Take a deep, luxurious breath. How does it feel? Normal? It should feel both normal and abnormal.

It’s normal because it’s the same as the million of breaths that have come before it. You’re an American breathing freely whilst pursuing your life’s happiness. Yet it’s abnormal and weird because the only reason you’re content taking that breath is because there is man or woman who has earned it for you.

An American soldier has pulled on his boots, shouldered his ruck, and squeezed the grip of his rifle, sweating. This man forfeited his freedoms, left his family, and sacrificed his youth. This man did all of this, yet is hardly compensated for his sacrifices. In fact, he is often shunned for going out of his way to choose this fate.

Yet, this man is the reason you are able to take your next breath, the reason you can wake up in the morning and do whatever you damn well please. This man protects the richest of the rich, yet also enables the dredge of society to suck the teat and be rewarded for sloth. He’s the reason that a bar fight, this website, or a children’s spelling bee can exist. His sacrifice is blind to the recipients’ outcome, yet it is all-encompassing nonetheless.

You may have known the man with the rifle, yet he has existed for more than 200 years and he gives you this next breath freely. You are free to do whatever you want with that breath, but it’d be a disgrace if it wasn’t spent doing everything you can to be the best person, father, brother, friend, son, worker, or stranger that you can. Your last breath was a freebie; now earn your next in honor of those riflemen who make breathing possible.

Lest we forget our fallen…

Consultations

For those of you who have inquired about consultations, they were on a hiatus through the holidays. They are resuming and I’m pleased to introduce Chris Riley to the consultation team. You can read his profile here, and you can currently contact the consultation team at Consultations@70sbig.com for information. Note that there may be a waiting list and it may take time to get to your e-mail. 

New Writers

I’m pleased to welcome several writers to 70sBig.com. You have heard me talk about them or have seen their posts in the past, and I’m glad to call all of them good friends. They will be assigned to a specific sport and will report news as well as provide their analysis or opinion on the sport. The new writers and their duties are:

Jacob Cloud — Powerlifting, Editor
Mike Battaglino — Strongman
Jacob Tsypkin — Olympic Weightlifting
Brian Smith — General sports

I feel that designating people to cover a sport will provide 70’s Big readers with a more comprehensive look at that sport. This will only encourage readers to be fans of the sport and will help grow the sport, but it will also help motivate readers to also compete. All three of the sport specific writers love the sport they are following and regularly coach or compete in it. They have the freedom to report news, interview athletes, or profile a athletes — whatever they see fit. Expect to see more content on each sport since having a person dedicated to each will be infinitely better than me trying to cover them all at once. Each writer will soon have their own 70’s Big e-mail address to accept related content pertinent to their sport or interests.

Reader Submissions

When I started this site I intended it to be driven by reader submitted content. That has been partially true as I often create posts based on inquiries or material sent to me. However, for the first time I am formally opening 70’s Big to reader submitted articles. This doesn’t mean anything and everything will be accepted. Your submission must:

– Not exceed 1,000 words in length, and preferably be closer to 500.
– Include a visual aid (either an image that is under 500×500 pixels or a YouTube video) and cite where this visual came from.
– Be concise with good grammar and punctuation.
– Include a short, one paragraph summary (like an abstract) at the beginning of the e-mail to explain what the submission is about.
– Send submissions to Submissions@70sBig.com

If any of the rules above are not followed, then the submission will be deleted. Jacob Cloud is also now an editor and will oversee reader submissions with my help. If a submission is poor in quality, irrelevant, pointless, or not interesting or funny, we reserve the right to not use the submission. It’s okay to submit things that are in conflict with my objective and subjective training methodology or opinions, but you will need to make a compelling argument for doing so (this sentence is here to show you that we won’t be denying conflicting pieces just because they disagree with us). Time is a valuable thing; do not waste ours with poor articles. If you are worried about wasting your own time, it would be acceptable to send an e-mail asking if we’re interested in your topic.

Any or all of the above rules could change the more Jacob and I discuss it or sift through submissions. Have fun with it. Most of the people that read 70’s Big are great people who love to train and are really funny, so if you choose to write something, direct it at such an audience.

I was going to write something today, but the snow is coming down in big flakes and I’m gonna go sledding with the puppies instead.

Instead, let’s just have a chat in the comments about whatever meets our fancy. How was your holiday? Want to talk about presents? Or food and drink that keeps you warm in the cold (beer, scotch, coffee, etc.)?

Puppies always like snow.