Approaching the Bar: What Motivates You Before A Heavy Lift?
Do you need ammonia? Loud music? A slap to the back of your head? Your training partners screaming?
Is It Time to Rethink What We Do?
We should not ask how much volume and intensity of training a player can tolerate, but should instead ask how much volume and intensity of training a player needs to excel at their sport with minimal risk of injury.
Brandon Cass — Record-Breaking Squat Strategies
He beat cancer, he set an all-time world record, and he’s soon to hit another huge squat PR. This is how Brandon’s doing it.
Build Your Legs While Babying Your Back
A lower back injury doesn’t have to mean the end of your training days. Here’s one of my go-to methods for continuing to train hard and make progress.
The Pros and Cons of a 100-Pound Weight Gain
I’ve gained 100 pounds over the last seven years and I’m going to share my journey and my experience, both good and bad, this has had on my general health.
WATCH: Nate Harvey — Training and Coaching with the Conjugate Method
There are a lot of insights to gain from being both a powerlifter and a collegiate head strength coach.
Bodybuilding Exercises for the Powerlifter — Adductor Work for Added Gains
Say your quads, hamstrings, and glutes are capable of handling 500 pounds in the squat, but (because of weakness, tightness, or overuse), your adductors can only handle 400. Not a good look.
Body Mechanics 101: Hunting for the Elusive Rear Delt
I have been asked so many times lately about rear delts that I figured I would make this the topic for the second edition of Body Mechanics 101.
WATCH: Table Talk with Dan Green — Building a Base as a New Lifter
If you don’t start on the right path, you might spend years training hard and making no progress.
All Together Now — Meet the Disciplines and Our Hosts
In this series, we will explore the challenges of interdisciplinarity in Sports Performance. I have chosen six people to help us on this journey, each one representing one discipline or profession.
5 Training Hacks for Underdeveloped Hamstrings
Effectively train your hamstrings with these hacks and find yourself sitting a few inches taller.
Three Hypertrophy Waves to Use If You're Stuck on Progressive Overload
If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, give one of these a try: Intensity-Based Hypertrophy Wave, Working Set Volume-Based Hypertrophy Wave, or Exercise Volume-Based Hypertrophy Wave.
XPC Finals — My First 2400-Pound Total
My first meet as part of elitefts was the first Lexen Pro/Am ten years ago. Last weekend, in Columbus again, I finally got to 2400.
It's All About the Base
I’ve seen some folks with clients that can’t execute a proper pull start adding these additional implements, and it’s insanity.
2017 XPC Finals — I’m Not Retired Yet, Motherf*ckers
If I had a lot riding on this lift before, everything was riding on it now. Making it would be the highlight of my powerlifting career. Missing it would probably be the beginning of the end.
How Is Dave Tate Still Doing Dave Tate Things?
Every medical professional gauges how much slack on the leash they can give you without negative effects because everyone’s threshold is a little different. What’s Dave’s? And why?
Relentless Hypertrophy Revisited
This strategy is a synthesis of various methods and tactics I’ve learned over the years from John Meadows, Swede Burns, Charles Staley, and a few others.
The 2017 elitefts Sports Performance Summit in Review
Buddy Morris, Mark Uyeyama and Justus Galac gave insight from the point of view of an NFL strength coach, Dr. Eric Serrano handled nutrition, and Dr. Ken Kinakin discussed muscle testing.
Simple Meet Mistakes and Their Solutions
Judging the SPF Ultimate Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship in Georgetown, Kentucky, I saw a lot of lifters make easily-correctable mistakes. Here are the ones to look out for.
Anti-Masculinity and the Response of Men
After watching the recent women’s marches—and being involved in some interesting social media conversation—I started to think about how men should respond when masculinity is threatened.
Entertainment at the Arnold: B-I-N-G-O
If you go to the Arnold every year just because of tradition – we can provide you some entertainment. If this is going to be your first time, this will prepare you for what you will see.
WATCH: Table Talk with Nate Harvey — Why Do Football Players Run Long Sp...
The easy answer is that it builds mental toughness. The strength and conditioning answer, however, involves understanding the differences between lactic acid, glycolytic, and oxidative work.
16 Week 5thSet/Conjugate Mash Up
Rather than explain, in great detail, when and how I think it would make sense for you to do this, I’m simply going to recount how I did it while coming back from a pec injury.
Why Do We Test the 40-Yard Dash at the Combine?
Last year we looked at the 225-bench test. This year I want to talk about what is considered by many to be the king event for evaluating athletic speed: the 40-yard dash.
Are You a Leader or a Follower?
Too often I see lifters doing the strangest stuff in the gym, and sometimes I get irritated enough to actually ask them about it. Their answers usually tells me everything I need to know: they’re followers, not leaders.
The Legacy
Because I grew up in Akron, Ohio, I’ll never forget the impact LeBron James has had on my life. But it’s not the championships or the records that I admire him for most.
6 Lessons to Become a Better Strength Coach
If you’re going to be successful in this industry, there are a few things you need to know from the very start.
Get Big Without Getting Slow: Cluster Training
By gaining muscle, you increase your ceiling for strength. By getting stronger, you increase your ceiling for power.
Finding Strength: Why Your Log Press Sucks with Zydrunas Savickas
If I had to pick the three most common mistakes I’ve witnessed in the last 10 years of seeing lifters miss with the log, here they are, with a video of Zydrunas Savickas coaching the movement.
From Deadlift Cues to Overcoming the Blues — One Year with elitefts
I couldn’t believe it when I saw that it has been a year since I joined elitefts. In honor of the anniversary, here are five lessons from my first year.
225 Bench Press Repetitions Test — What Are We Really Testing?
The strength of the athlete determines what kind of preparation will produce the desired training effect: more reps. We need to stop and ask three questions.
The Training Arriving Model
Understanding where your clients are on the T.A.M spectrum, and where they want to be, is crucial for delivering the best coaching-client experience possible.
Why Deads Are Overrated
If you want full back development, you’re going to have to stop focusing on the deadlift.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — How to Balance Training with a Phy...
You can control the physical demands placed on your body in the gym, but you can’t always control what happens outside of it. How can you ensure you’re recovered and in an optimal state once its time to train?
Use This ‘One Simple Trick' to Triple Your Recovery
Two weeks after a tear in my quad, I was squatting 860 pounds again. This is how.
The Gift of Perspective: Things to Know as a New Powerlifter
In this first part of the perspective series, I share five perspectives for you to consider as you make your initial steps into the journey that we call powerlifting.
Rehab Report: Repairing My Hand and Planning My Return to the Platform
This article was meant to have been about the results of my meet in December and the setting of PRs and possible world records. All of those aspirations ended on October 7, 2016.
5 Cues That Can Screw Up Your Lifting
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing", and over-applying a cue when it’s not needed can really jack up a lifter’s technique.
Social Skill Integration Through Movement and Strength: Play Date with a...
Make this your chance to verify how training (all our hard work) gives us lots of opportunities to enjoy life.
2017 Hawaii Strength Clinic — Spread the Aloha
We had a blast in Oahu, Hawaii, although I think my son may have had even more fun than my wife and I did! With all that said, I was there for a business trip and I had to get to work.
WATCH: Three-Dimensional Force Curl Complex
Want grip strength like a bear and biceps like baseballs?
John Carroll University ROTC Seminar — Powerlifting as Military Training
After 20 years of service, I have come to realize that a powerlifting style of training is best for members of the military.
34 Ways to Maximize Your Raw Bench
Here are some of the tried-and-tested methods that helped me finally break through the 400-pound barrier, which had been a monkey on my back for years.
Arnold Classic Weekend — Win A Chance to Train at elitefts
No purchase necessary. Raffle begins TONIGHT!
What Is Your One Thing?
As we transition to shifting macronutrients and increasing volume in our training, it is easy to fall in the trap of analysis paralysis. With thin slicing, you won't have to worry about this.
Apply the 80/20 Principle to Powerlifting
Use this principle to analyze your training program, your technique, your diet, your recovery, and your time.
Finding Your Niche in S&C as a Female Coach
Professionals who succeed in the field career athletics are few and far between. Look to the ranks of women and the numbers drop even further.
Prework: The Best Thing Your Training Program Likely Needs
It really seems like most people don’t care about corrective exercises and prehab until chronic injury and age rear their ugly heads. Enter: my current life situation and the solution.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — Should I Hire A Bodybuilding Coach?
It may be tempting to put your entire trust in someone with experience, but there are a few things to consider first.
Bare Bones Conjugate: A Bar, Rack, and Bench Weeks 1-4
When thinking about conjugate training, we often look at all the specialty bars, bands, chains and other goodies that we use in training. But when you boil it down, conjugate training doesn't need those things.
WATCH: Dugdale UGSS Presentation — Who Will Remember You?
Your time on this earth is limited, and much shorter than you likely realize. Don't waste it.
The Pursuit of Elite
Surrounding myself around top-level powerlifters for over 30 years, I've noticed a trend.
What's the Purpose of Your Training?
It is almost as if lifters don't think training starts until the weight gets heavy. I've got news for these kinds of lifters: a training session starts right after the last one is finished.
WATCH: What It Means to Have Someone's Back
Caring about someone doesn't always mean agreeing with them — sometimes it means telling them they're making a stupid-ass decision.
Beta-Alanine Supplementation: A Woman’s Perspective
Don’t make purchases based on pretty pink labels and bizarre claims.
Coach Strong Not Scared
It is a noble profession — one that helps prepare young people for life, building not just their bodies but also their minds. Don't lose sight of this when you end up in any of the following situations.
Back to the Basics, Back to Functional Training
Let me introduce you to the Core 4: push, pull, press, and carry.
