16-Week Powerlifting/Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
If you have an equal love for bodybuilding and powerlifting with a goal to become bigger and stronger, this program is for YOU.
All I Need Is One Bar
Many of my online clients and members of my gym don’t have a squat rack or bench at home, unfortunately. However, many of them have access to a barbell. Are you in this same predicament?
Seminar Squats
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.
JM Blakley’s Top-5 Bench Press Tips
As told to Dave Tate, some 18 years ago, these tips stand up to the gauntlet of common sense and I’m sure that at least a few will be of use to you. Load the bar!
Breaking Up with the Barbell
Even though lifting weights is a passion, sometimes life challenges you to take a new direction. When Nicholas Bronkall’s body couldn’t take any more of the same, he got acquainted with movement in brand new ways.
Project Return to Press: No Barbell, No Problem
OK, maybe I shouldn’t have gone so hardcore with jiu-jitsu, but you know what? I made the best of my injury and learned from it.
Simple 8-Week Barbell and Bike Conditioning Program
Tired of the same old training program? Want a break from your normal training specificity? Why not mix things up with this program? All you’ll need is a barbell, plates, a bike, a box for squatting, and a bench.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast #12 with Joe Sullivan and Janis Finkelman
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate, Joe Sullivan, and Janis Finkelman talk about a variety of powerlifting topics and answer questions, both bizarre and mundane, and more.
Stay Focused and Watch Your Back
If you think you’re getting a solid upper back that’ll improve your bench press, deadlifts, and squats by using hard, forceful rowing exercises and lat pulldowns, think again. When you realize that, you’ve figured out that you need to change the way you train. Not sure what you should do? Let me explain.
A Basic Lifting Skill Review: Grip Strength
Every seasoned lifter appreciates how easy it is to lose simple habits in pursuit of getting stronger. One such habit: Getting a good grip.
Be Afraid
You hear people in an attempt to salvage their fragile egos say they are afraid of nothing. But I have never understood why being afraid of something is a bad thing.
The 14-Day Program: An Interview with John Bott
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.
The Science of Winning According to Vasili Alexeyev
This is a repost of what Dave feels is one of the most educational articles we have ever posted.
A Guide to Buying the Perfect Barbell
Recently I was in the market for another barbell for my home setup, and at the start of this journey I thought all barbells were equal. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Deadlift Fundamentals — The Difference Between Failure and Lockout
These elite lifters share some fundamental characteristics at the start of their deadlifts—hips high, arm length maximized, shins very close to the bar, and torsos not vertical.
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.
How to Get Stronger in a Crowded Gym (With 8-Week Program)
You don’t need a unique piece of equipment for each muscle group or a 25-item list of accessory exercises. This program uses nothing but gym essentials to get you stronger without ever having to leave the squat rack.
Build the Back, Spare the Spine
The healthier you can keep your spine, the longer you can train heavy and grow muscle. Here are my top-10, spine-friendly exercises.
elitefts Classic: How to Set Up A Program — A New Look at Weak Points
I don’t know how many questions we’ve gotten about how to train certain weak points. Of course, almost every question is in regard to a weak muscle group or a certain portion of a lift.
Three Days at Kabuki Strength Systems
Through our many adventures, Chris Duffin and I trained, went four-wheeling, ate A LOT, and talked about many aspects of coaching and programming.
Are You Asking the Right Questions?
If you aren’t getting stronger or making gains, you’re doing something wrong. Your first job is figuring out what that is.
My Weekend of Strength
With a clinic and meet scheduled on back to back days, I was surrounded by influential members of the strength community and made a few discoveries.
Everything Starts at Zero
For most things in life, you start with nothing. Get comfortable with this.
Wenis and Wagina Training: Elbow Position Is Everything
Are you conscious of where you’re placing your elbows during presses, rows, flyes, curls, and pullovers?
Strong(her) Bench Press Progressions for the Novice Female Lifter
Now that we’ve tackled the squat, let’s break down the bench set up and introduce a cue system to use during every set.
16 Methods to Optimize Your Glute Ham Raise
We have known for years that the Glute Ham Raise (GHR) was regarded as one the best movements for the posterior chain (lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves).
Consistency is the Name of the Game
To develop and ingrain the habits of success overlook no fine details.
Strong(her) Squat Progressions for the Novice Female Lifter
Use these cues and coaching methods to teach an inexperienced lifter how to squat safely and build a foundation for future strength.
Just Load the Bar
Don’t build a false sense of security by relying on bands and chains. Remember this fact: straight weight trumps all.
Programming for Rugby Inside Backs
These strength and performance methods for positions 9, 10, and 12 maximize individual player abilities on the field and produce more capable athletes.
Strength Progressions for Beginner and Intermediate Lifters
The path of continual progress includes some these important programming specialties: don’t add techniques you are ready for and don’t become stale.
A Powerlifter's Guide to Wimpy Exercises
As you focus on moving maximum weight on squats, benches and deadlifts, wimpy isolation movements just don’t have a place. Or do they?
The Rationale Behind Specialty Bars, Grips, and Angles
With a variety of unique, specialized equipment, you can program to address a multitude of player strengths and weaknesses.
The 5 Worst Mistakes I've Made in Powerlifting
You learn a lot from the mistakes you make at your first meet. Imagine all you can learn from the mistakes spanning an entire powerlifting career.
Newtonian Laws in Motion: Physics in the Weight Room
The three laws of motion are the roots of athlete programming. Find out how to apply these rules and improve your athletes.
Save a Newbie
Remember all those things you wish you would have known when you started? Maybe we should do more than laugh at the guy across the gym doing machine decline iso-lateral presses.
101 Ways to Use the OBB Power Handles
Get more out of your standard barbell and dumbbell set by the swivel of a bolt and the tightening of a wing nut. It’s that easy.
Expanding My Circle of Training Knowledge
There is a well-known saying in our industry: information in strength and conditioning doubles every eighteen months. How will you keep up?
Do Your Records Mean Anything?
There’s a lot of hatred thrown around when a lifter hits a federation record. Should we be celebrating the PR with them?
Did You Win or Lose the Day?
Build your winning culture the same way you build in the weight room: every session, every set, and every rep leading to game day.
Solving the Summer Challenges of Coaching Collegiate Athletes
With summer programming for athletes, control what you can control and don’t sweat the rest.
Single-Legged and Semi-Functional?
Can proper implementation of unilateral exercise produce healthier, higher-performing athletes?
The Quick Fix: Simple Ways to Conquer Common Powerlifting Mistakes
You might need a long-term progression to overcome nagging pains and to increase your lifts. Or maybe you just need these simple tips.
Have We Lost Trust in Our Foundation?
In your search of what is new and exciting, do not forget the principles that are proven to produce success.
How I Use CTP Training to Force Frequency and Intensity
When I tore my rotator cuff, I transitioned to more concentrated stimuli and a higher frequency per muscle group to avoid being forced to reduce my training intensity.
The Hardcore Underground: Lifting in the Shadiest Gym of the Industriali...
We gave up the glamour and comfort of a commercial gym. Here in our dungeon, 15-feet underground, we’ve found the secret to building strength.
It's Not Just Five Pounds: Understanding Personal Records
When you’re chipping away at that all-time PR, every pound matters.
Promoting Powerlifting to Young Lifters
Having the opportunity to bring up the next generation of strength athletes is a task as much as a privilege. Use your influence wisely.
Bodybuilders Dying Young: Are Steroids to Blame?
Doctors and strength athletes frequently argue over the effects (good and bad) of performance-enhancing drugs, but some facts aren’t debatable.
Should Athletes Powerlift in the Off-Season?
Whether you’re an off-season athlete or an athlete who isn’t getting everything you want out of your school’s team sports, powerlifting can be a viable option in your yearly process.
How To Program Your Training for Kettlebell Sport
Two programs outline how to use the ballistic methods of kettlebell training to improve joint mobility and strengthen ligaments and tendons for a competitive edge.
Revisiting 14-Day Microcycles in Powerlifting
These alternate setups for non-traditional microcycles in a powerlifting program have allowed my clients and I to target the specific needs of individual athletes.
Programming Progressions for Beginning Personal Training Clients
Whether you’re a beginner to a training program or a personal trainer working with first-time clients, these progressions work as a fool-proof guide to producing results over time.
Exercise Selection Evolution
As your athletes grow and develop, so should the movement patterns of their program.
A Push-Up Is Not Just a Push-Up
This typical throw-away, punishment exercise is in fact a highly-technical skill capable of teaching and reinforcing proper movement patterns.
New elitefts™ Product: Pro Line 15-Bar Holder
Added to the website today, this product is designed to conveniently and safely store all of your favorites.
