Case Study: Programming Considerations for the Injury-Prone Powerlifter
Taking two of my lifters, let’s break down all the variables that come into play for individualizing their programming to keep them not only progressing but also healthy.
WATCH: Table Talk with Dan Green — How Dan Structures His Training
Through years of mistakes and experimentation, Dan has refined his approach and found a setup that works for him.
Get Stable, Get Strong: Pressing, Pulling, and Squatting
In this article, we’re going to cover the most bang-for-your-buck cues to action when performing any type of pressing, pulling, or squatting motion.
WATCH: Jim Wendler's 2018 elitefts Sports Performance Summit Presen...
The starting point with youth athletes today is drastically different than it was 30 years ago. This means the training plan needs to be different too.
Peak Mental Performance Podcast — Measuring Athlete Stress and Improving...
Joel Jamieson, one of the world’s foremost authorities on strength and conditioning for combat sports, joins the Peak Mental Performance Podcast for a discussion of stress, HRV, and improving athletic performance.
Weight Room Lessons from Former Athletes
After writing about the importance of getting to know your athletes, I decided to take a real look at whether or not I’ve had an impact. I contacted two of my former athletes and asked them to tell me what they learned in the weight room.
WATCH: How to Box Squat with the Rackable Cambered Squat Bar
Not only does this bar help avoid the wear and tear a straight bar can have on your shoulders, but it also enables you to build strength while using less weight and perform several very useful exercise variations.
Back on the Wagon: Returning to Training After a Long Layoff
For three months I dealt with my life while putting training in the backseat. Now with more time, energy, and motivation, these are the keys I’m using to getting back to where I was.
Tissue Load vs. Tissue Capacity: Increasing Tissue Capacity While Alteri...
This second article of the series discusses additional loading concepts, training considerations, and rehabilitation protocols for increasing tissue capacity while maintaining or decreasing training load.
Has the Max Effort Method Been Forgotten?
Is there any value left to this method or has the lifting world moved on?
A Calloused Hands Guide to Conjugate Training for the Beginning and Inte...
My main goal for this article is to make the vast bodies of work on conjugate more digestible and more easily applicable to what is popular now: raw powerlifting.
Training the Strongman Yoke
When I began strongman I was terrible at the yoke, even though it was in almost every competition I had competed in. With it being so common, I had no choice but to improve. Here’s what I learned along the way.
The Great Fructose Debate
Some believe that fructose only replenishes liver glycogen and is unable to replenish muscle glycogen. Others believe that fructose is used first to replenish liver glycogen and then will replenish muscle glycogen. All we care about, for carb-loading use, are the visual results.
The Privilege to Work Hard
Your skills and abilities can get you the job, but your tenacity will get you the results needed to excel at it.
The Barbell: What It Is and How to Take Good Care of Yours
Good, quality bars are a component of good, quality training. More so than with other pieces of equipment in a gym, lifters tend to develop a personal (sometimes quite emotional) relationship with bars.
WATCH: Table Talk with Dan Green — The SS Yoke Bar for Squats and Good M...
There are a lot of ways to use the SS Yoke Bar and good mornings. Here’s what Dan is doing with both in his current program.
WATCH: Steve Pulcinella Visits the S5 Compound
After a long, miserable drive to Ohio, we stuck a camera in Steve’s face and forced him to talk about his life. The results are about what you’d expect.
Programming for Athletes — The High School Athlete: Grades 9-12, Ages 15...
During this stage we will teach our athletes, who should be proficient at performing basic skills, to perform those skills under competitive atmospheres in practice.
Rooting: The Lifter's Connection Between Foot and Floor
Most lifters don’t think about the connection of their feet to the floor, but proper rooting provides a more solid foundation, enables maximum transfer of power through the body, and starts activation of the correct muscles used in the lift.
Dancing with the Deadlift Devil: Old and Raw
Content is king for big media. BIGHORN was a fun trip down memory lane, but now I have another foray into fictional content in mind.
30-Minute Back Annihilation Workout
This cluster set workout is not a marathon — it’s a sprint. You’ve got to be ready to go pedal-to-the-metal, balls-to-the-wall for the entire session.
The Power of Support
Even in powerlifting, when it feels like you’re one-on-one with the bar, you’re not alone.
WATCH: Fixing Dave Tate — Orthopedic Evaluation
Whereas the previous screen was intended to identify red flags, this assessment will consist of clinically-based testing to produce both a medical diagnosis and a functional movement capacity diagnosis.
10 Commandments of Being a Strength Coach
These are important rules that you will never find in any classroom or lecture, passed down from strength coach to strength coach.
WATCH: Lessons Learned from Online and Personal Training Clients
Through many years training many clients, these are the main lessons that have helped the most for setting lifters up for success.
WATCH: Coach Shoop's Impact on Dave
Continuing their conversation, Shoop and Dave talk about the past and what brought them back together.
Married to a Bodybuilder: Three Women Share Their Support Role Perspecti...
Being married to a physique sport competitor isn’t easy. I want this article to provide some authentic insight from the real pillars of strength: the women who play the support role.
WATCH: Coach Shoop Visits Dave Tate
If you’ve read Under the Bar you know who Bill Shoop is — he’s the high school football coach Dave credits with changing his life forever.
WATCH: Table Talk with Dan Green — Current Nutrition Strategy
Back for his second series of videos with Dave, Dan shares how he’s currently eating and explains the approach he uses under the guidance of Stan Efferding.
The Role of Individual Differences in Programming
The principles of training are the same for everyone, but the details are different. If you want to learn how to tailor your training by fine-tuning these details, this is the article for you.
WATCH: Dave Tate Podcast with Ben Pakulski
The psychology of a world-class strength athlete can provide a powerful foundation for success in business, but when mishandled it can also be a disaster in the professional world.
Read What Has Come Before
Verkhoshansky. Issuran. Roman. Matveye. Stone. Kraemer. McGuigan. Gill. Newton. Haff. Fry. Zatsiorsky. Yessis. Bosco. Bondarchuk. Siff. Hill. Berger. Bompa. Knight. Issurin. Rhea. Baker. DeLorme. Get to know them.
Bodybuilding for the Powerlifter— How to Use High Reps to Get Strong(er)
High-rep training is extraordinarily useful to powerlifters (even if it’s also extraordinarily unpleasant). Like any other programming tool, however, it needs to be used appropriately, or it can cause more harm than good.
Simple Training Has Stood the Test of Time
I want to introduce some new training ideas to accelerate you from good to great by revisiting the past and adding a twist to several favorites.
Meet Report: Back-to-Back XPC Finals Super Heavyweight Champion
Not only was I there to defend my “title,” but I was also there to finally reach a milestone only achieved by a handful of lifters: a 2300-pound total.
No Planned Cheat Meals
As I am approaching my 29th week of this body recomposition, I have had no planned cheat meals. This might sound crazy and restrictive to a lot of people, but there is a method to the madness.
Back to the Platform After Injury: David LaMartina's Lessons from t...
There are so many layers wrapped up in recovery and getting back to competition. These are the key points that Dave had to embrace if he wanted to keep training for the next 10 years.
The Posterior Chain Overhead Deadlift
Dr. Eric Serrano created this unique exercise and series of specialized executions to reduce joint stress while engaging the hamstrings, glutes, core, lower back, and posterior shoulder muscles with functional training strategies.
An Interview with Paul Goodman, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of ...
Goodman has coached at the collegiate and professional levels and earned multiple graduate degrees. Here are the things he has learned along the way.
Goals for the Ex-Competitive Athlete
Leaving competition behind, either temporarily or permanently, doesn't mean your training should stop being achievement-based. You just need to learn to set different goals.
The Conjugate Method for Group Fitness
Whether it be to feel better, move more weight, or run a marathon, this system has something for everyone. It is the no-brainer preferred choice for group programming.
WATCH: Table Talk — Conjugate Method Training Tips
You can make this system as complicated as you want it to be, but you can also make it a simple as you want it to be. Understand the basics first.
5thSet Trial and Error — The Failed Experiments
Are you thinking about adding a second AMRAP to the program? What about extending the Very High Rep Protocol to squats and deadlifts? If you're thinking of it, I've probably already thought of it.
27 Reasons to Be Big
This one still makes us laugh. Funny how some things change while others stay the same. Enjoy...
Understanding Bracing
As you keep working on the technique, you will fully understand the potential bracing has. You will see how important it is in your lifting and how it helps you lift more weight while keeping your back healthy and safe.
In-Season Training: Communication, Trust and Buy-In
This was the first time running my program and my first time being a head guy, so I could have been completely off-base. Not many go into the season expecting to get stronger.
WATCH: Meet Kory Lichtensteiger
The newest elitefts Executive Equipment Specialist started in small town Ohio, made it all the way to the NFL, and is now back to put his knowledge of strength training to work.
Unilateral Training in the High School Weight Room — The Missing Link
It is our job to be more efficient in our programming, and here is why unilateral work plays such a huge roll in that.
WATCH: Equipment Feature — Westside Inverse Curl
This machine enables hamstring training in multiple positions, at any intensity level desired, for both strength and sport athletes.
Coaching Your First Powerlifting Meet
I'm going to give you what I wish I always had: a damn good guide for beginning coaches for their first meet. If you don't have a mentor or somebody to help guide you, this is perfect for you.
Tacky and Tactics: 10 Tips to Win Your Strongman/Strongwoman Pro Card
This article provides a list of some of the various and sundry factors that help contribute to winning a strongman or strongwoman pro card.
Optimum Personal Training: The Most Important Athlete Is the One That’s ...
Josiah O'Brien's belief is that every athlete deserves individual attention, and requires it to reach their best performance. This is why every program is tailored to the client and why the client receives full undivided attention for the whole time they are in session.
Does Muscle Turn into Fat?
Muscle is a constant consumer of energy and fat is an organ that stores it, but they do share some common cell lineage. Can one become the other?
Strength and Conditioning Program for Youth Hockey from the Canadian Ice...
This program was designed for our players who spend half a day in traditional school and half a day training with us for AAA GTHL hockey, the premier youth hockey league in Canada.
WATCH: Table Talk — Programming Isometrics
Following these guidelines and using isometrics in multiple positions, you can increase strength not only at a weak point but throughout the entire movement.
The 5 Stages of Change
With this basic framework you can better understand how likely your clients are to stick to a program or diet, as well as where they might be in the behavior change process.
Why Your Meet Prep Sucks
It can be hugely discouraging to feel that all the work you did in the offseason and during your meet prep was wasted because you had one bad day, Unfortunately, all that really counts is what you put up on the platform. Or is it?
Know Your Audience: Learning More About Your Athletes
In the time since I wrote the initial "Know Your Audience" article several years ago, I've refined my coaching methods and changed many things, but the enduring message remains the same: get to know your athletes better.