Is There Any Benefit to Doing Over 40 Sets
Ever wondered about the benefits of more sets? Maybe you’ve tried and got quickly fatigued? Dave explains the impact in his latest Table Talk.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Jim Wendler's Garage Gym Warm-up
Nearly a decade of training combined, and what have Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, and Vincent Dizenzo learned about the perfect warm-up?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate and Doug Heath Talk Meet Sto...
Nothing like getting together with pals and talking old powerlifting stories. From Louie Simmons trying to break your fingers after beating you in the stomach, to having rules made specifically about you.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How JM Blakley and Dave Tate Built Ten...
JM Blakley and Dave Tate have had their fair share of tendon problems. From tears to tweaks, they’ve learned how to strengthen their tendons to help lengthen their careers and put up bigger numbers. From ultra-heavy reps to ultra-light ones, here’s a variety of tendon tools at your disposal.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Mark Bell Recalls Telling Louie Simmon...
Everyone likes putting their own tweak on popular programming. Louie Simmons was not very receptive when he learned Mark Bell had changed his, however. You’d think a 180-pound squat PR would speak for itself, but apparently it was still no good.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Daily Movements Lifters Are Screwing U...
Stop screwing up your deloads and you’ll see less back pain and significantly increased performance. Then stop screwing up how you tie your shoes! Done incorrectly, small movements can add up to exacerbate back pain.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate Exposes Fitness Hacks
What does the fitness landscape look like for beginners, and what can we do as trainers to help them best? It’s oversaturated with con artists, and we need to understand the beginner’s perspective to be able to help them best.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Only Have 3 Days Per Week To Train?
If you’re struggling to make your workouts fit a new and tighter schedule, Dave Tate shares his pro tips for making 3-day and 2-day week splits work with great results.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Brian Alsruhe and Dave Tate Discuss Fi...
Dave Tate and Brian Alsruhe both know you can’t do the same thing forever and expect results. In the pursuit of maximal performance, you have to find your way to step ahead of the crowd. How do you identify what your own edge is?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What's Missing From Younger Lifte...
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room…” — Socrates
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate on the Risks and Rewards of ...
Every action has a reaction. If you remain indifferent to the negative reactions while only focusing on the positive reactions, you’re likely going to experience a major wake up call sooner or later.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Yessica Martinez Discusses JM Blakley ...
In hindsight, what was Yessica Martinez’s biggest takeaway from working with the bench press wizard JM Blakley?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — This One Time, at Westside Barbell…
Great coaching, brawls and talking trash all go hand in hand at elite powerlifting gyms. When Dave Tate has a story to tell about Westside Barbell, it’s a good idea to stop and listen.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Swede Burns & Dave Tate Discuss Ba...
Being jacked as hell got your shoulders a little tight? Here’s how you fix your squat bar position for better performance, less pain, and a bigger total.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What Age Should Kids Start Lifting Wei...
Did you miss out on your peak potential by picking up powerlifting too late? Or would you be nowhere near where you are by starting too early?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Swede Burns Talks About His 9000-Calor...
Need a little bit of bulking inspiration? Swede Burns and Dave Tate trade tips. Swede lays out the entirety of his diet he used to maintain a 330-pound bodyweight as a powerlifter.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate Reminisces About His Early D...
Dave Tate knows it all right? Not always… Here’s a major blunder and how he bounced back.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate and JM Blakley Discuss Their...
The idea that powerlifting might not be an option one day is terrifying, but at least Dave Tate and JM Blakley can share some wisdom for you to be prepared.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Training Economy for the Washed-Up Mea...
If you can count on one hand the number of joints that don’t hurt right now, you might want to heed some of Dave’s training tidbits.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How to Build Upper-Back Strength For a...
Looking to beef up your upper back or increase your bench and squat numbers? Of course you are. Check out Dave Tate’s best advice on how to structure your routine to best gain upper back strength.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dizenzo Gains 28 Pounds in 24 Hours an...
Vincent Dizenzo, Jim Wendler, and Matt Rhodes come together to deliver a classic tale of body odor, sketchy needles, and a whole lot of that sweet power bloat. Complete with quite a few verbal jabs at each other in between, like does losing weight even count as a challenge as a super heavyweight powerlifter?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Should Bigger Lifters Pull Sumo or Con...
Debating switching stances? How can you know which one is better for you? Dave Tate drops some wisdom on how you’ll know when it’s time to switch, and how to best train the deadlift.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How JM Blakley Chooses His Supplementa...
Listen to JM Blakley talk about the reasons behind his supplemental exercise choices when aiming to increase his already massive numbers. Apply these to any of your lifts and you might find what you’re missing in your current program!
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate and Brian Alsruhe Discuss Da...
Whether you’re trying to avoid a heart attack or a stint of diarrhea you might want to heed the words of Dave and Brian about how you shouldn’t play around with your heart health.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate's Only Regret as a Comp...
“How much better could I have been if I had full support?”
Dave tells us his only regret after a long powerlifting career. At the end of the day, none of the training mattered if he wasn’t doing right by the people he loved.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Does Anyone's Bench Press Impress...
There are universal traits that unite what elevates a powerlifter to the top regardless of what era you competed in. Rather than try to pick apart the differences of each we should focus on the things that the best still do today.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip – JM Blakley Challenges the Idea of Spee...
Is speed work really doing anything for your progress? JM Blakley is willing to bet that it isn’t. Powerlifting is about force, not speed.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Common Causes of Hip Shift
Hate to break it to you, but you can’t out-correct a corrective exercise.
WATCH: Dave Tate's Powerlifting Warm-Up Circuit
If you’ve dreamed of training the same way Dave Tate’s athletes do, today’s your lucky day… well, not exactly. Maybe you can’t train like them, but you can sure warm up like them!
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Gives Advice to College Students
“It’s going to feel heavy as fuck, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Are Hex Bars, High Squats, and Box Squ...
What do Dave Tate, Nick Showman, Louie Simmons, and high school athletes have in common? A love-hate relationship with the trap bar… and a few other movements.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What is NEVERsate?
NEVERsate started off as a band name and became the name of Brian Alruhe’s gym — but there’s more to the name than that.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Training Hard Through Chemotherapy
Training through chemotherapy took everything Clint Darden had. All in all, he believes it was important that he did. There was nothing else he’d rather do and no place he’d rather be.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How Steroids Can Damage Long-Term Trai...
Don’t do drugs. Negative side effects and addiction concerns aside, PEDs can really harm athletes’ long-term development and careers. They’re not worth losing the future gains over, we promise.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dan Green on Using Intensity to Build ...
“…I’m using powerlifting lifts in a bodybuilding style…” Dan Green shares the secrets to building muscle as a powerlifter and as a bodybuilder.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dan Green and Andrew Herbert's We...
“I do feel the back is the engine of the powerlifter. You could almost not train anything else but just pound the shit out of your back four times a week and still be strong.”
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate's Simple and Effective ...
The conjugate method isn’t simple for everyone, which is why Dave decided to write down an explanation on the Table Talk table.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Key Indicators for a Big Bench
There are so many movements you can do when it comes to strengthening the back for the bench press — so which ones SHOULD you do?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — The Yellow Brick Road of Powerlifting
Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain; instead, keep your eye on the goal through your training journey.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Dave Tate's Favorite Part of Powe...
For someone who says he doesn’t like the competition aspect of powerlifting, it comes off as a surprise that Dave Tate’s favorite part about powerlifting is a moment that happens at meets.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — A Message to High School Coaches
Ideally, the kids should be learning from the coaches’ example. So what does that say about coaches who are calling kids lazy?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Chuck Vogelpohl Made Dave Quit After 4...
There are two kinds of athletes: the ones that love to win and the ones that hate to lose. The athletes who hate losing are the ones you should be afraid of. Dave Tate learned that the hard way when challenging Chuck Vogelpohl at Westside.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Going All In
What does it mean to go all in? Is there a point where you’ve gone too far down the rabbit hole of all in? Clint Darden and Dave Tate attempt to answer these questions with their different perspectives.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — How Dave Tate and Justin Harris Met
Dave Tate and Justin Harris reflect on how they first met and a handful of the adventures they shared during Dave’s post-powerlifting retirement diet.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Joe Sullivan on Adductor Health
Joe Sullivan says the movements he uses to keep his adductors health are “the bomb.” Want to find out what those explosive movements are? Read on to find out.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Justin Harris Talks Hormones and Janae...
In this snippet from a Table Talk Podcast episode, Dave Tate and Justin Harris discuss Janae Kroc’s return to the bodybuilding circuit and how hormones may (or may not) affect her return to the sport.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Justin Harris Explains Carb Cycling
Carb cycling: A fancy phrase for rotating calories. Nutritionist Justin Harris breaks down why you should be carb cycling and why it works in simple terms.
LISTEN: Table Talk Clip — Are Cheat Meals Worth It?
It’s better to have one cheat meal a week than to go off of the program and eat on a day that you’ve burned off a lot of calories and now have taken in more calories than lost. Don’t turn a fat-burning day into a fat-gaining day.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — John Meadows' Favorite Physique i...
It was in the year of 1993 and he weighed somewhere between 218 to 220 pounds. Who does that narrow it down to?
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Cailer Woolam Bombed Out of His 1st Meet
Even Doctor Deadlift has bombed out, and for him, it was at his first meet as a 15-year-old in high school. Cailer Woolam was ready to quit, but he kept on pushing, and look at him now: one of the youngest people to make the deadlift world record.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What Lift Are You Most Proud Of?
While Dave’s AWOL, Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, and Vincent Dizenzo fill in and answer questions. This question (what lifts are you most proud of?) sparks a conversation about coaching and fond memories this trio of friends shared and are now sharing with you.
Should the Patient Hear the Pop?
When I started adjusting patients, I liked the sound of popping. I was really attached to it. But if you’re just trying to hear that “pop,” you might end up hurting someone for something that might not have been necessary in the first place.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Cailer Woolam on Gaining Weight and Go...
Believe it or not, Cailer Woolam gets a lot of questions about why he’s not gaining weight to break more records. But at age 24, he’s got plenty of time and work ahead of him.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Wendler, Rhodes, and Dizenzo Respond t...
It’s not really a controversy unless we talk about that particular controversy, right? Well, if you wanted some hot takes on Robert Oberst’s deadlift criticism, you’re in the right place!
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What High School Strength Coaches are ...
If “what you’re saying you’re doing and what you’re doing to the athlete doesn’t match up… I’m calling BS on your integrity.” Phil Matusz, OSU’s associate director of strength and conditioning, shares a powerful message for high school strength coaches.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — What is Cortisol? John Meadows Explains
Cortisol. It strikes fear into the hearts of most men. But cortisol is nothing to be afraid of. It serves a good purpose, and John Meadows is here to explain its benefits.
If I Don't Have a Practitioner, Where Do I Go for Help?
I don’t care if it’s a physical therapist, a chiropractor, or a medical doctor. You need someone who looks at the overall picture, not just the area that’s giving you trouble.
Learning the Language of a Prospect
We tend to go into things with fitness coach or trainer eyes. We need to start seeing through the clients’ eyes and thinking like they do. We need to relate to them. Once you do that, you can take them on a journey.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — Why Strength Coaches are D-Bags
Matt Rhodes’ takeaway lessons for strength coaches in this clip: Put your best foot forward. Stop screaming and start communicating. Hold yourself accountable. Do better and be better.