Well, he’s done it folks. Paul, a regular commenter on the site, has finally become an adult male. He e-mailed me today, and he finally weighs 200 pounds. Nice job, Paul.
Also, Zach, one of my pals at the WFAC, hit the 200 pound mark today as well. He came here as a 162 pound disgruntled fitness gym goer, and now he’s a decently strong adult. I’ve personally witnessed Zach drinking two gallons of milk in one day. Two. He gained 38 pounds in two months folks. You aren’t even trying to eat.
Paul also sent me pictures of his homemade creation: a grilled cheese bacon cheeseburger. Observe:
Ground beef and bacon
Burger patties. Lots.
3/4 angle of grilled cheese bacon cheeseburger
Nightcapped with funfetti frosting marble cake
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To go along with Wednesday””s accomplishments, my friend AC benched 330 for three sets of five. To get an idea of how stupid that is, he only weighs 205. Oh, and I””ll remind you he””s only 20 years old.
AC knows he has to amp his eating up, so he took some pictures of yesterday””s breakfast. As you can see, he went all out.
2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 sausages, 2 pieces of toast, PB&J, 2 chicken breasts, and 32 oz of milk with coffee flavored syrup
I hope this website exists as a helpful source for people who want to get stronger and bigger. Lately, I’ve been getting more questions in my inbox about how to get 70’s Big, so I’ll just use these inquiries as a learning tool. If I can’t answer the question, I’ll find a reliable source who can. If you have a question, e-mail me.
The first question is from Sean, a 19 year old college freshman. He’s 6’2″, 210 pounds.
Hi Justin,
I’m trying to get 70’s big. My current daily meals look like this:
Breakfast – 6 eggs, 1/2 a package of sausage = > 1000 calories.
Lunch – Cheeseburgers from Wendy’s = > 1500 calories.
Dinner – Peanut butter and banana sandwiches = > 1500 calories.
+ GOMAD = > 2500 calories
Total = > 6500 calories.
I know that this diet will not get me 70’s big, but it’s enough for now. I’m still making linear gains on SS. I plan to add a 4th meal to my diet when I begin to plateau on the lifts.
My question is, do you have any recommendations for calorie/protein dense meals that require little preparation? Preferably something I can make a sandwich out of and take with me to school/work? I’m asking because I’d like to get out of the habit of eating Wendy’s every day. I’ve tried tuna sandwiches, but tuna doesn’t really have enough calories for me to call it a meal. Any insight is appreciated.
All of my friends think I’m insane for eating like this.
Thanks,
-Sean
In another e-mail, Sean let me know where his lifts were at:
Squat 270x5x3
Deadlift 315×5
Press 95x5x3
Bench 135x5x3
Power Clean 145x3x5
Sean is at a decent bodyweight, and with consistent training his lifts will catch up with it. He’s doing a good job of eating so far, and 6,000 calories is probably enough since his lifts are relatively low. My friend Cliff had to amp his caloric intake up to around 8,000 calories to make the push from 210 to 220, but his lifts were a bit heavier (thus they produce more stress on the body).
In any case, Sean is asking about protein and calorie dense foods that are quick to prepare. He wants to stop purchasing his lunch since he’s in college, so we’ll stick to inexpensive homemade ideas.
The easiest and cheapest thing to do when trying to get 70’s Big is to grill a bunch of meat for the whole week. I like to do it on Sundays, because then the rest of the week’s meals are taken care of. Go to a decent super market and look for their meat specials. One time I found about three pounds of boneless rib meat for five dollars — I barbecued the hell out of it on an open wood fire, and it was glorious.
At the same super market they sell 8 hamburger patties for about eight dollars. This is only a dollar per burger, which is going to be what you spend at a fast food restaurant for a smaller, crappier piece of meat that doesn’t taste as good. I used to routinely eat a burger topped with cheese and barbecue sauce for breakfast when I was training people.
Almost 8 pounds of cheap steak, barbecued chicken, and hamburgers
Grilling meat is preferable, but you can always marinade chicken in something like Italian dressing and cook it on the stove. Find the meats with the lowest price for their quantity and try and figure out how you can marinate and cook them to make them tasty. Hopefully this gives Sean some ideas. The lesson here is start your week prepared. If you wait until you are out of food to find food, then you are doing a shitty job of preparing. Get strong, Sean.
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Andy Baker owns a gym called Kingwood Strength and Conditioning in Kingwood, Texas (near Houston). Andy competes in powerlifting (specifically in NASA) in the 220 and 242 pound weight classes. He sent in a video of some light pressing after he benched with bands. Apologies were given for his lack of a mustache and non-striped socks.
Andy also has a pretty good knowledge of advanced level lifting and wrote a book called “Common Sense In Strength Training”. You can also read his training blog to see what advanced type stuff he tries on himself.
I’ve always liked food. I’ll admit that I really didn’t know how to eat it, though.
Rippetoe reminds me of a medieval gentile; meat and mead are all he needs. I’ve seen him eat at least 10 different styles of meat, and every single one of them makes him say, “That’s the best shit you could ever put in your mouth!”
My buddy Chris is a grilling aficionado. It’s customary for him to grill pounds and pounds of meat, only to have them ground into satisfying bathroom visits within a day or so.
Gant is pretty serious about his eating, especially during a weight gaining phase. In fact, after the JM Blakely post, he brought in a two pound hunk of brisket to snack on while he trained. That’s dedication.
Gant invited me over for dinner last night. Some how he knew my chicken fried steak quota for the week had not been met. I walked in the kitchen to see him frying steaks, frying biscuits, and preparing mashed potatoes. It was just what I needed.
We each had about a pound of meat, quite a few fried biscuits, and generous helpings of mashed potatoes. It was easily a 2,000 calorie meal. This meal is particularly interesting for Gant, because he’s in the middle of moving back down to the 90 kilogram weight class for judo after competing in the 100 kg class. Hearty meals don’t scare this man.
Homemade chicken fried steak, fried biscuits, and mashed potatoes...all in gravy
Gant, Chris, and I were once eating at a local burger joint after training and we were all eating large double bacon cheeseburgers. This equals one pound of beef not counting the bacon, cheese, bun, or condiments. As we ate, Gant matter of factly said, “This is about the amount of protein your average CrossFitter would eat in a day while on the zone.” He was referencing The Zone Diet in which food is roughly weighed and measured for every meal. 16 blocks is a typical prescription, and this would equate to 16 ounces of meat. Chris, who weighed around 250 at the time, didn’t understand. He stared, horrified at Gant, and said, “Why would anyone want to live like that?” Edit: Brent was eating with us too. Sorry, Brent.
Got any good food pictures? Gant and Chris love to document the food that they build, and you should too.
“Don’t forget: there is a good lookin’ female drinking more milk than you are”
We’ve had a few posts that explain what type and amounts of food you’ll need to consume if you’re wanting to get 70’s Big. Some people, however, don’t realize the purpose of this level of food intake. As always, it depends on your individual situation.
No one is suggesting you eat a giant bowl of ice cream, brownies, and magic shell if you already weigh 250. However, if you weigh 150, you better be stuffing your face. The “professional eating” approach is always suggested for guys who weigh under 200 pounds.
Remember: Adult Males > 200 pounds
A gallon of whole milk a day usually does the trick, regardless of who you are. My buddy John Sheaffer and I both drink at least a gallon, and I weigh 225 and he weighs 235 (he’ll be making a strong push to get to 250 by December, and eventually will make it to 275). Whole milk has a beautiful balance of calories, fat, carboydrates, and protein. Remember, it exists to make baby mammals grow, so start suckling the teat of growth.
There is a good looking girl at the gym we held a seminar at in Denver this past weekend. The gym owners, Jodi and Skip, told me that she drinks 6 gallons of milk a week while strength training, weightlifting, and doing conditioning workouts. She weighs 150 with very little bodyfat. In other words, she eats according to the needs of her activity and sport. If you’re trying to gain considerable size and strength, go with the shovel technique. If you are at the optimum bodyweight at your given height, then eat to maintain the muscle mass you already have. In any case, don’t ever forget that there is a good looking female who is drinking more milk than you are.
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The following photo was submitted by Randy, a deployed US Marine. Apparently they can’t get a gallon of milk when deployed, so they have to get creative with their calories.
Randy pounds two double whoppers with cheese stuck together
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Here is part 8 of the 70’s Big Interview with Rippetoe.
Rip references the directory of 70’s Big conducive gyms in this video. It will be very difficult to be added to this select list. The qualifying factors include your openness to helping new members, equipment, gym philosophy, the training of the owner(s), and a stable of people that are working to get strong. This list will be comparable to Bill Starr’s list of “Gyms Friendly To Weightlifters” that was published in Defying Gravity (a good, quick read for anybody competing in the barbell sports).
“You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight?”
The following is a write up by my friend Gant
This nugget comes from JM Blakely, a bench press specialist who was known for gaining and losing significant amounts of weight depending on where he was in his training cycle. He wrote several articles for Powerlifting USA, including “The Big Boy’s Menu Plan“(reprinted here).
The article is gold. The summary: there are no hard gainers, only undisciplined eaters.
Blakely is specifically addressing bulking cycles for powerlifting. But anyone on the path to 70’s Big can can benefit from this knowledge. Make no mistake, eating for mass requires effort equal to that which you put into your training.
The mustache is good for another 10 pounds.
In a recent article article, Dave Tate tells how Blakely helped him over a mass plateau. Prepare to be inspired.
There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn’t gain weight to save my fucking life.
There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like fucking magic. He’d go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.
I finally asked him one day how he did it.
“You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I’ll fill you in.”
Now remember, we’re at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious shit if we have to go outside, I thought.
So we get outside and he starts talking.
“For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don’t care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that shit down and eat. That’s your breakfast.”
At this point I’m thinking this guy is nuts. But he’s completely serious.
“For lunch you’re gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don’t want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bullshit. I don’t care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can’t let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter.”
“For dinner you’re gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don’t like sardines, don’t put ’em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that fucker up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that shit over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the shit out of it.”
“Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that fucker. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals.”
This guy is in a zen-like state when he’s talking about this.
“Now you’re on the clock,” he continues. “After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you’re full. Don’t listen to that shit. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I’m telling you now, you’re going to get three or four pieces in and you’re gonna want to quit. You fucking can’t quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.
And if you can’t finish it, don’t you ever come back to me and tell me you can’t gain weight. ’Cause I’m gonna tell you that you don’t give a fuck about getting bigger and you don’t care how much you lift!”
Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn’t get much fatter. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, though.
Follow the jump to watch Pisarenko in the clean and jerk portion of the 1982 World Championships. Continue reading →
