Elite strength coach Nathan Payton breaks down the hydration and nutrition strategy he uses to peak World's Strongest Man competitors — and why the principles apply far beyond the sport.

Visiting the elitefts compound to train for an upcoming meet, Henry Thomason utilizes a giant camber bar to accommodate his limited shoulder mobility while performing heavy single-ply squats and discussing the benefits of bar instability for hip strength.

"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".

Before a recent podcast recording, a guest connected Louie Simmons' sled work to Charles Poliquin's knee rehab protocol, and the conversation filled in a gap I had lived for decades without fully explaining.

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 gym evolved from a simple backyard shed used for sled work in 1998 into a world-class strength facility over the course of two decades of growth and warehouse relocations.

By maintaining a neutral pelvic position and initiating the descent by pushing through the quads like a leg extension, lifters can isolate the hamstrings without relying on the lower back or glutes for compensation. This technique allows for heavy training in a lengthened position with zero spinal loading, making the Glute Ham Raise (GHR) a superior tool for injury prevention and long-term resiliency.

 Professional strongman Adam Roszkowski reveals how his 11-year career in international ballroom dancing built the foundation of balance, discipline, and deep muscle control that propelled him to success in heavy lifting and American football.

Autoregulation is fundamentally about managing your neurological fatigue by strategically adjusting training volume, intensity, and load to prevent overtaxing your central nervous system.

Eric Bugenhagen and the Szatstrength host take on an absurdly intense, Tom Platz-inspired leg workout at EliteFTS, relying on Dave Tate's expertise to push through extreme pain and train safely despite recent severe muscle tears.

Elite coaches Jon Heck, Joey Szatmary, Dave Tate, and Sam Brown share their most critical advice for upcoming fitness professionals, emphasizing deep client empathy, effective communication, and purposeful social media use.

"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."

The GHR has been the most neglected piece of equipment in most gyms for decades, and this is the machine that fixes that.

Incorporating Pendlay row variations into your training repertoire provides a posturally demanding strength movement that builds massive upper back strength and teaches the full-body tension needed to directly carry over to your deadlift and bench press.

Loaded carries are one of the most underutilized training modalities for building unbreakable postural strength, core stability, and muscle mass with minimal soreness.

"Powerlifter Zachary 'Zeus' Smith sits down to discuss the gritty reality of strength sports, sharing wild stories of his viral rivalry with Joe Jackson, defending his gym from armed trespassers, and building a fiercely loyal, legacy-driven lifting community."

Discover the profound mental challenges athletes face when returning from a severe injury and explore actionable strategies to overcome self-doubt, rebuild your identity, and confidently regain your strength.

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.

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.

Auto-regulation isn't a cheat code for lazy lifters. It's the hardest skill in strength sports to develop, and most people never get there.

"The mission behind the whole company, Elite FTS, is to educate and outfit those with a strong desire for strength to become better".

Joe Jackson argues that modern powerlifting must evolve beyond a niche participant activity by prioritizing compelling storytelling and head-to-head battles that engage a wider audience. He also reflects on the mental demands of the sport, warning lifters that they cannot "out total a bad relationship" with themselves and must separate their self-worth from the numbers on the bar to survive the plateau periods following the initial "honeymoon phase" of strength gains.

 Eating hundreds or thousands of extra calories is often "absurd" because the body can typically only generate three to five pounds of new muscle per year, making massive surpluses unnecessary. Rather than traditional bulking, a "maingaining" approach focuses on keeping body fat levels neutral while progressively increasing strength on key lifts over several months.