A Mighty Pull: The Deadlift

The most misunderstood and underutilized lift is the deadlift. One of the most common chores an individual must do is picking stuff up off the ground. It could be groceries, small to medium sized children, bags of salt, sand, or cement, books, weeds, dog crap and the list goes on. Most people have never thought about how to pick things up with efficient ideal bio-mechanics that protect the spine from injury and use the proper musculature. Back injuries are far too common and often stem from poor mechanics and/or the lack of supporting musculature. Wouldn't it make sense to devise an exercise that teaches good lifting form and strengthens the back such that the chance of spinal injuries occurring is minimized? Yes I agree! That is what the deadlift does. If you want to protect that all important spinal column and be able to lift sickening amounts of weight, learn how to deadlift properly and train it hard.

Franco Columbu pulling well over 700 pounds

Training Update May 19, 2012

Finally a decent week of training. My squat has been crappy for a while. I don't know if it is a mental barrier or what but I can't conjure the testicular fortitude to move past 285. I changed my squat routine to ramping up to 1 heavy set of five at the beginning and the end of the week with a light day in the middle. We'll see how it works.

Training Update May 12, 2012

Now I am just being a pansy. Two weeks with only 3 sessions. Horrible.

Training Update May 5, 2012

Another conference got in the way of training.

The Most Dangerous Exercise: The Bench Press

A sure way to die is to put a few hundred pounds on the anterior portion of your neck while lying down. Really, the only way give this hypothetical situation a chance to occur is to bench press. The squat, deadlift, clean, and even the press have all been incorrectly labeled as dangerous to your back shoulders or knees for some silly reason by some stupid person or group. In reality these exercises are extremely safe when done correctly. In fact they are far more safe than the beloved bench press. Don't get me wrong the bench press is great and just because it is dangerous doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Riding a bike in traffic is pretty darn dangerous but people make a choice to do it everyday because the benefits (for them not me) outweigh the risk. The best way to build upper body strength is to bench press and in order to do that safely you have to be smart about it.