Thanks fellow muscle-heads. I appreciate the welcome. I have my own little gym (power rack, dumbbells, barbells, reverse hyper). For some reason I have been doing dumbbell deadlifts off cider blocks because it FEELS GREAT! Now my problem is I have to get some giant dumbbells. Thinking about making my own. I have one of those adjustable dumbbell things (forgot the name of it), but I like the feel and results better just holding the dumbbells with hands on the sides horizontal instead of the handle. Anyhow, I can hit my hamstrings and hips so much better then with a barbell. No joint discomfort. I will probably have to make 3 or 4 hundred pound dumbbells eventually.