Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas

Edit: Today is PR Friday too. Weight lifted, body weight gained, food eaten, etc. Post a PR to the comments.

Yesterday I mentioned a program that is a nice combination of barbell training and conditioning (there was not an emphasis on explaining the conditioning, but I digress). Today I want to highlight a very basic novice program that will not only help a novice to increase their strength, but their performance in the Olympic lifts as well. It looks like this:

Monday — Clean and jerk (heavy), Snatch (light)
Tuesday — Squat, Press, Chin-ups
Wednesday — OFF
Thursday — Snatch (heavy), Clean and Jerk (light)
Friday — Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift

The basic idea is that the Olympic lifts are done before the strength workouts so that there is not fatigue for the Olympic lifts. I like to put clean and jerks at the beginning of the week because after having the weekend to rest, the novice lifter should be able to consistently drive the weight up on this lift. The deadlift is done at the very end of the week because I do not want it to interfere with any of the Olympic lifting done earlier in the week.

The key here is that this is a novice program. It will not work for someone who has a more advanced state of adaptation because the days start to interfere with each other (for example, the pressing done on Tuesday will interfere with Thursday’s snatch workout). This set up works well with trainees who are learning the Olympic lifts as well as younger athletes who are still able to adapt to stress on a daily basis. If you guys remember the video of Bryan squatting 495x5x3 (and he has since done 505x5x3), he is on this particular program along with having two minor league practice sessions a week. A trainee will not be able to handle this workout for very long because eventually the stress will become to high to recover from.

Keep that in mind, because this will only work with certain people. We have been tinkering with it at the WFAC for about five months, and this should allow the novice to learn the lifts, and increase everything on a weekly basis. Certain days will require one of the Olympic lifts to be done light, and this should be taken seriously. Ten singles in the clean and jerk done every two minutes or 15 singles in the snatch done every minute would work well for the light workout. The key is to consistently practice good technique and the weight lifted is totally irrelevant. The slow lifts can be increased in a similar manner to the linear progression. Again, this is all dependent on the individual, so use your brain, or hopefully your coach uses his.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments. If some of this post does not make sense, it is because I have been playing pool and drinking for a few hours in my mom’s basement. Sue me.

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And here is an impromptu Merry Christmas from a few of us fellows at the WFAC dicking around:

Notice AC’s laugh at the end.

Making Conversions

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“And how did I know what to say? (whispering) The words were written down for me in a script.”

Some of you may remember an article I posted around August of this year that was a combination of barbell training and general physical preparedness. I’ve decided not to post the original article because some of the terminology is not entirely accurate and it needs updating. However, the basic outline of the program included strength workouts on Monday and Thursday and conditioning workouts on Tuesday and Friday. It is designed for a novice who for some reason opts not to gain strength as quickly and wants to improve their conditioning (useful for folks in the military).

Monday — Squat, Press, Power Clean
Tuesday — Chin-ups, Conditioning
Wednesday — OFF
Thursday — Squat, Bench, Deadlift
Friday — Conditioning

This program can be considered the gateway from a conditioning-only exercise regime to a what more closely resembles a training program. Taking people who do not strength train and having them squat, press, and pull twice a week is incredibly important. For sports that require a conditioning base, this program would be useful, but it isn’t optimal for the general strength trainee. If we want to grow adult males and make people stronger, then they may need to be eased into a program like this. Conversions to useful training may not be automatic. More conversions means more strong people which means more defense against the inevitable zombie outbreak. Inevitable.

I mention this program because it is the basis for the novice Olympic weightlifting program we have been tinkering around with at the WFAC. There have been some questions about it, so we will talk about it tomorrow. Enjoy your Christmas Eve.

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We also have a collection of really dorky videos ready for the site.

70’s Big: Short discussion on what’s to come . . . from 70s Big on Vimeo.

Steroids: Part I

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Anabolic steroids.

If you train with and around people that lift heavy weights, you know at least three people that are on steroids. If you don’t, then you are either naïve to that fact or you’re not really training heavy.

This is the first installment in what will be a multi-part discussion on the hows, whys, and what-fors of steroid use. If you’ve been in the iron game for awhile, you’re not going to learn anything new. If you’re reading this stuff for the first time, you’re not going to learn as much as you would from a good site on anabolics. The point of this article is to get the geared up elephant out of the room and clear up one unfortunate misconception.

I’m going to give away the ending so the 70’s Big detractors can quit reading. Yes, Doug Young, Anatoly Pisarenko, and company took steroids. Damn right. Back in the day, they stacked their stacks. Breakfast was meat, eggs, black coffee, and DBol. Lunch was a cigarette and 200mg of Cyp. They had more test than a boy band. But to say that this is the only reason they were champions is short-sighted and ignorant.

Roger Estep could have passed CrossFits drug test but not WADAs

Roger Estep could have passed CrossFit's drug test but not WADA's


For the record, 70’s Big advocates hard, clean training. The guys that are shown lifting on this site—Justin, AC, and Chris—are all natural. I know this because I’ve seen them train and I’ve seen their logs, but mostly because I’ve seen them in person. They are strong as hell and densely muscled, but they don’t have the look (we will talk about the look later).

I want to address a Rip quote that has been taken out of context numerous times. A guy asked Rip about taking steroids while doing linear progression and got this response:

“There are no shortcuts. The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy. Let me be clear here: if you”d rather take steroids than do your squats heavy and drink enough milk, then you are a fucking Pussy. I have no time or patience for fucking Pussies. Please tell everyone you know that I said this.”

Most people cite this for the proposition that steroids are a shortcut and bad in all instances. This is wrong, and it is not what Rip meant.

The linear progression program in Starting Strength works. If you work your ass off in the gym and in the kitchen, you will get stronger every week and add muscle. Thousands of people have figured this out. There is no point in short-cutting a process that gets more weight on the bar every time you lift. Rip took issue with the fact that the guy was looking to avoid time in the gym.

Our co-captains were in a different situation. At the elite levels of sport, there are no shortcuts. At that level, progression is limited by the ability to recover. The Piz didn’t juice so he could miss workouts. He used so he could work more, work longer, and work harder. That is a key distinction.

There are no shortcuts to a 733# deadlift at 220 while wearing short shorts.


The bottom line is that you can and should squat, deadlift, and eat your way to male adulthood (over 200 pounds) and beyond. No alternatives should be considered until you are well into intermediate programming (if ever). We’ll talk about what some people do next in a future issue.

Next: Chemistry, Benefits, Side Effects, and Misconceptions

Letter of Intent Day

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Justin and AC are traveling to Georgia today. I don”t know if he”ll get to comments and emails or not.

What are you going to do in 2010?

Today is 70s Big Letter of Intent Day where we commit to competition in 2010. It’s where we state our competitive goals for the coming year. If you’re already competing in something, stay the course. If not, browse the web, find a local comp, and circle the date.

I don’t want to hear any crap about how you can’t win. Competition isn’t all about winning at the amateur level as much as it is learning about yourself. Hell, I don’t win most of the stuff I compete it (in fighting, you have the added benefit of possibly breaking something or being choked unconscious), but I keep going back, and I get better every time.

Guess who did linear progression.

Guess who did linear progression.



Competition puts your training into focus. A date on the calendar forces you to taper your program (hell, HAVE a program), tweak your nutrition (especially if you’re in a weight class), and arrange your schedule (sleep comes to mind).

You also get instant feedback on your training program. You will quickly find out if you did too much or too little conditioning, spent too much benching and not enough squatting, or didn’t work your technique enough.

You also learn game day management. I’m talking about how to pick lifts, when to warm up, what and how much to drink before your event, and the myriad other things that don’t come up during training. This can ONLY be learned by competing. Most of it is learned by watching and asking other competitors, many of whom will become your friends.

Everybody reading this could at least do a PL or OLY meet. If you’re a CrossFitter, find (or host) a CrossFit Total competition (and make sure the damn thing is run correctly). If you’re not close to one of those places, find a training group, and enter a Tactical Strength Challenge. Find SOMETHING.

Finally, manage your expectations. If you’re squatting 400 in training, don’t open with 500. You probably won’t win your first time out, either. And that’s ok. But you’ll learn a lot that you can take back to the gym with you.

Consider Jared Allen your inspiration for the day.


I’ll go first:
• Win gold at the Texas Brown Belt Championships. I took silver last year, but I want the big prize.
• Get three scoring throws in the caber at a Highland Games. I won the novice division at a Games next year and threw the B caber for one score. I don’t expect to make any noise in the B’s, but I’d like to throw that damn pole.
• Go 100/130 at an OLY meet. This would force me to actually practice the lifts. Since I only do power versions of the lifts, this sounds pretty reasonable.
• Enter and finish a mountain bike race. It’s been four years since the last one.
• Schedule permitting, do either a Strongman competition or a Masters Track Meet.

Da Kaz Is Da Man

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“You gotta problem, bro?”

Everybody loves Bill Kazmaier.

Compilation video:

In this video, Kazmaier and John Gamble wrestle. Gamble weighs 290, and The Kaz weighs 345 and not only dwarfs him, but dominates him.

From a powerlifting meet:

And this is kinda funny…

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Some friends visited the WFAC and we have been busy filming plenty of content. Stay tuned this week for some interesting videos.

The 70’s Big t-shirt is on display. Yeah c’mon.

The 70’s Big t-shirt is on display. Yeah c’mon.