Novemburly Beard Contest

Josh from Quebec pulled a stunning Joe Namath-like upset by declaring himself the winner, and aiming to get 1870’s Big. When the polls closed he was beating Trampas by a pube of 142 votes to 136. Honorable mention goes out to Tallahassee’s Robert with 124 votes. Thanks to all the man-men who submitted their beard pics.

70’s Big Euro Tour

My Irish pal John Benton and I are creating a diabolical plot that would bring the new and updated 70’s Big Strength and Conditioning Workshops to Europe. John has sent some feelers (I guess feeling is an Irish thing) and the following cities are potential hosts: 2 venues in Dublin, 2-3 venues in the U.K (Manchester,London, and possibly Cardiff Wales and Newcastle), Copenhagen, and Basel, Switzerland.

If you are interested in attending or hosting, then let us know in the comments, on the Facebook fan page, or e-mail me. The more venues or attendees there, the more likely the trip can happen.

Chat Room Vote

We are going to start a weekly chat room meeting. During this time readers can ask questions to me or anybody else (AC, Chris, Mike, Brent, and others assuming they are present) about pretty much anything.
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Edit: Continue voting on beard pics if you haven’t already. Results will be posted tomorrow.

Paul is a reader on the site who is 31 years old and has been strength training for about a year. We’ve had a few posts that urge readers to commit to competing, and it motivated Paul to enter in his first strongman competition.

I had a great time, met some cool people, and had fun trying something unlike anything I had done before. If anyone is on the fence about competing in one of these, I say go for it. I went in with my only goal being to not fail an event, and I was successful in that.

Paul was in a class with lots of very strong guys even though it was the “lightweight novice” class. All the competitors weren’t rare physical specimens; one competitor who was at least 10 years older than Paul busted his ass just like everyone else in spite of pre-existing injuries.

I think a lot of people feel intimidated by strongman, powerlifting, etc. because they think they’ll be ridiculed by huge, strong guys. My experience was exactly the opposite and it was one of the only competitive environments I’ve been in where competitors were cheering and pushing each other to all do their best.

We may see videos or here stories of top competitors vying for victory in ultra-competitive environments, but local powerlifting, strongman, and Olympic weightlifting meets are always full of good natured people willing to give some advice to a beginner. Paul realized he no longer had an excuse for not competing. If fearing failure is the only thing you’re worried about, then you don’t have an excuse.



Thanks for sharing, Paul.
Edit: How awesome is Paul’s wife?

Not everyone can grow a beard. First, someone may have missed out on the genetic trait of beard growing. Second, someone may have a job or wife that prevents them from growing it out. Third, someone may lack the testicular fortitude to grow one. These are the men that ignored all three obstacles, and got burly during Novemburly.

Trampas’ e-mail included the following stats/message:

Ht: 6’6″
Wt: 285
Linear Beard Progression:
Time: 29 days
Length: 1.25 inches
Animals housed: 2 deer, 1 rabbit

Merry Christmas! Shitter was full!

This is all I got in my direct e-mail. If you have a gnarly beard, send it in today and I’ll add it throughout the day. Happy lifting.












Gabrus, the comedian

















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PR Friday

State your PR’s or update us on your training. Feel free to ask questions, I’ll check them throughout today. Also if there are specific topics you’d like to hear about, I can do my best to write about them.

Videos

The first video shows Chris squatting 500×10 — YEAH BUUUUUUDYYYYYYYY! Brent has already chastised Mike for his camera work, so I won’t do it here. He moves behind Chris towards the end of the set to spot him.



The second video is Mike squatting 430×10 in time period where he’s cutting weight for a PT test. Chris doesn’t say much; he must be tired from his set. Good lifting, fellas.



Do you have a video of you hitting some PR’s in a good training environment? Send them to Justin@70sbig.com.

Edit: There may be some additions to this post throughout the day. You can also see more at the 70’s Big Facebook page.

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.
When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

– Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold is someone that I look to. I’ve read his autobiography and encyclopedia of bodybuilding while appreciating his physique and movies. The thing that I am most impressed with is his will to strive for success. Throughout his life he committed himself fully to whatever goal he had in mind, and he always achieved that goal and excelled. Not many people know that he was a millionaire before he even got into acting; he started a prosperous brick-laying business. This was after his acclaimed success in bodybuilding, winning the Mr. Olympia seven times. Then he had a successful acting career followed by his career in politics that included the governorship in California. Arnold is a doer, a producer, and this makes him a hero. I highly recommend reading his autobiography to learn how he bred the mindset of success as he got into bodybuilding. He is one of the most impressive men in modern history.

Not many people know that Arnold dabbled in some powerlifting and strongman when he was active in bodybuilding. It’s documented that Franco Columbo, Arnold’s close friend when he trained for the Olympia in the U.S., was an impressive deadlifter, but Arnold put up some solid weight himself. Observe.





The first picture shows that he had a puny squat at the time (if it was a true 1RM), but he was 19. He also never really had huge legs, and it probably helped his tapered appearance. A 616 deadlift at 19 is still awesome.