Dave,

I am very happy to see that you all are supporting and advertising the Lift Strong campaign. My father has been beating the crap out of non-Hodgkins lymphoma for the past few years. He goes to Columbus this month for his bone marrow transplant.

The first time he was diagnosed he beat it, but it really sucked for everyone in the family. The second diagnosis came almost a year later. He went into ass kicking mode again and is doing well, but you know that it's trying emotionally and physically on everyone - to put it lightly.

My old man is a true warrior. Not many are like him physically and mentally. He's old school to the bone and competed in meets when he was in his early 50's - squatting 365, benching 235 and deadlifting 405. This was all done with 1/4 of a finger on one hand, and after ACL, rotator cuff and spinal fusion surgeries. All competition numbers. He is and always be my hero, truly.

Like you said, it's all about financial support, and I made my donation on the website last night. The work they are doing with this research is saving the lives of people like my father. I work in the gym industry, and if there is anything that I can do at my gym to help with the program you have going, I will do everything I can to spread the word. Please let me know.

Adam
 

Dave,

Saw your post about Lift Strong and LLS. I've been a supporter of LLS for a few years now - my wife lost her father to Leukemia and her sister is a survivor. I'm not quite sure the angle you wanted from your request - but here's an idea. Take what may be useful, if any of it. I hope it is of some use to you:

Strong.

Ask anyone to describe powerlifters in one word, and chances are this is the one they will use. Being strong isn’t just what we do, it’s a part of who we are. It’s what we are passionate about. It’s what we spend every waking moment trying to become. Strong is more than just a word, it’s a way of life to us.

It takes not only great strength, but incredible will and determination to keep training week after week, despite the physical and mental anguish, until you have reached your goals. But there is another group of people that have a similar struggle - cancer patients. But their fight is not just to get stronger - theirs is a fight for their lives.

Starting September 1st, Elite Fitness Systems will not only be helping you get stronger, but we will also be helping cancer patients get stronger. We will be introducing Lift Strong, our latest line of apparel, accessories, and seminars. All proceeds will go to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - the world’s biggest volunteer organization dedicated to funding research on blood cancer, education, and patient services.

Let’s use our quest for strength to help those in the fight for their lives. When you lift, Lift Strong.

Nick Tsourounis

Seriously, Dave, you don't need my help with the Lift Strong launch. You've said what you need to say in the first three paragraphs. End it there, shut up and see if anyone cares enough to get involved. Then it puts the pressure on me, not you, to make this project a success. Whether you want to admit it or not, business and emotions are inseparable because we're men, not animals. There's no harm in mixing them; the harm comes when emotions take control of the business - and it can be argued that the inverse of that is true as well. Frankly, I've been wondering what took so long for a product line to be launched around Lift Strong. You're the right guy to take it on and you will succeed.
 

Jim

Hi Dave,

I believe I may be your poster boy.

I've been powerlifting for about six years, but I am a Leukemia Survivor for almost five years. I went to the GPC World Championships last year in England, and I am going to the 2009 GPC World Championships in France in November representing Canada in the 90kg Open Category.

I would love to help in any way I can. I don't have time currently for a long response, but I wanted to leave you with the link to my cancer journal:

members.shaw.ca/caityadam

This journal documents everything I went through from diagnosis to about a year and a bit after the bone marrow transplant. I've since gone on to win medals in several Canadian events, and if all goes well, I think I have a shot at getting to the podium in November if I can keep my weight down.

Also, here is a link to a YouTube video of me squatting 750 pounds for the first time.

Adam Armstrong
 

Lifting isn’t life. It just helps us deal with it. Lift Strong is merely our way as a community to live strong and help others. The same qualities that have helped us achieve success in the weight room are applied to other areas of our life - more important areas - with this mission. The principles that I have preached in the past of teamwork and attitude to reach your goals in the weightroom will be of the utmost importance in reaching our mission with Lift Strong - a mission that will be successful if we work as a team. A mission that will provide hope to those that suffer from this disease. A mission to fight a disease that might affect someone you care about. A mission that is more important than anything that has ever been written on this site.

Hope this will give you some idea of the approach I would take to write this letter. When I think of more I will send it to you. If there is a link I can put on my blog give it to me and I will be happy to do so.

http://trainingresults.wordpress.com/

You don’t start taking donations until September 1st, right?

Detric

Dave,

This seems like a small thing to write (wanting to help more, please let me know if I can). Hopefully I got the program description right.

We have, as a community, all experienced adversity. In fact, the testament to the strength community is that it is all about overcoming incalculable odds to achieve the seemingly impossible.  We are not part of the masses. We seek to better ourselves, and punish ourselves and our brethren only to make them and ourselves stronger. If you have been excelling in this sport, you understand that the game is 90% mental and 10% physical. It is one of the only places where we prove, every day, the adage, "If you believe, you can achieve." We know as both individuals and as a group that grit, determination, hard work and a plan produces results...every time.

To expand this further, the larger community expects the impossible from the strength community. Whether it's powerlifting, strongman or bodybuilding, the larger population looks to us to push beyond the limits of what the human body can endure in order to achieve greatness, and every day we lead by example with no excuses.

Today, that larger population faces another impossible challenge called cancer. Interestingly, those who have fought this demon utilize the strength athlete's mindset in battling this devastating illness. We, as strength athletes, are in a unique position to lend a hand in this fight for a cure. The folks involved in this fight need help. They fight an impossible foe and they need a partner who has (on a daily basis) faced and fought against impossible odds (the very definition of strength athletes). 
 

Are you game?
 

Kelly Jones

Dave,
 

Alwyn's words spoke volumes. I don't think any of us who have not been through the battle can do it justice. I watched my mother fight lung cancer and kick its ass. Alwyn, the others affected from EliteFTS, my mother, and everyone who has toughed it out make us look like pussies. In my humble opinion you need their words, not ours. Have them write it.

I will support this cause in any way that I can. Good luck with it. I'll leave on this: I emailed Alwyn when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. He was very helpful and gave me one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard:

"Fuck Cancer!"

Vincent Dizenzo

Dave,
 

Why not use exactly what you wrote in your log? I know you said not to mix emotions with business, but I think in this case that's exactly what needs to be done. People can tell how important this is to you by the way you write, so don't try and neutralize it with ad copy and marketing slickness. 

And for what it's worth, I just forwarded your log post to 52 personal training clients of mine and I'm giving them all sessions on the house for making a donation or a purchase. I don't have a lot of money to give, but I do have the time to donate.

Zach Trowbridge

I usually don't post much or say much on the internet. I'm a lurker, but what you're doing for cancer hits close to home. I work in a cancer clinic and see patients and families fight for their lives and battle every day. I've seen too many come and go for my liking. I feel because the individuals who frequent this site are goal-oriented and driven people that these are the ones who can understand what it's like to be driven not for a PR, but for one more hour, day or year to be with their families.

Cancer is an aggressive disease and needs to be treated and dealt with aggressively.

So the need to step up and be aggressive, help out and support is one of the greatest things we can do personally to help.

I'm not much of a wordsmith, but that's my say. Hope it helps.

Jason

Hi Dave.
 
I hope this gets through to you. I wrote something up for the Lift Strong letter, but it would not fit in the Q&A submission box since it's over the 2,000 character limit. I decided to try the e-mail route – hope it works. I also wanted to thank you for doing all of this in support of Lift Strong. As you will see from my submission, my girlfriend battled leukemia for six years before a stem cell transplant put it into remission. Your efforts and passion toward this mean everything to me and Christie, so thank you. I hope this letter is helpful and if you need a picture of Christie in some EliteFTS gear, she will be doing one hopefully today or tomorrow.
 
Here is my letter:
 
There is much to admire and respect about everyone in the strength community: the dedication, the respect, the guts, the determination and the profound sense of a shared brotherhood that exists. The ability to put in so much time and energy and effort into taking an uncaring, unfeeling piece of iron and move it to your will in one supremely violent moment.
 
But in the end, for all there is about being a lifter, they are not the ones I have come to see as being at the very pinnacle of that goal of strength we all chase. For in the end, the greatest of strength lies less in muscle and more in spirit. I have seen the strong and they often carry an appearance that belies this strength.
 
Throughout this country, regular people are sitting in their doctor’s office and being told the completely surreal and devastating news, “I’m sorry, but you have leukemia.” At that moment, their fight has begun and at that moment, their strength will be put to the ultimate test. These are the people who are the truly strong as they engage in this fight because they stand to lose everything they hold dear.
 
My girlfriend, Christie, has fought this battle for six years before a stem cell transplant was able to finally put this disease into remission. Day after day, week after week, month after month she fought. There were no off days. She didn’t have any deload weeks. The disease never gave her a chance to take a breather. I have often wondered how I would fight against something this relentless and constant. I'm glad I don't know and hope I never have to find out. This is why I will always think of people like Christie as being the truly strong - the true warriors. Failing on a lift is a blow to the ego. Failing in this? How can you compare the two? She will have my love and my utmost respect forever and she will always now be my hero.
 
So, through Lift Strong, we can take but a moment to use our own strength (as humbled as it will be in the face of this damning and utterly soulless disease) as a vehicle to fight back. It is through Lift Strong that we can use our own strength to take some of the weight off those warriors who fight not with weapons, but with endless chemicals and procedures and blood transfusions and operations. Because it is now time for us to use our strength and our brotherhood to fight against a thing in Leukemia which has no conscience, no remorse and no mercy. We must fight against it and show it no mercy in return.
 
We have all shown we have the passion to fight and strain for the pursuit of strength. Now we can use those same efforts in the pursuit of finally defeating Leukemia. Now is the time to stand and deliver.
 
Now is the time to Lift Strong.

Kevin Kuzia

 

Basically, Dave, the approach I would take would be to emphasize the bar as a metaphor. I don't know about you, but there's something beyond just wanting to get stronger that compels me to get under a heavy squat bar. I mean, we're all vain, but vanity's just not enough. And it's different with everyone...

I remember you talking about how it miffed you to be dismissed by your teachers in grade school, and how you used that anger as an impetus to succeed. Not only did you prove your f-tard teachers wrong by graduating college, you're now the damned CEO of a successful company! And you used lifting — first bodybuilding, then powerlifting — as a means by which to grow: physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually. And to top it off, you now have a wonderful family and are surrounded by some of the best lifters in the iron game, all uniting for a common purpose: overcoming tremendous personal odds and supporting each other in the process.

In the end, all I can say is what Elite Fitness has meant to me, and hope it shows you some of the good that you've done without even being aware of it.

Five years ago, at the age of twenty, I weighed nearly 400 pounds, hadn't yet gone to college, had no job, no girlfriend, and basically no reason to live. I was on the verge of suicide. Then, by chance at a friend's house, I stumbled onto lifting. I was hooked. Getting stronger, for the first time in my life, gave me a positive perspective with which to view my body. I stumbled onto your Eight Keys article on T-Nation, and subsequently devoured everything else that you and Louie had written. As my bench went up, so did my confidence. I thought, “Hey, if I can do this, I can do other stuff.” So I started to diet. After losing some weight, I decided to go to school. I started to date. I started to believe that I was worth something.

So, maybe this is just my long, protracted way of saying thank you.

I'm not sure if any of this helps, but I hope it does; and if you want to bounce any ideas off me, please do. I just want to give back.

Richie Whitehead