What’s the most remarkable strength feat you’ve witnessed? This is my #1 choice ...

I designed for myself. But the people reporting back from using it are having life-altering results.

Eddie “The Beast” Hall was the first person to “deadlift” 500kg - 1100 lbs.

I put “deadlift” in quotes because he did it in a Strongman competition and he shattered the world record, he also violated powerlifting rules for that deadlift. He used straps and “hitched” the lift on his thighs during lockout.

Another astounding feat of strength was “Pocket Hercules,” Naim Sulemanglou, Clean + Jerking 190kg at only 60kg - 3.15 times his body weight.

Or maybe it’s Lifting Arthur Saxon’s bent press of 386lbs (never matched) at a sub 200lbs bodyweight.

The list could continue endlessly .

And I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share too.

But I think my #1 pick was at the 1999 New Jersey State Weightlifting Championships.

I don’t remember the gentleman’s name, but at 73 years old, he Split-Snatched 72.5kg - got 3 white lights for a successful lift, dropped the weight, then ran up the bleachers - which were shoulder height, and jumped off the back of them to celebrate.

This is a Split Snatch:

Most guys over 40 can’t do any sort of lunge without trashing their knees, let alone lunging with weight over their heads… And explosively jumping under a weight equal to their bodyweight, landing in a lunge, and standing up afterwards?

Impossible!

Seriously, imagine that for a moment…

When most 70-something year olds are just hanging on in their recliners watching reruns of Matlock on TBS (Ok, I’m dating myself there…)

This gentleman was demonstrating remarkable power, speed, strength, flexibility, and agility.

I don’t know about you, but I plan on keeping all that I’ve restored -

(I lost a bunch of mobility, flexibility, and strength in my early 30s due to the compounding effect of half a lifetime’s worth of accumulated injuries.)

… And I plan on continuing strong with all that restored function.

VO2Max is all the sensation (again) as the #1 predictor of longevity[1].

You know what ensures a low VO2Max?

Losing muscle mass because you have achy joints you can no longer move them into normal ranges of motion without pain .

Or you just can’t move them because you haven’t moved those joints well for the last 10, 15, 20 years or more.

Muscle drives you.

Take care of your joints, and you’ll keep your muscle.

And grow even more, should you so choose - regardless of your age - into your 50s, 60s, 70s and longer.

Other predictors of longevity?

1- Grip Strength[1].

Built from heavy Swings and better yet - Snatches.

2- Getting Up From the Floor Without Using Your Hands[2].

Have to be able to Lunge and Squat and have good hip internal rotation for this.

3-Leg Muscle Strength and Diameter[3].

In other copyright, strong legs.

Make sure you can still Squat and Lunge.

What about muscle stiffness and reduced flexibility?

Same thing .

They’ll restrict your ranges of motion, reduce your ability to build muscle, and get stronger.

Worse:

Eventually, as you get stiffer , you risk damaging your joints.

Sounds crazy, but it happened to me 20 years ago this week.

After one of my best Olympic lifting training sessions ever, I stripped weight off the bar, and jumped under it for a warm up set of “Classic” Cleans (landing in full squat).

I felt like I’d been stabbed in front of my hip with a flathead screwdriver.

My hip flexor tightened up, so I stretched it, and did another rep.

Same result .

After 4 months of chronic muscle spasm, intermittent excruciating pain, “corrective” exercise, chiro, massage, acupressure, acupuncture, and other modalities …

I bit the bullet and got first an x-ray, then an MRI.

Turns out I tore the labrum in my hip.

And then in September of the same year, I did the same thing to my left hip.

I then spent the next 7 years working to get pain free.

And when I say, “working”, I mean working.

Daily .

I’d do a couple of joint mobility drills each day.

I became an “expert” in joint mobility training.

But it didn’t work.

It was like playing “Whack-a-Mole.”

The pain would fade and reappear with zero predictability.

Same thing with function.

It wasn’t until September 2010 through April 2012 when I started focusing on “developmental movements” that things drastically improved .

And I got 90% there.

And it was amazing !

The last 10%?

That came in 2019/20.

And now that I can move like I could - even better - than I could at age 16?

There’s no going back.

Will I be Split-Snatching my bodyweight at 73?

Probably not.

By then I will have finally scratched my Oly lifting itch and will have checked all the boxes associated with it.

What about you, first_name?

What’s holding you back?

And what do you want to be doing 20 years from now?

Whatever it is, make keeping your joints flexible and your muscles elastic your #1 priority.

Stay resilient ,

Geoff Neupert.