There is a new shirt available in the 70’s Big Store that is based on the intensity Chris brings to training. There are days when you go into the gym and you don’t feel your best. Whether it’s because you were up late drinking beer, not eating or sleeping well, or feeling drained from a busy week, you step towards a barbell and start warming up.

“Maybe I’ll just have a medium day,” you think. But once you put that bar on your back and get a feel for each warm-up, your mindset mutates and develops. 135, 225, and 315. Each set feels easier. Your psychological momentum is rolling in spite of your physical fatigue. Biology tries to convince you it isn’t your day, but you grimace and say, “Fuck it…I’m feeling reckless.” This is what training is all about; conquering gravity in what you previously thought was impossible. Stomping into heavy sets with reckless abandon is something only a crazy person would do. Are you reckless?



The phrase actually came after Chris squatted something crazy (500×10 or 600×2 — something like that). When asked why he did it, without hesitation he said, “I was feeling reckless.”
Edit: The back of the shirt has the classic 70sBig.com logo.
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I became friends with one of my professors from college named Dr. Dan Czech. Dr. Czech is an interesting person; he has been to 57 countries teaching and coaching baseball camps, has consulted with countless professional athletes, and is fascinated with social dynamics and human interaction. His experience gives him a unique view point on competition, perseverance, and success. Recently Shawn and I met DC for dinner (Shawn has been mentioned in these posts: first, second, and third.

To The 70s Big Community:

On Saturday January 23rd, I experienced an amazing dinner with the owner of this site, Justin. As someone who has been able to meet and travel this great land of ours, I have interacted with some top echelant people. Needless to say, my 4 hours with Justin will go down as some of the best hours I have had in a very long time. Justin brough the following to the experience:

-a knowledge base of the psychological mastering of cheesecake factory representatives
-an ability to eat 2,000 calories in one setting
-a humor to make my throat and stomach hurt for 2 days (Editor’s Note: From laughing.)
-the mental stamina to last 4 hours with Shawn Owen (Editor’s Note: A significant accomplishment.)

I am mightily impressed with this and thus have decided to partake some knowledge dropping from 70s Big. I look forward to learning from you guys.

Peace,

Dr. Czech

P.S. AC is plentiful.

70’s Big is fortunate to add Dr. Czech to the occasional contributors that include Dr. Michael Hartman and Dr. Lon Kilgore.

My post about Lewis (who benched 445 and squatted 650 this past week) inspired AC to do a write up about his friend and training partner Dustin. The following was written by AC.

My friend Taylor Ray got me a job at one of the local bars named RumRunners early Summer last year. I was walking around introducing myself and someone brought to my attention that I hadn’t met Dustin yet. I looked to the other side of the bar and all I saw was a back as wide as a door frame. He turned around and I introduced myself to him and in a deep southern voice Dustin replied “Niiice ta meet ya A.C.” His bear paw engulfed my hand as we introduced ourselves. Standing at 6’1 weighing around 260 pounds Dustin is certainly an intimidating southern gentleman.

He leapt from the ground in a superman gesture to catch these birds

Dustin knew I competed in powerlifting and he began to show some interest. Before our Christmas Break (early December until mid January) Dustin asked if he could start squatting and lifting heavy with me. He came from a Baseball background and had some collegiate playing time so I knew he would have some athletic prowess. Dustin warmed up and quickly learned and hit his first squat set across with 245. Every following set only looked better and easier. Keep in mind that he as not squatted in over 5 years.

Editor’s Note: When you teach new people to squat on a regular basis, especially when they haven’t squatted in a few years, they rarely get up above 185 or even 225 on the first day. It’s not that they can’t; it’s because form is important with the low bar back squat and a coach should hold the lifter back to reinforce the technique (along with other reasons, but I digress).

High-Fiving Dustin can be scary

We train together at 180 Fitness down here at Georgia Southern University. He is currently squatting 375 for his sets across and pressing 180 for three sets of five WITH EASE. Although he is not on a strict program such as novice or TM he is certainly making progress fast. He shows great potential and he lifts with passion and desire. I can proudly say that I train WITH Dustin. He is a great friend and one strong SONOFABITCH. Oh, and Dustin claims he can do a back-flip from a standing position. I haven’t seen it , but I will get a video of it soon.

Here is a video of him squatting 375 (shitty cell phone quality).

Editor’s note: That set is very fucking easy. It’s not overly impressive internet material, but the dude is gonna be very strong very soon.

New Store

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to present to you the new and improved 70’s Big Store. This new store has the same shirts as the old store, yet the images are on both regular and American Apparel shirts. New products are also on the way this coming week. The store is powered by SpreadShirt.com and will continuously expand (updates will be posted here and on the 70’s Big Facebook Fan Page).

Here’s a peak at the store:

List requests or desires for new shirts in the comments.

Old Store on Clearance

The old 70’s Big Store is burning off stock and all the shirts are on clearance for $10 to $12. During such a sale, items like retail display shelves are invaluable as they help organize products and maximize visibility. With an attractive and well-arranged display, customers can easily find discounted shirts, which encourages impulse buying. Shelves allow for efficient use of space, enabling the store to showcase more items while maintaining an uncluttered, tidy look. Properly arranged racks also highlight sale items, making them stand out to shoppers. Ultimately, using display shelves enhances the shopping experience, boosts sales, and helps clear inventory quickly during the sale period.

Here are what sizes are available (the shirts listed below are in stock and will ship within 2 days of you ordering):

Baby Blue (light) and Plum (dark) “I <3 Guys That Are 70’s Big Shirts”
Light: only Large available.
Dark: only small available.

Brown “Throwback” Shirt
Only small, XL, XXL, and XXXL are available.

Black “Original Logo” Shirt
Only small, medium, XXL, and XXXL available.

Navy “Adult Males” Shirt
Only XL available.

From yesterday’s comments:

Justin, do you have any leanings one way or another in squatting two times a week vs. three times a week on a novice program?

–RD

With most of my answers: it depends. The trainee’s goals should be assessed first. If they only care about strength — and don’t have a tangent athletic goal like football, highland games, etc. — then three days a week will allow them to progress faster. A novice just starting out will benefit from three squatting days to A) establish the motor pattern and B) have another local and systemic stress that will C) increase strength and D) increase muscle. However, that same novice may progress to a point where three days of squatting nears the limit of what they can handle in week’s worth of time. When I was squatting above 450 for three sets of five in three workouts a week during my linear progression, I was miserable. Toeing the line of what is possible isn’t optimal in this case, and squatting two times a week will continue that progression, albeit slightly slower. I’d recommend it for someone in the later stages of their progression.

As for the trainee that has ulterior motives for competition; I may have this trainee squat twice a week and deadlift once so that they retain some recovery capabilities for the practice of their sport. However, this would depend on what phase of training we were in with respect to the competition date or season. Strength gaining would have more of an emphasis the farther away from competition while strength maintenance may be important leading into competition. It would still be dependent on the training advancement of the person; if they were a rank novice (i.e. just starting), they could improve their strength while in the competitive phase. If they are farther along in the progression, maintaining their gains will be the minimum goal.

Answers regarding programming are neither simple nor straightforward. It will always depends on things like goals, current state of adaptation, and recent training history.

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PR Friday
Post your personal records, training updates, thoughts, and musings to the comments. F you Pittsburgh Steelers.

Remember: don't step over the line.

I was talking to someone yesterday about her Olympic lifting programming and the subject of “clarking the bar” came up. Not many younger Olympic lifters even know what “clarking it” even means. I found former US Olympic Weightlifting Team head coach Jim Schmitz’s story on how the coin was termed (LINK).

(On a side note, I like reading most Iron Mind articles, particularly the older guys who talk about lifting in the early days. There are interesting stories and solid pictures. A small portion of each issue consists of irrelevant or silly shit, but each issue is interesting nonetheless).

To summarize, Ken Clark was a pretty good American weightlifter. However, in the 1984 Olympics Clark pulled the bar to belt high and let go. Twice. In retrospect, Ken will laugh about it nowadays, saying, “Hey, I’ve got a lift named after me.” But the reality is that he bitched out. I don’t mean any disrespect to Clark — there are a million factors that could have played into him clarking the bar — but it is what it is. I’ve coached people who clark the bar, and I hate it.

If a lifter allows themselves to quit on a pull in training, they develop a mental safety net that lets them quit on the lift whenever they doubt it. This self-defeating mindset can cause problems in a meet or any other PR situation. Do not ever clark the bar. You’ll let yourself think that it’s okay, and it never is. If the weight feels heavy or uneven, your foot or grip slips, sweat drops into your eyes, or someone walks in front of you, you must continue to explode at maximum capacity and make the lift. Conditions won’t be perfect in a meet. I’ll remind you of my bungle-fuck at nationals when I looked below the judging table, altered my gaze, thus my head angle, and clocked myself in the chin on my opening clean and jerk. Avoid “clarking it” like the plague.

Every single rep in weightlifting has to be a volitional explosion of recruitment; you can’t half ass any of the reps. If you sense that something is wrong with your first pull, then crank the fuck out of it on your second pull and take a shot at it. There is nothing worse than not trying at all, so don’t let yourself even consider the thought of quitting a rep. Nothing is more sickening than not even trying. Teach yourself how to be mentally tough by not clarking the bar.

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Below is a picture of some fuck-head showing a fitness version of a clean pull. When a lifter clarks the bar, they’ll typically get to the point that the fuck-head is in the picture; they’ll get the bar higher than a deadlift, but not really attempt the second pull. I’d much rather someone crank the second pull and take a shot at finishing the lift — you know, actually trying and shit.



Edit: Brent found another.