1. Vincent Dizenzo: What song on your MP3 player are you most ashamed of?
Dave Tate: I don’t know the songs, but there is a Justin Bieber album on there. I would explain how it got there, but would it really matter?
2. Vincent Dizenzo: Is it true you train arms everyday? If not, do you train them twice a day?
Dave Tate: Nope. I don't train them everyday or even twice a week. I have had an Arm Day for the past few years, though. While I can easily blame this on John Meadows, this would be assuming that I don’t like it. I have curled in the monolift, performed one-arm preacher curls off the glute-ham raise, and used the Yoke bar for hammer curls. Now, if I had the time and could recover, I would train them three times per day. On a more serious note, I train each body part once per week. I keep the big sessions on the weekend. My training split currently looks like this:
3. Vincent Dizenzo: What is your favorite comedy?
Dave Tate: I can’t really think of any on the top of my head. I must have a sick sense of humor because I find comedies to be boring. Actually, I find it hard to sit through most movies—my attention span isn’t the greatest. If food is involved or if my kids want to see something, I will sit it out. In most cases, if you ask me after what it was about I will have no clue.
4. Vincent Dizenzo: I'd ask what injuries you've had, but I am getting older and my time on this planet is limited. Rather, tell me what injury hurt the most?
Dave Tate: I have an injury list than can span an entire page. It includes torn muscles, tendons, surgeries, AND replacements. The injury that hurt the worst was when I dropped a 45-pound plate on my toe. This hurt like hell and seemed to take forever to heal. I was able to train on it, but it hurt all the time and never stopped.
5. Vincent Dizenzo: How many weeks was your normal meet training cycle?
Dave Tate: 12-16 weeks. If I was at the "starting gate,” 12 weeks was normal. Otherwise, I needed four extra weeks to get into shape to begin training. By being in shape I mean:
- My weight was within ten pounds of where I wanted to compete.
- I was able to recover within two days from a very hard max effort session.
- I was injury free.
- I was within 10 percent of my max strength from last meet.
6. Vincent Dizenzo: What is your favorite cheat meal?
Dave Tate: Wings, a full rack of ribs, fries, coleslaw, and dessert. I figured this out once and this combination is close to 3,000 calories.
7. Vincent Dizenzo: If you could invite three people, dead or alive, to a dinner party, who would they be?
Dave Tate: My wife and two kids. Outside of this, it really doesn’t matter to me. I can share a meal with anyone and have a good time. Food has it’s way of doing this for me. It would be fun to have Vincent Dizenzo, Steve Pulcinella, and Jim Wendler all sitting at the same table. I know I would end up laughing all night.
8. Vincent Dizenzo: Toilet paper or baby wipes?
Dave Tate: Toilet paper is fine with me. It is hard enough to reach around once or twice. Adding any more is just risking a side cramp.
9. Vincent Dizenzo: If you could only perform one lift when training for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Dave Tate: High-rep yoke bar box squats. I suppose this would be because it’s really all I can do, anymore. I love the challenge of 15-20 rep squats with a weight I think I can only do for ten. I also love being able to do another rep when I can’t breathe, see, or even think for that matter. I love all challenge sets.
10. Vincent Dizenzo: What was your most embarrassing moment in the gym?
Dave Tate: For me, just showing up. I’m bound to always do or say something stupid. While competing and training at Westside, I missed 405 once on a 2-board press. This was B-A-D. When I went to sit up I found myself surrounded and then an intervention took place. It's funny to think back on it and remember how embarrassed I was.
11. Vincent Dizenzo: Bands or chains (and you can't answer, both)?
Dave Tate: Chains. They look, smell, sound, and even taste better. Plus, chains are a meathead's way of marking their territory. Bands can come and go in a gym bag, but training with chains usually means you a) have your own gym or b) have earned the respect of the gym you train in.
****
I want to thank Dave for the candid responses. Unfortunately I will forever picture him training his guns to Justin Bieber for the rest of my life. And let’s get that dinner party together pronto.
Alright folks, let me know who I should interview next. Feel free to submit some questions as well.
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