Well blow me down with a fart, 20 Q&A sessions! That’s about a 4 on the “take it or leave it” scale. It’s PR Friday, so post your weekly training PR’s or training updates to the comments. I enjoy seeing how people train and it definitely helps me a lot when you add tidbits of programming by either giving me ideas or confirming others.

Week Review
On Monday I thanked my DC homies and discussed the topic of coaching the female gender. Tuesday I traveled, and Wednesday was a post on being brief when coaching. Thursday was a reminder that there’s no easy way to success.

My reading list this week included:
Gant Grimes “Hybrid Programming” — This is by my dear friend, Gant Grimes, who is an exceptional man. All of these new CrossFitters don’t really understand that strength training was taboo several years ago, and Gant’s post on the CF discussion boards was monumental at the time. It had a large effect on my development and programming, and I just read through it all again last night. It’s something everyone here should check out. While there are some things that I’m sure Gant would change, the overall message still applies. (This was originally posted on the CF discussion boards, but it was summarized nicely in this post — all of it is Gant’s writing)

Judo tips by Gant — Since we’re talking about Gant, he coaches Judo and other martial arts, and is a very, very good coach. I’ve gotten to learn from him briefly, and need to get back on a judo mat somewhere. Here are tips if you decide to give it a go.

Bulgarian Training on Weightlifting Exchange — If you’ve heard of Bulgarian training but never really understood it, this will give you some good background. It’s focus is high intensity with specificity, yet is dependent on an advanced trainee with balanced musculature. In other words, lesser advanced trainees would need to adapt the concepts to their needs.

Biological clock graph — I thought this was interesting. I was reading about sleep cycles on Wikipedia when I saw it.

Beta-Alinine Dosing — Some new research is showing that dosing for beta-alinine is probably relevant to body weight (unsurprisingly), but more importantly beta-alinine may be a good supplement for short, intense, anaerobic endurance training. Interesting.

Now onward with the Q&A! Keep in mind that while some questions are specific, they will include general concepts applicable to everyone.

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This is what we’re up against. The media acts like the media in that it takes an idea and then turns it into a big ball of fuck. In this article, researchers allowed fat people the option to have sugar-dense (fattening) food in the morning (i.e. cakes, cookies, chocolate, and ice cream) and found that those people lost more weight than the other group. The average American will see this, fist pump, and proceed to continue eating like shit.

There are numerous problems with the news article itself. It points out that the “cakes breakfast” was also “protein enriched”, though it doesn’t indicate any quantified amounts. It doesn’t note if the non-cakes group also focused on “enriching their protein” or not, and if so what the quantified amounts were. Both groups were essentially on a calorie deficit diet, but the emphasis on a balanced breakfast — or having breakfast period — is going to play a major role in metabolizing fat. In other words, the author fucking sucks because they didn’t describe the study well. And if the author was restricted by editors, the editors fucking suck because they are okay with providing a stupid-ass message as a perceived authority. Even if half of the population understands basic science to realize that this article blows (they don’t), that still leaves the other half of the population that is going to say, “Hey, I can eat like shit and lose weight!”

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With the advent of CrossFit, there are now more lifting coaches than ever. Fantastic! More people to discuss mechanics and anatomy with is never a bad thing for me. However, 70’s Big hasn’t spent a lot of time discussing coaching despite my interest in it — this will change. I’ve been helping people lift since I was 14. As a leader on a football team, I took initiative to help improve mechanics. Over the years I was consistently bombarded with questions on nutrition, programming, and then started personal training in 2007. In early 2008 I started doing CF and passed the test for the Level 2 certification later that year. Since then I’ve developed my coaching into what some of you have seen today. I’ve taken 120 pound kids and made them strong 170 pound kids. I’ve taken Chris from a broken shoulder and a mid 400s deadlift to a 400 pound bench and almost a 700 pound deadlift. I’ve taken women and gotten them stronger and decreased their body fat. I’m good at what I do, and I’m sure as hell a better coach than a lifter. There are hundreds of aspects to good coaching, and today we will focus on a simple overall methodology: brevity.

Sarah didn't require much coaching on this high bar squat. Thanks to Jeremy W. for photo

Monday’s are devoted to female related topics to help females begin or continue to train.

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There were several ladies at the workshop this weekend and they had a large range of experience in lifting. This means that they have different needs when it comes to coaching. Coaching is the ability to communicate with a trainee in order to get them to succeed. I purposely leave the definition a bit vague because I don’t think coaching is only limited to merely achieving desired mechanics.



The interpersonal relationship with the trainee is important; how they are treated and how they interact with the coach will have an effect on their success. In my case, I shift roles depending on my audience. I alter my diction, tone, and choice of words based on the synthesis of information I have received from the person. Sometimes this information is a result of them answering my questions, but it’s also dependent how I passively read their body language and personality. I get a feel for their understanding of the material, their education level, and quickly learn how optimally they receive and understand information. All of this, of course, isn’t perfect all of the time, but it’s what is going through my head.
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If nothing else, say 70’s Big is thankful.

I wanted to have a formal thank you to Jeremy, Phuong, and Courtney of CrossFit Anandale for, in no particular order, helping to set up and host the workshop, showing me around D.C., entertaining me with food, drink, and good company, and allowing everyone (including the attendees) to have a great time. They are now some of my favorite people, worthy of drinking with at the mead halls in Tamriel.

Thanks to the attendees for being a good crew and asking great questions. It was a pleasure and I hope you all have fun.



Thanks to Rudy and Laura from Outlaw CrossFit for letting me train at their gym. We also had a compelling interview that can be seen HERE on Rudy’s blog. It also includes me doing a weak-ass clean and jerk, the heaviest since “the Movember incident”. Also, check out Rudy’s programming; he makes some strong mother truckers over there.