Take the core philosophies of 5/3/1, make two key adjustments in exercise selection and timed AMRAP sets, and you’ve got yourself a damn good strongman program.
Talk to any strength coach or trainer, and in some way, they have been influenced by Louie Simmons. Here are 7 ways he influenced me.
Jim Wendler and Matt Rhodes to discuss training, coaching, consistency, discipline, and past Westside Barbell stories
Concurrent training, commonly known as hybrid training, can be a frustratingly fine line to walk. Here’s the recipe.
Jim Wendler’s seminar Strength Training High School Football Players is compiled for you to implement as a coach or an athlete.
Don’t miss the return of Jim Wendler in this exciting episode celebrating 100 episodes and 1,000,000 downloads of Dave Tate’s Table Talk.
Piecing together what I’ve learned from Dave Tate, Jim Wendler, and Sam Brown, I added 70+ pounds to my total in a six-month period.
On this episode of Dave Tate’s Table Talk, the boys are back in town! Dave is joined by Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, & Vincent Dizenzo!
Nearly a decade of training combined, and what have Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, and Vincent Dizenzo learned about the perfect warm-up?
Here’s an excellent example of how to place extra workouts in a weekly off-season football training schedule along with what an extra workout accomplishes (or should).
Do yourself a favor and focus on technique; don’t get too wrapped up in band tension, percents, etc. Get your technique down and worry about the other things later.
The three amigos are back! Need a laugh? You’ll want to watch and listen to this home edition of Table Talk.
Vincent Dizenzo, Jim Wendler, and Matt Rhodes come together to deliver a classic tale of body odor, sketchy needles, and a whole lot of that sweet power bloat. Complete with quite a few verbal jabs at each other in between, like does losing weight even count as a challenge as a super heavyweight powerlifter?
“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.
A few weeks ago I blogged about how I was mistakenly looking for a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with my injuries, and my circumstances are different. But with the help of four friends (and my wife), we came up with a BAMF program. Here it is.
People have asked me to write about how I train. I haven’t done it because I figured you guys thought it’d be boring… until now. Here’s a look at my training and the process behind it.
While Dave’s AWOL, Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, and Vincent Dizenzo fill in and answer questions. This question (what lifts are you most proud of?) sparks a conversation about coaching and fond memories this trio of friends shared and are now sharing with you.
It’s not really a controversy unless we talk about that particular controversy, right? Well, if you wanted some hot takes on Robert Oberst’s deadlift criticism, you’re in the right place!
Watch out, Dave — there’s a new host in town. Actually, there are 3 hosts in town, and they’re taking over Table Talk Podcast while Dave is on vacation. Expect some wild stories with Vincent Dizenzo, Matt Rhodes, and Jim Wendler as they answer your questions.
Matt Rhodes’ takeaway lessons for strength coaches in this clip: Put your best foot forward. Stop screaming and start communicating. Hold yourself accountable. Do better and be better.
Talk about a blast to the past: Dave Tate, Jim Wendler, and Matt Rhodes relive the so-called glory days of training in the winter without heat and using knee wraps as wrist wraps. Best of all, it’s all documented in an old video. There’s no way to bury that evidence!
If you’re emulating Chuck Vogelpohl by ramming your head into the bar and yelling like a wild person at meets, you’re doing it wrong.
Dan Dalenberg found his way through life with the help of fellow powerlifters. As a Team elitefts athlete, he intends to give back to the community by passing on information he’s learned from those who got him through his lowest points.
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate, Matt Rhodes, and Jim Wendler re-watch some old training videos, talk about near-death experiences, being a strength coach, and more.
Generally speaking, if we can get an athlete stronger, that athlete will get faster. But at what point is the athlete strong enough for continued speed improvements? I hope you weren’t looking for a quantifiable answer on this one…
Conjugate. You keep using that word. We do not think it means what you think it means. Why is conjugate training so hard to understand? It’s not! In fact, because it’s so easy to understand, Jim Wendler can explain it in two minutes. Two minutes! It’s that simple.
Core values are something that Jim… well, values. He’s got core values for every aspect of his life, whether it’s the core values he and his wife share, the core values at work, or core values for training. His fifth core value on the list took him eight years to figure out.
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate and Jim Wendler talk about a couple of documentaries, majoring in exercise science, the best way to break down the conjugate method, and more.
“Play the game; don’t let the game play you.” Coach Buddy Morris (one of the speakers for the 2019 Strong(er) Sports Training and Success Seminar) talks about stress adaptation and recovery with Dave Tate, Tom Myslinski, and Jim Wendler in the sixth video of a nine-part conversation.
My life went through a lot of changes and adjustments during 2018, which meant I had to learn and re-learn things. Lesson 1: the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but sometimes it is, so watch your lawn and don’t forget that some grass is better than yours.
It seems that everyone wants to start racing a Ferrari before they learn how to put the key in the ignition.
What did your training look like before you began this training? Give us a sample week/template that would be fairly typical of what you did.
To close his presentation, Wendler discusses exercise selection, indicators of athlete readiness, and the importance of knowing the trapdoors of your training program.
In the previous videos, Wendler discussed his general mindset and approach to strength and conditioning for a high school football team. In this segment, he goes into detail about how he has designed the training sessions.
When Jim took over the training, the team had no identity and had no idea what they were going to be as they entered the 2017 season. What they became was the strongest team on the field every night they played.
The starting point with youth athletes today is drastically different than it was 30 years ago. This means the training plan needs to be different too.
My key indicators (as well as yours) take time to know and develop. They also will change over time, so always be on the lookout and always monitor your training.
How many carbohydrates do you need in every meal? Should you consume more on training days than rest days? How many grams of protein are necessary? These actually aren’t the questions you should be asking.
These discipline-related principles frame the discussion that Jim and I have in this episode. We also discuss various training principles that all circle back to the idea of prioritizing discipline.
It’s been more than a year since I last competed (not counting the unsanctioned and unseasonable non-invitational last December) and announced that I would be taking a step back from chasing the biggest bench possible.
So why do you want to build a strong, thick upper back? Isn’t the bench all pecs, shoulders, and triceps?
If I can teach a kid to squat correctly, I can teach him anything.
A big yoke equals instant respect. No one wants to screw with a guy that has a big neck and a thick yoke.
There are rules about training age that apply whether you’re 15 or 50.
You want your athletes to get stronger but not in a smokescreen fashion. You have to be strategic about how and when to attempt PRs.
The first step to having a good program is following a training outline that balances every need of the athlete.
In this video, the second part of his presentation, Jim goes into detail about both the mental and physical aspects of training kids.
This video is Jim’s full 20-minute introduction to his UGSS presentation.
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.
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.
Box squats have been around for years but the debate still hasn’t been settled.
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.