Waxman's Weightlifting

I have always felt that the most effective medium for young boys to develop the skills and behaviors they need to be good men is physical exertion.

Doing hard, physical, and uncomfortable things in a controlled and safe environment daily, including both success and failures, will provide valuable lifelong skills that act as a catalyst for positive growth in all areas of childhood development.

Why this isn’t an integral part of our educational system is beyond me.

Fear of sleeping
Fear of showering
Fear of going outside
Fear of moving around
This is a small sample of what I felt like living the weeks following September 2, the day I died for 7 minutes and 38 seconds from a cardiac arrest.

I’m no stranger to fear; I’ve faced fear-inducing peril since I was eight years old. I’ve always thought of fear as a monster standing in front of me that I can fight. Just grab it by its fu***ng neck and choke the life out of it and move past it. It’s worked brilliantly for me until September 2.

This time was different; The monster was inside of me, and I couldn’t see it. I was in a dark room, and I didn’t know when or if it was going to attack me again. It didn’t help that the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong.

I had another cardiac arrest on September 27 and again on October 30, which I survived because of the defibrillator in my chest.

The fear mounted.

On January 18, I woke up, looked at myself in the mirror, and started to cry at the man I had become, living on my knees like a coward. I strapped on my heart rate monitor and walked my dog for 16 minutes. I didn’t die. And if I did, at least I was on my feet with my dog by my side and the sun on my face.

For the first time in months, I felt powerful. Later that day, I started calastenic’s program from “Bodyweight Bodybuilding for Beginners,” I did this for two months. I started adding in some light deadlifting at that point, along with the calisthenics.

I hadn’t pushed my body like that for months, and it wasn’t comfortable. After every rep for the first four times pulling, I would pause to see what was going to happen, and nothing ever did.

Last week I decided I’m going to attempt to pull 500lbs at SummerStrong in May. I haven’t pulled 500lbs on a straight bar in well over a decade.

Whether it goes up or not is not important, but I will not be scared of doing it.

This is my second-to-last deadlift session, 440lbs x 2. In ten days, I’ll attempt 470lbs x 1, and two weeks after that, it’s time to face the monster.

Starfishing in the Clean is one of the most pervasive mistakes we see in high school weight rooms.

There is one thing you can do tomorrow to help fix this with your players.

Stress high elbows with the bar resting across the shoulders in the catch.

If the elbows are up and the bar is resting on the shoulders, your athlete will be able to bend the knees and hips to lower their center of gravity.

Oftentimes, this correction alone will fix poor footwork.
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If you are struggling to get started regaining your health, my book “SUFFER SMARTER” can help.

If you would like to read the introduction and first chapter for free, go to seanwaxman.com (link in bio)

Download my free Squat Manual “Dynamic Method For Football” (link in bio)