I'm going to venture out on a limb and say that you've had lower back pain.

No, I'm not an oracle.  Nor am I one of those fortune telling gypsies in my new favorite Netflix show, "Peaky Blinders."  Great show, horrible name.  

It's just an honest fact - 80% of Americans will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives.  Like most of you, I'm not the exception, as I've dealt with my own share of lower back pain....and I'm just now getting to the point where I'm not constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I'd like to think I'm a classic case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.  Or rather, Dr. Deadlift and Mr. HydeThatBenchPress.

While I'm well on my way to deadlifting 3x my bodyweight, I really struggle on the bench press.  I know, I know, #meatheadproblems right?

But when it comes to my bench numbers, the struggle is real.  Between May and December of last year, I failed to improve my bench press and if anything, it occasionally seemed like my numbers were going backwards.  While my best bench ever was a measly 275 pounds (it's all perspective, right?), in late December I missed a rep at 265.  I was frustrated, and frankly, was thinking about benching wayyyy too much for my own good.

(And I'm sorry, but any guys reading this, I don't believe that you benched over 300 in high school.  Because you didn't. It's that simple.)

Last week, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (yes, that's a thing) released their 2015 report. If you're a geek about nutrition (*nodding head as I type this*), it gets you pretty jazzed.  But, for the other 99.7% of the normal population, the report just adds more noise in an already loud and crowded room.

So, WHY should you care?  After all, the new season of House of Cards comes out today (zooooomg!!!), and telling you to eat more fruits and vegetables is like saying "Kanye West is an asschump."  It's something we already know.  

Plus, wasn't it the same sort of nutrition guidelines that told everyone to be low-fat in the 90's?  And, since the whole low-fat take turned out to be worse for Americans, why should we even listen?

My relationship with squats is a bit of a love/hate.

In fact, it's a lot like my feelings towards Don Draper on Mad Men.  On the one hand, you realize that Don is an absolute slimeball who has conned together a large majority of his professional and personal life.  On the other hand, it can be just so dang hard not to like him!  You can't imagine Mad Men ever being a hit without the intricacies of his character, or his drunken antics.

(And as someone who once had a three martini lunch in my old cubicle days, how did those ad men ever get any work done!?)

Enter: The Front Squat.  

Back when I worked in a desk job, I like to think I knew a thing or two about creating a stellar Facebook page (no, really, that's what I did).  Other than the ridiculous sums of money companies would pay for something that was free AND took 10 minutes to make, I realized a few things:

1. If you want likes and comments on Facebook or Instagram, post sunsets.  People like colors.  It's just that simple.......well, that or babies.
2. Sardines on whole wheat bread (sans condiments) are not a suitable sandwich combination
3. I was constantly behind the eight ball with my diet and exercise, due to all of the noise (Intermittent Fasting, Paleo, 7 Minute Workout, Crossfit, running, etc.)

Fast forward to today, and I'm fortunate to love what I do and do what I love.  Beyond that, I've realized certain principles - either ones that I've reverse engineered, or heard from another source - that can change the game when it comes to getting stronger/losing weight.