Conjugate Iron

  That’s one of the first things people told me at the gym in 2008 when I laid down to bench. It bothered me. I thought, I can’t bend the damn bar why do they keep telling me that?? I certainly wasn’t aware of the amount of detail and technique that hid behind compound lifts.  As time went by, I began to understand why they insisted. And now, after thousands of workouts, I think I’m ready to explain why you need to bend the bar in the 3 main lifts. And how it’ll help you get stronger when you combine it with proper kinetic linking.  The main character here is the bar. And how we position our body to become one with it.  1. Squat My favorite exercise. Nothing like having weight on your back. Even better, when you execute it properly, heavy or not, competition or training session. This glorious compound movement demands your respect. Ok, they all do… but give me a break and allow me to praise it. Thank you.  • Find your grip and get under the bar. To me grip is as...

Although I trained on and off for years, I started lifting consistently in October of 2008, rehabilitating an ankle surgery. Doctor prescribed treadmill walks 30 mins per day. I was training in Pancrase just before that. As a few weeks went by I couldn’t keep my eyes off the squat rack. Gym owner George was an experienced bodybuilder and I’d always go bother him with questions, picking his brain. He was strong, doing slow reps ass to grass with 600lbs on his back, with just a belt. Fast forward to January of 2011 and I’m having knee surgery. Torn meniscus and quad tendon reattachment. Work related. June of the same year I’m in Iceland, training at Jakabol. Gym of 4 times World’s strongest man champion Magnus Ver Magnusson. That’s where I met some very strong people. And they were incorporating box squats in their training. I was hooked. I loved to bench and deadlift. But the squat was my blind obsession. Something about having the bar on my back and my whole body besides my fat head be...