In my seminars I teach principles of mobility to help keep lifters/trainees/athletes healthy and soldiers operational. What we call “mobility” is just a general term to mean “maintaining or improving mobility to achieve proper positioning to perform well and prevent injury”. Overall, it’s a means to an end of not eradicate static and dynamic positional inhibition. Mobility is necessary for efficient and productive lifting. Mobility has several areas of emphasis:

– Soft tissue work
– Positional stretching
– Joint approximation

These areas can be effective by themselves, yet are best used to augment one another. One way to think of the results of mobility training is that it reduces tension on muscle systems. For example, a trainee’s neck hurts from a car wreck. They like to compete in Olympic weightlifting, yet when the volume of their lifting goes up, their neck hurts more. Without soft tissue work, they feel helpless and hopeless about their condition. This is a real world example because it happened to me (minus the hopeless/helpless part). Mobility training reduces that tension to alleviate pain at the neck, and could even improve existing anatomical assymetry (in this case, a temporarily rotated cervical vertebrae).

“The Stick” is a useful tool to work on soft tissue: muscle bellies, tendons, and fascia. When soft tissue is tight, it can cause dysfunction in the muscle or apply tension and subsequently pain at a joint (like the knee, hip, or shoulder). The stick is most effective when a friend uses it on you because they can reach areas you cannot and apply more force than you can solo. Be sure to purchase the “stiff” version of the stick, and not just for the laughs; I’ve put my whole body weight on it and it didn’t deform or break. The following video shows some general tips on using the stick as well as one specific example of how to use it on the upper shoulder and neck area. This would be excellent for Olympic lifters, anyone doing any overhead lifting, soldiers or back packers who carry a heavy pack/ruck, and anyone with a tight or painful neck.



“The Stick” can be found on Amazon or at Rogue Fitness. A future video will include calf, hamstring, lat/teres major, serratus anterior, triceps, and forearm work. The Stick is best used on any segment and has a much different (i.e. better) effect than just using a lacrosse ball, PVC pipe, or rumble roller. I highly recommend it.

This is a sticky post. Scroll down to see recent posts.


70’s Big Workshop Weekend in Tucson, AZ on June 2/3. It’s the first workshop that Chris Riley will be attending (300kg squat, 320kg deadlift)!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

A few months ago Matt Wichlinski wrote an article (“Slaying The Dragon“) that criticized how CrossFit coaches allow bad technique in the pursuit of a faster time. Often when someone makes this argument, they are on the outside of CF and looking in. Matt, like me, has the CrossFit Level II certification. It’s earned through a quasi-difficult testing process where the candidates lead a group of trainees through the CF teaching progressions. It’s the only identifier in the CrossFit world that a coach can adequately see movement problems, have enough personality to lead a group, and communicate decently. I assume Matt and I are similar in that we don’t rely solely on CF for training methodology, but we know enough about it to give fair, objective critiques. Matt’s revolves around the following idea:

Everyone has the right to train and compete in any fashion that they want. But as a coach, I hate to see other coaches doing things that might harm the athletes.

I agree. Poor, inefficient mechanics is something that bothers me. In the short-term, it’s something that reduces the effectiveness of the exercise and opens the trainee up to potential injury. In the long-term, crappy mechanics always results in some sort of mobility limitation or injury.

If a trainee’s knees chronically jut forward at the bottom of their squat, the proximal (upper) rectus femoris (a hip flexor) tendon will become irritated and inflamed. If their knees crank in at the bottom, the glute medius and TFL become irritated. A collapsed thoracic spine on thrusters, squats of any kind, or overhead movements will jack up the proximal biceps, the external rotators, rhomboid and middle trap area, and can create a chain of tension that puts strain on the spinal erectors that can increase pain the lower back and hips from which many experts are now recommending the new CBD roll on for pain (here’s how experts like it). Gummies like Indacloud Orange funta can be a tasty and effective option for those seeking natural pain relief. Additionally, medical cannabis for complex regional pain syndrome is also being explored as a potential treatment for managing chronic pain.

We’re not even getting into the ballistic movements on untrained achilles tendons or the severely internally rotated shoulders in overhead work, and that’s why they get pain often, so cannabis products from sites like dispensaries in Michigan can really help with this. You can find a diverse array of the best CBD products at a reputable destination like D8 Super Store, providing you with a wide range of options to choose from based on your preferences.

However, I have a problem with how Matt is wording this message:

If you want to be good at what you do, you have to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how to do it safely and effectively. The first rule of training is “Do no harm.”

CONTINUE READING Continue reading →

This last weekend various female 70’s Big readers performed well in raw powerlifting meets (and one long-time male reader, Yosh). I just wanted to give them some public congratulations. From now on, if you compete in a meet (or any other competition), send in your results to the Facebook Fan Page and we’ll honor you on Monday’s post.

70’s Big Chicago Lifting Group

Ellee started a lifting group that regularly meets to train together, but they also are starting to go and compete together. Three women and one fella competed in a USAPL meet this past weekend and did really well.

Nicole: 8/9. 100kg squat, 55kg bench, 127.5kg DL. All PRs.
Cynthia: squat was 2/3, best was 65kg (143.2 lbs); bench was 3/3, PR of 42.5 kg (93.5 lbs); dead lift was 3/3, PR of 75 kg (165.2 lbs).
Allison: 7/9 overall, squat – 97.5 kilos. Bench: 45 kilos. Deadlift: 120 kilos

Yosh, who has been reading 70’s Big since day one: 8 for 9 and got 1st in the Illinois State Men’s 198. Squat 187.5kg (413.3lbs), 130kg bench (286.6lbs), 250kg dead (551.1lbs) so total is 567.5kg (1251lbs).

Meanwhile on the west coast…

Harj and Robin competed in an AAU powerlifting meet and one the top two “best female lifter” spots (Harj edged out Robin). Both of them have a background in CrossFit and they attended my 70’s Big Workshop, so I’ve been fortunate enough to coach them. I’m proud of both of them.

Harj squatted 176, benched 99.2, and deadlifted 220.5 (all in pounds) in the 114 lbs weight class. Robin squatted 195, benched 120, and deadlifted 285.

This is why we urge anyone, including women, to compete. It’s always a fun time and tests the lifter in a new way. Sign up for a meet and train hard!
Thanks to Ellee for creating the 70’s Big Chicago Lifting Group and all of the participants who allowed their photos to be used.

Edit: Tamara and two of her lifters also competed in an Olympic weightlifting meet this past weekend. Here’s a video. Cherie went 29/44. She’s a 41 year old 4’11 lifter. Zach went 83/114. He’s an 18 year old 6’5 lifter. Tamara went 6/6, 61/81 for a 142 total. She’s a pain in the ass lifter.

PR Friday

As always, post your training updates and PR’s to the comments. I like reading about your accomplishments and the things that have helped you get better.

70′s Big-wide goal for next week:
DON’T SKIMP ON YOUR MOBILITY. Do something every day. If you are successful, then let us know in next week’s PR Friday.

Weekly Recap

Monday I gave you a tasty recipe, and readers dropped some of their favorite slow cooker recipes in the comments. Tuesday discussed how CrossFit favors the anterior chain and it’d behoove a CFer to do some extra posterior chain work. Wednesday we talked about the Slingshot again; I think it can be a nice tool even for a raw lifter. Thursday was a post on the possible short film “The Artist & The Olympian“.

Here are two stories that actually recap the week. Wednesday night I was training with my friend Mike (not big AF Mike, Asian Mike). He ended up leaving the gym around 8:00 PM, so I was hitting some dumbbell hammer curls by myself. There was no one else in the free weight section, yet there were some girls using a Roman chair about 30 feet away. I was doing the last set, really cranking them out, when I suddenly and audibly farted. When I was younger, I might have been more concerned. In fact, I remember accidentally letting out farts in class and being absolutely horrified. It was an immediate shot of adrenaline; all my senses would sharpen and I’d just wait for someone (i.e. girls) to acknowledge it. THEY NEVER DID. I’d play it cool. Hey, it wasn’t me that farted, must have been that skinny kid with the lisp. I had a reputation to maintain. The kind that don’t fart in class, son.

Anyway, I look up to see if anyone heard me fart. Either they didn’t, or they did and pretended not to hear. So I continue hammer curling the 50s. Then ANOTHER fart escapes, yet this one was louder. I only have a few more reps, so I try to continue, but I can’t because I’m LAUGHING TOO HARD. I’m by myself laughing at my own farts, and I couldn’t finish the set. I racked the dumbbells, called it a night.

Fast forward to Thursday evening. I’m walking out of a shopping center where I got my hair cut. I’m wearing gym shorts, a tight T, and flip flops. I’m walking by two black ladies in the middle of the street. One of them is around 40. She stops in the middle of the road with her hands on her hips, looks me up and down.

“DAMN. You is SO sex-AY!”

After thanking her and laughing, I realized that some guys might think that this encounter was a result of the hammer curls they did the night before. NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND. It’s because I’ve squatted twice a week for as long as I can remember. It’s the pressing, the cleans, the snatches; the lifting. It’s also the mobility work, the attention to nutrition, the sleeping, and the hydration. It’s the icing and rest days. It’s everything.

Moral of the story? Black women know what’s up. Or maybe this is the pinnacle of all of the work I’ve put into training. Regardless, if you want to be approached on the street, then get your shit together. It’ll help if you move to the south. And a low income town.

What else do you guys wanna talk about?