From age 14 to 25, I was convinced that heavy deadlifts would break my spine in half.  After all, it seems legit.

But my view was molded by user error.  Or as I like to say, "deadlifts don't hurt your back. What you're doing will hurt your back."

Deadlifts look as simple as picking it up and putting it down. However, it's one of the most nuanced and technical exercises out there.  While I field a ton of questions about the deadlift everyday, one I hear most often is:

How much can - or should - your lower back round during a deadlift?

This week I'm continuing the introspection train I started two posts ago.  Call it part memoir or even part snooze fest, but I think it's important to show how you're continually trying to improve your craft, regardless of how vulnerable and flip-floppy it makes you appear.  

As with my first post, everything written below are lessons I've learned through the past few years. Still, they can help almost everyone out there even if training and lifting heavy things is merely a hobby.  Enjoy!

I've never been someone who struggled with the overhead press.  I might be terrible at other press variations - namely, the bench press - but I'm somewhat of a freak when it comes to putting heavy weights overhead.  

So when I fell short of completing the Beast Tamer in August, I finally realized what the overhead press is like for normal people.

But becoming a Beast Tamer is one of my lifetime strength goals. I decided I could 1) give up or 2) work to press the 48k (106 lb) and make it look easy.  Naturally, I chose the latter. 

I place a premium on continuing education.  Because I'm a strong believer that if you're not getting better, you're getting worse.  There's also nothing as frustrating as living the same year over and over and over again - which was me when I had a "marketing" job.

To prevent that from happening ever again, I keep track of the amount I spend each year on continuing ed.  The goal is to surpass that number the following year, and I've always succeeded in doing that.

As a result, I'll often look back to my programs from 6-12 months ago, do my best Gordon Ramsey voice, and say, "What in the bloody hell was I thinking?"

Last week I caught my first cold of 2016.  I know, first world problem, right?  But in typical introvert fashion, it made me reflect.

To be clear, I wasn't reflecting in a melodramatic, Nancy Kerrigan "Why me?" sort of way. Instead, I wondered why I've only been sick once in 10 months, while others will tell me how they're constantly getting sick.  I also remember hearing that "having 4 or more colds a year is normal."

Yeah, about that.