The 70’s Big Shake is no different than every caloric bomb that guys have been making since blenders were invented. The shake is a good weight gain tool, a good recovery drink, and a good “make up meal” in the event you haven’t eaten in a while. The only reason I actually included ingredient amounts is because A) I know some of you goobers are going to ask anyway, and B) I wanted to give some hard facts on calories and protein (I know one of you will post how many carbs and fat are in it too). Measuring your food is typically a waste of time, especially when you need to gain 50 pounds. So please, don’t waste your time with measuring any of this.
To prepare the 70’s Big Shake:
Pour a generous amount of milk into your blender. If you pour too much, you won’t have room for the other goodies, so be wary.
Scoop in a hearty amount of ice cream. If you have “reduced fat” ice cream, pleas click the x in the top right of your browser.
Take the spoon you used to scoop the ice cream, and dig the biggest wad (equivalent to WOD) you can out of your peanut butter jar. It is a sin to waste peanut butter.
Add two scoops of cheap whey protein powder
Hold your chocolate syrup bottle over the mixture and squeeze until satisfied. Then squeeze for another full second.
Guess the quote:
“I simply gave (them) a nudge out of the door.”
Time to recap our trip to Huntington Beach, CA for a barbell seminar this past weekend.
On Friday night Welbourn had our little crew over for dinner. “Little crew” is ironic because Johnny Pain weighs over 240, my buddy Josh is 235, Rip is at or a bit below 225, and I am at least 225. Not to mention Welbourn is almost 6’6″, 300 pounds. I caught a little bit of hell for being “the runt of the group”.
Me (225), JP (240+), and Josh (235).
JP and I usually have one thing on our mind during these seminars: food. It had been a few hours since we got into town (we went from the airport to the hotel, then to the gym, then to a store, then off to Welbourn’s), and I was seriously worried about JP’s well being. A guy who is trying to get yoked can’t go that long without eating; he was getting 90’s small before my eyes. I assured him that “Welbourn will make us a 70’s Big worthy meal, just you wait.” I tried to make myself believe it. Not for my sake, but for JP.
Welbourn delivered:
Grass-fed beef
This wasn’t the first time I had met Welbourn, but the first time I got to hang around him for more than a few minutes. Aside from being a behemoth, he is both highly intelligent and damn funny. John told us some amusing stories from his time in the NFL and is friends with a lot of 70’s Big football players. You’ll here more about Welbourn in the coming weeks, especially if he keeps cooking like this:
Cooked meat. Note the wine in the background.
The seminar itself went well. There was the usual collection of skinny fellas that need to gain >30 pounds, and I hope we reached some of them. Matt, I hope to see you in Wichita Falls next summer. In the mean time, be a good boy and drink your milk.
There was someone at the seminar who was actually quite large. After about an hour into the lecture on Saturday morning, a giant walked in wearing all black, short shorts, and combat boots. He was probably 6””””””””””””””””5″, 265 (somebody verify this for me) with an estimated 12% bodyfat. The dude was huge. Pete bent down to fill out his registration, and I walked over, hit him on the shoulder and said, “What the hell are you doing here? You’re not a CrossFitter.” He looked at me and kinda laughed, but I was still genuinely curious. In any case, Pete was a large human being, and we later found out he plays rugby. He also had been eating a paleo type diet that unfortunately caused him to lose between 30 and 40 pounds — when you are that big, you are gonna have to eat something more than just “Paleo” to maintain get enough calories. In such a case, Welbourn recommends eating “Paleo” + milk. This should be substantial to maintain a given body mass, depending on the training.
Later that night (when Pete ordered two entrees at the restaurant), he was a bit malcontent about losing all of that muscle. I was glad to hear that he was on our side, because he can easily conquer several small villages.
JP and I were able to make a milk run to sustain our caloric needs during the (nearly) 10 hour-a-day seminar. Milk and eggnog did the trick.
I do not recommend the dulce de leche eggnog. At all.
This made us happy. Very much.
Lat spread, front double biceps, and the crab.
Drinking milk in groups becomes synchronized much like the menstrual cycles of female roommates:
It’s science.
Our pal Rachel was some how convinced to drive one of those silly little eco-friendly cars that resembles a go cart. Hilarity ensued.
I still don’t know how Josh fit into the back.
Now, I don’t want you women thinking that some of you are allowed to be painstakingly skinny either. My pal Pooja got a head start by drinking milk with her coffee on Sunday morning.
Good girl.
In other news, I’m pretty confident that I convinced Sean and Ruth to compete in weightlifting. They both have comical amounts of potential in their athletic ability, and I can’t wait to hear about their competitive conquest. It’d be a shame to see that talent untapped, so hopefully I gave them a nudge out of the door.
You two are obligated to stay in touch.
Ruth and Sean: the weightlifting couple.
This pictorial wouldn’t be satisfactory without the inclusion of Michael, our Danish friend who traveled all the way to California to attend the seminar. Mike is an all around cool dude, and we all hope to see him again.
Juli, Michael, and I
We ate at Welbourn’s again on Sunday night, but we brought a smörgåsbord of stuff to eat from Trader Joes. After eating I was exhausted and some how managed to fall asleep on Welbourn’s couch when Predator was on tv, so I missed out on a lot of good story tellin’. Oh well. Thanks for the hospitality, John.
Well, it was another successful seminar. We always aim to educate and help as many people as we can. There is never enough time or space to mention everyone, but I’ll get a quick summary in:
Pete, send me your e-mail and stay in touch. Julie (not the one pictured above), let me know how getting stronger improves your Olympic lifts, and good luck at your next meet. Thomas, get your boobs problem situated and continue getting strong (and start thinking about how you would program this stuff). To everyone else, implement this material into your practice, never stop learning (we won’t), and remember…you’re never strong enough.
“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.
———-
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
———-
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).
This past weekend I got to hang out with my buddy John Sheaffer while we coached at Rippetoe’s barbell seminar. We’re both on the quest to getting 70’s Big; I just started competing in weightlifting and he’ll compete in powerlifting. JP is the owner of Greyskull Barbell in Pennsylvania, home of many obnoxiously strong men, women, and kids. He’ll be a regular contributor to this site.
The seminar was at Front Range CrossFit. Despite the name on the door, this gym has the equipment to get 70’s Big. Their facility is set up for Olympic lifting with 10 platforms, jerk blocks, and a couple of squat racks. They are also building a weightlifting team, so if you’re interested and live in the Denver area, check them out.
Your gym can be featured and eventually added to a list of “70’s Big Gyms” as long as it has the proper equipment. If you’re interested, e-mail me.
Here is a video from the WFAC of my friend Chris pulling 600 and 625 (with a bit of hitching on the latter):
I am still on the road, so the Rippetoe interview will continue when I get back into town tomorrow.
