John Meadows Band Chest Press

Train Like John Meadows: The Mountain Dog Band Pack and Seven Workouts to Use It

John Meadows built some of the smartest band training ever put on camera, and the Mountain Dog Band Pack gives you the exact nine bands to run seven of his workouts today.

Dave Tate and Justin Farnsworth wearing headphones in the official Table Talk 450 thumbnail

Train the Person, Not the Pain Score: Justin Farnsworth on Smarter Coaching

Justin Farnsworth explains how assessment, better communication, exercise selection, and measured loading help coaches keep the person ahead of the program.
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.

TRAINING CHAOS. NOT SYMMETRY. by Rees Odhiambo

TRAINING CHAOS. NOT SYMMETRY. by Rees Odhiambo

Strength in the weight room is only part of the equation. Former NFL offensive lineman Rees Odhiambo explains how offset loading, carries, sandbags, and reactive resistance can build strength that holds up under unpredictable force.

band deads

Every Way You Should Be Using Resistance Bands in Your Training

Resistance bands are one of the most versatile and underused tools in strength training. Here's every way to use them, from accommodating resistance on the main lifts to rehab, speed work, and keeping a beat-up body in the game.

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.

The Medical Lie Keeping Strength Athletes Injured l Table Talk Episode 440

The Medical Lie Keeping Strength Athletes Injured l Table Talk Episode 440

Dr. Christopher "Marv" Marvin joins Dave Tate for a hard look at patient-first rehab, hypertrophy, pec-tear warning signs, bracing, blood-flow restriction, imaging, and what it really takes to keep training.

Torn Biceps, Strongman, and the Long Game l Josh Hendrickson Table Talk #437

Torn Biceps, Strongman, and the Long Game l Josh Hendrickson Table Talk #437

Strongman competitor and gym owner Josh Hendrickson sits down with Dave Tate to talk biceps rehab, training through injury, chasing a sub-20 5K, building 580 Barbell, promoting better strongman shows, and what it takes to stay in strength sports for the long haul.

Bad Sleep Can Cut Your Fat Loss By 50%

Bad Sleep Can Cut Your Fat Loss By 50%

PerformanceNutritionRecovery Bad Sleep Can Cut Your Fat Loss By 50% By Daniel DeBrocke Most dieting advice focuses on calories and training, and largely ignores sleep as anything more than a...
The Shiny Object Trap and the Ultimate Free Drug

The Shiny Object Trap and the Ultimate Free Drug

The fitness industry is obsessed with the next peptide, supplement, hormone, and recovery shortcut. But none of it matters if the foundation is weak. This article breaks down the training, nutrition, sleep, hydration, recovery, and cellular principles that drive real physical progress—and explains why exercise remains the most powerful performance tool available.

Armor Plating the Upper Body

Armor Plating the Upper Body

Upper-body size only matters when it carries over to contact. Ashley Jones breaks down how rugby athletes can build functional “armor plating” through heavy pressing, rowing, chin-up strength, shoulder stability, 3D movement patterns, smart weekly programming, and brutal 6-12-25 hypertrophy finishers.

sleep stages

If You're Going to Bed Late, You're Already Behind: Tom Sheppard on Sleep

— Dave Tate

Tom Sheppard breaks down sleep architecture, cortisol cycles, and the practical protocols that separate real recovery from just going unconscious.

SHOULDER BAND PULL APARTS

A Beginner's Guide to Safer, Stronger Shoulders

Most lifters negate the rehabilitative benefits of band pull-aparts by prioritizing heavy resistance over the necessary postural control and scapular movement required for shoulder health. To truly resolve shoulder pain, the exercise must incorporate dynamic rotation—starting in a pronated position and rotating externally 90 degrees—to allow the shoulder blades to achieve full downward rotation, depression, and retraction.

 

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."

 

Dr Dwyane Jackson

The Neural Calibration Protocol: Master the Psychobiological Margin of Max Strength

By predicting a lift's perceived exertion and comparing it to the actual physical outcome, athletes develop crucial "neural encoding" that trains the central nervous system to consistently achieve true high performance.

 

Mike Stratton

From Basement Clinics to Better Data: Mike Stratton’s Long Road to Marek Health

From teenage lifter to burned-out founder, Mike Stratton’s story is a raw look at strength culture, hormone health, entrepreneurial sacrifice, and the wake-up call that reshaped his mission with Marek Health.

Payton Nathan

Why Everything You Know About Diets Is Actually Just an "Insulin Game"

— Dave Tate

 "All of these different diets at the end of the day do their thing because of how they influence the actions of insulin," meaning the best nutritional approach is simply the one that allows you to remain consistent within the demands of your specific lifestyle and budget.

 

Do You Stop When They Start Drilling Bone?

Do You Stop When They Start Drilling Bone?

Every strength athlete eventually faces the question: Can I come back, or should I? Tyler Desplenter, PhD, reflects on 14 years of strongman, serious injuries, lessons in rehabilitation, and the moment when the pursuit of strength becomes bigger than the platform.

HE SWOLLFESSOR’S MANIFESTO: 10 YEARS OF PRS, THE LEUKEMIA SCARE, AND THE ETHICS OF STRENGTH

HE SWOLLFESSOR’S MANIFESTO: 10 YEARS OF PRS, THE LEUKEMIA SCARE, AND THE ETHICS OF STRENGTH

What does it take to hit PRs for 10 straight years without burning out? Marcellus “The Swolefessor” Williams breaks down competing often, building work capacity, treating powerlifting as a skill, protecting your mental battery, and using strength to build a better life—not just a bigger total.

floss bands

What Floss Bands Actually Do (And Why Every Serious Lifter Should Have Them)

— Dave Tate

If your joints are beat up and you need something that actually works between now and your next training session, floss bands might be the most practical recovery tool you're not using.

dr chris

Beyond the "Single Injury": A Comprehensive Guide to the Five-Bucket System of Chronic Pain

— Dave Tate

 "Adhesion is the most common condition in the muscular skeletal system; an EMG or NCV will catch a nerve that's damaged when it's like 90 to 100% bad, but there's nothing catching it between 0% up to that 80 or 90%."

 

gym training at retreat

6 Hard Truths About Strength and Movement That Will Change How You Train

Dr. John Rusin redefines functional training not as a specific exercise, but as a complete human movement system that ensures you maintain physical capacities for life. He argues that adopting a "movement mastery mindset"—prioritizing foundational skills like breathing and bracing—is essential to avoid orthopedic breakdown and break through performance plateaus.

 

Dr Dwyane Jackson

The Neural Gap: Six Training Lessons From Dr. Dwayne Jackson | Table Talk #409

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.

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.