I thought I knew how to lift weights. But during my first workout with Jim McCarty, he systematically contradicted almost everything personal trainers had ever told me.

There's a good reason I decided to listen to McCarty instead of the ghosts of personal trainers past that whispered cautiously in my head: Jim McCarty is the strongest man in the world.

Among other things, I write regular pieces for "Your Health," a magazine that goes to News-Journal readers every two months, in which I do some edgy/fitnessy and write about how it felt to suffer that much (and how good it feels to have done it).

So far, I've lost a bunch of weight off my fat boot with a strict diet/exercise regimen, gotten my boot kicked at fitness boot camps, spent a month sweatin' my boot off at a Bikram Yoga studio (that story publishes Dec. 28) and gotten my boot (and my cell phone) lost in the woods during an adventure race (look for that story sometime next year).

McCarty is a 48-year-old professional "strength athlete," meaning he has made a career out of bench pressing the equivalent of two or three refrigerators. After more than 30 years and a string of world records in both powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting, "Powerlifting USA" magazine named him "Superman of the Century." It seems the magazine's statisticians realized that between 1900 and 1999, he lifted more weight than any other guy in his class.

After talking to McCarty for a Volusia magazine profile, I decided I'd ask him to help me get stronger. So this month, I'm spending a couple days a week in his garage, which he has converted into a hardcore training facility.

I'm just getting started, but he has already revolutionized my workouts. He's promised to add about three inches in girth to my biceps between now and the end of the year. You'll get the whole story - and maybe even my ripped bicep - sometime next spring in "Your Health."

In the meantime, you can read my profile of McCarty in the next Volusia magazine, which will be in your Saturday, December 6 News-Journal.