Ben Patrick discusses how he overcame chronic knee issues that began at age nine by utilizing backward sled drags and eccentric loading to rebuild athletic resilience. The conversation bridges the gap between Westside Barbell principles and Patrick's "Knees Over Toes" methodology, exploring how scaling exercises like the split squat and seated good morning can facilitate longevity and pain-free movement.

Master the use of floss bands to achieve pain relief and increase range of motion through compression, tack and stretch, and blood flow occlusion in joints like the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.

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.

Everyone starts somewhere. Early on, it’s easy to look at newcomers and forget you were once guessing too. The difference between arrogance and experience is humility. If you’ve been in the game long enough, you realize the next wave isn’t your competition — they’re your continuation.

"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."

In the world of powerlifting, there are many factors within your control: perfecting your technique, maintaining consistency in your training, staying fully engaged in your program, prioritizing proper nutrition, and valuing recovery as much as the time "under the bar." 

Strength coach and powerlifter Jared Maynard battled a rare, life-threatening disease (HLH) that caused total organ failure, requiring five weeks on life support. At the same time, doctors advised his family to prepare for goodbye. Despite being left legally blind, skeletal, and wrestling with profound grief, he returned to the powerlifting platform, embodying the powerful message: "You're not done yet".

This approach provides several key benefits, including the desensitization of GGI tendon organs, improved recruitment of high threshold motor units, and a significant boost in confidence when handling super maximal loads, leading to direct carryover to the full main lift

Locke’s Kodiak Barbell method is a blend of conjugate, block, and DUP principles, built around diagnosing an athlete's failure as either structural (postural) or muscular. Structural failures are addressed by systematically using variations, tempo, and pauses, while muscular failures involve programming targeted accessory movements to strengthen specific weak links.

Be careful what you criticize — you may do the same thing one day.

The McGill Big Three exercises: the curl-up, side plank, and bird dog are designed to challenge your core from different directions, with the ultimate goal of creating stiffness in the spine and the surrounding musculature. For both strength enthusiasts and those with low back pain, prioritizing the proper intent, maintaining a neutral spine, and ensuring alignment of the rib cage and pelvis are absolutely paramount for stability and maximizing carryover.

Over the past three seasons, I have served as the strength and conditioning coach for the Crusaders International Academy (CIA). The CIA is a commercial program inviting rugby players from around the world to train in the Crusaders' environment and experience the Crusaders' way of preparation

Every serious lifter has been there: the bench press stalls. You’re training consistently, eating right, and putting in the work, but the numbers on the bar refuse to budge. The frustration of hitting a plateau can lead you to think that the only solution is to work harder or build more muscle. But what if the key to a bigger bench isn't in your chest or triceps, but in your upper back?

Fat bar training has been around for decades. I am not the first to discover it. However, I don’t know of anyone who has switched over to it 100% after 20 or more years of training with the standard bar.

Every year, the bars, racks, and chalk stay the same—but the people under the bar change, grow, and carry each other through. This Thanksgiving letter is my thank you to the lifters, coaches, and crews who’ve turned elitefts into a shared strength community, under the bar and beyond it.

For some time, my husband had been saying that I needed a “reverse hyperextension machine”. After a particularly painful flare-up, I finally gave in and looked it up: it was time to learn more about the machine I never managed to use at any gym because I was too short for them. Luckily, YouTube taught me several ways to improvise alternatives.

If your squat feels wobbly or your bench leaks power, the problem usually isn’t strength—it’s how you connect to the floor. This article breaks down five counterintuitive rooting tricks that instantly make you more stable, more powerful, and able to use the strength you already have.

Real functionality is simple — moving well under load and being able to repeat it tomorrow. If your “function” can’t translate to sport, life, or strength, it’s just entertainment.

This project is not just an upgrade; it’s a total reimagining of what a high school strength and conditioning facility can be. But more than that, it's a physical manifestation of a community's belief in its children. The result is a space that rivals collegiate-level programs, meticulously crafted with incredible attention to detail and a clear, unified vision.

This article aims to initiate a conversation about this issue, while also discouraging prospective directors from holding meetings too early. To help aspiring or seasoned directors, I’ve ensured that I provide checklists to establish standards and order.

You log more miles, follow the training plan, and push through fatigue, yet you've hit a wall. Your race times have stagnated, or worse, that same nagging injury keeps reappearing. It's a frustrating paradox for any dedicated endurance athlete: how can more work not lead to better results?

I still remember the moment I got my first weight set. It was after I’d already started training for wrestling, and let’s be honest — I wasn’t exactly a natural. We had a universal weight set in the locker room, and the coach laid out the prescription: three sets of ten on each exercise.

The EliteFTS American Thin Press™ Bar. At first glance, it looks like just another Swiss bar variation, but a closer look reveals a surprisingly thoughtful piece of engineering. Its design solves the chronic issues of pain and instability.