First off, thank you to K-Starr, his wife Juliet, guest Mark Bell, the CFD staff and all the attendees for making the Movement and Mobiliy Seminar a great success. CFD -- we have some new things to show you! :)

Anyhoo ---

I was helping one of our students choose a weight for her front squat and told her to grab a forty-five pound bar. Her comment as she pulled it out of the rack was that it was heavy. Yes it was awkward, and it felt heavy, but is it really heavy? I'll bet you any amount of money that for most women training at 24-Hour Fitness, that bar IS heavy. I wouldn't be surprised if 95% of the women at gyms like that don't pick up weight even close to forty-five pounds. There are not pink, girl bars that weigh 45 pounds, so maybe its not so important. 

Here's the amazing thing...in almost every case, your bodyweight alone when going through the normal rigors of life (carrying groceries, picking up kids, going for a run, etc) puts more load on your joints and muscles than the weight of a forty-five pound bar. Think about the fact that your body, when balanced on 1 foot, is carrying the entire load! And add running to that, which is dynamic and causes forces and loads up to two-times bodyweight - all on one foot! Do you collapse when you take a step? No! Remember this the fit human body - the legs, glutes, hips, and torso scoffs at an empty 45 pound bar!

Getting real benefit from weight lifting requires selecting weight that is going to challenge these primary movement and stabilizer muscles, joints and tendons, the real part of the body responsible for making it all happen. If 45 pounds presents a challenge, fine. But if not, it's time to move up in weight, not just to increase the reps.

Of course -- this is assuming you can mobilize yourself correctly for the given movement.

Today's Workout

Five rounds for time of:
400m Run
15 Back Squats (135/95)