ddn

Several years ago, I “met” a guy named Dave Dellanave on the internet. We have never actually met in person, but we’ve had online interactions. To be frank, we did not like each other, but that’s not why I am writing this now.

I realized a while back that Dave and I have a lot more similarities than differences (starting with our first names). We both are fans of lifting heavy things. We both have an appreciation for physical culture and old-time strongman lifts. We both care a great deal about the progress of our clients and ourselves. Probably most important, we both agree on the fact that “trying harder”, kicking your own ass and destroying yourself in the gym is both unnecessary and counterproductive. Downright stupid in fact. 

I contacted him online and admitted my part in perpetuating a negative situation between us and told him exactly what I said above: that we clearly were more alike than different in our approaches. I am happy to say that we get along quite well now.

With that, I wound up with a copy of his book Off the Floor: A Manual for Deadlift Domination.

I liked this book a lot more than I expected. It contains a bunch of information about deadlift, obviously, but the cool thing is that it goes beyond just sumo and conventional into the realm of seldom seen variations. Dave covers technical execution on a lot of different ways to pull the weight off the floor, including the best explanation of the Jefferson lift (sometimes called straddle deadlift) I have ever seen.

It’s not just a list of technical instruction either. Dave goes into the intuitive/biofeedback method of programming that he uses with his clients and for himself to pull triple bodyweight and set a world record in the Jefferson lift. I have known about this way of training for a while, but have never fully been able to get my mind around it until reading this book. Everything from how to do the lifts to how to track progress is explained in easy-to-understand detail.

Anybody from a day-one beginner to an experienced puller can learn something from this book. Getcha self a copy of it and get better.