Demonic Drivel Dynamically Defies Dudes

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“He’s fading. He needs Elvish medicine.”

You’re training hard, right? You go in the gym or garage, do stuff that is hard, and you feel better about yourself. Some times, you may not feel a little tired, but you think, “Man, I don’t want Mark Rippetoe or any of my friends on 70’s Big to call me a pussy, so I’ll train (choo choo) anyway.” And that’s how it goes.

Well, proceed with caution, my friends. Eventually that tired feeling may be a bit more than the “I’m sleepy blues”. You may actually have HIV, or some derivative thereof. Okay, maybe a little less severe, but you may be legitimately sick, and training may even exacerbate your condition.

The other day I had a PR on a sloppy snatch day (that never gets old). I got 127.5, and proceeded to miss 130 three times even though I racked it overhead each time. Later, I was pinned by a 155 kilo clean and was baffled (I’ve done 165 and front squatted 170 for a few triples after training the week before Christmas). Well, turns out I was in the beginning stages of having what I am convinced is some horrific ancient ailment, one that only Elvish medicine can cure. Saturday evening I was on my deathbed for 18 hours with a fever from hell, chills, and had aches and pains that were analogous to getting my ass kicked by fourteen hoodlums that looked like Doug Young.

There were a few hours on Saturday where I felt like I could actually train, but I didn’t because I was busy coaching. Had I done so, it probably would have left me worse off than I eventually was on Saturday evening. Furthermore, I thought I was just having a shitty training session on Thursday, but it was actually the development of the devilish disease that dawned demonically with dastardly defiance.

You will learn through time what the difference is between a sniveling cold that you can train through and dark magic. Accept the fact that you may not know this difference right now, and take caution when you feel a bit under the weather. If you suspect that training will make your condition worse, you have my permission to take the day off. Be careful out there…the world can be a dangerous place.

———-

Do you guys remember that picture of Yosh, the dude who deadlifted 480 at a body weight of 165? Well he weighs 182 now. Partly because he ate 8 McDoubles at once. Jesus, I know. It was 3,120 calories and 176 grams of protein. Nice job, Yosh. You set the bar.

It would have been better if he wrote that in with a marker

8 McDoubles


Chicken Fried Awesome

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I hope everyone had a good holiday and is ready to climb back under a bar. As promised, here is some more footage on how to prepare a simple version of an outstanding 70’s Big offering from Texas.



The finished product.

The finished product.





Chicken fried steak is a piece of tenderized steak that is coated in seasoned flour, pan fried, and served with cream gravy (Yankees screw this part up and serve it with brown gravy or, ketchup, which is even worse). It is similar to Wiener Schnitzel (VEE ner!) and was brought to the promised land by German immigrants. Historians guess it originated in Bandera, but I’d like to think that some Texan from New Braunfels sopped his biscuit with gravy outside of the saloon at Gruene and claimed the dish as his own.



CFS has amazing utility. Like pizza or fried chicken, it can be eaten any time of day. It can also be combined with most of the things it is served with. Drag a bit of CFS through your gravy mashed potatoes. Make a breakfast sandwich with fried potatoes and toast. It’s all good.



There are a lot of regional variations and personal touches you can add. What I’m showing you is a very simple recipe that will have your guests licking their fingers and asking for more.



You’ll need:
* tenderized cubed steaks
* flour
* seasoning (S&P are fine)
* eggs
* milk
* cooking oil (vegetable is fine)
* potatoes



The first video talks you through the prep and putting it in the pan. The second is a quick mid-cook check. The third video goes into making gravy and mashed potatoes. Timing is crucial here because you want everything to be served hot. Sorry for the length. I hope they’re helpful.






The plan is to eventually expand the FAQ into more general matters and include a video recipe section in the nutrition part. Submissions are welcome so long as the recipe promotes strength. There will be a link to new videos from the main page article, so don’t worry about your fine work going unnoticed. Happy eating.



Edit: I want your help in closing out the Texas Three Step. I’m talking about BBQ, CFS, and chili. I’ve done two, and I want to get y’all involved. Send me a recipe or a clip [gantgrimes@gmail.com], and we’ll get it on the site. It can be measured to the teaspoon, or you can ballpark it like me (but remember chili’s heritage…). No beans, please.



Edit 2: Casa Manana in Wichita Falls has a dish called chili steak, where two piece of greatness are combined. It features TWO chicken fried steaks (floured but not battered) covered with chili con carne and cheese. It’s served with the mandatory red taco.



Edit 3: This comes from the late great Jerry Flemmons of Fort Worth, “As splendid and noble as barbecue and Tex-Mex are, both pale before the Great God Beef Dish, chicken fried steak. No single food better defines the Texas character; it has, in fact, become a kind of nutritive metaphor for the romanticized, prairie-hardened personality of Texans.”



That brings a tear to my eye.


2009 Recap

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“So what are you guys doin’ tonight?”
“Eh, just gettin’ 70’s Big.”

Edit: Damn it, it is PR Friday. Forgot to add it to the post. Body weight, weight lifted, clothes ripped, girls lifted over head, food eaten, etc. Post it all to comments.

70’s Big started this year on September 22nd and has grown from an inside joke to a thriving community of people focused on getting strong. One of our primary goals is to help change the mindset in people that skinny is not good, and being strong and useful is. I can’t think of any reason why being stronger would be a bad thing, and last time I checked, when a guy presses his girlfriend overhead, she giggles with glee.

I write the majority of the content for this site. While I’m not very good at it, I think I get the message across (even though some of you can’t understand when I say things tongue-in-cheek). My friend Gant always chimes in with insightful posts and interviews, my friends Chris and AC always give me sources of inspiration, and I just want to say Brent’s name so he doesn’t get upset again. Rip and co. have also been willing to help answer any questions that I have and make sure that my head is on straight.

My emphasis on this site always will be that getting stronger is going to help whatever it is you are trying to do (at the very least, living life). In order to get stronger, you must get bigger. This message has brought (at the time of me typing this) 417,620 total page views with the daily average now above 5,000 on a weekday and over 3,000 on both days in the weekend (Note: This is not the same as individual visitors, just individual page views). 70’s Big has been linked in Denmark, Germany, the UK, Australia, in the far reaches of North America, and probably some other European countries (I got an e-mail that was entirely in Czech the other day). A few days ago we were linked in the comments on the Huffington Post, which was amusing.

70sbig

Since this community continues to grow, I want to clarify that everybody is welcome on this website regardless of background. Lots of bodybuilding forums link to us, usually while shooting our philosophy down, but I still welcome that demographic if they aim to get stronger. Regardless of your goal or sport, if you are getting stronger, then you have come to the right place. This website will be most helpful if you are an obnoxiously skinny dude who weighs less than 200 pounds, but I assure you we will have more interesting stuff in the coming months.

I’d like to thank the readers/posters because you all have helped garner the idea that we are supportive of anyone trying to get strong. We are not a community that thinks we are better than others and we certainly are not locked into some ridiculous singular mindset (err…other than that stronger is better). Anyway, enough of this kiss-assery, I just hope you learn something beneath all of the eggnog and brisket.

With that being said, everyone is welcome to submit material to the website at any time. Videos and pictures are always welcome, but make them interesting enough to be posted. Content is always welcome from experienced lifters or competitors as they can give an insight into lots of things that us younger guys don’t understand yet. At the very least you will help me get through those slow days when it is 10:00 PM and I’m staring at the laptop screen irritated as hell. Fortunately I have an uncanny (or bullshit) ability to improvise.

Anyway, let’s get crackin’ on the new year. Whoever you are; right now, you are not strong enough. You are not big enough. You have work to do, especially if you are going to lift your girlfriend overhead.
Note: For the girls reading this, you’ll just be hotter when you’re stronger. If you are in a relationship where you can lift your boyfriend overhead, then you need to leave him and call me. Soon.

Oh, and this is your New Years present:

Tunes

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“Hello. How ’bout that ride in? I guess that’s why they call it Sin City.”

There is a lot of useless research done on how music affects performance. More importantly, most of us probably train to some kind of music. More than likely we will think that what someone else listens to is pretty terrible (and you can read this as “I probably don’t like whatever you are listening to”). In any case, it might be interesting to see what everyone likes to listen to as they train. Thus the social observation begins, go ahead and post your favorite stuff to listen to as you train to the comments.

I myself like to listen to Chicago, especially the first and second album. I like Led Zeppelin and Queen too. I’ve listened to the Black Keys recently. When I was still doing an intensity day for squat on the Texas Method (as well as the later stages of my linear progression) my favorite songs to squat to were

Chicago – I’m A Man
Led Zeppelin – When the Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin – Achilles Last Stand

Here is a video I posted a while back that has some of those songs (this was from the beginning of September):

But now I just let the album play out. I don’t need music to get my adrenaline up since I can get it extremely high mentally, but good music can help get you going when feeling lethargic.

———

A nice hearty breakfast.

A nice hearty breakfast.


How To Break In A New Belt

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“Who is but the form of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.”

In case any of you have been trying to order 70’s Big shirts, I did a poor job of re-supplying them when inventory was short. The delay in getting them delivered is my fault and has nothing to do with The Aasgaard Company. I’m pretty new to this kind of thing, so I’m learning from my mistakes.

———-

Some of you have been asking how to break in a new, stiff belt. Rip and Mike teach you how to do so in the following video. AC does the editing on these. That means the Kenny Loggins thing was his idea.

Breakin in that stiff belt from 70s Big on Vimeo.