You know what makes you...

[Brandon Enos]

...happy, then sad, then happy, then very happy?

Happy: When in one day you set personal records for both your squat and deadlift...

Sad: Realizing that everyone else in your gym is deadlifting just as much or within 50 pounds more than you...

Happy: You realize they are all using belts, gloves, and lifting straps while your only using chalk so your hands dont get sweaty and drop the bar...

Very happy: Halfway through your deadlifts you realize that not only is your thumb no longer around the bar, but that the bar is no longer even in your hand and is only being held up by the curl of your fingers and you are able to finish the set like that...

Thats right, Im a BAMF...haha

[Arden Cogar Jr.]

Yes Brandon I now what you're talking about. I didn't learn how to internalize my own weight training ambitions until I was in my early 30s.

I now see anything I move in relation to the last thing I moved.

For example, I'm doing Squat jerk recoveries from a pin set about nose high in a power cage. I set a PR on Monday - not a great deal of weight in the grand scale of things, but a PR for me; so I'm very happy.

It is sooooooo much funner without the supportive gear. let's you know it's all you. That said, I love my straps and as long as I'm lifting on beat up crappy bars, I'm going to use the darn things.

All the best,
Arden