Lift Big Eat Big

A Scottish stonemason's son won over 11,000 athletic competitions across four continents, earned the equivalent of $2.5 million in prize money, and performed a feat of strength in 1860 that no one on earth could replicate for 113 years.

His name was Donald Dinnie. By 59 years old, experts calculated he could have claimed 7 Olympic gold medals at the 1896 Athens Games. He was competing well past the age most athletes retire, with zero modern training equipment, programming, or sports science behind him.

The feat he performed at Potarch Bridge in 1860 still stops strength athletes cold today. Fewer than 100 people in history have ever matched it, and attempting it requires proof you can pull 660 pounds first.

If you've ever wondered what the ceiling of human strength actually looked like before anyone had a name for it, this story is worth your time.

Full story in the comments.

BREAKING: Trump just signed Executive Order 1776 banning the sumo deadlift nationwide, calling it "the most embarrassing lift in the history of lifting, maybe ever."

Any pull with feet wider than shoulder-width is now classified as a federal offense under the American Conventional Purity Act. The IRS has been authorized to audit the training logs of all registered sumo pullers going back to 2019.

The Department of Swole will deploy stance inspectors to all commercial gyms by September 15, 2026, with annual recertification required every January 1st thereafter.

Trump: "Look, the conventional deadlift is beautiful. It's powerful. It's American. You set up narrow, you drive the hips, and you pull tremendous weight. The sumo stance? You look like you're trying to sit on a tiny chair. Weak. Very weak. Real lifters, strong lifters, the best lifters, they pull conventional. We're bringing back the hip hinge, folks. It's going to be huge. MAGA: Make Americans Pull Again."

Details:

- Compliance deadline: September 15, 2026. Annual stance audits conducted every January 1st by certified federal hip hinge inspectors.

- Verification: Lifters must submit video proof of shoulder-width or narrower stance to the Department of Swole portal. Foot angle deviations over 35 degrees flagged automatically.

- Pass tier: Verified conventional pullers receive a $500 Patriot Puller Tax Credit plus the official gold-plated "American Iron" badge mailed directly from Mar-a-Lago.

- Fail tier: Any pull exceeding shoulder-width = $2,000 fine and mandatory enrollment in the 12-week Federal Conventional Reprogramming Program (FCRP).

- Bonus tier: Pullers who deadlift 2x bodyweight conventional receive the Double Eagle Lifter designation, a $1,500 credit, and VIP access to the White House Powerlifting Summit.

- Non-compliance escalation: Repeat sumo offenders face public posting of their stance photos on the newly established National Shame Board, reviewed quarterly on live television.

Sumo pullers had a good run. It's over now. The people who lift narrow, eat red meat, and pay their taxes are winning. The wide-stance crowd is on notice. Make Americans Pull Again.

Your monthly reminder

The sissy squat has one of the most misleading names in training history.

Zero equipment. No gym required. And golden-era bodybuilders used it to push their quads to a level most people never reach with a loaded barbell.

The reason it works comes down to how your knee and hip interact during the movement, and most people training at home are completely skipping the exercise category that targets this.

If your at-home quad training has plateaued, this is likely why.

Check the comments for the full breakdown of 14 bodyweight quad exercises, including the exact setup that separates the ones that actually build muscle from the ones that just tire you out.

Parents... how do you manage your training with kids (& everything else in life)

Seven consecutive national titles. Six world championships. A competition squat approaching 1,000 pounds in single-ply equipment under the strictest drug-tested rules in the sport.

Kirk Karwoski didn't get the nickname "Captain Kirk" because someone thought it was clever. He got it because he owned the platform the way very few athletes have ever owned anything.

What most people don't know is how much of that dominance came down to one coaching relationship and a periodisation system that Karwoski's coach, Marty Gallagher, has since described in detail, including what made training Karwoski different from every other elite athlete he'd worked with.

If you've ever wondered what genuine, sustained dominance in a strength sport actually looks like from the inside, this one is worth your time.

Full story in the comments.

BREAKING: RFK Jr. just mandated testosterone blood panels as a condition of federal health insurance eligibility, declaring low T a national public health emergency effective September 1, 2026.

Any American male submitting lab results below 1,000 ng/dL will be classified as a "Chronic Hormonal Liability" and placed into the mandatory MAHA Reclamation Protocol, a 90-day raw milk, cold plunge, and compound lift intervention administered through newly formed HHS Testosterone Restoration Field Offices.

Men who comply and hit the threshold unlock immediate premium discounts. Men who don't will be required to fund a surcharge pool that RFK has publicly named the Soy Subsidy Reallocation Fund, which will pay for the program's raw liver distribution network.

RFK Jr.: "For decades, Big Pharma, Big Ag, and the petrochemical industry have been running a coordinated suppression campaign against the American endocrine system. They put atrazine in the water. They put phthalates in the packaging. They put seed oils in everything your grandfather would have called poison. I've been saying this since 2019 and everyone called me crazy. Who's crazy now? The man with 400 ng/dL sitting in a cubicle eating a processed grain bowl, or the man who lifts, eats real food, and produces testosterone like his ancestors did? Your body was built to be strong. Suffering through the work of rebuilding it is not punishment, it is the most patriotic thing you can do. This is Make America Healthy Again, and it starts in your bloodstream. MAHA or Low T. Pick one."

Details:

- Compliance deadline: September 1, 2026, with annual re-testing each January thereafter at any HHS-certified independent lab or approved CrossFit affiliate location

- Verification mechanism: Results must be submitted via certified paper mail to the Office of Hormonal Accountability in Topeka, Kansas, with a signed affidavit confirming the blood was drawn before 9:00 AM in a fasted state, no exceptions

- Pass tier: 1,000 ng/dL or above earns a 50% premium reduction plus the official MAHA Certified Male designation and early access to the federal raw milk co-op program

- Fail tier: Below 400 ng/dL triggers a $2,400 annual Hormonal Liability Surcharge and mandatory enrollment in the 90-day MAHA Reclamation Protocol at a regional field office

- Bonus tier: 1,500 ng/dL or above earns the Ancestral Apex badge, a 70% premium reduction, and a personal letter from RFK Jr. printed on bison-hide stationery

- Non-compliance escalation: Failure to submit labs by the deadline results in full premium forfeiture and public listing on the HHS National Hormonal Accountability Register, published quarterly in every participating county newspaper

The men who spent years eating real food, training hard, and sleeping eight hours just got a return on their investment. The men who spent those same years eating ultra-processed food and skipping the gym are now literally funding the people who didn't. Low T is a public health crisis. The bloodwork doesn't lie.

Well.. how many?

Most people training for a bigger deadlift never think to borrow from the track.

The broad jump, a staple of NFL Combine prep, develops horizontal explosive power in a way vertical jumping and box work simply don't replicate. And that specific force vector, pushing hard and low out of the bottom, maps almost directly onto what happens in the first inches of a deadlift pull.

Most gym-based plyometric work trains you to go up. This trains you to go through.

Still defaulting to box jumps or skipping plyos entirely because your gym doesn't have the equipment?

Check the comments for eight box jump alternatives, including the exact one that carries over to pulling strength, and how to fit them into your current training.

Do you count "non protein" foods towards your daily protein intake? Why/why not? E.g. protein in pasta