A few weeks ago, I got into a debate on the interwebz with another strength coach.  

The forum? A message board we both belong to (yes, it's like a secret club of strength coaches).

The subject?  Deadlifts.

While the subject matter is probably no surprise to you, the other coach stated that heavy deadlifts were simply more risk than reward and it didn't make sense to deadlift anything above "laundry weight."

To be honest, I think my head exploded when I heard his reasoning.  Why?  Because to me, a world without deadlifts is like....a world without chocolate!

Every now and then, I think back to when the lanky, 9th grade version of myself stepped into my high school weight room.  Meek, weak, and uncoordinated, I was petrified by heavy weights.  Worst of all, I held one of the biggest phobias of any pimple-faced underclassman: the fear of looking like an idiot.

Without any direction, or any clue about strength and conditioning, I stuck to the machines in the left corner of the gym.  I was happy to be stuck in my comfort zone, seeing no progress whatsoever, which is a very bad place to be. Why?  Because plain and simple, lifting weights is daunting.

One of the best parts of my job are the amount of questions I receive from my clients.  While there are stupid questions (e.g. "Is this, like, Crossfit!?" Answer: No!), I absolutely love when people want to find out what's inside my head.  In fact, I consider it a great compliment.  

On that train of thought, I tend to get a fair amount of nutrition related questions, being of course, that I'm also a nutrition coach.  Today I'd like to expand on one of the questions I hear quite often:

"What should I eat after a workout?"

Being the loud and boisterous individual that I am (ok, I'm chuckling at even suggesting that), I always have the same controversial response: 

"It depends."

Hokay so, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but if there's one thing I could talk about all day, it's the deadlift.

I know, you're surprised.  But seriously, the deadlift is unparalleled in creating strength, preparing you for life, and making people like you (it's true).

In fact, I'm a firm believer that everyone needs to do some form of deadlifting regularly.  Does this mean conventional deadlifts for Grandma?  Well, not exactly.

Did you have a good weekend?  Well, I had a great one.

Why?  Well, besides hitting a new deadlift PR, and winning my March Madness bracket, I was fortunate to  reach one of my 2014 goals: overhead pressing 200 pounds.

Granted, it was probably the lowest hanging fruit of my four 2014 goals, but it feels great to get it off my chest (both figuratively and literally).  And, having done it at a bodyweight of 193 pounds, it can safely be said that I pimp walked my way out of the gym.