If your squat falls apart before you hit depth, your walkout may be the problem. This guide breaks down how to build a tighter squat setup from the rack out: grip, upper back tension, stacking, bracing, foot pressure, and the common walkout mistakes that make heavy squats feel harder than they should.

"I'm a poly athlete, I do everything, not all year round. Usually, I layer things seasonally, in the right time period, and I periodize them correctly in blocks."

Elite strength is built in the margins. This article breaks down how elite powerlifters evolve over time through smarter programming, better fatigue management, refined technique, harder accessory work, stronger training environments, and strategic weight-class decisions.

"I didn't think I would ever get there, but I committed to it, and if you really go all in and you just commit to something and you really believe in yourself, you can absolutely do it."

"If you want to achieve your ultimate physical goals, you must become 'every type of jacked' by mastering autoregulation and truly understanding the biological systems that drive your performance and recovery."

Paul Carter and I sat down for Table Talk #303 and spent two-plus hours cutting through the noise around hypertrophy training. Here's what you need to hear.

Paul Carter argues that because every set accumulates fatigue, which can hinder performance, lifters must mitigate this fatigue by utilizing more extended rest periods to ensure high-threshold motor units are recruited in subsequent sets. He challenges the traditional belief that fatigue is a stimulus for growth, suggesting that straight sets with adequate rest are mechanically superior to intensity techniques, such as drop sets, for maximizing effective reps.

Drew Donaldson brings 20 years of coaching experience to the S5 and lays out a glycolytic upper body session that merges research with what's been working in gyms for decades.

Dr. Pat Davidson breaks down the billionaire myth of accidental muscle growth, the meathead bell curve, and how high-ground training choices change everything for hypertrophy.

Dr. Dwayne Jackson returns to Table Talk with six science-backed lessons on RPE calibration, auto-regulation, the gym as medicine, and what actually separates lifters who keep progressing from those who plateau and break down.

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.

Dr. Pat Davidson breaks down the three mechanical variables that determine whether an exercise builds muscle, inoculates against injury, or gets you hurt.

"While a calorie deficit is typically necessary to lose fat, rapid body recomposition—gaining muscle while losing fat—is primarily achievable for beginners, individuals with obesity, those using steroids, or athletes recovering from an injury."

You're thirty years old, you track everything, and your labs look like a disaster. Before your doctor puts you on a protocol you don't need, read this.

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

"Bodybuilders don't need sports science to be big, but it can take sport to the next level and help us iron out details".

Meta Description Dr. Eric Helms joins Dave Tate to discuss bridging the gap between "meathead" passion and academic rigor, detailing the origins of 3D Muscle Journey, the science of autoregulation and RPE, and optimal approaches to protein intake and hypertrophy for natural athletes.

I made a promise to John Meadows at his grave site that I would never walk away from the business, meaning I had to show up every single day with integrity and the highest work ethic possible to uphold his legacy. This ongoing commitment involves using a hybrid training approach, rotating between low- and high-volume exercises based on the body's response, and guiding clients through strategic fat loss and rebound phases to maximize progress.

For years, bodybuilding work was treated like fluff, something “real” lifters didn’t waste time on. Powerlifters mocked curls, lateral raises, and cable work as meaningless vanity exercises. If it didn’t build the squat, bench, or deadlift directly, it didn’t matter. But time has a funny way of proving you wrong.

Chris Edmonds' proven bodybuilding routine for massive chest growth: a slight incline dumbbell press focuses on progressive overload and pump, followed by an incline barbell press that employs a shortened range of motion to protect the rotator cuff. For triceps, the routine progresses from a high-rep cable push-down warm-up to a shoulder-width close-grip bench press power movement, concluding with a stretching dumbbell exercise done on a slight incline.

If you’re a powerlifter, whether you compete seriously or love chasing PRs in the gym, there’s a good chance you’ve dealt with some level of aches, pains, or maybe even full-blown injuries. It comes with the territory, to some extent.

Lifters chase novelty because the body adapts, and the mind gets bored. High-volume builds a base, while low-volume refines it. The pendulum keeps swinging because both work — for a while. What matters is not the method but the phase of life you’re in.

The Lifetime Table Talk Crew Membership is open again — and likely for the last time,  giving lifters and coaches a one-time chance to lock in all-access membership for just $299. No renewals, no monthly fees, just lifelong access to exclusive content, community, and support that fuels the future of the Table Talk Podcast.

"I remember just taking that bar and exploding so fast off my chest I want to throw it right through the ceiling... it's like a drug right it's like holy fuck i just hit 405 like 45 pounds... and nobody even knows this except for me. I'm 42 years old why do I keep doing this... but it's all I know it's the greatest feeling in the world man."

On March 7, 2025, I did one of the stupidest things that I could've done: I flipped a tire. However, this decision turned out to be the one thing that propelled me to a place in strongman that I have never been before: at the top of the podium. I want to share my story in the hope that you can draw some lessons and inspiration from it for your own training.