Stop Retracting Your Shoulders To Bench Press elitefts video thumbnail

Stop Retracting Your Shoulders to Bench Press

Hard shoulder-blade retraction can wreck your bench setup. Learn how to use your lats, serratus, and upper back for a stronger, safer bench press.
Manuals stacked up with bedroom nutrition blood flow hormones and recovery

Bedroom Nutrition: The Blood Flow + Hormone Playbook for Better Performance By Scott Hayes

Better performance starts with the same fundamentals that build a stronger, healthier body. Scott Hayes breaks down how nutrition, blood flow, hormones, hydration, sleep, stress, and recovery can influence sexual health, energy, and performance both in and out of the bedroom.

Jason Manenkoff benching beside Dave Tate in the Raw Bench Session video thumbnail.

Jason Manenkoff on Building a Bench Setup You Can Repeat

Jason Manenkoff walks through the details behind a repeatable bench press, from rack height and the unrack to meet-day preparation, grip selection, and back training.
Training the Youth Rugby Player: For Now and for the Future by Ashley Jones

Training the Youth Rugby Player: For Now and for the Future by Ashley Jones

Training a young rugby player is about more than getting them stronger for next season. Ashley Jones lays out a long-term approach to youth development, from maturation and movement skills to strength training, recovery, testing, and building the habits that can support a player for years to come.

Why 500lb Benchers Struggle with Bodyweight: 4 Movement Drills for Elite Performance

Why 500lb Benchers Struggle with Bodyweight: 4 Movement Drills for Elite Performance

A lifter who can bench 500 pounds will shake like a leaf on an unloaded shoulder drill, and that gap is costing you strength.

JM Press

How to Perform the JM Press: A Step-by-Step Guide from the Inventor

— Dave Tate


The JM Press was developed by JM Blakely as a hybrid exercise that blends a standard tricep extension with a close-grip bench press, a solution created when he could no longer recover from performing multiple separate tricep movements. 

 

TYAO

Your Leverages Are Not a Liability

The lifter who spends their career trying to look like someone else's highlight reel will never find out what they were actually built to do.

bench presser

You're Losing Your Arch Before the Bar Even Leaves the Rack

— Dave Tate

Most bench press problems aren't strength problems. There are setup problems. Powerlifter and coach Shawn Neriega breaks down the full system at S5.

bench dump

The Quarter-Metric Ton Ghost: Swede Burns and the 525-Pound Lesson in Mechanical Failure

"Unfortunately, that impact caused my spine to break and caused the disc to herniate and move."

 

Mastering Your First Powerlifting Meet

Mastering Your First Powerlifting Meet

Built from the perspective of an experienced lifter, referee, and meet director, this guide helps you show up prepared, avoid common rookie mistakes, and make smart decisions from your opener to your final deadlift. Read this before you compete, pack your bag, pick conservative attempts, listen for your commands, and enjoy the day.
The Bench Press Stability Masterclass

The Bench Press Stability Masterclass

Most missed benches are not just strength problems—they are position problems. This guide breaks down how to use elitefts bands to create controlled “chaos,” build a tighter unrack, strengthen the upper back, improve lat engagement, and develop the bracing capacity needed to stay locked in under heavy weight.

aj roberts

Analysis of the Westside Barbell Training Method and Culture

"It was a Brotherhood yet not a friendship like you were there to get each other better one thing one thing only and if if the person didn't want to be a part of that get the fuck out".

 

Technical Manual: Advanced Mechanics of the Competitive Bench Press Unrack

Technical Manual: Advanced Mechanics of the Competitive Bench Press Unrack

— Dave Tate

 "You could work on your T-spine mobility, and you probably add 25 lbs to your bench—you don't even have to add any muscle, you just have to add mobility."

 

ss yoke bar JM Press

How to Use the elitefts SS Yoke Bar: Every Application Worth Knowing

The SS Yoke Bar is not just a squat bar replacement. Here is how to get everything out of the most important specialty bar in any serious gym.

Arm Day Picture

I Built This Because Nothing Else Worked

I've been competing in powerlifting long enough to know what the tricep actually does in this sport. It locks out the bench. It finishes the press. So when every strap on the market kept failing me at both ends of the pushdown, I stopped looking for a solution and started building one. This is the origin of the elitefts 3-Loop Tricep Strap, why I designed it the way I did, and why it has never left my cable machine.

Nick Benerakis

The Path of Most Resistance: Master the Counter-Intuitive Science of the 800-Pound Bench

— Dave Tate

"As much as I talk about the setup being so key for a raw bench, the handoff process is bar none the most important part for a quip bench in my opinion".

 

bench press

Stop Debating the Percentage. Here's How to Actually Find Your Speed Bench Weight.

The right weight for speed bench isn't found in a book — it's found under the bar, using a simple method that tells you exactly what to use based on your own strength and skill level.

Big Bencha's

Stop Benching Like a Helicopter: 5 Counter-Intuitive Secrets to a Massive Shirted Bench

— Dave Tate

"When you're in the poly bench shirt, there is a large horizontal travel with that bar, so you want to land like an airplane, not a helicopter, to reinforce proper elbow tucking mechanics".

 

Russian Trick

The "Russian Trick" to Shut Off Pain and 3 Other Brutal Powerlifting Secrets

To manage a torn hand mid-competition, a brutal "Russian" trick involves violently grinding a wire brush into the open wound seconds before the attempt to overload the brain's pain receptors. This extreme stimulation reportedly shuts off sensation just long enough to execute a heavy pull before the pain inevitably returns.

 

The elitefts Shoulder Saver Pad: Keep Pressing When Your Shoulders Are Done

The elitefts Shoulder Saver Pad: Keep Pressing When Your Shoulders Are Done

— Dave Tate

The elitefts Shoulder Saver Pad lets you bench press through shoulder problems by replicating a board press without needing a board, a training partner, or a prayer.

belden bar

The Belden Bar Trains What Your Bench Press Has Been Skipping for Years

— Dave Tate

The bench press is a sagittal plane grind. The Belden Bar trains the rotational capacity your shoulder girdle needs to survive it.

Why "Blindness is Anabolic": 5 Counter-Intuitive Secrets to a Massive, Injury-Free Bench Press

Why "Blindness is Anabolic": 5 Counter-Intuitive Secrets to a Massive, Injury-Free Bench Press

"When moving heavy weight on the bench press, holding your breath through the entire repetition maximizes full-body stability, leading to the lifting mantra that 'blindness is anabolic' because staying tight and safe is more important than having perfect vision."

 

Bench Form

Mastering the Bench Press: A Breakdown of Four Essential Cues

— Dave Tate

Justin Zottl explains that common bench press mistakes, such as improper forearm angles and flaring elbows off the chest, cause lifters to waste energy and increase the risk of shoulder injury. To fix these issues, he recommends specific cues like squeezing the pinkies to maintain a vertical forearm and driving the knees out to keep the glutes glued to the bench for proper leg drive,.

 

Thin Bar

The Death of the Straight Bar? How This Revolutionary "Thin" Design Unlocks Elite Force Production

— Dave Tate
The American Thin Press Bar enhances pressing efficiency by allowing lifters to maintain a neutral grip and a stacked-joint position, reducing shoulder rotation and minimizing wrist discomfort. Its unique thin profile provides superior lateral stability and greater range of motion than traditional logs or bulky multi-grip bars.