If you put Dave Tate and Mark Dugdale at the same table, you have decades upon decades of experience in both powerlifting and bodybuilding in front of you. Dave has spent his whole life on the powerlifting platform or sharing knowledge to help others compete. Mark has done the same with bodybuilding, competing for almost 30 years and constantly sharing lessons he has learned along the way.
With all this experience and knowledge, we decided to have Dave and Mark answer training questions together. Their combined experience—but vastly different perspectives—is evident in this video compilation series, in which they answer questions on a variety of topics including exercise execution, pre- workout, recoverability, training evolution, genetics, training classification systems, hiring a coach, and managing physical/mental stressors.
Episode 1: Exercise Execution, Pre-Workout Food, and Recoverability Questions
- (0:09) What is more significant for hypertrophy: exercise selection or the way the exercise is executed?
- (3:05) How long should I wait after a meal to train?
- (5:06) Should I lift with as much volume and frequency as I can recover from or just enough to see a benefit?
Episode 2: Training Evolution and the Genetic Ceiling Questions
- (0:39) How have you changed your diet as you have gotten older?
- (3:12) Do you count fiber as part of your carbohydrates for the day?
- (5:29) Has your total daily calorie intake reduced as you've gotten older?
- (6:35) How have you changed your training as you've gotten older?
- (7:36) What program did you use when you first started training?
- (10:15) When and why did you start using John Meadows' training?
- (12:56) If you could go back to the years you were doing HIT style training, what would you change about it?
- (16:25) Is there a genetic ceiling?
Episode 3: How do you qualify a beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifter?
- (0:55) How does Mark Dugdale quantify training classifications for bodybuilders?
- (2:50) Dave's self-classification system for powerlifting.
- (3:10) Dave's hurt-injured-fucked up scale.
Episode 4: Should I Hire A Bodybuilding Coach?
- (1:21) Mark begins by sharing his own experience. He started off without a coach.
- (2:11) Mark hires a coach with a history of preparing IFBB pro bodybuilders for Olympia wins.
- (4:25) Mark hires John Meadows for training.
- (5:09) Mark points out that a coach can help keep you from going off the rails in contest prep.
- (8:52) Dave explains the difference between hiring a coach and working with a coach.
Episode 5: How to Balance Training with a Physically Demanding Job
- (0:17) Dave begins by pointing out an aspect of stress that most people overlook: whether the stress is physical or mental and what this means.
- (0:43) Mark's work exposes him to mental or emotional stress far more than it does physical stress.
- (1:18) Mark's form of unplugging: yoga and weight training.
- (2:26) The importance of hydration and proper nutrition).
WATCH: Table Talk Compilation Series — JL Holdsworth
