5am.

I awake, rouse myself from my slumber, and wait for my good friend Josh to arrive at my house to embark on a journey 70 miles to the south of San Francisco. The destination: a small place called “Jack’s Gym”.

We stopped for coffee along the way at 7am. After sitting in our car for a few minutes postulating about the man we were about to meet, a tiny red Toyota MR2 speeds next to us. A bright eyed-man, just shy of 6 feet tall wedges himself out of the tiny sports car. We exchanged formalities and he invited us up to his gym (called ‘Core Strength’), to show us around. Exuberant with knowledge and excitement, Deric Stockton was quick to share his knowledge about training and his unique philosophy on training. You would think, being a 40-year old powerlifter squatting almost 800 pounds, he would be quick to talk about periodization schemes, how to increase speed on the bar, and assistance exercises to load the body with more weight.

However, what we found was quite the contrary. Deric has developed his own paradigm of training that focuses on developing awareness of the deeper layers of the body. So many of us nowadays are unaware of our bodies, leading to instability, poor posture/movement patterns, and pain. Deric’s philosophy centers around getting the muscles to not only contract, but also to relax so that their action potential is much greater when the time comes to move, which allows for improved performance AND decreases in injury prevalence. Deric spends just as much time on recovery, if not more, as he does training. Much like a Tai Chi master, Deric has figured out that the key to health and strength lies in balancing the Yin and Yang.

As we followed Deric through the evergreen hills of Ben Lomond, we arrived at a small garage space called “Jack’s gym”. The door opened up, and the scent of rubber, and oxidized iron sent back memories of personal records achieved in garages similar to this in years past. This is where strength is practiced, built and celebrated. The tools used are simple, no shiny chrome dumbbells or towel service here. Not unlike a NASCAR mechanic’s shop, the tools slightly rusted and worn, covered in dust, pictures of heroes and past personal records, we readied ourselves for a tune up. After doing some joint mobilization drills that Deric showed us, we were ready to go to work. Today was Bench Day. Always intimidated by the Bench Press since it was one of my weakest lifts, i was hesitant to go heavy. I’ve never Bench Pressed over 235 in my life. After some technique work and some great coaching cues, i managed 10 reps with 225! Then, following that, i pushed out 255 for a triple! I couldn’t believe it, i was stoked. After that we followed our workout up with some assistance exercises, including Dumbbell floor presses for reps. I ended up pulling out 14 reps with 85 pound dumbbells! Stoked. This was a testament to how strong the body can be when the body’s joints are in the right position and working together.

Gleeming with accomplishment, we left the gym to head back to Deric’s house for some grub. After eating, we sat in his living room chatting about Tennis (one of Deric’s favorite sports). Nobody believes a big guy like him could move around on a tennis court, but he plays regularly and is apparently pretty solid at it, too. We watched a tennis match on TV as Deric pointed out the superiority of one player over another and how in elite athletics, athleticism can only be extended by those who harbor ever-increasing strength and power. Ultimately, those that are the strongest and most powerful will be the most successful athletes after the skill has already reached elite levels.

We said our good-byes, although we could have stayed and hung out all day and talked shop. Deric, out of all the strength guys i’ve met, seemed to harbor a peace of mind about him that i haven’t seen anywhere else. He has cultivated through his years of wisdom an inner strength as well as an outer strength that resonated with both Josh and I. He gives us hope that our society hasn’t lost it’s physical culture, reminding us that we can still be strong AND healthy. I hope we can all preserve all of those garage gyms out there, building communities of strong people who challenge themselves no matter what their ability level, age or limitations. The realm of possibility was pushed that day even, as Deric’s training partner lifted over 400 pounds in the deadlift…and he has two bilateral hip replacements! Amazing indeed.

The Iron game has been threatened and challenged by nay-sayers who, through fear, have sought to eliminate heavy lifting, saying that it is “dangerous”, “contraindicated” or “Unnecessary”, however, for those whose life it has enriched, it is something that will live on, even if it is in garages all over the country. When done properly, heavy lifting can be a very positive stimulus on the body, and Deric is living proof of that.

More info about Deric can be found on Liz Koch’s site www.coreawareness.com (there is an audio interview there with Deric and Liz, as well as a link to Deric’s seminar, which will be hosted at his gym called “Core Strength” in scotts valley, ca on July 25th)

Charlie Reid Uncategorized