, get up early. Stop making excuses for yourself, and stop taking excuses from others. Get to work early. Put out as a friend, spouse, significant other, parent, older sibling, citizen, WHATEVER. Stop living your life only to keep breathing and start attacking it. Look for every excuse to get better, and get nasty about it. Are you a lady that wants to get “more toned” and look “better this summer?” Get your lady parts underneath a damn bar and do something about it right the hell now. The world is, quite frankly, not ready for that jelly, and I want more ladies bootyliscious when the sun shines bright and hot in 3 months. Are you a fella that can grow a sweet ass beard, or at least a somewhat child molestor-ish mustache, yet shave every day? By the light in Kate Upton’s eyes, grow that damn facial hair, and do it while you grill some meat and write out your week of programming. Is there a charity, a group, or an organization that is worthy of your time that you haven’t volunteered for? What are you, some sort of sissy? How about you do the right thing and donate some time to something bigger than yourself.
Look into her eyes!
If you haven’t torn up in the gym, so motivated that you wanted to literally explode into a ball of flame, or flipped a table in public only to be applauded for your gusto, or uppercut a punkass into a bowl of punch at a high school dance lately – well, dammit, now is the time (editor’s note, please avoid high school dances, thank you).
Now is the time we take back that attitude, and seize life by the horns/balls/ovaries. The part you grab isn’t important, the fact remains that we must grab that part by force. It’s time to get that 70s Big attitude back. And the time starts now.
Going forward, Mike Battaglino will be answering reader submitted questions on topics such as Powerlifting, Strongman, Military related training, declining spots, etc. in a video format. Questions can be submitted to mike@70sbig.com or posted in the comments on facebook. Mike answered a few questions already, posted on our facebook page this week:
Michael asks:I’m a Marine and I love powerlifting (just competed in my first meet) but I need to temporarily focus on dropping my 3 mile run time for a PFT. What are your suggestions for strength maintenance while I start running long enough to do well on the fitness test? I’m planning on throwing together a mix of interval/tempo work and the occasional longer run (2-3 miles). Probably 3-4 days a week of running. I’m sure this is a pretty common scenario for the military folk.
Mike: I’m quite glad my PT test days are over. I would reccomend trying to maintain your current program the best that you can, and just keep the weights the same for 4-6 weeks. If you need to, drop some of the accessory lifts. You shouldn’t lose a tremendous amount of strength, and you can be back to adding weight 1-2 weeks after the test.
I wouldn’t worry about moving the weights up for either your volume or intensity days. Perhaps for your bench and press you can move up slowly, but I would just worry about passing the test, and maintaining your current numbers.
Kyp asks: I recently bought a yoke and it’s supposed to be arriving sometime this week so figure I would study up on it in the mean time. I was wondering if you would be able to share any knowledge/know of any particularly good sources or information regarding programming yoke walks for somebody trying to get 70’s big, and have a good base of general conditioning?
Mike: Kyp, I have read a quite a few pro strongman training logs, and everyone seems to program it a bit differently. I’ve only had my yoke for about six months, but I would recommend keeping it light for a little while. If you could manage to do it once a week, you would probably develop your technique pretty quickly, but keep it relatively light. Once it starts to get heavy, do it every other week. If you’re going into a contest where you’re going to use the yoke, consider programming speed/heavy days with it. I think the most important thing is to develop skill walking with it. Watch videos of pro strongman using it and experiment with what works for you (particularly hand placement).
LW Pro Strongman Andy Deck with a 1010lb yoke
As today is PR Friday, let us know how you are doing in the comments. What do you want to talk about? Add videos by just posting the youtube URL. Since it’s snowing here in Boston, crockpot recipes will be awarded extra internet points today, along with the admiration of your peers.
Tom O asks, “I have calf pain when squatting ass-to-grass, whether back, front, or overhead. Any ideas what this could be/what I can do about it?”
Could be quite a few things. I’d start with soft tissue and mobility work on the hamstrings, IT band, and calves. Start at the largest crossed joint (hips for hamstrings and IT band, knee for calves) and work down. You may also want to do some compression work around your calves. Finally, address the squat (and the hips) as a whole. Do some range of motion testing (there is a lot of good stuff on Mobility WOD for this) and see where you’re limited. Address those issues and see where it leads. Perhaps of greatest importance, is to remember that dealing with issues like this is not a quick fix, one-and-done kind of deal. It’s going to take some time and patience, but it will pay off.
David H asks, “I’m a new weightlifter and I have long arms. Should I utilize a wide grip on the jerk? I’ve been using a relatively narrow grip and it feels more solid this way, but I can’t help but think I’d benefit from moving my hands out.”
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Joseph F asks “Box squat for CrossFitters?”
Star Wars action figures for Trekkies?
Harry S asks, “What are some ways to improve my mobility for the snatch? My bottom position looks like a low bar back squat due to tight hips and ankles, and the couch stretch alone isn’t covering it.”
In answering this, I’m going to assume you are already back squatting high bar. If you’re not, fix that, train it for 6 weeks, and see where you’re at. Second, while mobility and stretching is great, I’m a firm believer that the biggest changes are going to happen from doing a lot of the movement you’re trying to improve. Don’t become that guy who spends 2 hours on mobility and 20 minutes lifting (emphasis added by me because this is a glorious statement. – Cloud). With that out of the way, let’s talk about a few excellent drills to help you with this.
1. This one is very specifically helpful for people with your problem: take a length of PVC or broomstick and go into the bottom of your overhead squat. Have someone stand behind you, hands on the PVC, place their knee in your low back, and push your hips forward and down. Be sure to keep your weight on your heels as the knees go forward, and actively push up against the “bar.” Have your helper push down slightly on the PVC – this will help you feel something to push up against.
2. Holding an empty barbell in your hands, squat down and place the bar across your thighs/knees. Push one knee forward at a time (it’s fine to come off your heel) and use the bar to weigh you down at the knee. You should feel a deep stretch around the achilles tendon. Do this a little at a time, switching back and forth between legs, gradually loosening up the tissues and pushing the stretch further.
Barry S asks, “What are the pros and cons of using a percentage based training program for weightlifting?”
This is a big question. I will address it as concisely as possible.
Using percentages can be helpful because it gives you a governor. When done intelligently, in the long term, it can help keep you from doing too much or too little, ensure that you’re mostly working with loads that are beneficial to you, and give you an accurate measurement of the total training load from day to day, week to week, and month to month.
However, they can also be limiting. Is 80% as valuable as 85% or 90%? In my opinion, if you are having a good training day, you’re going to get more out of taking the weight up and working heavier than just sticking to a set number. And it’s always good to have the opportunity to strike when the iron is hot and set new PRs.
This is not to say that a percentage based program can’t work. There are obviously a lot of great lifters and coaches who use percentages. And I think they can be useful for someone who is training alone, to mitigate burnout and keep the lifter from getting to the point where they’re so exhausted that they are no longer able to recognize and correct mistakes.
Dave F asks, “If you were to design a program for someone looking to compete in both weightlifting and powerlifting, what would you emphasize?”
This is another big question, not one I can address effectively within the scope of this post. But I will say this: I very strongly believe that in order to be successful at both weightlifting and powerlifting, one would need to emphasize weightlifting as the main discipline. The short version of the long answer to the question “why?” is this: weightlifting has the potential to improve you as a powerlifter far more than powerlifting has the potential to improve you as a weightlifter. There is already great importance placed on squatting and pulling strength, and the bench press can be treated as a supplementary exercise for a large part of the year. I would, obviously, shift emphasis closer to a powerlifting meet for the final preparatory period.
Jacob Tsypkin is a CrossFit and weightlifting coach, the co-owner of CrossFit Monterey and the Monterey Bay Barbell Club in Monterey, CA. He is available for weightlifting seminars and already has a perfect score on 13.4.
Olpainless, one of our faithful readers and Justin’s good friends, submitted this introduction article to me awhile ago, and I apologize for the delay in publishing it. I initially wanted some media to go along with it, but realized his message is in the words – no pretty pictures are needed. He shares with us his whirlwind of program-hopping and diet-experiments before he consulted with Justin and started lifting and eating in a healthy, goal-oriented manner. He shares this info with us humbly, but as you read this from your couch, imagine going through all of this while deployed, away from all the comforts and conveniences of home. Imagine working your ass off to not only survive, but to improve your health and body in the most ascetic conditions. Then get off your couch, put away the Cheetos, and go lift some heavy shit. Thank you, Olpainless. Cheers. – Jacob
Hello, fellow carcass-eating-lifting-enthusiasts.
I’m writing under my user name because I thought it would be easier for a couple of work reasons. I met Justin at one of his seminars a couple of years ago, at which point I realized why I had a recurring lower back injury: because I was squatting like a constipated sloth. The path that led me to Justin’s seminar was a typical one. Former CrossFitter, bumbling around with internet programs not really knowing what I was doing. I’ll summarize how it happened.
I realized I needed to get stronger prior to my SOF selection, I was running a lot when the opportunity came up and I was pretty skinny. My standard body building style program from the military PTI worked pretty well for a while, and got me strong enough for selection (obviously I did a lot of other training also). On a shared hard drive in Afghanistan I found a program from a guy called Ross Enamait (whose stuff I still love), CrossFit programs, and various other info. I started with something I knew I could do well, the high intensity interval style circuit training, which is nothing new. I noticed that the new ideas and workouts I found on the internet gave me great challenges and variety. The Olympic lifts and even the basic lifts were still a bit daunting for me because I’d never really had any coaching in them. Unfortunately, this experimentation resulted in a right knee injury from heavy lunges and squats with bad form.
It became pretty apparent I wasn’t strong enough overall. I was pretty fast and agile, could do a few party trick movements, but needed to carry heavy weight on my back which demands strength.
So I switched gears to a program the guys I worked with in the SOF community found – Military Athlete by Rob Shaul. I started to see some real gains for the first six months but I combined the training (which is high volume) with a low carb paleo diet. Why? Because I am an idiot, that’s why, and I speak of this to caution any of you from doing the same. From what I’ve seen on this site, most of you seem smarter than that. Rob’s training is legit and I’d recommend checking it out if you’re in the military. However, for me personally I found the volume too much to do it year round (note: I was eating low carb as well). I also tried to make my own programs based on Rob’s but doing the wrong exercises with the wrong volume.
To cut a long story short, 3 x 8 deadlifts at 90% 1RM twice a week later, I hurt my back (“No shit!” I hear you say). Yep, well I thought I knew what I was doing; I didn’t. Meanwhile, I’m eating paleo on operations overseas, dealing with gastro symptoms from the gluten in the MREs, and losing weight (I have shitting stories but you don’t want to hear that). I thought I was training and eating smart. I wasn’t. It all came to a head when I nearly fell out on a long extraction march with a heavy pack. I had never, ever come close to falling out from my team before and I took a good hard look at myself. I learned some valuable lessons.
So I saw Justin’s seminar and got some coaching tips. I rehabbed the shit out of my back with mobility drills, a lacrosse ball and PVC pipe, and I started upping the carbs in the diet.
Since I got some coaching on how to lift from Justin, I have not had a serious injury. I believe most of this is due to the fact I have focused more on lifting and mobility and added endurance/speed work when I needed to.
I’d summarize what I’ve learned so far as follows (lower your expectations, this will may be underwhelming):
1. Get a coach to look at your lifts, even online coaching is better than none.
2. Program to what you need to improve, not what you’re already good at.
3. Strength is vital to every other aspect of your game. If you neglect mistress Strength, she is a jealous bitch and will make you pay.
4. Paleo diet works great for me, but don’t go low carb unless you have a specific and valid reason to do so (and preferably get advice on how to do it from someone who has experience).
5. Don’t take programs off the internet and modify them. See point 1.
I’m currently training for an ultra marathon, which should definitely draw some heat from Brent, Chris and the regulars (and I welcome the smack talk). It’s a bucket list thing. I’m doing one and one only. I’m still lifting though.
The Paleo Chronicles are another post, if anyone cares to hear about that. Given Justin has just written a book, I’d start with that.
Looking forward to some posts from you other guys/girls who read the site. Some real strong, fit people read this resource and I learn a lot from all you guys.
Cheers.
– olpainless
Olpainless is a 70s Big reader who has been in military for 19 years. He was recently employed with the Air Force in a special operations role for six years, but now drives a desk.Training with a strength focus has gone from being a job requirement to an integral part of his life and has helped him to manage and reduce injuries. He has been eating a Paleo-based diet for three years and has experimented with lots of variations of this diet whilst dealing with a demanding work schedule.
Jacob Tsypkin is a CrossFit and weightlifting coach, the co-owner of CrossFit Monterey and the Monterey Bay Barbell Club in Monterey, CA. He is available for weightlifting seminars and has excellent taste in shirts and gainz. 
