Tools with History (and a Future)

The forty-five pound iron plate photographed above was a gift from the UCLA Athletics Department. It’s decades old and was loaded on to the bar of some legendary UCLA football players like Troy Aikman and Ken Norton Jr. You see basic, essential training equipment are tools and tools have some unique, powerful characteristics. 

Tools, unlike other possessions, generally don’t lose value. All the cars built the same year this tool was built are either exponentially less effective and/or money pit, liabilities. Meanwhile, this forty-five pound plate yield the same strength today as it did in the 1980s.

Furthermore, these tools, in and of themselves, are catalysts for much more remarkable work greater than themselves. Aikman used this forty-five pound plate to build a body for a Hall of Fame career. Coach Lacey (picture) is using it to build her body and subsequently an entire career that nourishes her and he coaching nourishes countless others. 

It wasn’t until our massive effort to buy dumbbells that I saw the distinction between buying goods and buying tools. There’s endless possibility, longevity, and utility with tools, especially the simple ones (like hammers, knives, and iron plates). 

The only thing cooler and more exciting than having tools, of course, is what you’ll do with them. DEUCE Gym is full of tools. While almost none of them are new, all of them mean endless potential for you!