Author Archives: Justin

Heads Up

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Thursday AC and I leave for California so that we can drop kick people at three different 70’s Big Workshops. Here is where we will be, starting this saturday:

10:00 AM, Saturday August 7th, 2010 in El Segundo, CA (near Los Angeles)
Click To Register
CrossFit Intrepid
616 E. Franklin Ave.
El Segundo, CA 90245
ruth@crossfitintrepid.com | 310.465.6565

9:00 AM, Sunday August 8th, 2010 in Sand City, CA (near Monterey, CA)
To register, send an e-mail to Jacob.
CrossFit Monterey
337 Olympia Avenue, Unit B
Sand City, CA 93955
CrossFitMonterey@gmail.com | 831-920-3522

10:00 AM, Saturday August 14th, 2010 in Sacramento, CA
To register, send Ian an e-mail.
CrossFit Centurion
11300 Sanders Drive #25
Rancho Cordova, Ca.
staff@crossfitcenturion.com | (916) 207-7600

Cliff notes: We’ll be around Los Angeles Saturday, around Monterey on Sunday, and then around Sacramento the following Saturday. We’ll also be doing some coaching throughout, so if you’re anywhere in between or around these areas and want/need some help, just shoot me an e-mail.
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Werner Günthör

Meet Werner Günthör, a powerful athlete from Switzerland. Günthör was an athletic shot putter who stood 6’6″ and weighed close to 300 pounds of pure 70’s Bigness (this website lists him at 130kg). His best put was 22.75 meters in 1988 in Bern — that’s about 74.5 feet. Günthör won a bronze medal in the 1988 Olympics as well as three world championships in the late 80s and early 90s. He also won an indoor world championship and European championship. You can find videos of Günthör training on YouTube. His training is pretty sweet, and here is my favorite video (the last sequence is the best):



How awesome was that? When I do conditioning work, it is going to be modeled after Günthör’s plyometric training, particularly sequences of jumping high and bounding. A quick note: if you play around with stuff like that, ease your way into it. Hardcore plyometrics are for more advanced trainees.

Here is another video of Günthör and who I assume is his training partner. The whole video is an impressive showing of athleticism and displays the old school mindset of including related physical conditioning to training.

Ladies will want to fast forward to 1:43.
More intense plyo training at 2:38.
3:33 is the start of a hilarious montage of Günthör doing all kinds of awesome things, including playing tennis. You can’t really get an idea of how massive this guy is until he wedges a racket in his fist. There’s another really funny part that I’ll let you see for yourself, so this would be the best part of the video if you were strapped for time.



Günthör is one of my favorite athletes because of his explosive training and awesome style.

What suits your fancy?

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I finally was able to train heavy on the Olympic lifts today outside of Atlanta with AC. I brought my bar and bumpers all the way from Panama City, and was itching to train. We had to move to a second facility nearby (thanks Brad, of CF North Fulton), and things went pretty well. This was the first heavy day I’ve had since nationals, and I was pleased; I snatched 120kg (missed 125 a couple times, technical issue) and clean and jerked 155kg. This was solid because my meet PR’s are 130/158, so I wasn’t that far off in my first heavy day in quite a while. I also cleaned 160, but passed out before the jerk (bar went forward, I landed on my back) after telling AC that the only way I wasn’t going to get it was if I passed out.

I bring this up because I was in a pretty good training environment. There was loud music, my body was fresh, I was excited to go heavy on the lifts, and AC was there (it’s always better to train hard with your friends). Since I haven’t been able to do the Olympic lifts, I’ve been training heavier on the strength lifts at a military base. I’m able to get pumped by myself and train hard, so it isn’t a big deal. But when I trained the Olympic lifts before I moved, it was typically quiet and my friends weren’t around because of the coaching schedule I had.

I like to have a more intense atmosphere for the Olympic lifts. They require that maximum exertion be applied on every rep, and, for me, getting some adrenaline going before the lift is helpful. Even more so because I haven’t done the lifts that much lately. I was too lax at nationals when I was trying to get over excited, and I think it degraded my performance a little bit.

Anyway, I respond well to like-minded people and music. What do you like when you are lifting? What kind of music? What is your approach? Are you at the stage of thinking, “Okay, let’s not fuck this up,” or are you all about attacking the bar? Hopefully if you’re really intense, it’s warranted with some heavy lifting. Nobody should really be screaming about a 250 squat, unless you’re a girl.

Oh, and the 190kg overhead squat by Ben that I promised:


The 70’s Big Face

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How To Do The 70’s Big Face

The Face

70’s Big is an attitude that isn’t subtle. It kicks down the door with thickly soled boots ready to rumble. It is rugged with hairy forearms. Underneath one forearm is a case of beer. Under the other is five pounds of barbecue. If there was a grandpa sitting in the corner of the room, he’d say, “They don’t make men like that anymore.” And when Skinny Guy looks at the figure in the doorway with fear, he pleads, “Wh-why did you bring beer? We’re ab-b-b-bout to train.” Our hero replies, “Well, we ain’t training all night, now are we, sweetheart?” He croons his neck forward as the ends of mouth grind down, his eyebrows raise up. He is menacing. He is ready.
He is 70’s Big.

But if you go through that whole scenario and then purse your lips together like you’re about to kiss your grandma or somebody’s ass, then you won’t have the same effect.

Exhibit A: My friend Ben is making some kind of an attempt at the face. While he is strong with a 190kg overhead squat, he fails miserably on this first attempt. ‘A’ for effort though.


Exhbit B. Eric and Antoinette have a similar fate.

There is a common mistake that these three make, and it is the secret to the 70’s Big Face. 70’s Big is a full effort, and the face is the same way. You can’t expect to just move your lips and achieve a look that says, “I’ll be ready to squat once I raze your village.” Here is a step-by-step guide to doing the face.

1. First, get in the right mindset. If you haven’t lifted something heavy, eaten meat, or done some yelling in the previous 24 hours, you probably aren’t ready.

2. This is the most important step of them all, because the face can’t be executed without this step. Protrude your jaw forward as if you were trying to achieve a severe under-bite. This allows you to do the next few steps.

3. Try and pull the corners of your mouth down as far as you can. Maximum distance (not be confused with “maximum jackage”) will be attained if, AND ONLY IF, the jaw is protruded.

4. Try and push the middle of your lips up as far as possible. This will increase the discrepancy between the maximum apex of the height of your lips with the asymptotic drop of the corners of your mouth.

5. Depending on the look you’re going for, adjust your eyes. For a mega-intense face, squint your eyes.

6. Now fix your eye brows. Raising your eyebrows as high as they can go turns a mediocre 70’s Big Face into an excellent 70’s Big Face (this is also a requisite for the mega-intense variation that Chris has patented in 14 countries — see below).

Chris, the crafty veteran

Excellent. Now you have the blueprints for a proper 70’s Big Face. Anything less is…well, it’s just awkward for everybody. Once you have mastered the mega-intense face, you can play around with some variations. Here AC is exhibiting authority with his coaches pass:


Here is what should have been an excellent picture. You’ll notice Brent is TOTALLY fucking up the picture by doing a Hello Kitty smile. Do not be the friend that ruins a good 70’s Big Face group picture. Fucking Brent.


Once you’re a pro, you can start free styling:

Nationals Vid and COW

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Nationals from A.C. on Vimeo.

Comment of the Week
From the post about Brent

tonypop Says:
July 29th, 2010 at 4:06 pm e

I’m currently planning a trip this winter to go snowboarding down Brent’s traps.

I read this next comment a second ago and decided to do a double COW this week (since last week I didn’t do one).

High Voltage Says:
July 30th, 2010 at 6:45 pm e

Also, I met a boy on the street today. He was a friendly child, but he was very sad about the economy and seemed to be down on his luck. He asked me if it was true, the rumors he heard, that Brent Kim would be taking his Shrug Tour cross-country this summer.

I told him that all we can do is hope.

The count so far:
For those of you keeping score:
1 – Jacob
1 – StonewallWells
1 – tonypop
1 – High Voltage