PR Friday – 13 SEP

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Justin

Harder

Getting stronger is a process that demands that you get smarter by learning from mistakes. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? You just go to the gym, have a “workout”, get strong, occasionally mess up, but fix it and keep “working out”…right?

No, sir. The process of training is grueling. It can be fun when training with friends, pumping loud music, having a grand ol’ time. But for most of us, we don’t get that luxury. We’re in a gym, a garage, or a “fitness adventure”…alone with our thoughts. There isn’t anyone there to encourage crushing the first set of squats or to hit a sixth snatch in a row. Each set, each rep requires that you make a decision: “Do I give it my all here?” Doing it on every rep isn’t easy.

It would be pretty easy to not try. It would be easy to slack on some reps, to not bounce the hell out of a squat or not finish the pull on your cleans. Sure, it’d be easy. It’d be so easy to quit. It’s much easier to quit than do something hard, so why bother?

Fuck. That. Never avoid doing something that’s hard. Avoiding “hard” makes you a coward, and you can never experience or learn anything by being a coward. By convincing yourself to do something that’s hard when you don’t want to, you won’t just grow physically. You display a quality of strength that correlates and resonates far beyond the barbell. By overcoming the difficult, that process sets you up for success. Your thoughts formulate your feelings, your feelings compose your emotions, your emotions are exhibited through your actions, and your actions define who you are. By structuring your thoughts to tackle difficult challenges, to strive towards success regardless of the obstacle, you formulate into a better person. You manifest into 70’s Big.

Happy PR Friday (post PR’s to comments)

Office to Octagon followup

Posted on September 12, 2013 by smithb9

A few months back I posted an article from my friend Brendan about training for MMA and leading up to his charity event: a full scale, sanctioned fight night that happened in Boston. Today’s post is a followup to the original article, with a recap of training and the event, and what the future holds for Brendan and O2O

dat mustache

The dust has settled from what was the most exciting and stressful three-month period of my life.

Daily schedules in the weeks leading up to the fight night would require as many as three full screen shots on my IPhone to capture everything.

My close relationships suffered as did my own training, but everyone around me understood that this was something being done for the greater good and that for anything great sacrifice must be part of it.

The fighters who participated made all types of sacrifices, no booze, no weed, no hamburgers, no ice cream, everyone eliminated one of their guilty pleasures.

We all put our social lives on hold, at least the heavy partying, and went to work. We raised over $100K through ticket sales, donations, our fighter date auction, and apparel sales. Lost a combined 300+ pounds and redefined charity.

More than what was raised is what was found. Fighters stumbled upon parts of themselves that they didn’t know existed. It truly was a sink or swim scenario. But this all took place before anyone ever stepped into the cage. Over 50 individuals registered from the thousands who pursued the opportunity. Of the 50 only 16 competed.

The fight night itself was electric. It was like gladiators competing for glory. A broken hand and two separated shoulders later we had made history as being the first sanctioned amateur MMA fight in downtown Boston. Commissioners who have been attending fights for 20+ years said it was by far one of the best events they have ever been to. We brought a class and coolness to the sport that has yet to be seen. Our last fight, Bean VS. Mullin is up for Fight of the Year honors on Mass MMA.

More importantly we brought about awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic in our country. Which if we are not careful with be the downfall of our economy. So even if you aren’t passionate about obesity prevention, I am sure we can all agree on our passion for the well being of our country and maintaining our super power status.

a packed house watching the action

The immediate question after the event was, “When are you doing this again?!”. So today I am announcing that O2O 2 will take place in February of 2014. Contact me at brendan@officetooctagon.com if you or someone you know might be interested in competing.

In the end I lost my fight, but there is no doubt we all won that evening. Nearly three months after the fact I am ready to do it all over again. It is time that we start fighting for something we believe in. Choose your cause, register to fight, and change your life.

Brendan “Bonesaw” McKee is a CPT and CF-L1 trainer, and former NFL Europe athlete. He is currently the owner of OfficetoOctagon.com, MFD Training, and a OneResult.com contributor. His passion lies in helping underprivileged youths, and sculpting his extraordinary mustache.

Guest Post from Mike’s Brother: “Stay Strong Ricky”

Posted on September 9, 2013 by smithb9

Asking the 70’s Big community and any willing individual for a hand!

And there is a Press challenge for you!

this is Alex

Hey guys,

Some of you may remember me from a year or so ago when I competed at the 2012 Arnold Raw Challenge with Mike and Chris. My name is Alex Battaglino and I’m Mike’s younger brother. Back when I was living in Texas with Mike I competed in powerlifting with many of the fan favorites on the site, though I was never was directly involved with posting.

Recently my brother had posted an article and challenge regarding Van Hatfield’s daughter Bre, many of you (including myself) submitted videos and pictures in response, and showed tremendous support for a very worthy cause. Well it seems that the time has come once again to ask for support and assistance to another worthy cause, that directly affects a brother lifter!

To keep a long story somewhat short my lady friend, who also happens to share my name, has had a personal hardship fall upon her family. Her cousin Ricky Fullana was involved in a motor vehicle accident which has left him in very rough shape. Without getting into much detail all involved know that he has a very long road of recovery ahead of him, and is currently in intensive care at a local hospital. Ricky is a strong, athletic, and intelligent young man, he is in need of your support in any way that we may be able to offer it.

this is Ricky

One thing that I must mention is that Ricky’s father Jimmy is an avid powerlifter. At the age of 50 years young he became seriously involved in training and competing, and embodying everything that 70’s Big stands for. He, like many of us, shares a passion for getting under the bar, blocking out everything else, and getting stronger. As a man with a wife and four children he still finds his way to the gym to train and keep getting stronger.

Today when I was at the hospital visiting his son and family, Jimmy came from his son’s room, strong as a rock and sat down with all of us. Not wanting to dwell on any negative thoughts, he and I began talking about training, lifting, different training modalities, how to get stronger etc. Even in the face of adversity this man continues to have passion and drive for the sport of powerlifting. I think it would be great if the 70’s Big community showed our strength and support for his son, that needs our prayers and well wishes. This site is a community of strong individuals and with our support we can help Ricky, as young man with much to accomplish, overcome a tremendous obstacle. Show support for Ricky here, and let us all share our thoughts and prayers with this young man, and his family.

It wouldn’t be a 70’s Big charitable donation without a bit of challenge, so post a video of you going for a 1RM/3RM/5RM Press (or however many reps you are inclined to do), and be sure to include a sign with the saying “Stay Strong Ricky”.

PR Friday – 6 SEP

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Justin

Smarter

Chalk floats softly through the air. The thumping of your heart is all you hear, all you feel. You step to the bar and place your hands on it, feeling the cold knurling on callused hands. The whirling hurricane of emotion settles into the eye of the storm, the peaceful moment when you have to make a decision to begin.

If you’ve found yourself on the receiving end of an ass kicking by gravity, I can feel your disappointment, irritation, and likely rage. Missing reps is common among lifting, yet dealing with them is not. Powerlifters can go months without missing a single rep to experience the ultimate let down on a third attempt. Weightlifters who push themselves will miss in each workout, but it doesn’t make it any easier. After the initial moments of rage subside, remember that each missed rep is a learning opportunity.

The process of getting stronger is dependent on how you react to failure, and failure will be prevalent. In order to get stronger, you have to get smarter, and you get smarter by analyzing what went wrong, how to fix it, and doing it better next time. This may require a hard look at recovery methods (food, sleep, etc.), the program (levels of volume or intensity throughout the week and over time), and technique (inefficiencies in movement and bar path). The possibility may exist that you didn’t have any business attempting that weight, but you won’t know until you try. There’s always a reason for failure, but it’s up to you (and the coach) to figure out why. Otherwise you won’t get smarter about getting stronger.

Happy PR Friday (post PR’s to comments)

Mike Interviews Robert Oberst

Posted on September 3, 2013 by smithb9

Robert Oberst is a Professional Strongman that recently represented the U.S. in Sanya, China at the 2013 World’s Strongest Man. Official results are not available, but remember, Google is your friend…

Mike: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Robert: Robert Oberst, 28 years old, 400 lbs, 6’8”, and I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California.

Mike: Have you always been into strength sports? (you look like you may have played football)

Robert: I got into strength sports a little less than 2 years ago. Before that I played football for what seemed like FOREVER!!

Mike: How did you get into strongman?

Robert: I first got into strongman through my buddy Evan. We were working security at a bar together and it’s all he’d ever talk about so I decided to try it with him one day and LOVED it.

Mike: What kind of training split do you have between gym lifts and strongman events? And what are some of your PR’s?

Robert: My training split is pretty normal. 3 days in a regular gym and one long day of events, but when I was training for worlds I did an extra day of events. As for PR’s, you gotta sweat in a gym with me to get that info.

Mike: Where do you train? Do you train alone, with a steady group of people?

Robert: I train at a local gym in Hanford, CA and do events at my or a buddies house. Just recently my dad retired and is at all my training sessions and I usually have at least one more guy, my buddy Aram.

Mike: What is your diet like?

Robert: Nathan Payton does my diet and it’s basically a lot of clean protein. I eat 3 1/2 pounds of meat a day. If you wanna know what else I eat you gotta ask Nathan.

Mike: You’ve risen pretty quickly in strongman, what do you attribute that to?

Robert: There are several reasons I’ve risen so fast in the ranks of strongman. Obviously I work my butt off. You’ve gotta earn it cuz it won’t be handed to you. I also have the greatest support anyone could ever ask for. My family is obsessed with my success and always willing to do anything to help including supporting me when nobody else will. My wife has been stronger than I can ever dream to be. She takes care of everything and never slows down for a second. She’s so supportive and involved that she has more nervousness for shows than I do. When a show ends it takes her longer to recover than me!

Mike: Other than winning World’s Strongest Man, what are your goals in the sport?

Robert: I haven’t set super high goals for now. All I want is to be the strongest man who ever walked the earth.

Mike: If you could give any advice to anyone wanting to turn strongman from a hobby into a lifestyle, what would you tell them?

Robert: There’s too much talent now in this sport to half ass it, so if you aren’t sure or you just wanna do enough to look cool online DON’T cuz you’re only in the way.

Mike: What percentage of your power comes from your beard? In a one-on-one fight, would your beard defeat Andrew Palmer’s?

Robert: I’d say whatever power doesn’t come from my family comes from the beard. Easily 40-50%. My beard has been taking Andrews beards lunch money since it was a 5 o’clock shadow!