The 2017 elitefts Sports Performance Summit in Review
Buddy Morris, Mark Uyeyama and Justus Galac gave insight from the point of view of an NFL strength coach, Dr. Eric Serrano handled nutrition, and Dr. Ken Kinakin discussed muscle testing.
Simple Meet Mistakes and Their Solutions
Judging the SPF Ultimate Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship in Georgetown, Kentucky, I saw a lot of lifters make easily-correctable mistakes. Here are the ones to look out for.
Anti-Masculinity and the Response of Men
After watching the recent women’s marches—and being involved in some interesting social media conversation—I started to think about how men should respond when masculinity is threatened.
Entertainment at the Arnold: B-I-N-G-O
If you go to the Arnold every year just because of tradition – we can provide you some entertainment. If this is going to be your first time, this will prepare you for what you will see.
WATCH: Table Talk with Nate Harvey — Why Do Football Players Run Long Sp...
The easy answer is that it builds mental toughness. The strength and conditioning answer, however, involves understanding the differences between lactic acid, glycolytic, and oxidative work.
16 Week 5thSet/Conjugate Mash Up
Rather than explain, in great detail, when and how I think it would make sense for you to do this, I’m simply going to recount how I did it while coming back from a pec injury.
Why Do We Test the 40-Yard Dash at the Combine?
Last year we looked at the 225-bench test. This year I want to talk about what is considered by many to be the king event for evaluating athletic speed: the 40-yard dash.
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.
The Legacy
Because I grew up in Akron, Ohio, I’ll never forget the impact LeBron James has had on my life. But it’s not the championships or the records that I admire him for most.
6 Lessons to Become a Better Strength Coach
If you’re going to be successful in this industry, there are a few things you need to know from the very start.
Get Big Without Getting Slow: Cluster Training
By gaining muscle, you increase your ceiling for strength. By getting stronger, you increase your ceiling for power.
Finding Strength: Why Your Log Press Sucks with Zydrunas Savickas
If I had to pick the three most common mistakes I’ve witnessed in the last 10 years of seeing lifters miss with the log, here they are, with a video of Zydrunas Savickas coaching the movement.
From Deadlift Cues to Overcoming the Blues — One Year with elitefts
I couldn’t believe it when I saw that it has been a year since I joined elitefts. In honor of the anniversary, here are five lessons from my first year.
225 Bench Press Repetitions Test — What Are We Really Testing?
The strength of the athlete determines what kind of preparation will produce the desired training effect: more reps. We need to stop and ask three questions.
The Training Arriving Model
Understanding where your clients are on the T.A.M spectrum, and where they want to be, is crucial for delivering the best coaching-client experience possible.
Why Deads Are Overrated
If you want full back development, you’re going to have to stop focusing on the deadlift.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — How to Balance Training with a Phy...
You can control the physical demands placed on your body in the gym, but you can’t always control what happens outside of it. How can you ensure you’re recovered and in an optimal state once its time to train?
Use This ‘One Simple Trick' to Triple Your Recovery
Two weeks after a tear in my quad, I was squatting 860 pounds again. This is how.
The Gift of Perspective: Things to Know as a New Powerlifter
In this first part of the perspective series, I share five perspectives for you to consider as you make your initial steps into the journey that we call powerlifting.
Rehab Report: Repairing My Hand and Planning My Return to the Platform
This article was meant to have been about the results of my meet in December and the setting of PRs and possible world records. All of those aspirations ended on October 7, 2016.
5 Cues That Can Screw Up Your Lifting
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing”, and over-applying a cue when it’s not needed can really jack up a lifter’s technique.
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.
2017 Hawaii Strength Clinic — Spread the Aloha
We had a blast in Oahu, Hawaii, although I think my son may have had even more fun than my wife and I did! With all that said, I was there for a business trip and I had to get to work.
WATCH: Three-Dimensional Force Curl Complex
Want grip strength like a bear and biceps like baseballs?
John Carroll University ROTC Seminar — Powerlifting as Military Training
After 20 years of service, I have come to realize that a powerlifting style of training is best for members of the military.
34 Ways to Maximize Your Raw Bench
Here are some of the tried-and-tested methods that helped me finally break through the 400-pound barrier, which had been a monkey on my back for years.
Arnold Classic Weekend — Win A Chance to Train at elitefts
No purchase necessary. Raffle begins TONIGHT!
What Is Your One Thing?
As we transition to shifting macronutrients and increasing volume in our training, it is easy to fall in the trap of analysis paralysis. With thin slicing, you won’t have to worry about this.
Apply the 80/20 Principle to Powerlifting
Use this principle to analyze your training program, your technique, your diet, your recovery, and your time.
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.
Prework: The Best Thing Your Training Program Likely Needs
It really seems like most people don’t care about corrective exercises and prehab until chronic injury and age rear their ugly heads. Enter: my current life situation and the solution.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — Should I Hire A Bodybuilding Coach?
It may be tempting to put your entire trust in someone with experience, but there are a few things to consider first.
Bare Bones Conjugate: A Bar, Rack, and Bench Weeks 1-4
When thinking about conjugate training, we often look at all the specialty bars, bands, chains and other goodies that we use in training. But when you boil it down, conjugate training doesn’t need those things.
WATCH: Dugdale UGSS Presentation — Who Will Remember You?
Your time on this earth is limited, and much shorter than you likely realize. Don’t waste it.
The Pursuit of Elite
Surrounding myself around top-level powerlifters for over 30 years, I’ve noticed a trend.
What's the Purpose of Your Training?
It is almost as if lifters don’t think training starts until the weight gets heavy. I’ve got news for these kinds of lifters: a training session starts right after the last one is finished.
WATCH: What It Means to Have Someone's Back
Caring about someone doesn’t always mean agreeing with them — sometimes it means telling them they’re making a stupid-ass decision.
Beta-Alanine Supplementation: A Woman’s Perspective
Don’t make purchases based on pretty pink labels and bizarre claims.
Coach Strong Not Scared
It is a noble profession — one that helps prepare young people for life, building not just their bodies but also their minds. Don't lose sight of this when you end up in any of the following situations.
Back to the Basics, Back to Functional Training
Let me introduce you to the Core 4: push, pull, press, and carry.
The Phases of Life
It sounds cliché, but the older you get, the faster time seems to slip away. We really never seem to take the time to appreciate our journey until we realize it’s more than half over already and it feels like we’re just getting started.
Matt Sohmer — Squat and Deadlift World-Record Strategies
Bottom line: all that matters is results. You are either creating or you are disintegrating. If this requires breaking from orthodoxy, so be it. Here are five ways we did this with Matt.
Body Mechanics 101: Elbow Position for Triceps Extension
I see terrible training mistakes on an almost daily basis, and not just the ones veteran meatheads like to post on social media to poke fun at someone in the gym who doesn’t know any better.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — What Makes You Beginner, Intermedi...
Number of competitions? Severity of injury? Conditioning and size? Powerlifting total?
Home and the Home Gym — The Heart Follows the Iron
In this article, we reach the end of our journey. You will read about how original home gym owners made different choices and changed their lives as they followed the iron.
WATCH: Dugdale UGSS Presentation — Protecting Your Joints and Life Balance
Longevity in this sport requires taking care of your body, but perhaps more importantly it requires taking care of your life.
How You Can Help Grow The Sport of Powerlifting
If the social theory holds true, then in order for powerlifting itself to make progress, individuals within the group will have to give up a little something of themselves to push the sport further.
The Finer Points of Getting Shredded
As with any training-related goal, there’s a great way to go about things, and a not-so-great way to go about things. Let’s get into four of the finer points of shedding your unwanted fluff.
Seven Tips to Get Your Ass Back in the Gym
This article is for the grizzled veterans who are now getting up in years. If you've fallen off the exercise wagon here are seven easy tips to get your training back on course.
24-Hour Shift Programming for Those Who Protect and Serve
This training design has taken into account 24-hour shifts over a four-week schedule. As you can see, each week has varying work demands, so the training program must reflect this.
10 Big Lessons 2016 Taught Me
Your numbers will be subject to so many external variables, but your character is forged by intentionality.
WATCH: My Biggest Mistake in Strongman
Being in this sport for long means making mistakes, but for Clint, there's one that he considers worse than all others.
RPR: Wake Up Your True Performance Potential
The purpose of this tool is to identify problems and compensations in an individual’s movement patterns and to restore neurological balance to allow the body to perform the way it naturally should.
Vince Gironda — The World's First Personal Trainer
I've studied and experimented with Vince Gironda's methods my entire training career. He has had a major impact on me as a trainer and lifter.
elitefts Customer Product Reviews — The Seated Calf/Tibia Raise Machine ...
We know you don't want empty praise of our equipment — you want honest, detailed feedback so that you can know what to expect.
WATCH: Table Talk with Mark Dugdale — Training Evolution and the Genetic...
Do genetic ceilings exist? How can you know if you've reached yours? Is it possible to break through?
Train to Think or Think to Train
If you don’t understand the reason behind doing something, how will you know if you are getting the proper results out of your efforts?
WATCH: Dugdale UGSS Presentation — Guarding Your Central Nervous System
The first part of training for longevity is ensuring that your body's central nervous system can adequately handle the demands of your program.