PR Friday

As always, post your training PR’s and updates to the comments. Last week I set a goal for everyone: “meet your daily protein intake with primarily meat; only allow 25 to 50g of whey protein for your daily allotment.” Did any of you do it? It requires a bit more planning to eat mostly meat, but it’ll put better quality protein into your body instead of insulin-spiking whey. Something to think about.

Next week’s goal: Aim to do heavy farmer’s walks at the end of at least two of your training sessions next week. Next Friday you’ll post your weight and estimated distance.

Weekly Recap

Monday we celebrated Memorial Day and paid tribute to those that have sacrificed their own freedom or life to preserve American way of life. Tuesday we reviewed why it’s such a good idea to compete and looked at how one of the female 70’s Big readers did so successfully. Wednesday continued a much needed discussion on mobility and put an emphasis on a tool called The Stick. Thursday I traveled and just posted the pictures that veterans sent me on Memorial Day (in case you didn’t see them on Facebook or Twitter).

When I was in Australia I met a guy named Dayne who runs a fitness/bodybuilding YouTube channel. He interviewed me for his site at the Aussie fitness expo in Sydney. I remember not being funny enough.

Q&A

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On Memorial Day I asked FB and Twitter users to submit pictures of themselves serving. These are what I received. I don’t have time to set up a fan vote (travelling to Arizona), so everyone argue which picture is the best in the comments.

From Facebook:

"Muscle Beach, OP Restrepo, Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, 2007

Ryan E., Iraq, 2007

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Last week we started talking generally about mobility and then focused on “The Stick” as a tool that can help with soft tissue work. To fully maximize the use out of The Stick, or any other tool used for soft tissue work, it helps to have an understanding of how and why they work.

First, you would need a decent understanding of musculoskeletal anatomy. Knowing how and where muscles attach to bones and how they function in movement lays the foundation for what we work on. For example, knowing where muscles attach would help us figure out why a person has poor overhead position or why they have pain when racking a low bar squat.

Second, knowing the structure and positioning of muscle fibers would help us understand where and how to apply force on the tissues. In most cases the force will be applied along the muscle belly instead of across it, but there are some instances where the latter is used.

Third, given all of these specifics, we can look at the musculoskeletal system as a whole. If a muscle or a collection of muscles are tight, then they are shortened. If they are shortened, then there is more tension at their attachment sites. Attachment sites are almost always joints, and therefore joint pain is prevalent when muscle bellies are tight. Doing mobility exercises helps alleviate tension on these muscles to relieve the multi-angled tension at joints. This, in turn, will decrease pain at the joint or along a chain of attachments (e.g. relieving tension at the hip from all angles will decrease lower back and sacral pain).

This is why The Stick is an effective tool because it allows for a more pin pointed application of greater force. The following video is the second half of the video I made with Mike Hom in showing how The Stick can be used. We focus on serratus anterior, the posterior shoulder, calves/achilles, and hamstrings but allude to other ways The Stick can be used. Notice that the stick is used on segments to alleviate tension in the muscle to lessen tension at joints, as described above.

Normally the female posts are on Monday, but yesterday was Memorial Day. I want to keep highlighting 70’s Big readers who compete every weekend because it’s always been my aim to urge readers to compete in something. Given that all of us enjoy lifting, it’s natural to try powerlifting, but other things like martial arts or recreational team sports are fair game. For some people, being able to participate in an active hobby like hiking is enough. I just want you to do something.

People get so much out of competing. They put themselves in an uncomfortable situation to perform as well as they can against others while being judged on how well they do it. There may be similar pressures in a work environment, but the biggest fear for physical competition is, “I’m not good enough.” That’s exactly why you should compete; because you aren’t. If you were good enough, you’d already have been at the world level. But it’s not about how you compare to others, it’s how you compare to yourself. Can you overcome the fear, submit the entry application, and show up to something you’re uncomfortable with? Can you properly conduct yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally in a competitive environment?

99% of the time, people have a great time and learn a lot about themselves. Most importantly, it funnels your training into a single event. It not only gives you something specific to train for, but it holds you accountable every day to prepare for that event. Squatting heavy means more when you know it’s part of the build up for a state powerlifting meet.

You probably competed as a child or as an adolescent and it helped define your character. If you haven’t competed in a while, then make it a point to get back on the platform, the field, or the court. It’ll keep you keen and sharp.

This past weekend, a long-time 70’s Big reader, Kari (she posts as Karibot) competed in a push-pull meet. She benched 67.5kg (a PR and state record) and deadlifted 110 and 115kg. The 115kg was a PR, but “(she) stood up with it, locked it out easily, and was red lighted because (she) “apparently” put it down before the command. (She) will never let that happen again”. And she was complimented on wearing a 70’s Big shirt. Congrats, Kari — proud of ya.

Hi Justin —

Competed in my first meet today. Results are in the comments from Friday’s post, but I thought I’d send in a picture repping 70s Big.

And many thanks for urging all of us to get serious and compete. I never would have done this without the 70s Big support!

-Kari(bot)

Kari (green) poses with her trophy

Take a deep, luxurious breath. How does it feel? Normal? It should feel both normal and abnormal.

It’s normal because it’s the same as the million of breaths that have come before it. You’re an American breathing freely whilst pursuing your life’s happiness. Yet it’s abnormal and weird because the only reason you’re content taking that breath is because there is man or woman who has earned it for you.

An American soldier has pulled on his boots, shouldered his pack, and squeezed the stock of his rifle, sweating. This man forfeited his freedoms, left his family, and sacrificed his youth. This man did all of this, yet isn’t compensated for his sacrifices. In fact, he is often shunned for going out of his way to choose this fate.

Yet, this man is the reason you are able to take your next breath, the reason you can wake up in the morning and do whatever you damn well please. This man protects the richest of the rich, yet also enables the dredge of society to suck the teat and be rewarded for sloth. He’s the reason that a bar fight, this website, or a children’s spelling bee can exist. His sacrifice is blind to the recipients’ outcome, yet it is all encompassing nonetheless.

You may have known the man with the rifle, yet he has existed for more than 200 years and he gives you this next breath freely. You are free to do whatever you want with that breath, but it’d be a disgrace if it wasn’t spent doing everything you can to be the best person, father, brother, friend, son, worker, or stranger that you can. Your last breath was a freebie; now earn your next in honor of those riflemen who make breathing possible.

Lest we forget our fallen…