My Job, on the Harder Days

Remember on my last post where I mentioned that my job can be very easy, as long as I don't have to go and get the sludge? There are jobss such as digester and lagoon cleanings where we have to go and get it. Then, my job morphs into ideal fodder for the TV show, "Dirty Jobs." Then, it turns into very hard, very dirty work.

FYI, I'll fill you in on what both of these are. Lagoons are nothing more than large, aerated ponds that treat sludge by growing bugs that break down all of the nutrients in the wastewater coming in. The solid waste simply settles to the bottom of the lagoon and forms a thick layer with the consistency of mud. Most lagoons are 15 feet deep but operate at a 10 foot water level. When the sludge reaches 4 feet in the lagoon, it has to be cleaned out. Lagoons are mostly used in very small towns because they take up a lot of space and don't provide nearly the same amount of treatment in the same area that a more modern treatment plant can. Plus, they're very low maintenance. They may only need to be cleaned out once every 10 years.

Digesters are a tank used in modern treatment plants. They are covered and sludge is fed into them where it's heated, causing a release of methane. You can easily spot these at a modern treatment plant. Usually, the excess methane is burned off so you'll see an open flame. Lately, treatment plants are setting up generators that can turn that methane into electricity. In any case, they accumulate sludge just like a lagoon does over time and they have to be cleaned out or they start losing digestion. Like a lagoon, the sludge becomes mud-like and won't flow.

As much as I can love an inatimate object, I love this pump. It's centrifugal, hydraulic-driven submersible pump. It can easily pump sludge as thick as mud at rates over 300 Gallons Per Minute and push it for hundreds of feet. I've even pumped such material 35 feet, straight up! It can also pass a piece of solid up to 4" in diameter. While it's a great set-up, it also weights around 170 lbs. Those hoses easily weigh 80 lbs each. So, set-up and moving this wonderful piece of machinery is also ass-busting, but, oh so worth it!

This is the inside of the digester I'm currently cleaning. Soon enough, we'll have to get into this wonderful puddle of mud with a water hose and thin it out with a fire hose since it'll be so thick it won't want to flow. It's always fun trying to tread through 2' of this stuff while dragging 50 or so feet of water hose with you. At least in a digester, it's cooler. We have to do the same thing in a lagoon too, but this time we're out in the weather (usually, we do this work from July to September). Bear in mind, we're also wearing rubber chest waders while doing this. That gets hot after a while.

Yeah, it's gross but to be honest with you, I really enjoy this job. It pays really well and the job security is great (are you going to stop flushing any time soon?). I get to travel a lot and see some great stuff. We're on the cutting edge in our field and that's a fun place to be, as far as I'm concerned. Most of all, I get to do a good-paying job that requires some elbow grease. Ocasionally, I have to do some office work but, at heart, I'm the kind of guy who likes to move. Sitting down for too long drives me crazy. Plus, I never got over the childhood joy of getting dirty.

My Job

I realized that I talk an awful lot about practical and functional exercise in my blog. I feel like I have some knowledge on the matter since, at times, my job demands that I do some hard labor. So, I have a lot of feedback on how well my training works based on how well I can move when my job demands a healthy dose of ass-busting. So, I thought I'd take the time to explain what it is I do for work.

I run a mobile wastewater treatment plant for a living. The plant is designed for one specific purpose: to remove solid waste from wastewater. Eventually, in any water or wastewater treatment process, treatment plants will accumulate a sludge that is anywhere from 1-15% solid waste. Larger plants will have the machinery on hand to remove this solid waste from the sludge. Smaller plants can't afford or justify the capital investment. They may only need to remove and dispose of this solid waste a few times a year.

That's where my company comes in. We have all of the equipment necessary to remove this solid waste contained into one trailer. We come in on a temporary basis and remove the solid waste from the wastewater. It's a process known in the business as dewatering. The bulk of our business is sewage treatment plants but we also provide this service to drinking water plants (great work, doesn't stink), food processing plants, paper mills, landfills, etc.

Here's a shot of my dewatering system running right now, on the job that I'm currently at. Inside the trailer, which is the heart of the system, is a centrifuge. It also contains pumps to move the wastewater sludge in and the treated water out. It also has chemical mixing and treatment system to mix a chemical called polyacrymide emulsion (Polymer, or poly, in the business) and inject it into the sludge. When it makes contact with the sludge, it provides the initial separation of the water and the solids. The centrifuge spins this slurry at a high rate of speed, completing the separation. The solids exit one end of the centrifuge by a series of augers and discharges into that dump trailer that you see here. The liberated water goes back to the plant for treatment.

From here, it's either hauled to a landfill or it can be composted, provided that it meets a set of criteria mandated by the state and federal governments. I travel all over the United States and Canada doing this. That dry solids going into that trailer is a key to our high demand across the country. Due to the increased costs of transporting this dewatered solids (which is charged by the ton), it's critically important to get the solids as dry as possible since the water is what weighs the most. Most of our competitors only get the dewatered solids 18-23% solids. That material that you see in the picture is around 30%. That extra dryness saves a lot of money in transportation costs over the course of a job.

My job usually involves process control and optimization, some mechanical work, and the set-up and shut down days are usually very busy for me. Then there are the days where I have to get crash courses in computer software programming and hardware installation and repair. Those are always fun times. Sometimes, this job has nearly no manual labor to it. All of the machinery is computerized and controlled from one main computer. If I'm dewatering a holding tank of sludge, and I don't have to do any work to get the sludge to me, then this job is very easy and slow. Then there are the wastewater treatment ponds and digester cleanings. Those are an entirely different story. I'll get into those in another blog entry though.

Your Mindset

Ugh, the bickering that goes on about how to train is more than enough to get on my nerves at any given moment. When it doesn't, it can be positively confusing. Seriously, how many different training methodologies and philosophies are there out there that conflict with one another but have people who use them and get great results? Even on a more basic level, what exercises do you use to get strong? What equipment should you use? How many reps should you do? How fast should you do them? How much rest between the sets? Should you cheat? Do you do a 3-second-down-1-second-up tempo? Should you hang rubber chickens 1/3 full of sand from your dumbbells while lifting on a unicycle in order to get the maximum core recruitment? High rep? High Intensity? Periodization? Linear? Muscle Confusion? All of the above? Is all of this just bullshit?

What I'm getting at is that the more that I read, train, and occasionally see how others train, the more I'm convinced that the biggest factor in the training isn't in the method or philosophy. It's contained in the mushy stuff between your ears. Your outlook on your training and your ability to focus and concentrate is what's going to make the single, biggest effect on your training. I can't come up with any other explanation as to why some people excel on the same training modality that others fail dismally at.

There is some hard science to back me up on this too. The Yule and Cole Study back in 1992 found that strength could, in fact, increase just by sheer thought! They proved this by having people exercise their pinky (to eliminate variables that occur during complex motor tasks) against resistance while others didn't move but IMAGINED doing the same movement. Both groups increased their strength in their pinky by 30% and 22%, respectively. Pretty impressive performance for sheer thought.

This explains a lot of things to me. Far too often, I hear about the ineffectiveness and the inferiority of BW compared to weight training. I've heard instances where a naysayer will point to a BW trainer with an unimpressive physique as evidence of BW's lack of results. I've seen people doing the exact same exercises that I do but don't get a fraction of the results that I do. Then again, I see them moving without control or conviction. There's a difference between simply moving and exercising. That difference is the mental concentration that the practitioner puts into the movement that makes it exercise. This has been observed as far back as Sandow... probably even farther back than that.

The fact alone that some don't like to do certain exercises or routines will also play into lack of results. After all, if you don't like what you're doing or don't believe it will work, what makes you think that you'll get any results from it? Most likely, you won't continue with what you're doing. You certainly won't put forth your best effort even if you persevere. Either way, you won't get the results that you're looking for because your mind and spirit aren't into the work.

Just as the best restaurants aren't the best just because their food is better than everyone else, your mental outlook isn't the sole purpose you'll succeed or fail at your goals. Obviously, routines and exercise selection do play significant roles in your physical culture. I happen to think that the mental aspects of training are the most important and the most neglected aspects of training. I think part of the problem is that strength training has become so scientific and more ethereal and metaphysical aspects, like mental focus and outlook, get ignored. Plus, there is so much that isn't known about the mind, the nervous system and how the two correlate to your training.

Still, just because it's hard to analyze and prove doesn't make it not worth it. Whenever I've set out on a new personal record, what's got me there more than the structure of my training is the belief that I can do it and the drive that makes me achieve my goals. How you do what you do is always going to be important but your mind's response to what you'll do will always be the factor that makes you succeed or fail.

Busted-up Weightlifters?

Okay, I might dub Pierini the the official Bodyweight Files muse. He fired off yet another very interesting blog about busted-up weightlifters syndrome (hereafter BUWS). Like the man said, this term (or others like it) get thrown around a lot with bodyweight-only strength trainers. The other side of the strength training fence scoffs at the notion that weight lifting can, over the long-term, virtually guarantee long term damage to the body.

One thing that weight lifters who respond to the charge of BUWS, and correctly so, is that you can hurt yourself doing just about any sort of strength training. Far too frequently I see people trying to goose as many push-ups out of their body as possible by letting their weight drop to the floor rather than controlling the descent. Then, they get up off the ground, wondering why they have sore elbows and shoulders. I'm sure there's been more than one person who has attempted Pistols or bridging before their body was ready for either. While my T-handle handstand push-up stunt set was impressive, have you seen me recommending it to anyone ever? So, I'm not going to lie to you and say that there is no risk to BW-based strength training.

Still, I'll hold firm to the notion that it's EASIER to hurt yourself with weights than it is with BW. I just got done getting a laugh out of this article at T-Nation for the second time. This is what the author said about the following (keep in mind that he's tried all of these except Olympic lifting):

Powerlifting...
"You have constant back, knee, and shoulder pain, and your career is defined by your willingness and ability to come back from serious injuries"

Olympic Weightlifting...
"The risk of injury is high, due to the ballistic nature of the lifts"

Strongman...
"The risk of serious injuries is off the charts, and you'll need every bit of that core strength to protect your spine from permanent damage"

Let me ask you this: Are BW strength trainers nearly as accepting of the fact that they will get injured during their strength training sessions? Granted there isn't a formal, BW strength-training competition but maybe that's what gives it an advantage in the less-injuries department: the methodology hasn't become a sport/game. It's much more based on keeping your body strong and healthy than most weight training disciplines ever thought of. The sport/game pushes aspect certainly pushes people past the point of what's reasonable or safe for the body.

I've even question if practicioners of weight lifting sports even know what being healthy is? I remember reading about one powerlifter who admitted his steroid use triggered dangerously high LDL (bad) cholestrol, low HDL (good) cholesterol, low sperm count, sore nipples, and shock syndrome. Yet he, and the guy interviewing him, thought he was healthy (BTW, this guy was only in his early 40's)! Too bad he didn't elaborate on his training injuries. Still, as long as they can hoist huge piles of iron, then as far as they're concerned, they're healthy.

Even when the practitioner isn't competing, there's always the ego factor. Everyone loves to brag about their lifting feats. In fact, the nearly-universal question that everyone asks about another person's strength is, "dude, how much do ya bench?" This certainly doesn't help out the situation. Not to mention, there are lifts out there that aren't good for the body, no matter how little weight you do them with.

Still, to say for certain that weightlifting results in BUWS, we'd have to be able to say that it's an INEVITABILITY that a person's body will break down under the weight of, well, the weights. In other words, it isn't possible to train with weights without injuring yourself. That, of course, is flat-out untrue. It ultimately comes down to what I've said before about weight lifting: I don't have a problem with weight lifting (I train with stones approximately twice a week) but I have a huge problem with weight lifters. It doesn't have to be that way, but I feel that more often than not, it is.

Body Image

It certainly looks like Pierini and I have symbiotic blogs. He wrote about body image on his blog not too long ago and after reading it, it filled my mind with enough ideas and opinions to state my own ideas on the matter. It nice to know of blog that stimulates though about fitness and strength training beyond the norm.

For those of you who saw, "Bigger, Stronger, Faster," you saw that a large reason that drives the performance enhancing drug use in all walks of training is the endless desire to be better. Even on a saner, less drug-fueled level, most of our training is a constant cycle of making and exceeding goals on a regular basis. Now, obviously this isn't wrong in and of itself. Where things go wrong is where stop learning to appreciate what we've accomplished. Instead, we fill ourselves with the notion that we can never be good enough.

Another thing that struck me about that movie was most of the people there admitted to wanting to look like someone else, Arnold being the most frequently mentioned. Therein lies another huge problem: when we set our goals about how we want to look and be, we too often think of someone else that we'd like to look like. What we fail to realize is our own individuality.
I doubt I'd be wrong if I said that there is at least two generations of bodybuilders who looked at Arnold and said to themselves, "I want to be like him!"

Looking back on it, I did the same thing, except on a less celebrity-fueled level. I wanted to be built like my dad. To this day, I can stand next to my father and you wouldn't be able to tell that we were father and son. Aside from being much darker than I am, we are somatope-polar opposites.

Still, most of us define how to we're supposed to be from our parents, whether we realize it or not. I may not have caught the Arnold Bug, but I still thought growing up that a real man had to have 8 1/2"+ wrists, like my dad naturally sports. I remember years ago I saw him grab onto and lift a cube-shaped, cast iron machine part that two men could barely lift, let along carry, like he did.

Eventually, I realized that I couldn't (sanely or naturally) turn my leopard-like physique into a hulking bear-of-a-man build like my dad sports. That was probably a moment that saved me a lot of endless searching and disappointment. That inability to accept that and the endless desire to be someone else other than yourself cuts to the heart of body image problems. We're all individuals. It's one thing to want to improve on yourself, push yourself to new limits, and be a better person. It's quite another thing to have someone else in mind other than yourself when you're doing this. If you're doing that to yourself, you're asking for trouble.

Vibram Five Fingers

Without a doubt, these are the clown-prince and joker shoes of the athletic footwear world. Wear these ugly things and you're sure to get a few stares when people realize what you're wearing. I'm the kind of guy who is naturally drawn towards weird and unconventional stuff so when I saw Vibram Five Fingers for the First time, I had to check them out and see what they were all about.

First of all, calling these shoes seems a little bit of a stretch. I think that a better description of these things are "feet gloves" because of the freedom of movement for your toes. They're pretty thin on the sides and the sole is incredibly minimal. When I put these on, I had some very serious doubts about them. I couldn't help but think that my feet were bound to get beat up in short order. I figured that these things would be shredded after a modest amount of use.

However, when I found a shoe store in Portland that carried them, I talked to a man who was replacing his first pair that he bought three years ago. He assured me that he used them as much as the weather allowed him and they held up very well. So, that soothed some of my worries about buying an $80.00 pair of feet gloves. I found out that they're not cool weather shoes by a longshot. So, I'd have to wait for the ground the fully thaw out here in New England before I could see what these were all about.

So, after several months of jumping rope, hill sprinting, strength training, yard work, doing some Lacrosse drills and a few sessions of catch later, I'm happy to say that these shoes were far from a waste of money and I think that they were worth every penny that I paid for them. One thing that I love about them is that they're so damn light! Another thing that was surprising that I learned is how responsive your feet are. A few times when went to step on a stone while running, I could feel it as clear as day and I simply adjusted my step, all without really noticing. Maybe that's the idea behind the name "Five Fingers": your feet are more like your hands than you think.

There is one thing that's inevitable when you first slip into these things: you're going to be a little sore. What we think of as athletic shoes are probably not too good for our feet, legs and back. They force our feet into a mold they're really not meant for. So, the muscles in our lower extremity suffer. What I realized that I was feeling was muscles that hadn't been worked properly in a while. So, what you end up with upon initial use of Five Fingers is some pain. I wouldn't recommend doing intense workouts at first with them.

Once I got over this, I've noticed several things. My balance is definitely better. I walk on my feet more naturally, distributing the weight of my body over my feet better. As a result, I don't wear out my shoes like I used to (excessive inversion). These have become some of my favorite shoes. I like them that much.

If you're going to buy a pair, I suggest that make the effort to buy them in person. Proper fit is mandatory. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for some serious blisters. Unfortunately, they're hard to find. If you must buy on the Internet, just keep in mind the importance of proper fit.

Vibram's Web Site

Suspended Training

Recently, T-Nation had a great article about exercises for building a chest fit for a Roman Army suit of armor. I decided to check it out and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a chunk of the suggested exercises were calisthenics. More specifically, exercises using rings or blast straps. In other words, exercises in which the body is partially or fully suspended.


Normally, I like to blog about exercises that you could step away from your computer and try out without any special equipment. Once in a while, I talk about BW which requires special gear. Still, The benefits of using this kind of set-up are hard to ignore. It's training torn from the pages of gymnastic training. When you're hanging from a set of straps or ropes, it's very unstable and forces your shoulders, chest, triceps and core to contract HARD in order to execute the movement. Do enough of these exercises and you'll understand why those gymnasts have shoulders that resemble pumpkins!

A couple of years ago, I built some crude rings out of pipe (if you look back in my blog, you'll find an article about how I made mine). Initially, I planned on using them for pull-ups and chin-ups. I quickly learned that by using longer rope, I had a mean push-up on my hands. Then, I learned about chest flies. These evil exercises fry the chest muscles like you wouldn't believe.


Just when I thought that I couldn't possibly have more fun, I started doing dips off of the rings. Training BW off from a suspension rig is a brutal workout that will convince even hardcore lifters that BW can be every bit as difficult on the chest as most weight training exercises.


You could easily set up a functional rig like this with less effort than I put into making rings (I admit, my homemade equipment is more elaborate simply because I like to play around with my gear.). Here's a great site if you want to build your own web blast

Or, if you don't feel like building your own or you're not that handy, you could always buy one from the pros.

I have to admit that I suffered from severe sticker shock when I priced out blast straps and rings. These set-ups routinely run up to the $100 mark. Still, the amount of exercises that you can do with them is staggering. The level of difficulty can easily take you to the next level, rivaling just about anything that you can do with weights. I firmly believe that having this kind of set-up for your training is worth the time and/or money it takes to get one in your possession.

Oh, that T-Nation article

Read this at least once today

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton