WATCH: Auto-Regulation vs Percentage-Based Programming for the Off-Season
You can be certain that every great lifter you admire has mastered auto-regulation. If you want to be great, you’ll need to do the same.
Do Not Limit Yourself With Comparisons
Mental strength is a complex monster. You may think you’re motivating yourself by trying to beat other lifters, but you’re actually holding yourself back.
What Type of Powerlifter Are You?
I polled our team members to get an idea of why some of the best lifters in the world compete raw or in gear. Here are their answers.
WATCH: Table Talk — Lessons from Training with John Meadows
What happens when an expert in powerlifting and an expert in bodybuilding train together for five years?
WATCH: Why You Should Use Calibrated Plates
If you’re training for a new world or personal record, every pound matters.
How I Trained When I Was at My Best
There are two categories for max effort exercises: strength builders and strength testers. Every lifter has their own. Once I found mine, I built an 1160 squat and an 850 deadlift.
WATCH: Table Talk — Should Elite Totals Be Updated?
Does being an elite powerlifter mean something different today than it did 10, 15, or 20 years ago?
How to Wrap and Why — A Guide to Wrist and Knee Wraps
If you show up on day one of your wrapped training and start off in the strongest wraps on the market, things are probably not going to go as well as they could.
WPC World Championships — My 12-Week Meet Prep for a 1000-Pound Squat
I won my division at the 2014 WPC Worlds. I’m hoping to repeat this year, but there’s also another goal I’m focused on.
WATCH: Table Talk — Bench Press Bar Path
Should you press in a straight line or in an arc, finishing with the bar over your face?
Building the Raw Bench Press
We first need to look at the specific needs of a raw bencher — once we know what body parts need brought up, we can then create a program that strategically utilizes the most beneficial exercises.
The Yearly Training Plan of the Strength Athlete — Adapting Evaluations ...
Evaluating your training protocol is only the first step. The real differences are made by enacting them into the practicals of training.
Four Traps to Avoid When Starting Conjugate Training
Using the Conjugate Method has been one of the most rewarding and fun things I’ve ever done, but it requires ownership and a tenacity to keep looking for answers. Here are four things to avoid as you begin your quest.
Building the Bench, Piece by Piece
This article gives you the 12 best exercises to build mass in the necessary areas for a stronger bench press. Body-part by body-part, exercise by exercise, it’s all here.
Powerlifting: 25% Training, 75% Pre-Hab, Rehab, and Injury Prevention
If you think you’ll make it in this sport by pushing through your workouts even when you’re injured or suffering, you’re wrong.
WATCH: Using the Box Squat to Correct Posterior Chain Weaknesses
If you or your clients are failing to properly load your glutes and hamstrings during a competition squat, this video will show you how.
WATCH: Mickey Belaineh — Harvard Law Graduate and IPF Junior World Champion
With bar exams complete and results pending, Mickey’s focus on powerlifting continues to evolve.
2016 RPS Memphis Classic Meet Report
This meet was about a few monster numbers that have been weighing down on me. All of the lessons from my elitefts teammates are starting to pay off.
WATCH: Table Talk — Can You Use Competition Lifts for Max Effort Work?
If you feel you need more work on the competition movements, can you use them as max effort work instead of doing specialty exercises?
Guest Judging Boss of Bosses 3
Watching a lifter going for a lift he knows he has to make to move into first place…
Watching a lifter going for a record that has stood for 15 or 20 years…
Squat Mechanics: Why Stacking the Knee Overtop of the Ankle Is Important
There are a lot of things we work on with fixing lifters’ squats, let’s start here.
Dr. Squat: Fred Hatfield’s Journey Through the 1000-Pound Barrier
When Dr. Squat decided he wanted to squat over 1,000 pounds, he performed several statistical computations to figure out exactly how he would be able to get there.
WATCH: Dave's Squat Tips for NBS Lifters
What began as a heavy squat session in the S4 Compound became an impromptu coaching session with Dave. Here are the five things he told these lifters to fix.
WATCH: Off Topic — Should You Periodize Your Conditioning?
In building your aerobic base, is it enough to simply add Prowler pushes, hill sprints, and sled drags to your program? Dave and Jim explain the purpose behind GPP.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Yearly Training Plan of the Strength Athlete — In-Season Management ...
There are three very important priorities for a strength athlete to keep in focus during a competitive year.
What Is Elite in Powerlifting?
It takes a long time to be elite—truly elite—in this sport. Don’t try to change the standards. Change the way you work.
Embracing the Bracing
Day 1: Constant, crippling pain. Day 10: Pain free. This is the new game plan for lower back nerve pain.
Three Training Methods to Strengthen Your Weak Points
As simple and extremely important as this principle is, I continue to see so many lifters overlook or misunderstand it year after year.
144 Things I Love and Hate About Powerlifting
Every lifter has their own reasons to love or hate this sport. Here are mine.
elitefts Classic: How to Set Up A Program — A New Look at Weak Points
I don’t know how many questions we’ve gotten about how to train certain weak points. Of course, almost every question is in regard to a weak muscle group or a certain portion of a lift.
Building Technical Proficiency in Supplemental Deadlift Movements
Getting outside of your comfort zone, and literally getting uncomfortable can be a key to get you past plateaus and sticking points.
WATCH: Off Topic with Dave and Jim — PEDs and Training Frequency
Kicking off the new series, Dave Tate and Jim Wendler take on a topic of heated debate.
Flow, The Void, and You
Your psych-up, intended to prepare you for a new PR, could actually be costing you precious pounds on the platform.