🏋️‍♂️ this 11-year-old might be stronger than you

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• Eat these nutrient-dense foods for better gym performance

• Set your standards on the deadlift

• Meet the 11-year-old with a 264-pound Zercher squat

Nutrition

Vitamin Party

Lots of things in this world are edible, but only a few have the nutrients you need to fuel your body to continue training hard. If you want a quick list of the best of the best, this nutritionist- and dietician-approved rundown of the most nutrient-dense foods contains everything you need to eat to pack enough protein, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants into your diet.

The best way to explain why your foods need to be dense is to look at the sheer amount of bamboo a panda needs to eat every day; its low-nutrient-density food of choice requires an overwhelming volume of sustenance. Choosing salmon and nuts instead of grass allows you to slam your body with much-needed nutrition without needing to wear a Garfield-inspired feed bag to drip calories 24 hours a day. Choose your favorite nutrient-dense foods for a heartier, healthier approach to your diet.

Here’s your invitation to participate in running research with RunDot

Qualified participants receive 2 free months of run training.

The RunDot Project is an annual research initiative that provides optimized run training to help runners reach their true performance potential.

The project also quantifies the performance gains that RunDot's Optimized Training delivers.

What kind of results can you expect?

RunDot athletes improve their running performance an average of 3.2x more than non-users. They also see positive changes in 30% less training time.

Participation simply requires following your prescribed RunDot training to the best of your abilities.

You qualify for FREE training if you meet these criteria:

• You run with a GPS-enabled device

• You have not used RunDot (or TriDot) in the last year

• You are not a professional runner

• You are enthusiastic about achieving your running goals!

Get in shape with two free months of running training! Fill out the 3-minute application here to find out if you qualify

Strength Training

Feel Alive While Deadlifting

Deadlifting is slowly supplanting the bench press as the most drooled-over lift in the gym. While big deadlifts on social media seem as common as arguments with your family at Thanksgiving, seeing a 500-pound pull live and in person at any local gym is still something of a rarity.

Whether you’re watching your favorite influencer add every red plate in the gym to a bar or seeing regulars at your commercial gym struggle with a couple of rubberized hex plates, this article will help you determine what kind of deadlift numbers you should be shooting for.

Understanding what kind of practical goal to set for yourself in your deadlift training needs to be based on factors like your weight, age, and level of experience with the barbell. According to some intense math we’ve done, the odds of you being a significant outlier are quite small (you can crunch the numbers yourself if you don’t believe it). 

Use this article as a guide to find out where you sit on the bell curve of deadlifting. Then, work like crazy to move yourself as far to the right side of the parabola as possible. You may not be able to sneak into the top 0.05%, but you can always push just a little bit farther.

Weightlifting

A Mighty Hoist

Eleven-year-old weightlifting phenom Rory van Ulft, already the owner of five Youth National Weightlifting titles, took a break from her explosive overhead lifting to showcase an incredible Zercher squat that was three times her body weight.

Weighing significantly less than most people using the power rack at your local gym, the 88-pound lifter was still able to Zercher 264 pounds (a feat probably rarely seen outside of more serious lifting facilities). The multi-disciplinary athlete has used her prowess as a gymnast, powerlifter, and weightlifter to prove that size and age are no barriers to accomplishing your goals in the world of strength. Check out all of van Ulft’s lifts and see how you compare.

Everything Else

Game Time!

• The CrossFit Games start on Thursday, and you can stay on top of the action by subscribing to the Morning Chalk Up newsletter! You’ll get event breakdowns, athlete interviews, analysis, and everything else your WOD-loving self could ever want.

• When bodybuilders talk about balance, they usually mean the ratio of upper-to-lower-body workouts or the ability to manage training fatigue with available recovery resources. For megastar Chris Bumstead, finding a balance between his Olympia prep and familial duties is also a top priority.

• Dr. Mike Israetel explains what the body experiences when it enters “starvation mode” and how to avoid it.