Stop Compensating Early
If you’re new to powerlifting, you don’t need gear. Seriously. Start training raw and see where it takes you. Oh, and if you’re an athlete, I’d better not see you putting on lifting gear.
Make Light Weight Heavy with Controlled Eccentrics and Concentrics
You don’t have to train in pain. How? Drop the heavy weights and work in some lighter options while focusing on using the best technique you can.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #11 with Kenny Patterson
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate and Kenny Patterson talk about Louie Simmons, their time at Westside Barbell Club, the documentary “Westside vs The World,” and more.
Back and Biceps Workout of the Day with Kneeling Biceps Cable Curls
There are no cheat days here. Naturally, this workout of the day includes a movement that makes it harder to cheat. Go grab your kettlebells, dumbbells, and cable attachments so we can get started.
Strength Training: Your Secret Weapon for Sport
Strength is a cheat code when it comes to winning. Here’s my basic outline of how you can best implement that cheat code and improve your gym sessions for sport performance.
Improve Your 1RM Deadlift with These Variations
In the third and final part of the 1RM Lift Variation series, my powerlifting friends suggest their favorite movements for improving the deadlift through secondary movements, accessory work, and more.
Top-3 Cardio Options for the Powerlifter, Strongman, Bodybuilder, and At...
Cardio can help you cut weight, get shredded for the stage, and increase athletes’ performance. But with so much cardio out there, where do you start? Start here with elitefts team members’ top-3 cardio items, based on their sports or areas of expertise.
Bang Legs Without Banging Your Lower Back
It took me 26 years to develop lower back issues. But over the last 10 years, I’ve learned ways to work around them since becoming a slob is not an option. If you’re looking for ways to train legs without getting hurt (again), this article is for you.
Overcoming Isometrics: Myelination to Reach Maximum Potential
During my time working under the University of Minnesota’s Cal Dietz, I saw the impact of the myelination phase in athletic performance. I also found it’s most effectively programmed with Overcoming Isometric variations of the big lifts.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — The Big Misconception About Chuck Voge...
If you’re emulating Chuck Vogelpohl by ramming your head into the bar and yelling like a wild person at meets, you’re doing it wrong.
Introducing New elitefts Athlete Dan Dalenberg
Dan Dalenberg found his way through life with the help of fellow powerlifters. As a Team elitefts athlete, he intends to give back to the community by passing on information he’s learned from those who got him through his lowest points.
elitefts Classic: So You Think You Can Bench?
This is a series of videos Dave Tate asked us to republish due to the number of times he sends them out each week on his Instagram AMA and DMs.
When Honesty is the Only Policy
Not unlike with your spouse or significant other, the relationship between training partners depends on many things, but at the central core to this relationship is the quality of one’s honesty with their training partner.
A Workout of the Day That'll Hammer Your Chest, Shoulder, and Tris
This workout left me hammered. Part of that’s on me for joining a co-ed indoor soccer team, and let’s just say bodybuilding and soccer don’t exactly mix. But that didn’t stop me from doing my Workout of the Day.
Add 100 Pounds To Your Squat — 5 Seminar Takeaways
It took more than 20 years of surveys for us to define what is optimal. These are some of those key items and teaching points we’ve picked up from those surveys, such as training group size considerations and training the squat from the bottom up.
How to Coach Based on Personality Type
Knowing your clients’ personalities and using that knowledge for communication and programming can make you a better, more effective coach. Here’s how you can do that using the DISC personality model.
Getting A Bigger and Better Weight Room on A Small-School Budget
AJ Mott has 21 years of wrestling under his belt. Luckily, when it came to working on a small school budget, the Farleigh Dickinson strength and conditioning coach didn’t have to wrestle with elitefts for the best deals.
Meet Report: 5thSet at the Kern US Open
Now that I had the trip paid for thanks to a seminar event, I could focus on helping my lifters at the US Kern Open: the reason I’d flown all the way from the East Coast to begin with.
The Best Damn Specialty Bar on the Market
I can’t get over how versatile the American Cambered Grip Bar is. You can use it forward and backward, giving you a total of 8 grip options. Flip it over, you’ve got a total of 16. I’ve found 250 options, and I’m sure there are more to find.
How to Prepare for a Strongman Death Medley
Programming for a death medley event can be tricky. Many people make the mistake of going too heavy right away with maybe one top set — a recipe for disaster. Instead, try out my recipe for a successful death medley.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #10 with Jim Wendler and Matt Rhodes
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate, Matt Rhodes, and Jim Wendler re-watch some old training videos, talk about near-death experiences, being a strength coach, and more.
Mental May — Destroying Demons
Put on your helmet, fasten your breastplate tight, and with one arm supporting your shield, allow the other to gather your sword. Go to battle with your demons. Win the war every day. Every breath you have is a victory.
Under the Baa-r: Lessons Learned in Herding, From Me to Ewe
In a week, my girlfriend and I went from the APF Women’s Pro-Am in Cincinnati to taking our dog an Intro to Herding Class in Nova, Ohio. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but I learned a lot about dogs, sports, and life in general.
Powerlifting for the Bodybuilder — Are Deadlifts Overrated?
Part of my journey to getting that IFBB pro card includes getting more active in the online bodybuilding community… which also gets me into situations where I answer questions like this one: Are deadlifts overrated?
6 Strategies to Advancement
Consider this me throwing you a lifesaver in the vast sea of information. This will help you figure out how to improve yourself by seeking out the best information possible… and how to best find that information.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How the Hypertrophy Coach Met Dave Bau...
“That’s kind of fucked up.” Learn how Joe Bennett met Dave Bautista, a retired WWE wrestler, former mixed martial artist and bodybuilder, and Guardian of the Galaxy — and Joe’s one full-time client.
Introducing New Team elitefts Coach and Columnist Tony Montgomery
elitefts has “given me my life that I have now.” As a coach and columnist, Tony Montgomery will continue to live, learn, and pass on the passion that got him doing what he does now to others. Welcome to the team, Tony.
Introduce Blood Flow Restriction to Your Leg Workout of the Day
This leg workout of the day was brief, but let me tell you something: it kicked my ass. You don’t have to be new to Blood Flow Restriction Training for it to do that, let me tell you!
Dave Tate, A Mother's Perspective
Marge Tate could have allowed labels, sickness, and loss to paralyze her legacy. Instead, through passion, tradition, and communication, her commitment to human connection and service is alive — and she passed it on to Dave.
Gaining Strength in Your Twenties, Thirties, and Forties
Why on earth do I keep hearing guys ask if they can still get stronger in their 40s or how they should be training in their 40s? You can get stronger at any age, and you do it by doing exactly the same stuff you always did!
Important Business Considerations for Gym Owners
All questions and no answers here. That’s good, though — it’ll make you aware of issues that may need to be addressed in your gym business and figure out how to fix these issues before they become an issue.
Pushed by Pain: The College Blur
Remember how I said the first part of my story wasn’t the worst part? Well, this is it. But here’s the thing: after those shitty events happened to me, I became pulled by purpose instead of pain.
Reminder: Stay Focused and In Your Own Lane
Every team has areas that need attention, and if we are not careful, we can step on the toes of others by doing their jobs, and then we have no time to develop what OUR job calls us to do.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #9 with Dr. Ken Kinakin
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate and Dr. Ken Kinakin talk about a variety of lifting-related injuries, working around and preventing said injuries, the Society of Weight-Training Injury Specialists, and more.
Become 35% Stronger by Using Your Imagination
Research shows that you can actually get stronger just by visualizing that you are training. The best of the best athletes do it, so why aren’t you doing it, too?
Editor's Letter for May
Click for a sneak peek of what’s to come in the month of May, including the updated Team elitefts roster of new athletes, coaches, and columnists. We’ll also recap April’s top-5 coaching blogs, training logs, and articles.
WATCH: Reverse Grip Bench Press 101
A lot of people use this bench press due to shoulder issues and its carryover to competition lift — and Janis Finkelman’s numbers support that claim.
Take the Red Pill
Here’s a red pill for you to swallow: The conjugate system is like an XL shirt that fits differently on different people. With a few modifications, that shirt can be made to fit just about anyone. Same goes for the program in this article.
FAI and the Rehab Process: Re-Activation and Re-Alignment
Following the Femoro-Acetabular Impingement diagnosis procedure and the loosening of areas of concern, the next step in rehabbing FAI is the re-activation and re-alignment stage. This may involve re-activation of the glute through hip extension, abduction, and external rotation.
Next Level Pec Training
An alternative title: Here are three things you can do to make your titties pop. I doubt any judge has ever said to a competitor that their chest was too large, so if you really want to wow the judges, start by working on your elbow position.
How Stuff Works: The Wrist Wrap
With a better understanding of belts (the first product studied within this series), it’s now time we’ll move on to wrist wraps. Exactly how do wrist wraps work? Also, a big thanks to the 262 athletes who gave their input in an interesting survey about their use of wrist wraps.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — "Figuring Shit Out" is Lost
If you’re new to strength sports, don’t be afraid to go into a gym and try to figure shit out. You don’t need to hire a coach immediately — in fact, Dave Tate and Hypertrophy Coach Joe Bennett recommend going into the gym with a friend and have some fun.
Meet Report: Pressing the Pieces Together
When a friend invited me to a bench press-only APF meet that also raised money for Autism and Autism Awareness, there was no way I could say no — even though I haven’t competed in quite some time.
Fall Forward
When you tuck the ball and fall for a yard, and when you get rolling, take three steps forward and get pushed back two, remember: you still fell forward one step.
Introducing New elitefts Athlete Anne Sheehan
The newest Team elitefts athlete Anne Sheehan learned while she was getting sober that she needed someone else’s help — and she did it. And that’s exactly what her athlete logs will do: help other powerlifters in their journeys.
3 Don'ts for the Early Deadlifter
My son sent a text last week — just a video of him deadlifting in our garage gyms. We discussed one of the mistakes we discovered he was making at the start of the pull. It was our discussion that influenced this article.
Are You Ready for the Inevitable?
After resigning from my last position, I thought it was an opportune time to reflect on the situation and hopefully, a time for me to assist you in the process of finding your next gig. Best of luck in your job hunt!
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #8 with Tony Montgomery
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate announces a new member of Team elitefts: Tony Montgomery. They talk about training for the U.S. Marines, running gyms, furthering education, and more.
Scale Up Your Personal Training Business With 2:1 Sessions
One of the simplest ways for a personal trainer to make more money is to train two clients at once. It's also the fastest way to scale your income without adding additional time to your schedule. Welcome to the world of 2:1 training.
Keyboard Warriors Need to Stop!
People with similar issues can respond differently to the same treatments, so having multiple solutions is a great way to increase the likelihood of success. As for arguing about different solutions with experts on the internet? Not so great.
The Death of the Powerlifting Crew
Powerlifting is bigger and better than it was when I started in 2004. But there's is one major exception to the positives regarding the sport's growth: The death of the powerlifting crew.
Activate and Contract Lower Abdominals for a Healthy Pelvis Position
Do not settle on one fix and rely on it. Instead, rely on multiple exercises and this simple formula: more muscle used = more stability = more strength. Considering your lower abdominals, here are two exercises to try.
Back and Bis Workout of the Day with Decline Dumbbell Pullovers Superset...
The big takeaway from this workout is that I have poor grip strength stamina. After this back and bis Workout of the Day, your forearms should be SMASHED.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #7 with the Hypertrophy Coach (Joe Bennett)
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate and Joe Bennett (aka the Hypertrophy Coach) discuss pursuing knowledge, balancing family and work, online coaching, Dave Bautista, and more.
4 Potent Supplements That Fight Insulin Insensitivity
Even if you're doing all the right things, sometimes the fat won't come off. One possible explanation for this could be insulin resistance. If you are insulin-resistant, it might help to try some supplements. These are four I've used with success.
The Poopy Raccoon
In preparation for our next training session, I knew I needed the help of my coworkers. The next morning they all received the following email blast...
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip —The Missing Link to Social Skills: Move...
"This is going to debunk everything we know about autism. " Sheena Leedham talks about how she intertwined movement and social skills through the OSU Men's Aspirations program.
How to Improve Box Programming
Consider how your clients are responding to stress and the demands of your program and what we need to consider to devise a better plan. That's how we'll improve this sport.
Your Business Can Survive Anything With This
Listen, Blockbuster, Sears, and Kodak went under because they failed to add this secret ingredient to their business models. Are you willing to risk all your business' longevity? Read on to see how your business can stand the test of time.
