When I sit down to write I already know that some people are not going to like what I have to say.

One of the reasons for this is due to the way I live my life.

I refuse to settle or skate through my day, I find average boring, I set goals and go after them with a passion. I strive to be the very best I can be. I know I’m not perfect but I do my best to be a “cut-above”

Many in society do not share my passion for life. This is ok, it is not for everyone and if it was then we would have more peope “doing” instead of “complaining”

When you write something that is the truth it often hurts those that can relate to it.

I only write from the heart and about things that I know for a fact are truthful. I heard a preacher once say if you know where it is in the book, and you can show it to the person then no debate is needed. Open the book, show them where the scipture is, walk away and let them chew on it.

That statement is powerful.

I feel the same way about things I write. Many times when I write the content can become realer than real for many because they can relate to the topic I’m writing about.

This dose of reality is hard for many to face.

Instead of being angry and complaining how about getting up and making something happen to better your life?

From unsubscribes to nasty comments to being told I’m a heartless person that picks on the weak. I have heard it all and been called even worse.

I have always said that I will not walk on egg shells and tell you what you want to hear. That would be a disservice to you and to my ethics as a man.

I am not afraid of what stares back at me in the mirror since everyday I look at how I can better myself.

I will continue to earn followers, subscribers and teach you how to become a better person.

But I will also lose some and continue to make others mad.

I’m fine with that.

At least I can go to bed at night knowing I told the truth and did my best to help someone become the best they can.

The Deadlift is a very demanding exercise, one that puts extreme tension on the lower back, legs, arms, traps, forearms and the hands. With this in mind in order to pull a maximum lift our deadlift grip must be strong enough to handle the load while under tension.

There are various forms of deadlifting:

• sumo style
• Romanian
• jefferson
• behind the back (hack style)
• partials
• round back
• flat back (the most common)

You must find which one suits you the best, meaning you might be weak at sumo deadlifting but strong at the conventional flat back deadlifting. Find what works for you and stay with this deadlift form until you build a good foundation.

All of these deadlift forms require a strong grip. The most common grip is the over/under also known as the switch grip. In my opinion this is the best  grip to use for maximum efficiency.

The reason I beleive this is because by placing one hand under the bar (like you were doing  a biceps curl) you tighten the bar into your hand by rolling it back into your fingers.

The hand that is over the bar with your palm facing down (like doing a reverse curl) is rolling the bar forward into your palm.

This over/under grip gives us the best chance of  ”locking” the bar into our hands for maximum power.

Here is a video of the over/under deadlift grip:

The next deadlift grip is called the double over. This was the preferred method used by deadlift legend Bob Peoples (my favorite deadlifter) at 180 plus pounds Bob pulled an astonishing 700lbs deadlift.

The double over deadlift grip is much harder to use because it puts your hands at a disadvantage. Without one hand under this puts much more emphasis on your fingers to take the brunt of the load.

In the over/under deadlift grip you have the luxury of your hand that is under the bar, with the palm facing up securing the bar in your palm. The double over grip the bar had the tendency to want to roll out of the fingers.

This is the reason why this grip is much more difficult.

I don’t use this grip, however if I do I will use straps. Wrist straps help lock you in to the bar ensuring us a better grip. There are many different companies that make straps. The best I have found are from:

www.aptprowriststraps.com &  www.ironmind.com

Both companies are good and the straps are very durable.

By using straps you are able to hold on to the bar even when your grip gives out. Often the forearm and fingers will get tired before the legs or back. If your grip gives up before the rest of your body then you can no longer pull.

Straps allow us to continue pulling even if our hands are fatigued.

Here is a video demonstrating the double overhand deadlift grip, with straps.

Though I only use straps when I absolutely have to they will save your hands and your forearms allowing you to finish the lift.

I suggest not using the straps on a regular basis as it is my experience that they will hinder you more than help you. Remember you must posses a good enough grip without the use of support. By using straps too much you will actually hurt your grip more than help it.

You must build enough grip strength and allow the hands to “callous” or harden up on their own. The hands will become sore, hardened, maybe even blister if you are new to the deadlift.

If you use straps, this paddens the hands thus equalling a weaker grip. Keep in mind I’m basing this off of someone that would want to compete in a deadlift competition. You cannot use straps in a meet. I would rather build up my hands to ensure max strength throughout my hands and forearms.

This will give me the best grip. Once you incorporate the use of straps into your workouts you will be able to handle even more weight which in turn provides more strength and muscle gained.

Find the best deadlift grip that works for you and start hoisting some iron off the floor.

The Machine

Here I' am in 1998

Me today at 37 years old and in the year 2012

I can remember as far back as my early teens when my buddies would be more interested in playing with their GI-Joes and Transformers toys than joining me for a training session of push-ups, pull-ups, and various abdominal exercises.

Girl-friends would say to me that they had never met someone with so many pictures of themselves.

Some of the other things I was told:

• You must really love yourself
• Boy, your cocky
• All you care about is working out
• all that muscle is going to turn to fat when you get older
• why are you so vain?
• your going to hurt yourself doing that
• your weird

But I never stopped keeping track of my progress, through pictures, and detailed notebooks of my training I kept going forward. I started at age 13 with my love of physical culture and I have never looked back.

The Machine at 13, the start of my journey of physical culture.

Through high school when my friends would go to parties, drink alcohol, smoke cigarette’s thinking it was cool, and participating in other recreational drugs I never did.

I stuck to my code of ethics, which back then I did not even realize I had nor what a code of ethics was. I did know that I would not let anything stand in my way of becoming as strong and physically fit as my body would let me.

Through the years I have seen what people have let themselves become. It is both saddening and pathetic. I see people my age, peers of mine that look like they are 10-20 years older than they really are.

I see the former top athlete and former miss popularity from high school resembling more of a broken down fat man and a disgusting, unset miserable housewife that both have given up on life.

These people represent most of our society that have settled and are skating through life. These are the people that point fingers at me and say that I’m stuck on myself, I think I’m better than everyone else and more incessant dribble from their chest heaving, out of breath mouth’s.

These are the same people that sit and ponder of what might have been, or that share stories of what they once were, or think to themselves if I only had done this!

I on the other hand am a practitioner of what I preach, I set the example and live by it. I walk the walk and talk the talk, I can back up everything I say through pictures, knowledge and most importantly by my actions:

• anytime
• anywhere
• and with or for anyone

I have been consistent for 24 years with discipline and a strong work ethic. I have failed many times but I have never quit. I have set goals and worked to achieve those goals. Many have fallen as I have crushed them and then few have still eluded me to this day awaiting the time when I too will crush those goals as well.

The fountain of youth has been here all along, people have just become to darn lazy to want to put the work in to see it.

Things that you want in life are not easy,it’s the things that you work hard for and fail at many times that become that much more precious when you attain them.

Our bodies are the most amazing thing we have on this earth yet many treat their vehicles better than their body. I’m not like the majority, I refuse to play into the poor me syndrome and the smoke and mirrors that the Politically correct police wants us to believe.

I will continue to treat my body as a treasure, I will train it to it’s maximum potential.

I will not succumb to the weak, wussified nation that is plaguing our society today.

I will continue to strive for perfection in my daily life. I have found the fountain of youth and I accept full responsibility to use it to my every advantage.

Instead of smoking, drinking and eating yourself into an unsat mess of humanity why not wake up and look in the mirror at what is staring back at you!

Stop being a slave to yourself and take control of your life.  Feel like you did 20 years ago, wake up happy everyday, live in the present moment, have a positive attitude, discover the power of giving, learn to love someone.

Many of these simple steps are often lost when you stop loving yourself.

I have found the key to the fountain of youth and I want to share it with you.

Through exercise, a proper eating plan and a positive attitude you too can have the fountain of youth.

The question is: Are you willing to put the time in to find it?

Fountain of Youth: Listen up ladies and gents the fountain of youth isn't in some beautiful body of water. Look closely at your reflection staring back at you and there you will find what your looking for

Keep The Faith,

The Machine

When people think of the deadlift they mainly think of either the conventional style or the sumo style. Both of these are the top two deadlift techniques commonly used by strength practioners today.

However, there is more to the deadlift than just the norm. One of the deadlift techniques that I have started to implement into my workouts is the dumbbell deadlift.

This deadlift form provides me with some extra advantages that I don’t get from the other two deadlift techniques mentioned above.

One of the first things this deadlift form does is increase the range of motion thus making me have to squat lower to get in the proper position to get maximum pulling power.

This increased range of motion is very much like the deficit deadlift seen here:

When you pull from a deficit you increase power throughout the initial drive off the line. The dumbbell deadlift technique provides us the luxury as well.

This is a very important key to pay attention to since it is imperative that you sit your butt back and down as low as you can. Where many people fail during their deadlift is that they keep their shoulders forward, in front of the bar. This is bad and will result in a less than powerful pull.

You must pull your shoulders back and keep them behind the bar at all times. How does this play a part if I’m talking about the dumbbell deadlift form?

Simple, I find it much harder to keep my shoulders back when pulling in the dumbbell deadlift technique. Since your hands are by your side you must focus on where your center is in regards to your hand positioning. With this in mind I alter my deadlift form slightly so I get a mximum pull. I do this by keeping my hands and shoulders in as straight a line as I can. Since the dumbbells are by my side this keeps me locked in and gives me the best angle for maximum power.

If your hands are too far forward then this deadlift form is going to turn into a mess with most of your pull coming from your back. When this happens many times your back will round. Unless you are cast in the mold of the great Bob Peoples then I do not suggest this style of deadlift technique.

The same can be said if your hands are too far back behind your body,when you go to pick up the dumbbells the weight will automatically want to drop forward. Yes you will have a strainght back and good drive from your legs but the weight will not be centered and in line with your body.

For proper deadlift technique in the dumbbell deadlift I find it best to find the center of the dumbbell and line your ankles up with your hands. The fingers of your hands should be facing your ankles.

Now sit back as far as you can on your heels, squeeze your buttocks, pull your shoulder blades back, stick out your chest, keep your head up and slightly leaning back, with a flat back throughout the movement.

This is proper dumbbell deadlift form.

You will gain strength quickly on this exercise so be careful when you get up to using heavier weights. Often these dumbbells are very large and can be a bit awkward. With this in mind I sometimes resort to using straps so I don’t have to worry about the dumbbell teetering or falling on my feet.

A 200lbs dumbbell as seen in the top video falling on your foot or being placed on a toe will not be pretty. The use of a strap lessons that risk of injury by providing us with a bit more stability in controlling these monster dumbbells.

I have been doing my dumbbell deadlift technique as seen in the top video. I tried pulling with the dumbbells placed in front of my legs as I would in the conventional style of deadlift. I found this very awkward and not worth the aggravation. The dumbbells raked up my legs pretty badly and interfered with the pull throughout the motion. This screwed up my deadlift form immensley.

I find the dumbbell deadlift technique to be very beneficial and fun. The form while a bit challenging at first, actually flows smoothly and my strength gains have come quickly.

Currently I pull with this deadlift technique at the end of my leg training, and once per week. Right now I do 3 sets of 5 repetitions then I add a repetition to all sets. Since my dumbbells go up to 200lbers I have to increase the repetitions on all 3 sets in order to still progress.

I look forward to see how this deadlift form will carry over when I start my regular conventional deadlift program this fall.

Here is my last deadlift training video from christmas 2011:

I ended up pulling 660 for a single on my quest to pull 675 I was 15lbs shy of my goal. I look forward to crushing my goal this year with utter destruction and power.

Keep the Faith,

The Machine