Author Archives: Justin

Tunes

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“Hello. How ’bout that ride in? I guess that’s why they call it Sin City.”

There is a lot of useless research done on how music affects performance. More importantly, most of us probably train to some kind of music. More than likely we will think that what someone else listens to is pretty terrible (and you can read this as “I probably don’t like whatever you are listening to”). In any case, it might be interesting to see what everyone likes to listen to as they train. Thus the social observation begins, go ahead and post your favorite stuff to listen to as you train to the comments.

I myself like to listen to Chicago, especially the first and second album. I like Led Zeppelin and Queen too. I’ve listened to the Black Keys recently. When I was still doing an intensity day for squat on the Texas Method (as well as the later stages of my linear progression) my favorite songs to squat to were

Chicago – I’m A Man
Led Zeppelin – When the Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin – Achilles Last Stand

Here is a video I posted a while back that has some of those songs (this was from the beginning of September):

But now I just let the album play out. I don’t need music to get my adrenaline up since I can get it extremely high mentally, but good music can help get you going when feeling lethargic.

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A nice hearty breakfast.

A nice hearty breakfast.


How To Break In A New Belt

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30

“Who is but the form of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.”

In case any of you have been trying to order 70’s Big shirts, I did a poor job of re-supplying them when inventory was short. The delay in getting them delivered is my fault and has nothing to do with The Aasgaard Company. I’m pretty new to this kind of thing, so I’m learning from my mistakes.

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Some of you have been asking how to break in a new, stiff belt. Rip and Mike teach you how to do so in the following video. AC does the editing on these. That means the Kenny Loggins thing was his idea.

Breakin in that stiff belt from 70s Big on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas

Edit: Today is PR Friday too. Weight lifted, body weight gained, food eaten, etc. Post a PR to the comments.

Yesterday I mentioned a program that is a nice combination of barbell training and conditioning (there was not an emphasis on explaining the conditioning, but I digress). Today I want to highlight a very basic novice program that will not only help a novice to increase their strength, but their performance in the Olympic lifts as well. It looks like this:

Monday — Clean and jerk (heavy), Snatch (light)
Tuesday — Squat, Press, Chin-ups
Wednesday — OFF
Thursday — Snatch (heavy), Clean and Jerk (light)
Friday — Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift

The basic idea is that the Olympic lifts are done before the strength workouts so that there is not fatigue for the Olympic lifts. I like to put clean and jerks at the beginning of the week because after having the weekend to rest, the novice lifter should be able to consistently drive the weight up on this lift. The deadlift is done at the very end of the week because I do not want it to interfere with any of the Olympic lifting done earlier in the week.

The key here is that this is a novice program. It will not work for someone who has a more advanced state of adaptation because the days start to interfere with each other (for example, the pressing done on Tuesday will interfere with Thursday’s snatch workout). This set up works well with trainees who are learning the Olympic lifts as well as younger athletes who are still able to adapt to stress on a daily basis. If you guys remember the video of Bryan squatting 495x5x3 (and he has since done 505x5x3), he is on this particular program along with having two minor league practice sessions a week. A trainee will not be able to handle this workout for very long because eventually the stress will become to high to recover from.

Keep that in mind, because this will only work with certain people. We have been tinkering with it at the WFAC for about five months, and this should allow the novice to learn the lifts, and increase everything on a weekly basis. Certain days will require one of the Olympic lifts to be done light, and this should be taken seriously. Ten singles in the clean and jerk done every two minutes or 15 singles in the snatch done every minute would work well for the light workout. The key is to consistently practice good technique and the weight lifted is totally irrelevant. The slow lifts can be increased in a similar manner to the linear progression. Again, this is all dependent on the individual, so use your brain, or hopefully your coach uses his.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments. If some of this post does not make sense, it is because I have been playing pool and drinking for a few hours in my mom’s basement. Sue me.

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And here is an impromptu Merry Christmas from a few of us fellows at the WFAC dicking around:

Notice AC’s laugh at the end.

Making Conversions

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“And how did I know what to say? (whispering) The words were written down for me in a script.”

Some of you may remember an article I posted around August of this year that was a combination of barbell training and general physical preparedness. I’ve decided not to post the original article because some of the terminology is not entirely accurate and it needs updating. However, the basic outline of the program included strength workouts on Monday and Thursday and conditioning workouts on Tuesday and Friday. It is designed for a novice who for some reason opts not to gain strength as quickly and wants to improve their conditioning (useful for folks in the military).

Monday — Squat, Press, Power Clean
Tuesday — Chin-ups, Conditioning
Wednesday — OFF
Thursday — Squat, Bench, Deadlift
Friday — Conditioning

This program can be considered the gateway from a conditioning-only exercise regime to a what more closely resembles a training program. Taking people who do not strength train and having them squat, press, and pull twice a week is incredibly important. For sports that require a conditioning base, this program would be useful, but it isn’t optimal for the general strength trainee. If we want to grow adult males and make people stronger, then they may need to be eased into a program like this. Conversions to useful training may not be automatic. More conversions means more strong people which means more defense against the inevitable zombie outbreak. Inevitable.

I mention this program because it is the basis for the novice Olympic weightlifting program we have been tinkering around with at the WFAC. There have been some questions about it, so we will talk about it tomorrow. Enjoy your Christmas Eve.

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We also have a collection of really dorky videos ready for the site.

70’s Big: Short discussion on what’s to come . . . from 70s Big on Vimeo.

Da Kaz Is Da Man

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“You gotta problem, bro?”

Everybody loves Bill Kazmaier.

Compilation video:

In this video, Kazmaier and John Gamble wrestle. Gamble weighs 290, and The Kaz weighs 345 and not only dwarfs him, but dominates him.

From a powerlifting meet:

And this is kinda funny…

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Some friends visited the WFAC and we have been busy filming plenty of content. Stay tuned this week for some interesting videos.

The 70’s Big t-shirt is on display. Yeah c’mon.

The 70’s Big t-shirt is on display. Yeah c’mon.