WATCH: Table Talk — Using Specialty Bars for Dynamic Effort Work
Can you alternate specialty bars for different dynamic effort waves? What about for different weeks within the same wave?
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Megna's University of...
One football play earned him a full tuition scholarship, but making the NFL wasn’t quite so easy.
How to Teach and Coach the Box Squat
In addition to the numerous, invaluable benefits of the box squat, it’s one of the easier movements to teach if you know how. Use this process to get your athletes box squatting correctly and you’ll see their weight room and sport performance skyrocket.
WATCH: Table Talk — Training for Your First Powerlifting Meet in 2018
Dave has responded to this question many times but, like the sport of powerlifting, the answer evolves. Based on the sport today, here are guidelines for expectations, performance, and how to design a program.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Marc Megna's Path to ...
Megna’s accomplishments are many and impressive to all, but his story doesn’t start with a silver spoon or generational talent. This is the story of where it all began.
WATCH: The Training and Life of Top-Ranked Powerlifter Rob Hall
In under three years of competing, he already has a 2210-pound raw without wraps total and has even bigger goals for the future.
WATCH: Table Talk — The Most Important Quality of a Great Coach
It isn’t the number of competitions they’ve won or what degrees they have that can tip you off to who’s good and who’s not. There are three types of coaches in this industry and you need to be able to tell them apart.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Authenticity Is Your Key t...
DeFranco gives advice on authenticity and how staying true to yourself while running your business will bring both you and your clients more success. It worked for Enzo Amore and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
WATCH: Table Talk — How to Run a Three-Day Conjugate Training Split
Due to time constraints or an inability to recover optimally, many lifters seek an alternative to the traditional template. The question isn’t whether or not you can use a modified split, but whether or not your results will be optimal.
WATCH: Mark Lambert — Strength Coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the ...
Tampa Bay Lightning takes home the 2020 Stanley Cup! Learn how they train off the ice with strength coach Mark Lambert.
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.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Humanize Your Business
Once people know you, the next step is getting them to like you. If you try to make yourself look perfect to accomplish this goal, you’re making a big mistake. You need to be vulnerable.
WATCH: Equipment Feature with Nate Harvey — Rackable Cambered Squat Bar
This bar is a favorite among lifters and athletes of all kinds not only for its use in a competition-style squat but also for the large variety of special exercises you can perform with it.
WATCH: Table Talk — How Dave Supported Himself as a Powerlifter Before e...
Before the original Q&A, before the equipment, before the team, what was Dave doing?
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — How Triple H Became DeFran...
Beginning to work with Paul Levesque, better known as WWE star Triple H, was a turning point in DeFranco’s career that helped lead to less time in the gym and more time helping other coaches and trainers.
WATCH: Table Talk — Straight Line or Arched Bar Path in the Bench Press
No matter which style you use, there’s one rule with your wrists and elbows you always have to follow.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — DeFranco's Story and ...
Answer two questions about yourself, go do shit, and be prepared for the hard work to not always be gratifying immediately. Then you’re on your way.
WATCH: Table Talk — Making Time to Train Around A Busy Work Schedule
A busy work schedule can make it hard to train at the times you’d like to, but there’s always a way to make it work.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — No Chihuahuas
There will be people in life who you have to pick up and carry around because their legs are so short that they can’t run fast enough to keep up with you and where you’re going. You need to cut these people out. Get rid of them.
WATCH: Equipment Feature with Steve Diel — elitefts 3x3 Rack
The most essential item of any home gym, you can use this rack to do anything you need for competitive powerlifting or general strength training.
WATCH: Should You Keep Your Lats Tight When You Deadlift?
This popular deadlift cue might not be all it’s cracked up to be.
WATCH: Programming Back Exercises for Mobility, Strength, and Joint Health
Our daily routines force us to live anteriorly dominant, meaning that everything we do is in front of us. These banded accessory and mobility exercises will build a stronger, healthier, more stable upper back.
WATCH: Table Talk — Too Much Science?
There are two types of people when it comes to using science in training. Don’t be the first kind.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Action vs. Education, Gym ...
Chris Cooper shares the story behind his mentorship and books, outlines the two most important takeaways from his lecture, and shares several key lessons all gym-owners should know.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — That's It?
Two words forever changed JL’s perspective on what it means to grow a business.
WATCH: Equipment Feature with Steve Diel — elitefts Core Blaster
Small, compact, and completely versatile, this is the perfect implement for the home gym.
WATCH: Table Talk — Method Muppets
There are people who have been in the gym for two years or less and now they have their own method. What’s the method? Tying their shoes and walking through the gym?
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Don't Be A Big Fish i...
The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s the war you want to be in.
WATCH: Inside the Home Gym of elitefts CFO Steve Diel
Having a home gym has allowed me to have the time to fit everything together and never have to sacrifice my training. Here’s how I designed my gym layout, prioritized my equipment selection, and ordered from elitefts.
WATCH: Table Talk — Should You Train Assistance Movements to Failure?
For a powerlifter on a conjugate or Westside style program, you first need to make sure you know the role of each exercise you’re doing. This will give you direction on how close to failure to train.
WATCH: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit — Owning A Business Is Harde...
It only makes sense to start your own gym, fulfill your passion, and make boatloads of cash in the process, right? Maybe not.
WATCH: Table Talk — The 3 Most Impressive Things Dave Has Seen at the S4...
The mind-blowing lifts and accomplishments that have occurred in the S4 are too numerous to recount, but there are a few that stick out in Dave’s mind.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — The Biggest Mistake Coaches Make Teachin...
Once you’ve started with a baseline position, adjustments should first be made based on limb length and secondly based on strength history.
WATCH: Table Talk — The Three Best Conditioning Tools for Powerlifters
Conditioning doesn’t have to be complicated or require expensive equipment. These are the best options for a powerlifter.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — The Most Common Weaknesses of Aspiring N...
When young athletes who plan to go into an NFL camp or enter the draft visit Coach Kav, there are two main issues he almost always encounters.
Finding Strength with Derek Poundstone
I had no idea how prolific Derek Poundstone was and would become in the strongman world. Now that he has stepped out of the spotlight, he sat down with me to talk about the sport of strongman and his life.
WATCH: Table Talk — Tapering for a Meet Using Conjugate
The appeal of conjugate is the ability to build multiple performance traits at once, but this confuses a lot of lifters as they get closer to a meet. It doesn’t have to be so complicated.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — Execution vs. Beast Mode
When you start patting yourself on the back for basic shit you’re supposed to be doing anyway, you’re missing the whole point. You’re a failure.
WATCH: Pushing the Field Forward at The Spot Athletics
What started in a 2,000-square-foot facility is now two, 20,000-square-foot locations. And JL Holdsworth has his sights set on even more growth.
WATCH: Table Talk — Feeder and Recovery Workouts
You can’t just throw in extra workouts or recovery protocols and expect to get the most out of them. Like everything else in training, they need to be programmed strategically and used at the right times.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — Marketing and Branding in the Fitness In...
Whether you’re starting your business or have been around for years, one of the most important parts of your success is understanding and controlling consumer perception of your brand.
WATCH: How to Perform Strongman Axle Clean Pulls
By breaking the movement up into several segments, you can avoid overuse of your biceps and reduce risk of injury.
WATCH: Table Talk — How Should a 15-Year-Old Begin Training for Powerlif...
What’s the difference between a teenager who is an absolute beginner and an older lifter coming back from a decade-long layoff?
WATCH: Strong(er) Business: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit Speaker...
Listen to Dave, in his own words, explain why he chose each presenter for the summit and how he believes their knowledge can help any professional in this industry.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — The Reason for Motivational Quotes and S...
What’s the deal with all of Coach Kav’s quotes and slogans? Do they actually make a difference?
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.
WATCH: Table Talk — When to Add Gear During A Training Cycle
This doesn’t only apply to multi-ply lifters. How you add equipment in training should have a sequence to it, even if you compete raw.
Band Tension for the Pull-Up and Push-Up
Band tension adds tremendous metabolic (muscle) and nervous system (brain) challenges, making them perfect for shorter training sessions. Imagine what happens when you return to bodyweight pulls and presses.
WATCH: The Type of Training Programs I Have Used
With all of the different kinds of training programs that exist today, which ones have produced the most success?
WATCH: Interview with Powerlifting and Strongman Legend Bill Kazmaier
The greatest strength athlete of all time sat down with me to talk about his success in the iron game.
WATCH: Table Talk — Run the Monolift or Walk Out?
This really shouldn’t be a debate. Mimic how you compete.
WATCH: How to Perform the Hook Grip
There is an astronomical amount of misinformation floating around right now about the hook grip, and, in my opinion, that’s the result of a lot of people (mostly beginners) using the hook grip inappropriately.
WATCH: Table Talk — Personality Differences in Powerlifting
Should a training program be altered based on a lifter’s personality?
WATCH: Equipment Feature — The Setwear Boa Bar Clamp
The Setwear Boa Bar Clamp is the quick and easy answer to securing plates on barbells spanning a multitude of thicknesses.
WATCH: Table Talk — Natural Potential and the Genetic Ceiling
The potential for what a lifter can accomplish without using performance enhancing substances is far greater than most people assume.
WATCH: Blast from the Past — The Number One Biggest Squat Mistake
From the moment you grab the bar until you rack it after the lift, you need to be focusing on this part of your squat.
WATCH: Table Talk — Max Effort Work vs. Submaximal Doubles and Triples
There are different purposes, benefits, and risks of max effort work and submaximal doubles and triples. Which makes more sense for your programming?
Finding Strength: The Bar Strength and Conditioning
Owner Bryan May and coach John Severson are sharing their knowledge and expertise with the people of Milton, Florida and the surrounding area.