The elitefts Indoor Sled: How to Get Real Sled Work Done Without Wrecking Your Floor

The elitefts Indoor Sled: How to Get Real Sled Work Done Without Wrecking Your Floor

Most gyms won't let a metal sled touch the floor. This one goes anywhere inside, loads fast, and gives you everything sled training is supposed to deliver 

 

sled work

A Beginner's Guide to Building Bulletproof Knees

— Dave Tate

Going backward with the sled, which places the knee over the toes, allowed the speaker to stop using painkillers for their knees and represents a significant congruency between the training systems of Louis Simmons and Charles Polloquin. This backward dragging technique is beneficial for recovery from knee injuries because it involves concentric movements while removing the eccentric load,.

 

Blood-Equity and Scarred Steel: The Secret History of the EliteFTS Compound

Blood-Equity and Scarred Steel: The Secret History of the EliteFTS Compound

— Dave Tate

Take a unique tour of the EliteFTS S5 compound to discover the 30-year history and untold stories behind the gym's most iconic pieces of strength equipment.


TYAO

Train Your Ass Off 2026

Applications for the 2026 Train Your Ass Off events close March 15th. Here's what past attendees said about it, in their own words.

 

dave tate

Culture Shifts And; Humility

— Dave Tate

The challenge is knowing when to pass that on and when to let someone else learn the hard way. Because sometimes the best lesson isn’t what you tell someone; it’s what you let them experience.

Weight room

50 Years in the Weight Room by Ashley Jones

— Casilyn Meadows

A 50-year training recap from Ashley Jones—what works, what doesn’t, and why “program promiscuity” stalls progress—followed by a structured off-season plan using 3-week cycles and progressive intensification.

Dave in the gym

Ten Rules I Learned Under the Bar (That Have Nothing to Do with Programming)

— Dave Tate

The gym teaches you more than how to get strong. If you pay attention, it teaches you how to lead, how to think, and who you actually are.

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.
spider crawls

John Meadows Demonstrates Band Spider Crawls: A Shoulder Warmup Worth Keeping

— Dave Tate

John Meadows knew how to take care of a body that had been through the wringer. Watch him demonstrate one of the best shoulder activation drills you're probably not doing.

4 way station

Five Stations, One Corner: How We Built Our Custom Cable Tower (And Why It Works for More Than Just Us)

— Dave Tate

We installed a custom multi-station cable tower in 2025 and it became one of the most-used pieces in the gym. Here's what we built, how we actually use it, and how it scales for training centers and high school programs.

The Bar That Saved My Training (And My Shoulders)

The Bar That Saved My Training (And My Shoulders)

— Dave Tate
Since 2005, I haven't squatted with a straight bar, and the EliteFTS SS Yoke Bar is the reason I have never had to stop training
Bodybuilding Redemption

Bodybuilding Redemption

— Dave Tate

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.

rebuilt

10 Strategic Questions for Radical Self-Mastery and Professional Evolution

 In this deeply personal case study, coach and educator Tom opens up about his transformative journey from battling severe depression, self-harm, and eating disorders to finding genuine self-worth by dedicating his career to helping others succeed.

 

Omaha Barbell

From Studio to Legacy: The Evolutionary Roadmap of a Training Business

Brett Carter details how Omaha Barbell evolved from a private studio into an 8,000-square-foot public facility furnished with durable elitefts equipment to serve a diverse community ranging from "average Joes" to pro strongmen. Carter emphasizes his goal of building a legacy through conservative expansion and hosting expert workshops to continuously improve training techniques.

 

Josh Miller

Why Your Neck is the Secret to Core Power: 4 Surprising Takeaways for Total-Body Stability

— Dave Tate

 "This is a great way to incorporate neck training, you get some GPP work as well, and you warm your whole body up as opposed to just performing it in isolation. It carries over more to everything else, and you get more bang for your buck in terms of training density."

 

hornets

Facility Management Strategy: Optimizing the Highland Hornets Strength Performance Center

— Dave Tate

"When they believe that they are a part of something, they work hard at it."

 

Bench press 23d

Your Blueprint to Bench Press Four Plates

 To reach a 405-pound bench press, you must transition from random lifting to a structured program like the "Cast Iron" template that prioritizes specific bench volume and linear progression targets. Simultaneously, master technical efficiency by creating total body tightness and ensuring your elbows flare back toward the rack to keep the joint directly under the load.

 

deadlift instruction

6 Counter-Intuitive Deadlift Cues From Elite Coaches That Will Change Your Pull Forever

— Dave Tate

What I care about is that the lower back is frozen in space and that it doesn't move. The best way to do that is to bring the ribs down, provided that they're flared, aiming for a neutral position where the ribs, diaphragm, and pelvic floor are stacked directly over each other.

 

Dave White Space

5 Brutal Fitness Truths You're Probably Ignoring

 Dave Tate argues that while the fitness industry hyper-focuses on the "black margin" of complex nuances like peptides and exact RIR, the vast majority of progress actually comes from the ignored "white space" of common sense fundamentals. He contends that mastering basic compound lifts, training with sufficient effort, and maintaining consistency are far more critical for growth than obsessing over the optimization minutiae often found in online discourse.

 

squats at gym

Mastering Wave Loading Techniques

— Dave Tate

Wave loading is a powerful strength training technique that involves cycling through sets with different weights and reps in the same session to challenge the body and break through plateaus. By strategically manipulating intensity and volume, this method drives genuine improvements in strength, muscle growth, and overall performance.


 

Waverly High School

The Evolution of the Waverly High School Strength Program

— Dave Tate

Josh Hobbs, School Board President for Waverly City Schools, explains how witnessing a high frequency of athlete injuries and poor on-field physicality inspired the implementation of a dedicated in-school weight training curriculum. By leveraging PE budget allocations and partnering with EliteFTS for customized equipment, the program now addresses modern physical weaknesses, such as poor posture and weak glutes, to better prepare students for competition.

 

tom

The Lifestyle Foundation Guide: Simplifying Health for the Long Term

— Dave Tate

 "If we cover all these bases all year round... you will make faster progress because you don't spend time correcting weaknesses because nothing gets particularly weak in the first place".

 

SS Yoke Bar Image

Why Athletes Shouldn't Stop Lifting In-Season

— Dave Tate

Continuing to lift weights during the season is crucial for athletes to maintain their hard-earned off-season gains and significantly reduce the risk of non-contact injuries. By debunking common myths about soreness and time constraints, this article explains why in-season training is essential for peak performance and long-term athletic success.


football

The Indiana QB, The White Hands, And The “Loophole”

— Dave Tate

The Indiana quarterback’s “white hands” in the national title game weren’t a scandal—they were a masterclass in how liquid chalk can legally give athletes a better grip when it matters most.