As much as I like this photo, I see a colored line in the left hand side of the photo.

i hate photoshop , i cropped the photo and what i get, a pink line .

How was this finished? Almost looks like a 3d entry

lol thats what my buddy told me! Its actually just a 7 shot HDR (I forget the exact number at the moment) merged in Photoshop, tone mapped with Photomatix and tweaked in Lightroom. Loving the results.

Yeah... it's great (for a photoshop theme)

I think here, it would be considered over processed.

Great image -- framing is very effective and the lighting is excellent -- can almost feel the strain and sweat --- well done

I love the exposure, lighting etc. but, it looks like there's some kind of grease or something on the hand, almost like a mechanic picked up a weight. In one sense I like the blue collar aspect of the photo, but I'm not sure it fits typical "weight lifting" (wouldn't want slippery stuff on your hands)

My hand was holding the grip pretty tightly which caused my hand to redden and the dirt came from my bar bells after digging them out of the garage storeroom. I though it gave a realistic rough guy workout look. I hope the general opinion is good.

Fantastic shot author...well done