Deadlifts

Aug16
by jlgrant on August 16, 2013 at 1:00 am
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This one is topical to my life over the last ten years.

I was a skinny bitch when I moved to Texas. Stayed that way in my early 20s, which worked out well for me in the DFW Goth Scene. Then the internet happened, and my geeky computer nerd hobby from my teens turned into a career at a desk, and I started packing on pounds. In 1999, I decided to hit the gym.

And turned into a total gym rat.

Over the next 14 months, I got straight up SWOLE. Found out very quickly that deadlifts, squats, and butterflies on the bench were the best for me, and I got some meat on my bones. Not fat, but meat.

This comic partially taps into the day that I was lifting with some anonymous muscle broughams at the CU Boulder weight room, at the deadlift station. I was working out with touch-and-go deadlifts, 140 lbs x 10 reps. The next guy did 160 x 10. The next guy did 200 x 8. I did my next set with 200 x 8, just to show I could.

This petite blonde gal walked up during all this, and waited her turn. Cute little thing, maybe 5′ tall and 140 lbs, but thick rather than fat. She obviously had muscles, in a way that was still cute and feminine. She removed most of the plates, taking the bar down to 120. Then she knocked out 10 static deadlifts on it.

We all clapped, in a kind of “good for you, girl,” way, and she got pissed. Slapped 280# back on the bar, and did 3 static start lifts in front of us. After the last one, she put the towel across her shoulders, gave us all a smirk, and walked away. Nobody clapped. We’d all assumedly done the math in our heads – this chick had just deadlifted at least twice her body weight – not once, but thrice in a row. To do the same at the time, I’d have had to put 430 lbs on the bar. The guy next to me was considerably taller and bigger than me, and would have had to put 500+ on the bar to do what she did.

We were humbled.

I hope this doesn’t embarass him or anything, but one of the most powerful muscle folks I’ve ever met was our friend, Brandon Cox. Dude is… well, he’s kinda terrifying in person. He has a very affable, intelligent personality, but the dude is possibly the most physically strong brute I’ve ever met. Helped us move into the house we’re in – watching him lift a hardwood armoire with one hand like it weighed no more than a breadbox? Yeah, that puts shit in perspective.