You can't be surprised by the title.  

If you've spent at least 8 minutes with me, you know I'm a deadlift guy.  But my love for deadlifts transcends the unmatched, primal feeling of picking something heavy off the floor.  It's rooted in science.  And as I mentioned to someone earlier this week, deadlifting serves a greater purpose.

Squatting is a different beast. I've mentioned before that any type of squat is my own dose of humble pie.  One time I even said that my legs and torso were so long that I "wasn't built to squat."  As a strength coach, I'm ashamed I let those words come out of my mouth. :)

But a few years ago I realized I wasn't alone.  Most people struggle to squat correctly - for years - but can usually conquer deadlifts after a few weeks.  I had to find out why and only recently found the answer.

I find nutrition fascinating but not confusing.  Slogans like "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" make sense because it's easy to follow. "Eat like a grown up" and "everything in moderation" are ambiguous but we know where it leads - unlike the current Star Wars trailer which has me stumped.  All I know is Han shot first!

Anyway, I'm lucky to have a healthy relationship with food.  It's a big reason why I'm never confused by the eyewash and fads out there. But that doesn't mean I always knew what I was doing.  

Five years ago I was 40 pounds heavier and nowhere close to consulting others on the topic. Before there was Tatum, my goal was to #getmychanningon but I was failing miserably. I was skipping important tenets of nutrition.  It's as if I thought I was close to deadlifting 600 pounds....when I could barely do half.

This week's post is a special one - it's the first guest post I've had!  It comes courtesy of my good friend/amazing human being/brother in lifting, Chris Mullins. Aside from being one of the most knowledgeable strength and conditioning coaches I've ever met, Chris is an accomplished run coach and one heck of a good golfer.  

Chris writes today about the detriments of defining yourself by one sport or activity.  This topic hits home for me as I defined myself purely as a baseball player for many years.  Even though I was involved in other activities, if I couldn't play baseball - like my injury-plagued sophomore year of college - then I had no identity.  I eventually found my niche but not without years of searching. (<----thanks for your patience, Mom and Dad!)

Chris' words are refreshing and offer a great perspective - I wish I could've read them years ago. So with that, take it away Chris!

It's been a few months since my last installment of "Random Fitness Wisdom" and I always enjoy writing these posts.  My inner introvert loves to think deeply, secluded from everyone (a la Harper Lee).  I also feel free to ramble on a few unrelated topics that don't always make for a full post (a la Billy Madison).

A few weeks ago I had a light bulb moment.  You know the type.  When you look at something, do a facepalm, and say "why didn't I think of that before!?"

I'll start by mentioning why it was so important.  Over the past few years I've been struggling to voice a common theme to all my clients. Breathing drills, different cues during exercises, and why we perform those exercises all have a logical explanation.  But I struggled with condensing very complicated explanations down to a simple sentence.  Last week, I found what I was looking for when I was coaching someone on a deadlift. (<----no surprise there, AMIRITE??) 

Here's the light bulb: the biggest lesson I hope to give people is to help them understand and master their center of gravity.  Why?  Because most people - including myself - are losing this battle.