Chris deadlifted heavy at the 70’s Big Seminar this past weekend at CrossFit Annandale. He’s about six weeks out from Nationals and is still coming back from an injury to his back. He was disappointed that he didn’t get the double, yet there are some factors that influenced it.
CrossFit Annandale has a pretty cool barbell club, some nice strongman equipment, and lots of accessory tools (fat grips, sleds, etc.). However, they don’t yet have a power bar (at least one will be purchased soon, so get off it). The bar Chris was using in the video and during his warm-ups is just a standard “econo bar” that most CrossFit facilities purchase. They are optimal for the lightly loaded conditioning workouts aside from being economical.
Different kinds of barbells have different levels of tensile and yield strengths. Power bars are going to be more stiff (with a 29mm circumference) and can handle a lot more weight while Oly bars are going to be more whippy (with a 28mm circumference). A good Oly bar will make the difference between a snappy or sloppy jerk. In slower powerlifting movements, having whip on the bar is terrible because it produces a constant vibration on the bar throughout the movement. While a power bar will stay solid and not have much, if any, oscillation, a cheaper bar will vibrate subtly. This makes the movement more difficult; the bar is essentially moving around in the lifter’s hands on a deadlift. To add more weirdness, Chris had to use 100 pound plates to get enough weight on the bar. Most CrossFit facilities don’t have any iron plates at all, but CF Annandale has a good stash, just not enough to have 7 on each side (to make 675 on the bar). 100 pound iron plates theoretically shouldn’t have an effect on a good bar, but they will make a cheap bar even more wobbly because of the uneven distribution of load. That and Chris put them on as the third plate instead of putting them on first (I think this would have an effect, but I don’t have personal experience with it).
The bar oscillation was easy to see when Chris warmed up with anything over 405. It’s analogous to lifting with chains hanging off the end of the bar; Chris has to use more force and energy to stabilize against the extraneous forces. I think that if he had better equipment that he would have had a shot at the second rep at 675. Yet he still got a 96% of 1RM rep in and accumulated the same tonnage as when he did 655×2 in January (his last warm-up of 635 added with 675 makes the same tonnage of 1310) — the tonnage doesn’t paint the whole picture, but my point is that it wasn’t a worthless session.
If you train at or own a CrossFit facility, or any strength training gym, take note of the how much a good bar can help your training. It will allow you to hit heavier loads with greater efficiency in training to result in better meet/competition performances.
Edit: See Facebook/Twitter pages for info and updates on USAPL Men’s Nationals.
PR Friday
You know the drill. Post any PR’s you made, but also post your training updates. If you don’t, WHO WILL EVER REMEMBER YOUR NAME???
Weekly Challenge
Last week’s challenge was to eat vegetables in at least one meal every day. Y u no do dis?
Next Week’s Challenge: On one day next week, put 25 to 35 pounds in a pack, wear it on your back, and walk for 30 to 60 minutes non-stop. If you have a dog, take them. Do this after training or on a day in which you don’t have any training the next day. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult. As you do it, think about how there are soldiers who are doing the same thing at the same time as you somewhere in the world. Except they are doing it with three to four times as much weight and are probably in a dangerous location or preparing to be in one. Regardless of your country — US, CAN, UK, AUS — they made the choice to do it which allows you to not have to. Doing this will probably act as conditioning, but it’ll give you an appreciation for service members.
GR Class 186 carrying a 1200 lb tree through Georgetown last Friday
I’m in DC with NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPTION Chris Riley, and we’ll be doing some touring on the national mall today. Yesterday we walked around to see the monuments in 98 degree weather, and Chris was rewarded with severe chaffing. He’ll also be deadlifting a lot of weight at the Saturday portion of the seminar this weekend.
A friend and I were discussing our misconstrued notion of fitness from our younger days. Many individuals dedicate countless hours to the gym without a clear direction. I came across a valuable excerpt from FIT’s “Chapter 1 – Fitness: What It Is” that shed light on the importance of defining the parameters of fitness. This excerpt from FIT emphasizes that having clear definitions enables us to quantify, providing a purpose to our training. In essence, training should have a purpose; otherwise, merely “working out” is akin to stumbling through the woods without a map. For more insightful content on fitness and well-being, you might want to explore Americansportandfitness.com.
The human body is an integrated living system, one that must follow the laws and theories of biology, chemistry, and physics. These fields are structured upon foundations of definition and measurement. Any definition of fitness must be quantifiable. If we focus our definition of fitness on the many decades old works of Darwin, Nietzche, Bernard, Selye, and many more, we will create a definition rooted in the science of physical abilities, adaptation, and survival (9,10,11,12). But what physical abilities are related to survival? If we consider the physical abilities that help us function and conquer the spectrum of physical stresses and life tasks with which have historically and presently encountered, we can categorize them into three basic physical abilities:
Strength
Endurance
Mobility
Strength is the ability to move the body under load and is expressed as an ability to generate muscular force across a spectrum of movement speeds. Strength is a physical entity driven by the biological need to overcome the force of gravity acting on the body or on environmental entities with which the body interacts. It is easily measured using apparati commonly found in gyms (barbells) or laboratories (force platforms, dynamometers, and other force measurement devices). Strength can be further subdivided into muscular force generated with no body movement – isometric strength; muscular force generated at slow speeds – low velocity strength; and muscular force generated at high speeds – high velocity strength. One can go on https://www.numan.com/ to find health supplements to enhance their fitness and workout routine.
Endurance is the ability to sustain a task over time. Standing and sitting are the two most sustained things humans do in modern life. Neither require any type of physical effort as the body is anatomically structured to minimize exertion and caloric expenditure when seated or standing. Endurance is a characteristic of movement, physical activity, exercise, and sport. Many things we do require a level of endurance – walking across campus, carrying groceries up to a fourth story walk up, jogging a couple miles, and playing a hard half of football for example. Endurance is primarily a bioenergetic entity, related to the ability to deliver oxygen and energetic nutrients to the working muscles at adequate rates and for long enough duration to accomplish the task at hand. As endurance is time dependent, it is easily measured with a watch and measuring tape or any number of other common or laboratory measurement devices. Endurance can be subdivided into continuous endurance, where the activity is sustained, as in jogging – and intermittent endurance, where work-recovery cycles are repeated for long durations, as in digging post holes for a fence row.
Mobility is the ability to move the body and its constituent parts in a variety of directions and carry out both simple and complex motor tasks. Mobility is an important – but under attended – element of fitness. Stable, controlled, and coordinated movement within our occasionally unstable and frequently unpredictable home, work, and play environments facilitates adequate function and survival. Mobility is likely the most complicated element of fitness as it is comprised of range of motion, agility, balance, and coordination. Each of these entities is measurable in the gym or in the laboratory using simple instruments.
A VIABLE DEFINITION
Once we know what fitness is comprised of, we can create a functional definition. The definition for physical fitness used in this book is simple, functional, and measurable: Possession of adequate levels of strength, endurance, and mobility to provide for successful participation in occupational effort, recreational pursuits, familial obligation, and that is consistent with a functional phenotypic expression of the human genotype (13).
This definition applies to the general population but it can be extended to occupational and sporting populations. We can also abbreviate it to make it precisely applicable and measurable by the average coach, trainer, or trainee through omission of the clause about genotype – an assessment of ones genetic make-up and function which is measurable only in the laboratory. This will be our approach throughout this text. Various occupations require more (or less) of one of the elements of fitness, and sport has goals and specializations that merely emphasize or de-emphasize pre-determined components of physical fitness to varying degrees – a weightlifter has focused on strength, a marathoner on endurance. Each has accelerated fitness in one area and has an average ability or potential weakness in the others. As we progress though this book you will find out how to develop each component of fitness individually and also how to develop all three elements simultaneously – enabling the tailoring of training to any purpose or goal.
One would hope that it is a logical concept that knowing what fitness is and what it is not is essential knowledge before it can be manipulated and improved. The definition here clearly states that physical fitness is functional and that the elements of fitness are strength, endurance, and mobility. It follows that improvements in physical fitness are dependent on progressive strength, endurance, and mobility training that force our bodies to adapt. It should also be apparent that physical fitness is not a set of variables that cannot be directly measured or do not manifest as outward physical performance. Further, physical fitness should not be considered an abstract concept or set of intangible feelings. These things are by-products of fitness – as a trainee becomes more physically fit, their ability to function within their own circumstances improves, making them feel better about themselves. This change is not “fitness” but rather a change in self-perception driven by their awareness of the tangible increases in performance produced by training and of becoming more fit. The perception of wellbeing is directly attributable to systematic and progressive exercise training delivering something of substance and value to the trainee, fitness. For those looking to explore fitness equipment and training programs, Shoppok offers a wide variety of options to help you on your journey to improved physical health.
Since Justin was out rucking his face off last weekend, he asked me put together a synopsis of the 2012 IPF Raw Worlds. This information was compiled from watching videos of the event, various reports, logs, and accounts. I haven’t had a chance to speak to any of the lifters, so if anything is incorrect, just let me know and I’ll edit it. – Jacob Cloud
The first-ever IPF Classic Cup was held this past weekend in Stockholm, Sweden, and it proved to be a thrilling meet for drug-tested, raw powerlifting. Since many 70’s Big readers regularly compete in the American arm of the IPF, the USAPL, this meet is of particular relevance. Perhaps the best part is that one of our own, Matt Nolan, represented us and our country proudly on the biggest stage in raw powerlifting. Since this was an international meet, the international weight classes were used, which is an interesting wrinkle for those of us reading from our American couches. As these classes are relatively new, World Standards were set as baselines and literally dozens were broken this weekend, including a bunch by our favorite ‘Mericans.
If you recall from this post, Nolan had the performance of a lifetime to become the American 100kg champion last August just to get the opportunity to go to Worlds. He decided to cut to the 93kg class, which ended up being a tightly contested race amongst a lot of talented young guys. He opened on the squat at 230kg, an easy weight for him, but was surprised to see red lights for depth. When he saw them again on the second, I can only imagine his frustration at the judging, which was to be complained about by many afterwards (especially the Americans, justifiably). He buried 230kg on his third attempt to stay in the meet, but was already far behind his planned numbers. He shook this off and went 3/3 on bench, hitting 172.5 on his third to stay in the meet, headed into his best lift. His opening dead at 292.5 went up easily, and he had officially totalled. His second attempt, 312.5, was for a new World Record, but he narrowly missed it, and was followed by a Polish lifter who pulled 330kg to break the standard. Another missed attempt at 312.5 for his third, and Nolan finished a very respectable 11th in the world. Not the podium finish he had hoped for, but I think we can all give him high fives and watch him put up some huge numbers in the near future in an attempt to get back to the big stage. I expect to see a 335kg deadlift soon, and look forward to competing with him at Nationals.
Here’s the video of the entire 93kg class.To watch Nolan, fast forward to 193:00, 203:00, 213:00 for squats, 258:00, 268:00, 279:00 for bench, 325:00, 336:00, 349:00 for deads.
The other men’s class that was of particular interest was 120kg, where Mike Tuchscherer was the favorite to win. He had some of the most particular judging I’ve ever seen – getting red lights on all 3 of his squat attempts, and only staying in the meet when his final 315kg squat was overturned by appeal. There was some talk of a hamstring injury, but I don’t have details. He managed to bench well, but ran out of juice on deads (most likely due to the injury), narrowly missing his second and third attempts, and he finished 3rd due to a higher bodyweight than the second place lifter, who shared his 865kg total. In the SHW class (120kg+), Blaine Sumner ignored the tough squat judging (he received red lights on his opener as well), ending up with a 375kg beast of a squat that nobody could catch . His gold medal not only crowned him King of the North, but is a huge accomplishment considering his numbers were well below his PRs, and there’s a lot more to come from this monster. I have a feeling he’ll smash a 1000+ lb raw squat record very soon wearing only a belt and knee sleeves.
Blaine Sumner buries 375kg to appease the judges.
Other notable American Men’s performances: The US 56kg (Eric Kupperstein) and 60kg (Mike Kuhns) champions battled it out in the 59kg class. Eric ended up with the bronze and attained a new WR DL of 252.5kg (that’s 4.3 times his bodyweight, folks), while Mike scored a new WR 225kg squat en route to a 5th place finish. I assume he was injured, since his bench was much lower than anticipated. These guys are a blast to watch, so keep an eye out for them at Nationals. Alex Tertitski also grabbed a Bronze in the 83kg’s, with an amazing 8/9 performance, including a PR bench (162.5kg) and a WR DL of 310kg. It’s worth noting that his third squat was yet another example of an American squat getting red lights for depth, or his total would have been even higher.
Alex’s beastly deadlift. This guy’s an inspiration to us older guys who compete raw.
The American Men finished with a second overall team placing. Considering the extremely difficult situation of flying across the world, making weight in new classes, only to face tough judging, I commend all of these guys on representing us so well. I have a feeling next year, we’ll be pushing for the overall championship over Russia.
American women showed up strong, as expected, and also finished second as a team in the overall points standings (again, to Russia). Sioux-z Hartwig Gary went 9/9 and finished second in the 52kg class, and Amanda Padgett scored a PR total and 5th place in the 57kg’s.
What wasn’t expected was the battle in the 63kg class. Jennifer Thompson, one of the best powerlifters of any class or era, completely dominates the 60kg’s in the US, and has recently benched over 300lbs…raw…at under 132 pounds of bodyweight. Yeah, you read that right. Kimberly Walford has been a force in the 67.5kg class, and most recently won the Pro GNC Deadlift contest at the Arnolds with a 512lb suited conventional pull. Thanks to the international weight standards, these lifters competed head to head as 63s, and the results were epic. FOUR women in the class topped out their squat at 142.5kg, including both Americans. JT created a cushion in her best lift, out-benching Kim 132.5 to 105, leaving it to the deadlifts to decide the champion. It came down to the final pull, where Kim yanked a 220.5kg new world record to edge out JT by half a kilo for the world championship. Amazing.
Kim’s final deadlift to win it all.
Since the only way to qualify for the IPF World Classic as an American lifter is to win your class at USAPL Raw Nationals, I expect to see a lot of you in Killeen, TX the first weekend of August, either lifting or cheering on our country’s best, and certainly supporting our own. Nolan’s going to be there to defend his championship so he can take another crack at Worlds. I will be lifting and coaching a couple other lifters, and Justin will of course be coaching Chris, Mike, and A.C. We can all watch nervously to see if Brent Kim clean and jerks his opening deadlift attempt, and anyone who gets a 390 Wilks (for Men, 340 for Women) can qualify for the 2013 Arnolds (and you know there will be a 70’s Big party there). In addition, Nats are in Texas, so you know there will be beer, BBQ, and 100 degree weather to help us all make weight. It is known.
Edit: If you intend to lift at the meet and a) would like to be handled by me (where I coach you at the meet, not fondle you) or b) would like to be a part of the 70’s Big team, then comment on the site or shoot me a message. –Justin
