Deadlift Case Study

Below is a case study of pre Z Health and post Z Health along with some tips from yours truly.

Fawn and Aaron stopped by for some deadlift work the other day. Fawn is an RKC who trains clients here in MN, so check out her blog here. Aaron has a blog also, click here. Fawn has not deadlifted for quite some time recently, but has done lots of yoga and KB work and Aaron has been getting busy with the KBs too. Both will be competing at the upcoming TSC (Tactical Strength Challenge) here on Sat Sept 8 along with myself and some other athletes here in MN. If you are in the area, come on out and sign up! It is a max deadlift, max pullups in a row, and max reps on the KB snatch in 5 minutes. Good times!

Here is Fawn's deadlift preZ/instruction. Pretty good and she worked up to 215 X 1 (old PR back in early Spring 2007 was 225 lbs). Video below of 215 lbs

If the above video does not run, click here for the youtube version
It looked like her glutes and hamstrings could use a little help. I had her perform some Z Health drills (lateral ankle tilts, outside toe pulls, and elbow circles) and then did a re-assessment (brief gait and manual muscle tests). She deadlifted again with only those 2 changes and it looked better and she reported that it was easier. Nice!

Now the tricky part. I had her alter her technique some based on the Z Health principals of long spine and used the Bone Rhythm to move the weight.

The first one was to keep a long spine with a flat back. This includes the head also, so you start looking at the floor not the ceiling. Next I had her use the Bone Rhythm to move all her joints at the same time to lift the weight. She gradually worked back up to the the same weight along with a few other tips and tricks along the way.

Here is the video from about 30 minutes later, post Z and some tips


Youtube version here
Note the bar speed is faster and much smoother. She reported that it felt easier also. A few days later she broke her PR with a pull of 235 and then again later with 245 lbs. Whoooo ha. Nice job!
click here to see it!

Aaron stopped by at the same time and I ran him through a similar process. Here is the pre Z/instructions pull (deadlift).


Youtube version here

I did not get to record his "post Z pull" but below is some video he shot from the Press gym a few days later. Much smoother!
Click here for the video

Both reported less strain on their low back and actually felt GOOD afterwards and the next day , even after some heavy pulls. Make sense since the weight is shifted more towards the glutes and hams (which is the goal for everyone doing the deadlift), since the muscles in the low back are actually quite small (esp. compared to the glutes, hams, adductors, etc).

Take Away
Weight training should ENHANCE your life, posture and movement!

It should not leave you beaten into a blood pulp and barely able to wash your face in the sink the next morning (that was me 1 year ago). Aaron said "Mike, end of the session was great. I didn't feel beat up at all and had a lot of energy."

Fawn stated, "Mike, after lifting Aaron and I both felt great. In fact, on the way home, (after splitting a protein shake) we joked about turning around and going back for another workout.LOL!" Both were lifting MORE weight than they had in the past also!

If your training is leaving you feeling like a train wreck, you may want to rethink it.

If you are in the Minnesota area and are interested in a weight training session or a Z Health session, click here for more information.

Misc stuff

EliteFTS on Youtube
EliteFTS has some great videos up on youtube now. Check them out. Jim Wendler cracks me up all the time, but I am not sure he should have a camera. Click here for the link

Z Health Presentation in Minnesota
Brad "No Relation" Nelson, Andrea DuCane and myself are doing a Z Health presentation at Kinetic Edge in Minnesota on September 5. Unfortunately it sold out in 36 hours, but we will be doing more; so if you want in on the list for the next one please email me at michaeltnelson AT yahoo DOT com to be added to the list.

Rock on
Mike N

Z Health Interview, S Phase, Research, USAPL Results

Greetings! I am off to AZ for Z Health Level III (S Phase) where the S stands for “sports” training tomorrow! Whoo ha! Can’t wait. I will get a report up here once I am back or possibly while I am down there. Time will be at a premium since I have a Biostats II exam 9 hours after I get off my flight back to MN here. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, TONS of great stuff today! Research, USAPL meet results, Z Health testimonial and an interview done with yours truly.

Z Health Interview

I was recently interviewed for the Z Health newsletter, which was a true honor. I have published it below also if you are not on the Z Health list. If you want to sign up to the Z Health newsletter, click here

Z-Health Evolution: Interview with Mike T. Nelson

We interviewed Mike T. Nelson, MS, CSCS. Mike is a PhD student in Kinesiology, RKC, and Z-Health Level 1, 2, & 4 certified trainer, who shared with us how he found Z-Health, as well as his personal evolution.

Mike, what brought you to Z-Health?

I was in Charles Staley's coaching group, and some of the lifters were saying that they felt better and were breaking PRs (personal records) after doing Z-Health, so I got the R-Phase DVD. I started waving my limbs around to it like a bird having an epileptic seizure, and began feeling better and movement was easier. I now know that the "bird approach" probably wasn't best –and that precision is key. But, as Dr. Cobb says, even Z done badly is better than not doing it at all.

Clearly you have advanced from there, so what were your next steps?

In June 2006 Brad Nelson (no relation) arranged for Dr. Cobb to come to town for some private sessions. I remember Dr. Cobb doing a muscle test on my left hamstring, and it was horribly weak. He had me do some elbow circles, and I thought he was out of his mind. I could not believe I was paying big money for this -- he knew I had a hamstring issue. When he retested my hamstring, it tested strong and I had no cramping. I was astounded.

I ended up paying on the spot for R-Phase training that fall. To be honest, I had no idea what I had signed up for, but thought if I could learn HALF of what I had observed by the end of certification, I would be thrilled.

That sounds like quite an experience. How did R-Phase go?

At the time I went to Arizona for the first weekend of R-Phase, I was physically a mess. Training was taking its toll on me; after doing heavy deadlifts it was almost impossible to wash my face in the sink the next morning since I could not bend at the waist without lots of pain. On bad days, my WARM-UPS ALONE were taking me close to an hour – and that was just to get to the point where I could actually start my "work out". By the time I went back to Arizona for the R-Phase second weekend, I was doing the drills with more precision, and the results were much, much better. While I had left the first weekend feeling great, by the time I got back to Arizona again I was pretty messed up. I remember asking Dr. Cobb at dinner one night, "If you were me and you know what you know, what would you do?" His response was basically to walk off the plank, give it a shot 100%, and see what happens. I realized that I was on a short path to driving myself into the ground, so what did I have to lose?

And what DID you do? Did you actually start over?

I emailed Brad Nelson, who was already R-Phase certified, and asked for his help on relearning all my exercise technique. Basically, I was not using the correct technique and adding WAY too much tension to compensate. Most of my lifts were "technically" correct, but there was a better and more efficient way. So I started doing deadlifts with the bar only, and then with only 135 lbs, for several weeks. That was a huge blow to the ego, but I stayed the course. I felt great, and my lower back was also feeling pretty good now. There was more work to do, but progress is always good!

In March, I opted to do the Tactical Strength Challenge and ended up pulling 365 lbs, even though my heaviest deadlift during training was only 225 lbs. It's amazing what happens when your body is more efficient! I woke up the next day and felt tired, but my movement was not in the hopper and soreness was very minimal. Washing my face in the sink was easy and pain-free! Life was great.

That is really impressive that you were willing to just start over like that. Can you give me just a bit of a sneak peek into the I-Phase (Level 2) and T-Phase (Level 4) Certifications?

I-Phase is where you integrate movement and work with the visual and vestibular (inner ear balance) systems. It was incredible--visual and vestibular input can have profound effects on movement. Everything was starting to make sense. Z-Health was not just mobility drills, it was a system for ALL movement, based upon how the body takes in information – proprioceptive (joint info), visual (eye movements), and vestibular (inner ear input). Brad Nelson summed it up well when he said, "R-Phase is a great tool; I-Phase is the whole tool SHED".

T-Phase work involves lots of hands-on work from soft tissue to lymph to cranial work. Since much more learning takes place when you do something under your own active control, we also learned how to do ACTIVE work to follow up on all the hands-on passive work. I also realized that Z-Health is not just a system -- it is a complete way of dealing with movement on virtually any issue. Just like R-Phase, everything is tested, so you know if you made good changes or not. That is when I fully began to understand how to look at movement and potential solutions just at a glance.

Thank you so much for your time. We look forward to catching up with you again after S-Phase!

You can learn more about Mike at www.miketnelson.blogspot.com or www.miketnelson.com.

USAPL Results

Wanted to a give a HUGE shout out to the following for doing the USAPL meet held here at the Press a few weeks back. It takes some huge cajones to walk up in front of a large crowd of people wearing just a wrestling singlet (which if you are guy looks like you are carrying grapes int the wrong place) and perform strength feats on command! My hats off to EVERYONE that competed. A special shout to the following

Joe Warpeha
Fawn Friday
Maura Shuttleworth
Anna White
Steve Reishus
Tony Williams
Jacob Chatterton

There is a great write up of the meet at The Minnesota Power Pages

A very cool testimonial from Fawn Friday also and Z Health and her deadlift.

This is a true story. After missing 281 pounds at the Minnesota State Open powerlifting Competition, I asked Mike Nelson (who came as a spectator) for a quick Z adjustment. He tested my hamstrings and glute medius. Neither were firing as well as they should. Toe pulls and ankle tilts with visual adjustment, corrected both muscle groups. I went back to pull the 281lbs on my next attempt! Setting the Minnesota Record for raw Deadlift at 123lb class!

~Fawn Friday

Thanks again Mike!

Blog family update
I have added more blogs to the blog role call on the right. Be sure to check these out

Awesome training info from Steve at his blog, complete with lots of videos! I predict even more great things to come from his blog Steve's blog

I met Aaron (with Steve and others) recently at the NSCA Minnesota conference. We were chatting afterwards about training and Z Health. Aaron is really bright guy and very passionate, so be sure to check out this blog. Aaron's blog

If you are interested in a review of the NSCA state conference, check out Aaron’s review here

Sean Schniederjan is a big KB guy and has been able to join us for the infamous Friday Night Deadlift Party at the Press and on his first time showing up pulled 405! Nice work!! Check out his blog at The Russian Kettlebell Room

It is a true honor to be able to exchange info with everyone!

Research Update!
More research than you can shake a stick at

Funny research

Using heart cells, researchers create a beating heart
Results from a recent experiment may represent breakthrough for regenerative medicine.

My comments--I was able to take a Muscle Physiology class where the lead researcher was a guest speaker. Truly amazing advance!!

I’m a Powerlifter by Chip Conrad from EliteFTS

Excellent article by Chip Conrad!!

Weight Lifting and Aortic Dissection: More Evidence for a Connection

Carbs and Cardio Bunnies--Low Carb and Endurance Performance?

Can you really have optimal endurance performance while on a ketogenic (very very low carb) diet? Most would say--heck no; but this research study says otherwise.

TSC results and update Sept 8, 2007

The TSC has been completed once again this year and it was great.

I did a different take on this blog post and actually wrote it on Aug 15, 2007 and I have posted it exactly as I wrote it then. I did correct for the actual number by listing (actual #) after the ones that needed correction.

First an apology--since I wrote this ahead of time I only knew 4 people that were competing for sure--myself, Fawn and Aaron Friday and Brad Ellingson; so they are the only ones that appear below. This is NOT meant as any disrespect to all the others that competed, as EVERYONE did amazing and showed true heart and spirit by signing up and putting it out on the line. Mad props to all that made it. Many many TALK of competing and putting it out there, you all WALKED the WALKED and did it. Congrats!!!

Here are the actual results from all
Name / BW / DL / PU / SN

Women’s Open
Fawn Friday / 121.4 / 255 / 11 / 115
Jordan Hansen / 126.6 / 225 / 9 / 125
Arlene Kim / 120.6 / 235 / 9 / 28

Men's Open
Brad Nelson / 197.0 / 495 / 16 / 119
Laurion Burchall / 212.2 / 495 / 19 / 104
Mike Nelson / 203.4 / 400 / 7 / 108
Aaron Friday / 155.8 / 365 / 16 / 92
Brad Ellingson / 181.6 / 365 / 11 / 79
Nick Jasken / 180.4 / 290 / 11 / 86

Men's Masters
Bruce Wuollena / 166.8 / 335 / 9 / 70

So why the heck did I write the TSC before it even went down? Am I planning that far ahead on my blog posts to save time?

The reason is that you will achieve what you believe. "Argue for your limitations and they are yours" --?

This was covered in the Z Health I Phase and there are real studies to back it up. Look up information on "placebo effect" and "neural priming" If you are looking for a good book related to this topic, pick up "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell--awesome book. I will have a whole blog post on this coming up in the next month or so. The public has cried for the foam roller one first and I can't let the fans get unruly--ha.

TSC results and update Sept 8, 2007 (written on Aug 15, 2007)

The TSC went down recently here in MN and across the country. Good times were had by all as we invaded Kinetic Edge own and ran by Brad "No Relation" Nelson. Excellent facility and check out his KB class if you are in the MN area Click here for info

PRs were falling like leaves from a dead tree!

Fist event was the deadlift--my favorite!!

I am a huge, self confessed "Dead-Head" and LOVE the deadlift. There is just something so primitive and FUN to pull heavy weight off the floor from a dead stop.

I was super stoked since I nailed a long time goal of deadlifting 405 (actually I ended at 400 lbs and missed my 4th attempt at 405 after a couple minutes rest---4 plates just look so much cooler than 3) raw with no belt and went 3 for 3 at 365 (actual 370), 390 (5 lb PR) and 405 (20 lb PR--actual 400 for a 15 lb PR from June 5 of this year). The cool part is that with some Z Health work and the Bone Rhythm, it felt great too. Video below.


That puts me at 60 lbs (actual 55 lbs) over my first meet in Sept of 2006 and my first heavy pull of all last year was not until mid March that year; so I am excited for this upcoming year.

Fawn Friday rocked and pulled a huge PR of 255 lbs at a body weight of 120 lbs. Nice job!
Her husband Aaron also pulled very close to a PR at 365 lbs. Whooo ha.
My good buddy Brad Ellingson pulled 2 X BW for a 360 lb (actual 365 lbs) pull! Nice!!!

All were pulling using some Z Health and the bone rhythm method too; so that rocks! Nice work put in by all.

Next up was the pullups
I stunk up the place with 5 pull ups (actual was 7), but after my DL PR I was so stoked I did not care much to be honest. Maybe next year I will actually train for the pull up portion--what a novel idea!

Aaron did great with 8 (actual was 16, boy was I off), Fawn rocked the house with 12 (actual was 11) (holy pull ups batman) and Brad did well with 7 (actual 11 nice work buddy).

Now it was time for the dreaded 5 min snatch test
Grab your puke buckets everyone and be prepared to duck some spray

More PRs were failing like drunk sorority chicks leaving an open bar.

Aaron did awesome at 101 (actual 92) snatches, Fawn rocked yet again with 110 (actual 115) (16 kg), Brad clocked in at 89 (actual 79) and I ended up at 101 (108 actual), tied with Aaron that bastard (did tie with him overall for third)

I was happy that I made my goal of 100 (actual 108), so I was stoked with that as I did only 72 last year and thought I was going to die. I still thought I was going to die this year, but made my number.

Overall it was a killer event and good times were had by all. Huge thanks again to Brad for all the work and hosting.


Here is a video of Brad doing some KB Snatch "Long Spine" style. He went on to crank out 119 in 5 minutes--nice work!!

So, the gauntlet is down and the TSC will be back in March so what are you waiting for? Seriously, get a goal, buy the stamp let go of the rock and sign up. This will drive you farther than anything else. Plus it is tons of "fun"

Here are some other reports from the TSC
Fawn Friday's experience
Fawn's TSC overview
Aaron Friday's experience
Brad "N0 Relation" Nelson's blog on it

So, the gauntlet is down and the TSC will be back in March so what are you waiting for? Seriously, get a goal, buy the stamp let go of the rock and sign up. This will drive you farther than anything else. Plus it is tons of "fun"

Congrats
Wanted to send a nice congrats to Matt, a current client, for his big PR on the trap bar at hitting 315 lbs. Nice job!


Rock on
Mike N

Model Integrity and Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC)

Model Integrity
Just wanted to point out a new company called Model Integrity that is run by my good friend Shannon. The name really says it all and the company works with models of all types with the highest integrity. Shannon wanted to offer honest information and legitimate resources in the talent industry. The modeling industry, notoriously plagued with scams, can often leave aspiring models (& parents of young models) misguided and short hundreds or thousands of dollars, leaving them no further along in their pursuits than when they started.

Mike T Nelson Fitness Consulting is very happy to be a sponsor of this great company with the highest integrity.
If you are in the Twin Cities, MN area, be sure to check out their upcoming event! Check out the links below
Model Integrity home page
Model Integrity blog

TSC Update

It was that time in the Spring when the TSC was upon us. This event for those who have not heard of it consists of 3 events

1) Deadlift--max lift (weight) with 3 lifts (attempts). Belts are allowed, but no suit/supportive gear allowed (raw)
2) Max Pull ups (palms face away)--no cheating/kipping. Elite division adds extra weight
3) Max Kettlebell (KB) snatches in 5 minutes. Women use a 16 kg, Men 24 kg and Elite division 32 kg KB (33, 55 and 72 lbs for non metric minded people)

Each competitor is ranked on each event. The lowest overall number is the winner. See TSC Challenge for more info and past results

There were many more competitors this time than even this last Sept and the even keep growing each year.

Once again everyone there was super nice, competitive yet supportive.

Big thanks to Brad "No Relation" Nelson and Jordan for hosting the event once again this year at the Kinetic Edge which is a beautiful facility. They did a great job of getting everyone through in time and yet allowing enough time between events. Check out the Kinetic Edge here.

The competition gets stiffer and stiffer each year, which is great!

My training cycle for the event was not as ideal as I would have liked, but is any training cycle ever perfect? My main goals were to deadlift 425 and 125 reps for the KB snatch in 5 minutes (and not completely embarrass myself with pull-ups)

Weirdo Soft Tissue Work
The deadlift was first up and I had done some new Z Health tissue release work that I got from Dr. Cobb at a recent private session and I was really feeling good.. It looks insane as I am doing a modified back arm circle, with my eyes up and to the right while holding a fold of tissue under my right pec and applying specific pressure--all done at the same time for about 10-20 seconds. After that I have never had that much internal rotation in my right hip EVER I believe. Goes to show that EVERYTHING is CONNECTED in the body! I've done some soft tissue work on others too with similar results and I've felt knots/restrictions virtually melt beneath my hands.

So on my way to the event I realized that most people have no frame of reference of how good they could really feel! I am not sure of a good way to communicate that the body you have not is NOT the one you will have in the future!! If you are doing thing correctly, the body you will have in the future should be BETTER. Yes, this applies to "older" people too. I don't believe in "old-fartis" as my buddy Steve calls it.

TSC Deadlift
The deadlift was first up and I felt pretty good about it overall. I hit my opener at 385 lbs and it felt pretty good. I rushed the set up at the bottom a bit though. Next up I called 405 lbs which had been a lift that I felt I should have made many months ago, but had yet to complete and was starting to really piss me off to be honest. In the past it felt like someone stapled it to the floor (even though I had done 400lbs in competition). This time it actually came off the floor quite well, but I felt I rushed the set up at the bottom of the lift a bit. I got it to about my knees and my hamstrings started shaking violently--crap. I thought about dropping it, but I felt I was not going to injury myself and the thought of getting it that far and aborting just sucked. So I locked it out for a 5 lb PR. I skipped my next attempt as my body was saying "that is enough of that for today". Below are the videos.

and

Again, I can't recommend this form to anyone and this never happened in training, but I was happy to clear this "mental hurdle".

Unfortunately Shawn Friday had a hamstring issue during one of his big deadlift attempts (he was smoking everyone in the DL). I did some Z Health right afterwards and it helped a fair amount and he is recovering nicely last I heard now (anyone have an update?). He will be back for more next time!

Everyone did great in the deadlift and my training partner Matt Finlay pulled a PR at 330 lbs too! He got 350 to just below his knees and that was it, but next it will go all the way up. Videos below of Matt and then Aaron Friday puling a nice PR (personal record) at 415. Nice job Aaron and he won our bet; so a free Z Health session for him.

Aaron Friday

TSC Pull-ups
Pull ups were next and nothing to report really other than I found my lats! Wow, I actually felt my lats working on a pull-up, so that is great news. I decided it was time to train pull-ups for next time, so I am working on finding some wall space in my garage and will be ordering a pull up bar. Anyone want to buy a windsurfing board? I am selling it to free up some wall space. I have a smaller pull up bar on my power rack, but the spacing is quite narrow and it seems to mess me up, so that is my excuse for not training them. Matt got 4, which is a PR (well, we never trained them so an easy PR).

You will have to tilt your head to watch the video. I haven't figured out how to rotate it yet.

.

All Aboard the Pain Train.

Time for pain! Enter the 5 minutes of hell know as KB snatches!
Anyone who has ever done this can attest to that. Yeah, there are freaks that are doing it for 10 minutes and beyond, but for us mortals 5 minutes is more than enough. My goal was to hit 125 reps in 5 minutes with the 24 kg (55 lb) KB that it was much faster than I thought it was going to be! I could have used a couple more weeks to practice as I felt my CRF (cardio respiratory fitness) was not the best, but I was still able to crank out 120 reps which I was very happy with. I decided when I started that no matter what I was NOT setting the KB down until 5 minutes expired, even if that meant switching hands for every rep at the end, that thing was not hitting the floor until 5 minutes.

I managed 30 reps in a row on my right hand before switching to my left and hitting 33 there before switching again. You can switch hands as often as you like, but you will normally have to do a KB swing on a hand switch and it costs you some time. After that it was a blur up until the end and I was hurting at about 108 (last years PR) and my training partner started counting backwards to help me hit my goal. Sounds cornball, but ANYTHING at that point to take your mind off the burning in your lungs, glutes and hams is worth its weight in gold.

Once I sat the KB down I have never felt that much blood forced into my glutes, hams and forearms in my life. I think climbers call this a "flash pump" Youch. And it was very painful, but after moving around for several minutes it finally went away and I was fine the next day. Mental note--next time do more than 6 warm up reps! Dooooh!

Below is a short video of Matt rocking the 24kg KB at the start of the test

Overall it was a great time and it was awesome to see everyone competing again like the Fridays (Aaron and Fawn), Nick, Brad and Joe and meet the new competitors-Maura, Dena, Alex, Greg, Albert, and Jala

Check out these blog entries from other competitors

Maura Shuttleworth
Fawn Friday
Aaron Friday
Russiankettlebellroom
Kinetic Edge
And to those crazies in CA
Franz Trainingblog

Woodbury, MN Tactical Strength Challenge Results 4-5-08

Here's the results:
Name BW DL Place P-Us Place Snatch Place Total Pts Overall
Women's Divison
Fawn Friday 125.2 275 1 12 1 120 1 3 1
Maura Shuttleworth115.8 250 2 11 2 60 3 7 2
Dena Smith 131 215 4 4 4 105 2 10 3

Men's Division
Aaron Friday 156.8 415 3 18 1 114 6 9 1
Alex Vanos 188 445 1 11 4 120 4 9 2
Sean Schneiderjan 219.5 425 2 3 7 139 1 10 3
Nick Jasken 183.4 325 7 17 2 124 3 11 4
Greg Merth 175.2 285 8 13 3 133 2 12 5
Mike Nelson 209.6 405 4 6 5 120 5 13 6
Albert Suckow 218.6 390 5 1 8 107 7 18 7
Matthew Finlay 214.8 330 6 4 6 83 8 19 8

Men's Elite
Brad Nelson 193.6 475 1 12 1 87 1 3 1
Joe Pavel 204.8 405 2 11 2 74 2 6 2

It is a fun environment and I would encourage EVERYONE to sign up and plan on the next one in Sept.

Deadlift Tips!

Z Health I Phase
Z Health I Phase went great and more updates soon, but I need to kick out some revisions on my PhD writtens pronto, so more updates soon.
Congrats to all the new I Phase people--Fawn Friday, Dr. Jim Ryan, Joe Pavel, Brad "Top Notch", Aaron S, and Marty. Excellent work!! It was a great review for myself again too and I got to teach a bit there also which was a blast. Aaron S from ND crashed on my couch, so excellent late night geeky chats too. See my older I Phase updates from last year HERE and
HERE--case studies

Deadlift
Gotta love the deadlift! I would love it even more if I could take about about 3 inches from my femurs, but such is life--ha! Here is a great run down of deadlift technique from Rippetoe. Great stuff!

Deadlift Analysis

Rock on!
Mike N

2008 Excuses

2008 is here and the gyms are filling up fast for the New Year's Resolution Lifters. If you are one of them, congrats on getting there and putting in the time and effort! Kudos to you!

If not or you just need a little motivation, here are some great clips for you.

Make it a great year!


Thanks to AJ Roberts for sending me this one


I never get tired of watching Bolton pull 1,003 pounds!


Seminar was a success
Thanks to all whole attended the Z Health and KB session that Fawn Friday and I did this past Saturday at the Press Gym here in MN! We had a great group of people and it was tons of fun!

Rippetoe speaks
Texas BBQ part 2
By Craig Rasmussen, CSCS from www.EliteFTS.com

Excellent article and very practical advice from Mark Rippetoe. If you have questions on your squat or deadlift when learning, this is a must read. I can't recomend the books "Starting Strength" and "Practical Programming" enough.