WATCH: Coach Shoop's Impact on Dave
Continuing their conversation, Shoop and Dave talk about the past and what brought them back together.
WATCH: Coach Shoop Visits Dave Tate
If you've read Under the Bar you know who Bill Shoop is — he's the high school football coach Dave credits with changing his life forever.
Mastery of the Mundane
Everyone trains hard but few do the things that are boring and tedious. It is the willingness to do the mundane that separates those top athletes from the hordes of others training away in the gym right now.
Heavy Metal Fitness: Tim Ingram's Strength Haven Grows Again
When we first shared his story in 2014, Tim Ingram had just opened his first training facility. Now he's back with another story of growth — and an even bigger gym.
Programming for Athletes — The Youth Athlete: Grades 4-6, Ages 10-12
This is the most important time in an athlete's career for learning motor patterns, and it’s the age range that can set up athletes for long-term success in their sport.
The Difference Between Outcome-Driven and Process-Focused
You’ve probably been told to focus on the process rather than the outcome, but the thing is, no one tells you how; you’re simply chastised for focusing on the wrong thing, then told to go on your merry way.
Ping Pong and Powerlifting
Thinking back to these two activities and my time in college, I find myself wondering if the concept of working in with strangers is a concept lost on today’s youth.
WATCH: The Vision and Growth of Showtime Strength and Performance
Nick Showman built his facility with a purpose and, in the process of growing, has found a niche in softball, welcomed serious lifters, and expanded the services he and his coaches provide.
What, Why, When, How — A Guide to Using an Intro Week
I have had more tweaks and muscle strains occur during the first week of getting back into training than any other time. If I’d known how to use an intro week, this never would’ve happened.
Real Life Status — Who's Watching You?
After our recent bowl game, all-time great Denver Bronco and two-time Pro Bowler Rod Smith spoke to my team and shared an important message that got me thinking about my athletes and my personal mission statement.
The Strongest Man in the Gym
Although we have had a number of 1000-pound squatters and 800-pound benchers at the Monster Garage Gym, I can tell you—and so would the majority of the powerlifters at the gym—that Jerry is the strongest man in the gym.
Coaching Essentials for Program Development
How do you determine if your program is too easy, too hard, or just right? Here are some things to look for to see if your coach is the real deal or full of shit.
Training Is Where Your Life Happens
There’s nothing that will ever replace good old-fashioned hard work and practice. Not only that, this is where your life happens one plateau at a time.
Ego Is the Enemy
Let me introduce you to a young gentleman from my gym. Like a lot of inexperienced lifters, he didn’t understand what it really means to keep your nose to the grindstone.
WATCH: Blast from the Past — Dave Tate's Presentation at the 2006 S...
There are four components of a weight room atmosphere: coaching, equipment, training, and athletes.
Are You on Track?
Apple announces the release of the Series 3 Apple Watch. This may satisfy all of your Watch hopes and dreams.
Back to Recovery Basics: The Big Three
In part two of this series, the topic is the big three for recovery, which allows athletes to experience better performance, resistance to injury, and longevity in their sport.
Back to Recovery Basics: Fundamentals of Recovery
Understanding the role of recovery is the first step to improving your health, longevity, and performance as a strength athlete. Think of it like this: your training is the sledgehammer and your recovery is the raw materials and blueprints for improvement.
Strength Chat Podcast: Technical Aspects of Training During and After Pr...
Through their four pillars and a growing nationwide network, BIRTHFIT is helping thousands of expecting moms prepare themselves for childbirth while staying healthy, mobile, and strong.
Sisyphus Stumbles
During the second double of a floor press training session, his pec tears. The bar crashes to the safety pins, inches above his face. For at least the twentieth time, the Collegiate Power Rack saves his ass.
Empowering Intellectuals: Reclaiming the Body — Muscularity, Bone Densit...
In part one I addressed some general definitions and discussed the issues of age group, level of activity, previous training experience, and body fat. Now we address muscularity, injuries, bone density, and the lifestyle factors that impact your health.
Dave Tate: Looking Back On Nearly 20 Years, Some Things Never Change
With the exponential growth of the fitness industry over the past 20 years, the roots of elitefts still hold strong: a foundational trunk of knowledge sprouting enough branches to accommodate nearly every training discipline imaginable.
WATCH: Sharing Love and Leaving Scars
In this piece I reflect on my stepfather and his impact on me, trying to understand how a person who loved his children so much could also inadvertently created a great deal of difficulty and strife in their lives.
Circa Max Phase for Throwers
Each time I use this method myself I feel like I could run through a wall come meet day. Now after six years of using this cycle, we have proof that it works for our athletes.
Staying the Vigilant Lifter
The vigilant lifter wants to be a student of strength. They do not just want to be told what to do to get stronger. They want to learn and understand how to get stronger.
WATCH: How the Bite of the Iron Nurtured My Growth
Sometimes we get so caught up in the physical nature of training we forget about the other impacts it has.
Building the Yoke
A big yoke equals instant respect. No one wants to screw with a guy that has a big neck and a thick yoke.
14 Things About Bodybuilding and Building Muscle That I Know to Be True
These underlying training principles contribute to keeping your body healthy, growing, recovering, and building muscle over the long-term. You simply need to follow them.
WATCH: Nate Harvey — Training and Coaching with the Conjugate Method
There are a lot of insights to gain from being both a powerlifter and a collegiate head strength coach.
Are You a Leader or a Follower?
Too often I see lifters doing the strangest stuff in the gym, and sometimes I get irritated enough to actually ask them about it. Their answers usually tells me everything I need to know: they’re followers, not leaders.
Social Skill Integration Through Movement and Strength: Play Date with a...
Make this your chance to verify how training (all our hard work) gives us lots of opportunities to enjoy life.
Finding Your Niche in S&C as a Female Coach
Professionals who succeed in the field career athletics are few and far between. Look to the ranks of women and the numbers drop even further.
Off-Season Case Study #1 — Examining Weakness And Implementing Correctiv...
In this case, we examine a young competitive athlete who has limited experience and is facing several serious issues in his squat, bench press, and deadlift.
Practical Application for Developing Rotational Power
All sports are rotational to some degree. Here are some effective ways to develop and assess rotational power within a team setting.
WATCH: Strength Training — Simple or Complicated?
Training programs, nutrition plans, supplement protocols — sorting through all this information to find really works may seem difficult. It doesn’t have to be.
What Do I Have to Work With?
This is the first question you should ask yourself when training a team. To get this point across, I’ve attached my entire fall football training program.
The Absurd Effectiveness of Simplicity
Young strength coaches, go back to the basics to improve your athletes’ performance.
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.
The Aging Rebels: An Exercise in Rehab and Friendship
Being stalked by the orthopedic reaper (not to mention the internal reaper) has been a challenge for Jack and I, but we have found ways to overcome every obstacle.
Social Skill Integration Through Movement and Strength: Off-Site Team Tr...
As we relocate a group of connected individuals outside of the gym, the mindset attached to training evolves.
WATCH: The Story Behind the Logo — TRAIN
The TRAIN logo emphasizes what we stand for. It’s what we do.
WATCH: Jim Wendler Speaks at Open Underground Strength Session
As elitefts team members, we’ve seen the impact that this community and time training together has had on our lives and lifting careers — we’re bringing more people into that fold.
Finding Strength: The Strength Depot
The owners of this Livonia, Michigan facility have made a commitment to bettering the world of strength sports, providing a home to many lifters and raising money for Relentless Detroit.
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.
Underground Strength Session with Jim Wendler — Training Highlights
Mini recap before Jim Wendler takes center on the platform.
Stop the Madness! #SMEP Single Minute Exercise Prep
You don’t need 45 minutes of mobility work for a 30-minute work out. Here are some general guidelines and an approach to effectively employing preventative and corrective work.
Programming 201: The Realistic Strength Program
You can have the holy grail of training programs, but if it doesn’t fit your job, it isn’t any good.
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.
Social Skill Integration Through Movement and Strength: Team Training at...
In this type of training, we’re taking things one step further — we share the entire training experience with at least one partner at the gym.
WATCH: Off Topic with Dave and Jim — Box Squatting
Box squats have been around for years but the debate still hasn’t been settled.
Programming for the Loose Forwards in Rugby
A loose forward must be one of the fittest players on the field. This requires a specialized approach to the strength and conditioning program.
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Safety, 1RM Testing, Growth Plate...
In this second part, we are going to look at more research regarding 1RM testing and break down multiple falsehoods about why young athletes should not strength train.
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.
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.
Strength Training for Young Athletes — Benefits, Appropriate Starting Ag...
Telling a kid not to lift but then turning around and having him sprint, cut, and jump in those terms really does sound stupid, doesn’t it?
Using Velocity-Based Training Dynamically
With dynamic effort work, we use the guidelines that Bryan Mann has written about extensively. I’ve tweaked his approach to fit our small budget and large team setting.