Okay, so you’ve met a girl who is no longer skeptical and is willing to train, but now you need to give her quality advice as she starts a new program. Teaching and coaching are dependent on taking complex concepts and whittle them down to easy-to-implement points of emphasis. I have a few topics that we’ll cover in following “70’s Big Women” posts on Monday. Today’s focuses on setting up the new trainee on a quality program.

I’m not so egotistical that people need to do my exact program, nor am I even going to require that all girls primarily strength train. My only requests are:
– squat twice a week
– bench and press once a week each
– do a horizontal and vertical pulling movement once a week each
– do RDL’s twice a week OR RDL and deadlift once a week each
– cardio (low or high intensity) should be kept to training days or Saturday

I’m not really concerned with deadlifts, especially in the first few months of training. The RDL is a movement that works similar musculature as the deadlift, yet is easier to do and will really help develop the hamstrings. I see so many people doing deadlifts incorrectly — male or female — that having a few months of the lumbar holding its position while the hamstrings do work is going to set them up for success if/when they do start deadlifting. Not to mention the hamstrings will develop a wonderful back side on a girl who hasn’t trained before.

I’m also not concerned with what type of squat she does. Let’s face it, not every girl who is training has access to even a decent coach. Then, the low bar back squat is pretty technical compared to the high bar, so this means there are fewer coaches available to teach this movement well. If she’s shoving her knees out and going down all the way, this is a victory. Making it an easier movement (so she isn’t frustrated) is even better. Besides, the RDL’s compliment high bar squats very well.

The inclusion of benching and pressing is obvious — they help develop strength in the upper body. However, extra care should be taken to not allow the new female trainee to internally rotate and flair the elbows. An “elbows to boobs” cue works very well in both of these cases as it will help keep the elbows in, which is an externally rotated position in the shoulder. See this video for a more detailed discussion.


The vertical pulling movement implies pull-ups, chin-ups, or some variation of them. Getting girls, especially taller ones, to do a pull-up can be quite a process. Most girls reflect that ‘greasing the groove’ over time is what helps them best. Chicks who are adamant about developing a pull-up can get a doorway pull-up bar and work on it over time by doing partial reps or negatives (controlling from top to bottom). They can aim for a small amount each day, and increase the reps per day each week. The horizontal rowing movement would imply barbell, dumbbell or machine rows. Most girls — especially those who haven’t trained before — will not have developed musculature in their upper back. This lack of strength and musculature can make it difficult to externally rotate and maintain positioning on the presses, keep the chest up on the squat or deadlift, and become a long-term muscle imbalance over time if not addressed. The sooner the upper back musculature gets developed, the less of a limiting factor it will be.

If the girl is intimidated by or too weak for barbells, she could use machines for the two presses and two rowing movements. However, squatting needs to be done with a bar — hopefully her ‘sponsor’ can articulate how her ass won’t be sweet if she is leg pressing. RDL’s can be done easily enough with the fixed barbells located in most globo gyms, but they can also be picked up from the hooks on the outside of a rack. After a month or so of machine work, our new trainee could transition into using barbells.

This kind of set up could have her training two or three times a week, but preferably three. It’s best to have complete rest days to allow the body to recover and adapt to this new stress.This concept is lost on a lot of new trainees (and folks who come from a conditioning-only background), but hopefully the sponsor can explain how the structures and hormones need this day to undergo cellular change and adaptation. If nobody knows what the hell that means (sponsor or trainee), it at least sounds good and is true. This means that non-strength work (like cardio or any derivative of endurance work) should occur on existing training days so that it doesn’t interfere with recovery.

Next Monday we’ll talk about “cardio” and how it applies to the new trainee. For more information on progressions, templates, and programming, be sure to check out FIT.

UPDATE: I forgot it was PR Friday — post training records and updates to the comments. Chime in if you don’t have any; it’s good to hear from you guys. And if you’ve never posted before, don’t be scared. Nobody will bite you…hard.

Dmitry Klokov is my favorite weightlifter. Is it because he is my Facebook friend? Is it because he is my Russian speedo bro? Is it because in his reply to my message he put a smiley face emoticon? No, it’s because he’s intense as fuck AND is jacked. I’ve always had a fascination with strength and musculature, and I appreciate when both are represented seamlessly. This is why Doug Young and Anatoly Pisranko are the co-captains of 70’s Big instead of Paul Anderson.

Enter “SWOLE“, an e-book by my friend Johnny Pain. This book has been out for at least a month, but I wanted to give it my full attention before I reviewed it as I anticipated how much it would help 70’s Big readers. And it doesn’t disappoint.



The theme of this e-book is gaining lean, hard (earmuffs) mass without putting on unnecessary levels of fat (which JP refers to as “getting fat-fucked”). While an excess of calories is needed in order to increase lean body mass, this doesn’t mean it’s necessary to eat pizza and ice cream to do it. It’s never been my intention to get fat nor has it been my recommendation that anyone get fat, yet the early stages of this website put a premium on junk food as a method of accumulating calories to grow (with the secondary message implying that if you get fat, you should modify your diet). Yes, that’s certainly one way of doing it; the easy way. However, it’s possible to steadily but surely increase both strength and musculature without excessive body fat gains to achieve maximum jackage, but it’s the hard way.

“The most common reason that people are unhappy with their body composition, whether in the context of trying to add mass, lose body fat, or attempting to do both at the same time, is that they often lack the kind of accountability for their diet that is necessary to make the changes that they are after. If you want your body to change for the better, you need to be keeping score.”

JP spends the obligatory amount of time explaining how getting bigger without ending up like a doughy mess is not only possible, but regularly done in the bodybuilding world. Did you cringe at the end of that last sentence? It’s because fat guys who lift weights and the functional fitness community would lead you to believe the bodybuilding community is narcissistic, gay, stupid, weird, and so on (failing to point out that any community that is large enough is going to include these types of people). In any case, JP does what I do — applies information from other sources into his method of implementation and programming.

The first few chapters discuss the general concepts of the discipline needed to have a good physique developed from a proper diet with quality food (I particularly like the concept of “single-ingredient food choices” AKA real food). In order to gain muscle without looking like a pile of shit, there needs to be a baseline amount of macronutrients that account for the energy your body will normally consume plus some additional amounts to induce growth. Then, when mass gain slows, you add on predetermined “layers” of calories to garner progress.

“It’s time to get some good information on nutrition and how to build up the body the right way. Be accountable, take responsibility and above all educate yourself about safe sex, because you will be having a lot more of it.”

Then the book shifts into implementation by defining what those layers are and how they can be added or removed. I won’t divulge what constitutes the layers (you’ll have to buy the damn thing), but the real genius in JP’s method is creating a really fucking simple way to gauge amounts of food instead of counting grams and measuring out amounts. Then, each additional layer is an equally simple method of increasing the caloric content…by a small amount.

“If you haven’t gathered by now, the idea of adding things in small increments is one of the most vitally important principles to adding mass without significant body fat accumulation.”

And therein lies the “magic”. Instead of “eat more to recover, pussy,” there is a carefully created system that will allow a trainee to titrate his food up or down based on his results. It really is an impressive way to eradicate all of the problems associated with eating properly when trying to get swole.

Lastly, JP discusses some very basic ways to gauge progress over time; instead of waiting until there’s a giant belly button and love handles, trainees will collect some simple data points to see if the diet is too much, too little, or just right. The easiest and most profound method is to use regular photos of the body to gauge fat increase — the pics don’t lie.

You’ll notice I’ve used words like “basic”, “simple”, and “easy” throughout this review; JP simplifies the concepts to a manageable diet that even the laziest of guys can implement seamlessly. As with most things that are worth a fuck, the concept is very simple, yet having the discipline to do it is hard. I’ve never met anyone that said, “I want to be really strong and a fat piece of shit!” If you’re worried about the latter, then purchase the book and take control of your body weight.

JP is also always available for contact on the forums at StrengthVillain.com.

Having a Herculean physique (or Apollonian for you bodybuilding history terminology nerds) is something that the overwhelming majority of the earth’s population will never experience. It is truly an extraordinary accomplishment, and therefore requires extraordinary measures. If sucking it up and drinking a gallon of milk a day was all that was nutritionally required in order to add loads of muscle, don’t you think there would be a lot more god-like physiques out there walking around?

The strength training (i.e. tough guy) community has scorned running like a bastard child. They take pride in the fact that they can’t shuffle down the street without having a cardiac touting how “gay” it would be if they could. While I’m not recommending that a 250+ pound person needs to be running in the dead of a northern hemisphere summer, but the “running is gay” crowd forgets that some of the most badass shit happens when running.

Most general strength trainees won’t have any kind of fitness test running requirements, nor will they be required to run. However, most general strength trainees aren’t in danger of breaking anything but personal records and could use the capability of running 50 meters really fast if necessary (e.g. chasing a woman with a purse, hunting boar with a knife, or retrieving their dog). Getting winded after a sprint and NOT being on dbol just makes you an asshole. Besides, you should be able to go out and play non-sober softball or rec-league basketball any time you want without achieving crippling soreness.

Recently a reader of this site failed out of a 1.5 mile run in an application fitness test because of horrible shin splints. I want to first explain why shin splints occur, how to prevent them, and suggestions on progressions and technique.

What Causes Shin Splints
The standard technique of running is…no technique.

Just think about your own personal history in running, when did you learn to run and did anyone ever actually watch you and teach you how to run efficiently? If someone did, how do you know they taught you correctly? The assumption that one innately knows how to run simply by virtue of being human is not justified or appropriate.
–pg 84 of FIT, by Kilgore, Hartman, and Lascek

With the advent of the running hobby around the 1960s, shoe manufacturers reflected this interest by producing large, cushioned soles in their shoes to improve instance of injury — it didn’t really work, as there is a conservative report of 3 injuries per 100 hours of running (2,3). In any case, shin splints occur regularly in a trainee when they are unadapted to running — and this was the case in the reader who failed out.

When the initial heel strike occurs, the ankle is in active dorsi-flexion where the toes are pulled up; the opposite (or toes pointed down) is plantar-flexion. It seems odd that you would actively dorsi-flex your ankle, but it occurs; Brian Mackenzie shows people this all the time when viewing their slow motion replay. Consider it the byproduct of never being taught efficient technique and utilizing the available foot wear.


Image from FIT

When going through this “heel strike, forefoot flop”, the ankle is moving into plantar-flexion (toe down) while trying to maintain dorsi-flexion (toe up). The resistance of the movement causes the muscles that maintain dorsi-flexion to eccentrically act — they are stretched when still trying to contract. This is the same thing that happens to the hamstrings in an RDL: the hip goes through resisted hip flexion yet the hip extensors (the hamstrings) are resisting the action and preventing you from just falling over. Let’s substitute the terms and focus on the ankle while running: the ankle goes through resisted plantar flexion yet the dorsi-flexors (on the front of the shin) are resisting the action and preventing the foot from just falling forward.

If you paid attention to your muscle mag lore, you know that eccentric muscle action causes the most damage to muscle fibers and as a result more soreness (since the muscle fibers are being ripped apart while trying to stay contracted). The muscle on the front of the shin that cause dorsi-flexion (pulling the toes up) is primarily the tibialis anterior. When heel striking, it’s going through hundreds of repetitions of damaging eccentric action. The damage occurs along the entire attachment site of the tibialis anterior, which for this muscle is along the entire tibia (shin bone). That’s why it’s called “shin splints” since the entire shin is painful afterwards.

How To Prevent Shin Splints
Lots of people heel strike, but not everyone has shin splints because it’s relatively easy to adapt to. Had our failed reader done a few running workouts prior to the fitness test, he could have lasted the entire workout instead of hobbling off the track halfway through. Merely do a few short distance workouts and progressively increase over time; this is the same principle you would apply to beginning any new activity and something that is discussed in lots of detail in FIT.

An example of re-introducing running would be running several regular paced 50m intervals. Notice I didn’t say 15 intervals or 400m; it’s purposely low to allow adaptation. Crippling soreness with new activity is your fault and an indication of lack of care, ignorance, or stupidity. Progressively increase the total amount of work over time (perhaps up to 10 intervals), then increase the distance (100 meter intervals), and then progress into regular distances and intervals (repeats of 200m or 400m). Notice this is all at a regular pace instead of a fast pace; in this case, we’re conditioning the structures instead of the energy system capability. In this simple progression, it’s assumed that the trainee is still heel striking.

Modifying Technique
A complete discussion on efficient running mechanics would leave the scope of this post, yet it revolves around proper balance over center of mass, not heel striking, and running on the fore foot. To learn this technique, I’m partial to my friend Brian Mackenzie; I have been to his running seminar and he’s a cool dude (and has an awesome pitt bull). The biggest mistakes I see people doing with this are running on the toes (which is too far forward), pointing the toe prior to making contact with the ground (which is probably an equally injurious position to heel striking), trying to extend the hip back (instead of pulling the foot/ankle up), and bouncing up and down (instead of streamlined). Realistically, if you’re interested in proper technique you should find a coach (the easiest way would be to call a CrossFit and see if they have any people that have been to Brian’s seminar and are a decent coach). Not many people can teach themselves correct squatting technique, and if they do, a coach is usually needed to get it on track. Running is similar, and if anything more difficult because of it’s dynamic nature.

There are a lot of drills that can help you learn and improve running economy, and you should be able to find some on the CF Endurance website. The two best cuing concepts I’ve used are “lift the foot up the inseam of your opposite leg” and doing it with a “relaxed ankle” (with the latter being the hardest). By pulling up an imaginary inseam (think of wearing pants), the foot goes up instead of back, and the relaxed ankle prevents unnecessary toe off. For lifters who have heard the “mid-foot” cue, it helps to imagine landing on that point, or slightly in front of it.

When introducing new running technique, EASE INTO IT. Lots of critics will cite how this new technique is more injurious than the old technique. However, with any new activity, slow and progressive increase of that activity is how to adapt optimally without injury. You may feel like you’re capable of more, yet the soreness after will be a reminder that you were wrong. Develop the new skill over time — Mackenzie recommends a six week introductory program before attempting regular workouts.

If you’re interested in a complete analysis of running research, running mechanics, foot wear, and endurance training principles, then check out the Endurance Chapter in FIT (release day is less than a week away).

People like sources:
1. Kilgore, Hartman, and Lascek. FIT.
2. Buist, I., et al. Incidence and risk factors of running-related injuries during preparation for a
4-mile recreational running event. British Journal of Sports Medicine 44:598-604, 2010.
3. Marti, B., et al. On the epidemiology of running injuries. The 1984 Bern Grand-Prix study.
American Journal of Sports Medicine 16(3):285-94, 1988.

Last night Brent started talking to me about a part of the podcast pertaining to cortisol and ejaculation (primarily masturbation in the podcast). Since we recorded it about three weeks ago, it rekindled his (our?) interest in it. I became interested in seeing what kind of research was done on ejaculation, testosterone, and cortisol. The results are compelling.

First Study: Effects of ejaculation on levels of testosterone, cortisol, and luteinizing hormone in peripheral plasma of rhesus monkeys.

[spoiler show=”Show the details of this study” hide=”Hide the details of this study”]Okay…there’s a lot going on here. Let me highlight it for you.

Mean levels of T and LH did not increase significantly after coitus or in control (no ejaculation) tests, but cortisol levels did in both cases

Oh, okay, that’s kind of interesting. Wait? They got some of the monkeys horny and then didn’t let them ejaculate? Christ, this is worse than water boarding.

In 10 different males, no significant change was found in the plasma levels of T after electroejaculation; but in control tests (electric current withheld)…

Wait, what? Electroejaculation? Lemme wikipedia that shit…OH MY GOD??? First they roofie the monkey, then an “electric probe is inserted into the rectum adjacent to the prostate”. That’s French for “they stick something in his ass” and then shock him into cumming. While this may be regular practice in 47% of Catholic churches, it’s a new concept to me.

The effects on T levels produced by living with sexually receptive female rhesus monkeys may differ from those produced by intimate but brief contact with them.

Well, duh, no dude wants to sleep with his roommate. He hears her sit on the toilet and has to listen to her all day (the reciprocal is also true).
[/spoiler]

Second Study: Factors influencing sexual performance in male rhesus monkeys.
This ought to be good.
[spoiler show=”Show the details of this study” hide=”Hide the details of this study”]

A 5-yr retrospective study of the sexual behavior of eight adult male rhesus monkeys showed that sexual vigor declined over the years but testosterone levels in peripheral vein plasma did not.

No doubt “sexual vigor” has been quantified, but god damn is it weird to imagine unshaven researchers looking in a cage and trying to figure out how sexy this monkey has or hasn’t been lately.

Eight different adult male rhesus strangers-present in the room but not in the test cage-were used as stimuli, one for each experimental test.

Ehhh…they brought in strangers to strip. I bet they wore masks.
[/spoiler]

Third Study: Luteinizing hormone, testosterone, and behavioral response of male-oriented rams to estrous ewes and rams.
[spoiler]If watching a bunch of rams having sex all day wasn’t enough…
“All right, it’s gonna get a little weird. We’re gonna watch gay rams have sex.”
[/spoiler]

Fourth Study: Hormonal changes when falling in love
[spoiler show=”Show the details of this study” hide=”Hide the details of this study”]

FSH and testosterone levels were lower in men in love

Welp, that about settles it, then.

…wait, what was I searching?
[/spoiler]

Fifth Study: A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men.

[spoiler show=”Show the details of this study” hide=”Hide the details of this study”]

On the 7th day of abstinence, however, a clear peak of serum testosterone appeared, reaching 145.7% of the baseline ( P < 0.01).

7 DAYS? Maaaan…fucking forget it. [/spoiler]

There’s gonna be some construction going on with the site. If you see something weird, that’s why.