That damn sit and reach. It's the lingering memory from my Presidential Fitness test. Zero pullups and "running" a 13 minute mile? All but forgotten. But sitting on the ground, having my legs held down by classmates, and being told to "reach?"  I felt like I was failing my country because I resembled the Tin Man.

In a sharp contrast to those elementary school days, I've hacked my way to now touch my toes on command.  But rather than blindly touting "Make America Flexible Again!" we need to look at why someone can or can't touch their toes.  After all, just stretching our hamstrings does nothing but make our pelvis more unstable. It also fails to teach the mechanism behind why we can or can't touch our toes - our brain.

Don't just take my word for it, I'm about education!

The process of losing weight carries different ideas for each person.  I think of vegetables, deadlifts, pullups and kettlebell snatches.  You can thank the upcoming Tactical Strength Challenge for that.

But many people think of depriving themselves, as if that's a necessity to lose weight.  I don't mean deprivation as in actively thinking we need to starve ourselves - many of us are too smart for that.

I mean deprivation in less obvious forms.  For example:

• Holding yourself to strict daily caloric limits.
• Needing to run or exercise in order to justify a meal.
• Thinking we can't indulge in a meal and need to be 100% perfect.
• Giving up stress relieving rituals such as a cup of coffee or a nightly glass of wine.
• Demonizing specific foods (fruit, grains, dairy) even if we like them.

Learning about heart rates is not sexy.  I think that's why I avoided it for so long.  If a topic wasn't about getting stronger or giving me abzz, it wasn't at the top of my priority list.  It's myopic but it's true.

I was also confused with the different types of heart rate data - resting heart rate, heart rate variability, working heart rates, anaerobic threshold, etc.  While obtaining this data is easier than it's ever been with various monitors and FitBits, it's only valuable if you know what to do with it.

What changed? I learned why someone's resting heart rate is directly tied to their ability to get stronger and in better shape.  It's true what they say, "When the student is ready, a teacher appears."

Deadlifts get an unfair shake. Whether it's unfortunate anecdotes - er, horror stories - or numerous YouTube videos of ill-advised attempts, I understand why.

Yet when analyze it, the deadlift is one of the best ways to make people stronger, leaner, and more athletic.  It also does a great job at preparing people for life, which for 99% of us is the actual goal of our training.

So in my attempt to "Make America Lift Again," I'd like to do my part to change the perception of deadlifts.  After all, the empowering and primal feeling of lifting something heavy off the floor is unlike many other feelings you can get in life.  But hitting a baseball around 400 feet is a close second ;)

Below is a 5 minute guide to improve your deadlift and set up.  Let me know what you think!