Guess the quote:
“Hey, Big Mike, how are you doing?”
Enough about me, let’s talk about some strong guys.
Werner Günthör was a Swiss shot putter in the late eighties and early nineties. He won a European Championship (1986), a World Indoor Championship (1991), some World Championships (1987, 1991, 1993), competed in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympics, and won a Bronze Medal in the 1988 summer games.
Aside from success as a thrower, Günthör is 6’7″, 280 pounds with a solid ’ stache and a feverish mullet. Observe…
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Here’s a picture of 70’s Big HoF shoe-in John Kuc from the 1979 World Powerlifting Championships. Kuc is pulling 859 lbs in the 242 class to total 2127 lbs — both world records at the time. This meet also had other powerlifting greats such as Lamar Gant, Larry Pacifico, and Bill Kazmaier winning their respective weight classes. On a side note, Rip has the original Powerlifting USA magazine that originally published this photo. He has tons of magazines, and I’ll be scanning pictures out of them soon — especially of the good lookin’ ladies.
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I received a video from 70’s Big enthusiast Mike from Mississippi. He lost his arm when he was fifteen in a machine related accident, but he is figuring out ways to train his 6’6″, 288 pound frame. The bar he’s using in this video is bent all to hell, but he still manages to front squat 135 with his one good arm. You can read more about him and his training here. Oh, and he’s also sporting the 70’s Big t-shirt. Lookin’ good, Mike, lookin’ good.
If you guys have any videos of you or your trainees training, send them on in.
Off to Seattle this weekend to work a barbell seminar. Eat well and recover this weekend.
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I’ve been training pretty hard since January, and focused that training on Olympic weightlifting a few months ago. There have been plenty of times where I didn’t feel like training. Plenty of times between sets where I didn’t know how I was going to summon the energy for the next one. But I always have. Admittedly part of that is due to an ability to induce an adequate release of adrenaline (a topic for another time), but that has to start with a proper mindset.
First, decide how important training is. For me, if I am going to train for something, I’m going to do it right, and my trainees will be the same. Even when I played football in high school and college, I never let anyone work harder than me. Performing to my best ability was the goal then, and it certainly is the goal now. If I slack on a given training session, then I don’t get stronger and better. If I don’t get stronger and better now, then I don’t hit my goals in the next lifting meet. That, my friends, is not an option. If improving through training is just not that important to you, then you should redefine your goals and your intentions. At that point you aren’t training, you’re just working out.
Let’s assume training is important to you for whatever reason. Depending on the goal, sport, or activity, there are many motivational factors for those days you “feel tired”. It isn’t my job to give you a list of these factors. It’s just my job to give you a kick in the ass to figure them out yourself. I don’t have time for people who “feel tired” when I coach, and I don’t have time for it on 70’s Big either.
There is a guy at our gym named Ronnie. He’s 60 years old, about 6’2″, 260 pounds and has been training at WFAC since he was 52. In the CrossFit Total Meet (lifting meet that consists of the squat, standing press, and deadlift) we had at the gym in February, Ronnie squatted 363. He went for 385, but it was dumped over his head, and he pulled his hamstring in the process. His recovery was arduous because of his age, but he stuck with it and eventually recovered. A couple months ago an MRI showed 3 bulging discs in his cervical spine. This caused the muscles in his left shoulder and triceps area to give out during pressing and bench pressing. Ron went from repping 225 for sets of twenty on the bench to barely being able to bench 135. He’s had one set back after another.
I started working with him so that we could figure out how to train around and through this problem while at the same time improving his squat given his cervical limitations. While working on the neuro deal, we tweaked the squat form, then worked the strength back up.
One day Ron came in the gym, and the man was tired. He was moving into a new house, running his furniture business, making his wife and granddaughters happy, and you could tell he was drained.
“How ya doin’, Ron?”
“I’m tired.”
Well, you know what Ron did next? He strapped on his belt, stretched his hamstrings, and started squatting. He didn’t complain, didn’t bitch — just continued loading the bar. We slapped on 300 pounds. 300 pounds for the man who hadn’t such weight on his back since dumping the 385 over his head 8 months previous (sorry about that, Ron! –> I was a spotter). 300 pounds for the man with the three bulging discs. 300 pounds for the man who was tired. Ron stepped up to the bar, un-racked it, and squatted it five times.
If a 60 year old man can come in tired — legitimately tired — and squat 300 pounds for a set of five, then some how you can find the energy and the balls to get through your training session when “you’re tired”. I know I do.
Ron, born in 1949, wants to know if he is 40’s Big
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I had a request for a video of me snatching, so I delivered. In this training session I am just doing some light singles at 110 kilograms to practice getting under the bar. Red, white, and blue, baby.
Note: I don’t need anybody pointing out any faults you may see. Not only do I feel them precisely at the time that they occur, but I can see them in the video since I coach this shit. I also don’t care that you have a friend that is stronger than me; this is not a “penis length” contest.
BBQ in Texas means brisket. And brisket is the featured item in the inaugural edition of the 70’s Big Cookbook.
Brisket might be the ideal 70’s Big food because it has massive amounts of protein, a good bit of fat, and no carbs until you break out the Stubb’s BBQ sauce. Brisket comes from the tough underside of the cow and must be cooked for a long time at low temperatures to break down the collagen and other fibers to make it tender.
The following video shows me preparing a brisket and removing it from the smoker 20 hours later. The first segment runs about five minutes because I talk about the virtue of brisket as a 70’s Big food. Yes, I could have simply written these comments out and saved you four minutes of viewing, but you will be a better person for having stared at 24 pounds of red meat.
The second segment shows me removing the meat from the smoker and includes cameos from pork ribs and sausage, as well as a little post-cooking commentary.
The total yield from this cook, and their respective smoking times, is two briskets (20 hours), pork ribs (6 hours), and sausage (3 hours).
Brisket is easy to make and good to eat on damn near anything. Like linear progression, there are no secrets to good briskets. It simply takes raw flesh, a willing participant, and TIME.
Happy eating.
Prepped briskets
70's Big never rests
About to wrap after 14 1/2 hours of smoke
Ribs prepped the same way. Added right after briskets were wrapped.
Greatness!
Fork-tender brisket, finger-lickin' ribs, and succulent smoked sausage make for an excellent 70's Big meal.
If you missed Rippetoe’s interview with Iron Radio, you can find it here.
Rip didn’t have some of his facts straight about some of the lifters here at the WFAC. Zach is one of the guys mentioned in the interview who has had a lot of success since he’s been at the gym. Zach has been training here for 9 weeks, and here are his actual numbers (all lifting numbers are for three sets of five, power cleans are five sets of three):
Body weight: 162 –> 210
Squat: 155 –> 295
Press: 85 –> 125
Deadlift: 225 –> 285
Bench: 165 –> 197
Power Clean: 50 kg –> 70 kg
The program he used was the standard linear progression that is outlined in Starting Strength. Zach eats a lot of food, drinks a lot of milk, and has gone from a guy who is 90’s Small to a guy on a quest to 70’s Big. Oh, and for all of you confused critics, he may have gained 8 pounds of fat, but I doubt it’s that much. Well worth it for the increase in strength, size, and muscle mass.
If you have anybody that has had a lot of success with gaining strength and bodyweight, send it on in.
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Someone wrote in and requested a video of me doing some power cleans. I had meant to film my training today when I power cleaned and jerked 140 kg for five singles, but I forgot. Instead, I filmed the second set of squats I did immediately following the C&J. Notice the Pacifico-style glasses and socks. If you want to send in some videos of you or anybody that you coach lifting, send it on in.
Well, Halloween was a success. Too much of a success. I’m only gonna post some pictures because my brain is still recovering. The pictures I have are pretty good, so keep them coming.
This here is Stephen from Cincinnati. As you can tell, he’s got it goin’ on.
Nice use of the stache and ladies.
Tossing women over his shoulder!
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These pictures are from some Air Force guys in Las Vegas at Nellis AFB. The gentlemen of the 58th RQS had a “wear your costume to work” day in their unit. All in a day’s work.
275 on the bar, and looking good too
Think of happy thoughts -- 275 on the bar
Chucky is handling 325 like the homicidal maniac he is
