The Six-Day Split (with Program Sample)
Maintain strength and fullness with this program as you deplete your dietary stores to reach low levels of bodyfat.
The Fat Loss Blueprint
This is your six-step blueprint for creating the lean, strong, powerful, and healthy physique within you.
Strength Athletes, Control Your Variables
Consider where YOU lack focus. These things are widespread knowledge, nothing ground-breaking but surprisingly not prioritized correctly.
3 Mistakes You're Making to Get Lean This Summer
Let’s look at three of the biggest mistakes—extended caloric restriction, adding too much cardio, and workout selection.
Counting Trace Macros Is Overrated
Tired of inputting your nutrition information into an app to count your total macros and calories? Give this method a shot.
5 Zombie Myths on Dietary Protein for Performance and Body Composition
You are a badass, meat-eating dude who likes steak; hence, you eat a 12-ounce all at once. If you can only use 30 grams, where do the other 50 grams go?
Skip’s 10 Questions for God
God, I know you’re busy answering all of these prayers from people wanting baseball to start (thank you, by the way), the war in Ukraine…
5 Things Bodybuilders Should NOT Do After 50
You don’t have much time to waste or lose when chasing physique ideals at this age. Remember, you’re no longer in your 20s or 30s. Step up!
Weight Loss Strategies for a Strength Athlete
I’ve been heavy, lost weight, lost strength, and then piled the weight back on—more than once. Enough is enough.
The Top-4 Habits of Successful Dieters
Successful dieters come in all different shapes, sizes, and genetic codes. Regardless of disposition, the rate of dieting success relies heavily on your mindset. What exactly are you telling yourself?
The Gateway to Optimal Health
Here’s a hint: It’s a three-letter word that begins with the letter g.
Bacteria That Makes You Stronger
I think we can all agree that inflammations and diseases impact your muscle development and that you can use your body’s resources in a better way when you’re healthy.
Science is the New Religion
Here we are 400 years later and we’re still arguing like popes and polymaths.
Dropping Weight as a Powerlifter
This isn’t an article outlining how to drop the bodyweight. What I do want to talk about is the mindset and dealing with all of the change that is to come when dropping a lot of weight.
One Diet Size Fits One
There is no universal healthy diet or macronutrient composition. You must identify what is healthy for you. Read on to understand why we are so diverse to discover your best diet options.
More Nutrition "Facts" Debunked
Nothing is bad for us, per se. What we have to do is figure out how much we need, and then supply it in the correct amounts. But to villainize sugar, carbs, fats, and other nutrients is a gross miscarriage of judgment.
The Ultimate Guide to Designing a Muscle-Building Diet
“How do I make my own muscle-building diet?” is a complex question, and this article will take you through a complete step-by-step process. By the end, you’ll have a muscle-building nutrition program ready to go.
Nutrition, Supplement, and Drug "Facts" Explained
No aspect of physical culture is more rife with myth, misunderstanding, falsehoods, and fantasy than is the field of nutrition. There is a very good reason that there exists so much confusion to this day when it comes down to what to eat: money.
Fat Loss Advice That Is Complete Bullshit
I’m going to dive into the top-4 pieces of fat loss advice that are complete garbage and why they’re garbage. So, buckle up, buttercup, and grab some popcorn — it’s lie detector time!
Don’t Make These 10 Mistakes After a Bodybuilding Contest
I have always felt that a big part of my writing should be to save as many people as I can from making the mistakes I have made or witnessed others make in my 3.5 decades of bodybuilding. I’ve narrowed that list down to 10, and hopefully this saves you from yourself.
Cast-Iron Pork Tenderloin Fillet with Jasmine Rice
Tired of eating chicken breasts? Mix things up with some seared pork tenderloin with a side of jasmine rice. It’ll hit the spot after a tough workout.
Career- and Body-Killing Food Allergies From Eating the Same Foods Too O...
Eating the same foods too often can lead to a wide range of significant problems, such as difficulty breathing, an upset stomach, bloating, joint pain, low energy, skin rashes, lack of motivation, inability to focus, mucous build-up, and more.
What's Changed at Age 45
As I approach my 45th birthday in December, people keep asking me what things are like now that I’m in this life stage. Some things change; some things don’t. But the things that change are important, and I’m going to talk about them here.
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.
Popular Diets, Simplified
Not sure if you should be going vegan or keto? What is the difference between vegan and vegetarians? Learn the basics of popular diets and nutrition and how to make them work best for you.
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.
The Scale is Ruining Your Physique (and Bodybuilding)
In bodybuilding, numbers aren’t represented on stage; you’re scored based on your overall look or (I almost hate to use that phrase for reasons I won’t get into here). It makes no sense to add 20 pounds of muscle only to have your midsection increase by 4 inches or more.
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.
WATCH: I am Vincent Dizenzo
“To be able to give back is a much bigger legacy than anything you’ll leave on a platform.” elitefts coach Vincent Dizenzo finds his calling in helping others by passing on knowledge, especially when it comes to dieting and weight loss.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #22 with Justin Harris
Dave Tate sits down with bodybuilding contest prep guru Justin Harris, who helped bring Dave down to single-digit body fat levels — a feat few people thought possible.
Phases of Performance Nutrition
Looking at dieting as one big picture can be incredibly stressful. Let’s break that big picture up into three more manageable pieces. We’ll call them phases: the post-show phase, the reverse dieting phase, and the meet prep phase.
Show Report: 1st Place Novice at the 2019 NPC Mid-Atlantic Cup
I started my bikini prep at 147 pounds with 27 percent body fat and ended at a low of 113.8 pounds with 15 percent body fat — a total of 33 pounds lost. Despite that loss, after my results from the first show, I knew I had to bring in my glutes tighter…
You Can't Out-Train Processed Foods
My time spent in Italty resulted in the opposite of what happens to Elizabeth Gilbert in “Eat Pray Love.” I didn’t gain weight — I lost weight. The more I thought about it, the weight loss probably came from the quality of food in Italy. No ultra-processed foods here!
Simplify Your Nutrition
There is so much information about nutrition that it can be overwhelming. Rather than getting caught in that swamp, I suggest you stop reading and start dieting with some basic knowledge. I’ll provide the info, but you’ll have to do the rest.
6 Strategies to Advancement
Consider this me throwing you a lifesaver in the vast sea of information. This will help you figure out how to improve yourself by seeking out the best information possible… and how to best find that information.
4 Potent Supplements That Fight Insulin Insensitivity
Even if you’re doing all the right things, sometimes the fat won’t come off. One possible explanation for this could be insulin resistance. If you are insulin-resistant, it might help to try some supplements. These are four I’ve used with success.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #6 with Dave Tate (Rant Edition)
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, you might want to grab your headphones because Dave Tate has some choice words on a variety of topics.
The '90s Called and It Wants Its Diet Back
When I tried out the fast-food dirty diet in the 1990s, I fit in my Frantz canvas suit like 15 pounds of sausage in a five-pound casing, and worse yet, my deadlift went down. Don’t make the mistake ’90s lifters (myself included) made — learn from it. Eat cleaner to lift better.
Gain Weight in Your Off-Season with This Meal Plan
After reading Mark Dugdale’s recent off-season diet article, I thought I would write about what my current diet in the off-season is like as well. Not only will I share my current off-season diet, but I’m also going to write about my process for gaining weight — not fat, but muscle.
10 Tips for Managing Fat Loss Goals on the Road
Going on vacation is a blast, but not when you’re trying to blast body fat. Nothing is more frustrating than working on a show-prepped and/or beach-ready bod only to lose progress while you’re actually at the beach… so here are 10 tips to help you avoid that. Von boyage!
A Snapshot of My Off-Season Diet — Health, Recovery, and Efficiency
Despite my absence from the stage, I often get emails asking about my diet. Yes, it’s different and much looser than my approach when I’m highly focused on professional bodybuilding. In fact, that makes this article more applicable to the majority of people.
A Bodybuilding Rewind with Lee Haney and Dr. Fred Hatfield
Every once in a while, you find a rare gem hidden deep within your computer’s files. This particular jewel was an interview I did with bodybuilder Lee Haney and the late Dr. Fred Hatfield — Dr. Squat himself! — in 2014.
The Good and The Bad About Insulin
I don’t think most bodybuilders who use insulin as a performance enhancer truly understand WHY they are using it and what it can actually do to their bodies — both good and bad. So let’s dive into the nitty-gritty on the subject of insulin…
The Truth About Late-Night Snacking
A calorie at 7:59 p.m. is the same as a calorie at 8:01 p.m. Whether you’re eating at 7:59 p.m., 8:01 p.m., or in the middle of the night, it really doesn’t matter. Instead, consider each of the 24 hours in a day to be equal in terms of importance… or simply the number of calories you eat in a
Can We Build Muscle After 50?
I asked my elitefts colleagues to do a study or if a study exists on whether or not we can build muscle and get stronger as seniors. Rather than wait for their responses, I decided to take matters into my own hands to address the topic myself, based on the individuals I’ve trained and observed.
The Basics of Macronutrient Tracking
If you’re interested in tracking macronutrients but aren’t sure how to get started, no worries. With the assistance of fitness apps and smartwatches, it’s easier to track macros than ever before. I’ll teach you the basics, gram by gram.
The Obese Body and Exercise
What I try to offer here is information to both coaches and obese people about why and how to exercise — different reasons than the conventional assumption concerning weight loss — considering some of the difficulties inherent in the condition.
Try This On for Size
It all started about two weeks post-Arnold, when I secured my second win back-to-back. I did what I’d always done—push the limits, take drugs, and eat food.
WATCH: Table Talk with Dave Tate — How To Find Your Perfect Weight Class
You may be between weight classes or on the far end of the spectrum. Find out if your future should include Big Macs and candy bars or chicken and rice.
The Power of Bodyweight Training
Resistance is resistance, no matter from which source it comes. When you do a push-up, your body doesn’t just go, “What, he’s doing a push-up? Nah, I ain’t growing.”
WATCH: Blast from the Past — Dave Tate's 2010 Body Transformation Tip
What does it take to completely transform your training, lifestyle, and eating habits after years of the same goal?
6 Big Boy Season Must-Haves
I was 417 at my biggest, and very ill-informed about my strength. Powerlifting seems to have a general acceptance of “bigger” meaning “stronger,” but bigger isn’t always better.
I’m Just Like You
I’m a judgmental dick, but technically, I’m no different than some of the people I judge.
Four Rules for First-Time Competitors
Many first-time competitors end up as only-time competitors because they neglect to take the right precautions before beginning their prep. Follow these rules to avoid letting your first show be your last.
The Plant-Based Strength Experiment
Is it possible to remove meat from your diet and still train and compete at the highest level of powerlifting? I’m going to find out.
The Mountain Dog Diet—A Healthier Way to Get Lean/Add Muscle...or Both!
The theme here is health and making better choices regardless of whether you’re trying to gain muscle or lose fat.
Why Animal Protein May Be Superior to Plant Protein
Think that animal protein is better than plant protein? Interested in being able to back this up? Read on
