Play The Hand You’re Dealt

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Justin

That’s a 220 pound guy legitimately strict pressing 260 pounds overhead. For four. His knees don’t move and he’s not whipping his torso around. Impressive.

At USAPL Raw Nationals, AC had a shoulder tweak and was only able to bench 386 on his second attempt (at a 215ish body weight). In the meet write up, I said, “We’ll get the issue taken care of.”

Obviously the video above shows that we did. That and the fact that AC benched 405×2 on his final double recently. The major cue I gave him was to keep his elbows in on both movements (it maintains external rotation, distributes force across the triceps and anterior deltoid better therefore reducing stress on the A/C and glenohumeral joint, and allows for more efficient force application which makes a stronger press or bench). He’s also been using close grip bench as an assistance (I talk about the benefits and programming in The Texas Method: Advanced) as well as some direct triceps work (i.e. push-downs).

The reaction most people have to AC lifting is, “Wow! He’s a freak! I can never be like that!” There was a similar discussion a few weeks ago on /r/weightroom (here) about me. People think guys like AC, Chris, or even me are genetic freaks capable of unheard of feats. While we may lift well, it’s not because we have innate ability. It boils down to having an innate consistent and determined approach to training. All of my friends not only train with reckless intensity (with the exception of Brent who meanders to the barbell), but we aim to make our lifting, programming, and recovery better every day. I remember when AC pressed less than 185 and Chris deadlifted 440×5 — we are not genetic freaks. If anything, say that our obsession and focus is freakish.

At the same time it’s true that you may not ever get to press 260 for reps. That’s just reality. And it’s okay! If you started training in the last few years, most of us have many years on you. However, you shouldn’t gripe about it and feel like a bitch every time you go into the weight room. It’s okay that you’re squatting 230 while some fucking MASTODON is out there in the world doing his light volume work with 545 raw to full depth. We all start somewhere. Instead, decide to train your fucking dick off so that you can be the best at whatever your goal is.

There’s an amazing quote from The Lord of the Rings that had a profound effect on me when I first read the books in high school. Basically Frodo is bitching about the predicament they’re in and Gandalf lays down some Old Man Knowledge:

Frodo: “I wish none of this had happened.”

Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Being weak is definitely a disparaging situation. Are you going to let your weakness consume you, or are you gonna get up and find that fucking dog? Make a decision to not give a shit what other people are doing; we all start somewhere. Decide to be the best you can god damn be with what you have. God damn it.

The Battle for the Boobs – Fundraising for Breast Cancer

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Justin

Ladies. Gentlemen.

I can’t tell you how much I love boobs (SFW). They are joyously loved by toothless children and men. They bring more joy to the world than Christmas and more smiles than a farting dog. Yet boobs are under attack.

Boobs are under attack by cancer in what is now called The Battle for the Boobs. We’re talking about un-checked aggression here.

THIS AGGRESSION WILL NOT STAND.

This year 70’s Big will participate in fundraising for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you have a spare doll hair, please donate to the 70’s Big Breast Cancer Fundraising Page. My goal for us is to raise $5,000 before 31 October. Do not feel pressured to donate large sums of money, but even a single doll hair will count towards the aggregate.

Remember: every doll hair counts! Especially in The Battle for the Boobs.

Edit: I forgot to mention that you’ll get a discount for the books after donating (and it will work this time).

Q&A – 45

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Justin

PR Friday gives you the opportunity to post your training updates or weekly PR’s and chat with other readers.

The Weekly Challenge asked you to cook at least once with your crock pot and post your recipe to these comments.

Next Weeek’s Challenge:

Week In Review: Monday was a quick post about some of the Mr. Olympia results, and focused on the female competitors who show consistency in their training. Tuesday discussed the importance of “back” in Olympic weightlifting; reading that post could save your penis. Yesterday was a post on mental toughness in rehab and training.

Q&A

nadavegan asks:
Also, a question on exertion headaches. I read the post about passing out, but didn’t see any mention of headaches. I had a pretty serious one a few weeks ago, and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced them?

Dear nadavegan,

Exertion headaches are not the cause of passing out (the post talks about how increases in vessel pressure or occluding the vessels can result in a white out). Exertion headaches in lifting are typically the result of irritating the neck muscles. This is one reason why I coach people to keep their cervical spine in neutral alignment (i.e. I do not have them look up on squatting or deadlifting, and I don’t ever cue “head through” on jerks or presses). Weirdly straining the neck can create a headache based on muscle attachment sites in the skull. Aside from learning to have neutral cervical spine position, massaging the neck muscles after training may help.

A reader noted how the headaches were severe enough to visit the doctor and have an MRI done. It seems that these guys are developing the headaches by deadlifting for as many reps as possible. Note that you shouldn’t be allowing your form to break down into a shitty deadlift; it opens up various structures to injury, including the spine. When going for reps, aim to maintain proper technique (even if this means failing at an earlier rep range). You’ll get better work on the muscles, prevent injury, and not learn bad habits.

farvahgc on September 28, 2012 at 5:54 pm said:

This is my first PR friday. Low back soreness more than usual from the squatting, is this normal when transitioning to TM from LP?

Dear farvahgc,

I’m glad you asked this, because this is pretty common. General low back soreness on a linear progression should NOT be there. It is an indication of doing too much work and probably not recovering. I would expect to see this from people who are deadlifting every other workout (which should only be done for a few weeks at most in people beginning to lift for the first time ever) or squatting three times a week.

If you are experiencing low back pain during your linear progression, even general soreness, then reduce your training load temporarily and re-evaluate your program. If you are squatting 3x/week, then modify one of the days or bring it down to two. If you are deadlifting more than once a week — or doing pulling work more than twice a week (to include power cleans, power snatches, RDLs, etc.) — then bring the deadlifting down to once a week and the pulling work to just two times a week. Things like weighted back extensions are fine, but accumulating a lot of squat and deadlift work throughout a week will create a recovery deficit, causing soreness, and then eventually an injury (usually some kind of tweak). Don’t let this happen.

snommisjay on September 28, 2012 at 6:57 pm said:

Bs 340×5 intensity, 290 5×5 vol
Bp 195×5 intensity, 175 5×5 vol
Dl 400×5, mp 115 5×5 vol

5’8 167lb 27yo

2 questions:
1. Can anybody link me to the diet recommendations for texas method with conditioning? I hear it is similar to paleo.

2. I work 24 hr shifts. I have implemented texas method on a 9 day cycle to match my work days (1 out of three days, lifting on the day before work, and resting the day after). Day 1 volume day. Bs bp/mp and a couple accessories. Day 2 power snatch or clean and conditioning all out. Day 4 light day. Day 5 conditioning interval oriented. Day 7 Lifting intensity day. Bs bp/mp dl. Day 8 conditioning all out or sustained effort. Day 9 rest.

Can anyone comment on what i might expect from stretching the week and adding conditioning?

Dear snommisjay:

First, your volume work is a bit high for a sustained Texas Method program despite you elongating the progression. The squatting volume is at or a bit above 85%, and the recommendation is that the average weight on 3×5 Volume Day should stay under 85% of the weight used on the Intensity Day. You are at that limit with a 5×5, so I would expect things to not work well soon. Also, your bench volume is almost 90% of your bench intensity. Again, this is not something that I recommend on this program. The Texas Method: Part 1 will clear this stuff up and explain why. The book also talks about using conditioning. The basic tenet is that if conditioning is interfering with your recovery — especially for the Intensity Day — then it should be reduced or removed. Placement and type of conditioning is imperative when on a strength program. The conditioning days I see being a problem are on Day 5 (after your light day and two days before your Intensity Day) and Day 8 (which is the day after your Intensity Day and two days before the next Volume Day). If you have to modify one, it may be Day 5, but run it this way and see how you do.

As for the diet recommendations, you will need to eat adequate amounts of protein and calories to supplement your program and goals. Doing this with higher quality foods will yield better results in the short and long term. I am working on something that will detail nutrition for various goals, so keep an eye out for that.

Jonas asks:

I´ve got a question i hope you could answer. I´m reading the “Fit” book chapter on mulit element fitness, and trying to use the “decision tree” on p. 175 to decide what kind of intensity to use in my endurance traning after lifting weights. Right next to my gym we have a 400m running track so i figure it´s time effective to use it. I also need the running. My question is this: would this be a sufficent breakdown of the intensity “zones” with regards to trackrunning?

Tabata: 20 sec all out run, 10 sec pause –>
Short max effort: Running hard for less than 5 min.
Long max effort: Running hard for less than 10 min.

Thank you for the 70s big community and traning philosophy btw. It´s intelligent, down to earth and lots of fun. That´s more than can be said for most of the other strength training websides.

Dear Jonas,

Your break down is decently accurate. Just remember that high intensity conditioning is relative to what the person is currently adapted to. In the book it details how 15 minutes of speed walking is enough for a de-conditioned person. Note that in FIT it provides a recommended type of conditioning relative to the volume and intensity of the lifting.

As you read in my chapter, Tabata running (on an inclined treadmill) is the most stressful kind of conditioning I’ve done 20 seconds of running and 10 seconds of rest outside before (in the middle of a south Georgia summer), and it is very hard. I recommend sticking to the 10 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest structure when outside.

As for the short and long max effort sessions, running in those time frames could work, but they may not achieve an intensity high enough relative to your capability. A short max run could be sprinting an 800m while a long max run could be running a mile for time. Doing those efforts as fast as possible are certainly stressful, but just keep in mind that combining running with other activities can up the stress. Also note that running is best improved through interval training, and the total time of an interval session will last longer than 5 or 10 minutes. You could remove the rest periods and just add up the total running time in an interval workout to see if it will fit in the 5 or 10 minute limit. But since you have the book, you have plenty of examples on how interval training can be conducted, including how it can be used relative to the lifting session. Note that running is much harder after heavy squatting, deadlifting, or posterior chain work.

Mentally Tough

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Justin

“Any sort of injury is just you being mentally weak. That includes getting shot.”

A friend who works in a higher tier special operations unit recently said the above quote to me. It was in reference to my recent hamstring injury, but there’s more weight in these words.

Injuries can be great or small, yet it’s up to the person to decide how they’ll let their injuries affect them. There will be injuries that prevent specific activities — doing an exercise or a type of job — but the rehabilitation rate is relative to perception.

Consider two dichotomous mindsets. Two people have muscle strains that require massage to break up the scar tissue. The area is tender and painful. When the massage begins for the first person, whether administered by a friend or self, they tense up and contort their face in pain. The second person welcomes the pain calmly, knows they will endure it, but does so stoically. Their massage, rehab, and recovery will be more efficient not only because of their acceptance, but their bold mindset going into it. They don’t cringe at discomfort; they let it wash over passively.

Pain is a part of life, and mindset determines perception. The mentally weak fear pain because, well, it hurts. It’s discomforting and upsetting. The mentally strong expect pain and are ready for it. They are willing to endure and ignore it. It takes a tough sonofabitch to look at their injury and say, “Let’s roll.” Whether it’s a girl powerlifting with one leg, a girl (who I know from high school) who has lost her limbs from a flesh-eating disease, or a soldier who returns to combat after losing a leg, it takes guts.

Aimee Copeland does push-ups after losing limbs to a flesh eating disease

Pain and discomfort are relative to our situation, and we all aren’t faced with severed limbs or getting shot. But modifying our idea of pain can change our training, rehab, and life.

Again, consider two mindsets. The first approaches a difficult set of squats (e.g. 3RM, 5RM, 10RM, or 20RM) with dread and fear. They go through the motions of the set with failure as an option or possibility. The second approaches that same squat set aggressively, wanting to attack it. They are rabid; a caged, frothing animal ready to unleash hell on the bar. Which mindset do you think will be more successful?

Mental toughness in training will affect tenacity, bar speed, and completion of lifts. This doesn’t mean you should make stupid decisions on the account of “being tough”. Don’t make reckless decision, but use reckless intensity.

Mindset in rehab will be the difference between properly working structures and lack of progress. This is why Kelly Starrett tells you not to contort your face and go “into the pain cave” — it tenses your structures up and doesn’t work them properly.

Whether it’s training or rehab, embrace your pain. There is, of course, a difference between discomforting pain and injury pain. Each is a tool; the former is one that you will ignore while the latter informs you that your body is failing, even if your mind is not. People who are truly successful understand and use these pains every day. The next time you feel sorry for yourself, wincing in pain, just know that there’s a guy out there with a bullet hole in his body calmly rehabbing with reckless intensity.

The Importance of “Back”

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Justin

There are two dichotomous styles of weightlifting. One is sort of a relic of the past and puts an emphasis on jumping the bar up while the other focuses on efficiently getting under the bar. In “Jump/shrug vs ‘Catapult‘” I briefly discussed the differences between these techniques. The primary difference is that if the bar is jumped vertically, the lifter and bar become “floaty”, making it difficult to have an efficient turnover to rack the bar. The “get under” method sets the lifter up to not only have greater turnover speed, but to use more efficient mechanical positioning to maximize their force production.

The key is that the “get under” method is necessary for lifting loads that are significantly greater than body weight. Personally I can tell the difference between the two methods; I was taught to use the jump method and have taught myself the “get under” technique, though I’m probably not perfect. I’m lifting the same PR loads weighing 15 pounds lighter and without back squatting for a couple of months. The “jump” method is good for general strength and conditioning (especially with non-lifting sport athletes), but it’s less efficient when trying to lift the most weight (i.e. Olympic weightlifting).

This post isn’t meant to be a full biomechanical analysis of the “get under” technique (that can come later), but the technique’s starting position and execution better produce a stretch reflex on both the quads and hamstrings. This not only allows these muscles to produce force maximally, yet makes the bar-lifter mechanics more efficient. For example, if a person is snatching significantly more than their body weight, then manipulating the bar-lifter center of mass is important, but it’s not as simple as making the bar “go up” vertically.

There are two standard cues used after the initial motor pathway of the lift are learned: “bar back” and “finish in the heels”. Keeping the bar back prevents it from swinging forward, disrupting the delicate bar-lifter system. Even slight alterations to center of mass with very heavy loads will create exponential mechanical problems that result in a failed lift. Finishing in the heels ensures that the lifter doesn’t put an emphasis on “up”, prevents the lifter from floating, and sets them up to transfer into their heals in the bottom of a snatch or clean. It also facilitates the finish “arched back” position — a necessary difference to snatch or clean heavy loads.

To keep the bar back, a lifter will actively need to extend their shoulder joint (if the elbow is straight, shoulder extension pushes the wrist behind the body — see the “Anatomy Motion Explained” video for a review). This same thing occurs on a deadlift to prevent the bar from swinging forward, but it’s absolutely critical in the Olympic lifts. It’s the difference between a good lift and a bad lift. For some, it can be the difference between a good lift and annihilating their dugan and coin purse. Observe what happens when the bar isn’t kept back:

Okay, this might be an extreme example. My arm length may facilitate nut crunching, but leaving the bar out front changed the mechanics to bring the bar into my body at a different trajectory. Let’s look at the same problem on the snatch from earlier in the same training session. I had not snatched 130 in a while, and I was feeling good in warm-ups that particular August day. You’ll see that I miss 130 three times in a row. You’ll also see that it seems like I easily complete the lift, and then it falls forward. It’s because my lack of “keeping the bar back” puts the bar in a slightly forward position — maybe by a few centimeters — and results in a missed lift. I even spiked my adrenaline for the second and third lifts to no avail. Finally, on the fourth attempt, I focused on keeping the bar back and made a good lift with significantly lower adrenaline levels.

As a side note, look how different the mechanics are from this video. Yikes.

I learned why keeping the bar back was important by missing a doable snatch three times in a row and smashing my sausage on a clean. Most of you probably won’t be able to discern your problems on the spot, so I suggest watching the Pendlay teaching progressions on Cal Strength’s website and routinely executing the basic cues (like “bar back” and “finish in your heels”). Your beef bugle will thank you.