The American Idol Phenomenon in Powerlifting
Without that experience in their back pocket, they simply get eaten up and spit out by the industry.
How to Get Stronger in a Crowded Gym (With 8-Week Program)
You don’t need a unique piece of equipment for each muscle group or a 25-item list of accessory exercises. This program uses nothing but gym essentials to get you stronger without ever having to leave the squat rack.
Beginners and the Accountability Weakness
Early in your powerlifting journey, this is the only weak point you need to concern yourself with.
Programming 201: The Realistic Strength Program
You can have the holy grail of training programs, but if it doesn’t fit your job, it isn’t any good.
Identifying Why — 4 Steps to Perfecting Your Program Philosophy
Here are a few steps I have used over the years that have helped me, my staff, and our athletes be on the same page in understanding our purpose.
Contest Prep Aftermath: Reverse Diet and Training Gone Wrong
In this second part of the series I am going to discuss the top-three nutrition and training mistakes I see when competitors reverse out of a show, how they may affect long-term progress, and what to do if you make them.
Novel Stimulus or Stupid Human Trick?
Cutting through the clutter of fitness information out there, here’s a checklist to help you to figure out what works (and what doesn’t) for your training and the training advice you offer others.
The Yearly Training Plan of the Strength Athlete — When the Barbell Is T...
I was warned of not taking it for granted and it burned me at the one competition I had my sights on for months.
Is There Really A Difference Between Raw and Geared Lifting?
No matter which of the many training programs out there you choose to use, or whether you train raw or equipped, one thing will always remain the same.
Mobility Versus Flexibility
Is mobility even a real thing, or a substitution for people that don’t actually train, compete, or play in an actual defined activity?
Why Bodybuilders Have a Love/Hate Relationship with Vacations
I get asked a lot about what to do about workouts, diet, etc., while on vacation. My response?
Whoa, Hamstrings
Here are six different exercises to kill your underdeveloped hamstrings — high reps, low reps, extended time, heavy weights, and GPP cover everything you need to make them bigger and stronger.
WATCH: Table Talk — Flaws of Percentage-Based Programming and Training
In this video, Maliek and Dave discuss the problems with percentage-based training and share alternative methods for strength programming.
Why Do You Lift — The Game
Is winning all that matters or is participation the purpose of competition? This is the final article in this series.
Setting an Atmosphere for Success
Changing the culture or environment of your team is not easy but it may be the single-most important factor for your success. Here are three things to get you started.
Just Breathe
Every lifter should learn to “fill low” and generate pressure in the proper area of their lower abdomen.
Access Knowledge to Be Your Own Coach
Always being told what to do is not how one becomes great and it is most definitely not how one becomes a great lifter.
BIGHORN — The Prowler and the Comanche
It was hard to expunge Jeff’s screams from my mind—and the blood; so much blood sprayed over the Prowler he’d been pushing…
WATCH: How Christian Anto Became a Powerlifter
From nursing student and collegiate soccer player to one of the 10 best 181-pound powerlifters in the world.
17 Triggers to Induce Flow
These 17 triggers may serve as a checklist to ensure optimal flow states and encourage proper performance — ultimately what’s standing between you and your next world record.
WATCH: Clint Darden Reviews Client Strongman Training
He critiques each of the following movements: Weighted Car Deadlifts, Axle Press, Stone Over Bar, Yoke Carry/Sleg Drag, Triceptecon Press, SS Yoke Bar Box Squats, Car Deadlift, Press Medley, and Keg Carry.
Social Skill Integration Through Movement and Strength: Team Training at...
In this type of training, we’re taking things one step further — we share the entire training experience with at least one partner at the gym.
Boss of Bosses 3 — A Failed Water Cut, The Setback, Meet Day, What'...
This weekend I cried more tears than I thought were possible. It was emotional, the entire thing, from start to finish. But, it’s something I had to do, for me.
Rob Hall Totals 2226 Raw at Boss of Bosses 3
We made five specific changes to add 200 pounds to Rob’s total in the last six months.
WATCH: Table Talk — Problems with Gear and the Qualities of Great Power...
Joining Dave for another video, Maliek discusses the challenges faced by lifters who attempt to compete both raw and in gear.
The Five Factors of Being Stage Ready
After back-to-back-to-back wins, Mark Dugdale is sharing his methods for making sure he is stage ready on show day.
WATCH: Off Topic with Dave and Jim — Box Squatting
Box squats have been around for years but the debate still hasn’t been settled.
IPA Mountain Madness — My First Single-Ply Meet
After three injuries in a half a year, I was pissed. I was depressed. I was dumbfounded. But I found my way back, hitting a PR total for my first single-ply meet.
Strong and Energized vs Weak and Depleted: How High School Wrestlers Nee...
In wrestling, as in every weight class sport, proper nutrition can save you from enduring grueling last-week weight cuts. This off-season plan reduces the need for the old-school dangerous approach.
An Introduction to Affinity Marketing — F Your Funnel
If you want your gym to be successful and your clientele base to grow, you need to take that traditional sales funnel and flip it upside down.
Programming for the Loose Forwards in Rugby
A loose forward must be one of the fittest players on the field. This requires a specialized approach to the strength and conditioning program.
5 Keys to Fixing Your Hip
Three days before my heaviest deadlift of the meet training program and I couldn’t even bend down to grab the bar. Here are the techniques I used to mitigate my issues and make it to Boss of Bosses 3.
WATCH: How to Fight Friction in the Deadlift
Here is one tip I use in the gym and on the platform to make the entire movement smooth as possible.
Five Bench Pressing Basics You’re Overlooking
Don’t let the mass quantities of information fool you: the basics of the bench will never change. Follow them and you’ll get stronger.
Selfish or Selfless?
Everyone has a line. You may not know where it is and you may never reach it, but it's there.
The Quest for Quadzilla Status — 5 Methods for Growth
These are my five favorite methods for achieving ridiculous quad growth and smashing through the dreaded 'why won't they grow' barrier.
WATCH: Table Talk — Sticking Points and Longevity for Raw vs Gear
In this video, Dave and special guest Maliek Derstine discuss the topics of sticking points and longevity for raw lifters vs geared lifters.
Chalk Dust and Trail Runs: Cardio for Powerlifters
How do we glean all the benefits of cardio without compromising our strength and size? It really comes down to two things.
Why I Love Powerlifting: 2016 RPS Lexen Dog Days
This was my first push/pull meet and I kept repeating to myself, "It's time. Work is done. Make it happen."
WATCH: Off Topic with Dave and Jim — Travel Stories [Extended Version]
It seems like Dave and Jim are never going to run out of stories from their days of travel seminars. In this video we have strip clubs, Benny Podda, alcoholism, and porn.
How Do You Pick Your Opener?
There are many ways lifters go about picking their openers. I admit, my way might not be for you. But if it isn't, you can still learn something from it.
The Week Before the Meet — Unstructured or Accounted For?
This is a time when your mind will start to play tricks on you. Are you mentally committing to the time off?
WATCH: Maliek Derstine Visits elitefts
He holds the all-time world record for powerlifting total in the 181-pound weight class. He is better in that class than anyone else has ever been. When he talks about training, it's probably best for you to listen.
Master's Nationals Qualifier: Northern Nevada’s Strongest Man V
I switched plans and decided to compete at Master's Nationals (The Olympia), but in order to compete, I would have to qualify. So off to Reno I went.
Finding Strength: Jiu-Jitsu and Strength Academy
The familiarity and genuine interest in one another is a recurring theme at the most successful gyms I’ve visited since starting this project. This is what I found in Cromwell, CT.
Cus D’Amato — Past, Present and Future Thoughts
Evaluating the past is important for fixing things that you did wrong. Looking forward to the future is important for setting goals. But if you do these things at the wrong time, you'll run into trouble.
3 Programming Considerations for In-Season Football Training: Scheduling...
When should the athletes lift? Where is the total training volume based from? How is intensity individualized within a team setting?
What to Do As A Novice Strongman — Writing Your Own Program
You need a lot in a strongman program: basic barbell lifts, accessory work, practice with the events, conditioning, flexibility, mobility, and recovery work. Use these ideas to build your own training program.
The Fallacy of the Fat Burning Zone
To better understand how exercise intensity dictates fuel use, and what this means in respect to the fat burning zone, we need to review the energy systems your body can rely on during exercise.
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Safety, 1RM Testing, Growth Plate...
In this second part, we are going to look at more research regarding 1RM testing and break down multiple falsehoods about why young athletes should not strength train.
WATCH: Improving Overhead Position and Shoulder Mechanics
In this video, Brad Cox and Chris Duffin provide corrective strategies to improve range of motion and shoulder stability with a strongman athlete who recently injured his shoulder.
WATCH: Off Topic with Dave Tate and Jim Wendler — Training for All-Aroun...
If you want to build total fitness, you need to know about something Jim Wendler calls The Push-Pull Concept — and it has nothing to do with benching or deadlifting.
To Redemption: UPA Old School Iron Gym Summer Showdown
I hated that I fell short of my goal at the XPCs…90 pounds short to be exact. Each and every pound I left on the platform back in March is what fueled my training for my off-season and meet preparation.
Putting Pen to Paper — When Old School Is Better Than New Technology
Now is the time to assess the technology that's at our fingertips. It's also the time to become picky with what type of and when to use technology with regard to our powerlifting success.
What to Do As A Novice Strongman — Practice and Training Implements
Interested in strongman? Know this first: being as strong as a Himalayan Mountain Yak is good, but being as strong as a Himalayan Mountain Yak with really good technique is better.
Mental Health and the Strength Athlete: Building A Better Training Program
When building an effective training program, you must consider each variable that influences your performance — including the stressors that affect your mental health.
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Benefits, Appropriate Starting Ag...
Telling a kid not to lift but then turning around and having him sprint, cut, and jump in those terms really does sound stupid, doesn’t it?
Using Velocity-Based Training Dynamically
With dynamic effort work, we use the guidelines that Bryan Mann has written about extensively. I've tweaked his approach to fit our small budget and large team setting.
My Return to Raw: UPA Old School Iron Gym Summer Showdown
Since competing at the XPC Finals in March, I took the last few months to regain control over my physical and mental health. In the process, I transitioned back to raw.