The Top Five Sandbag Exercises for Football Training
The goal isn’t to be a powerlifter or Strongman but to become as strong, fast, and insanely explosive as humanly possible so you can dominate on the football field.
Fat Loss for Dummies, Part 2: The Lost Art of Intensity
I’ve been saying for years that fat people finish marathons all the time.
A Reactive Training Manual Overview
The Reactive Training Manual has been available for over a year now.
Muscle Blast
Although they aren’t brand new, there’s a reason Blast Straps have continued to challenge athletes into 2010.
Improving the Deadlift
There are two major areas that have made a profound difference in my training—proper starting position and sound programming.
It’s Not a Race for Last
It was during the conditioning portion of my son’s football practice that I heard one of the greatest motivational lines I’ve heard in my 34 years of playing sports and coaching.
How to Add Cardio and Diet to Your Powerlifting Regimen
I feel a man should be able to lift heavy shit, bust out 10 or more pull-ups, and get up at any given time and bang out two or three miles.
Iron Intelligence
For all the serious lifters out there wondering what they’ll do when they’re no longer able to handle the daily grind that their sport necessitates, I have a suggestion—teaching.
The New Lifter
Read all you can on the sport. A great place to start is the EliteFTS.com articles section.
Fat Bar Training Protocols: Part I
When Dave Tate posted his question on Facebook regarding the newest Fat Bar and Fat Gripz products, he was trying to find out how people liked training with them.
The Female Athlete’s Epidemic
In 1998, the American Journal of Sports Medicine featured an article titled, “The Association Between the Menstrual Cycle and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Female Athletes.”
Give Them What They Need
Too often, we get caught up in all the bells and whistles of lifting and forget the building blocks.
Some Days I Hate Squats
Those were the exact words used by one of my clients after finishing her last set of goblet squats.
Training Blast & Dust
With strength training or training for powerlifting, you are in the process of trying to combine many training methods to develop many different abilities.
Fat Loss for Dummies, Part 1: Everything Works but Nothing Works Forever
There you go again—walking in a straight line for hours on that treadmill, dancing on and off that step in your “power” aerobics class.
The Mindset Behind a Great Bench Press
What does everyone want? A bigger bench press of course. Let’s face it—people don’t walk up to you and ask, “So what do you curl?” Everyone wants to know how much you can bench. Well, I can bench press a lot, and I’m going to share some tips with you.
Iron Warrior Training
I put this program together to try and maximize strength and mass as much as possible. I am a believer that you need to get stronger to get bigger. And also just want to be strong, but also large a lean.
How to Set Up on the Deadlift
Most of the time, you’ll see the deadlift performed like a cat taking a shit. You know what I mean—the arch and twitch technique? There are a ton of reasons why someone would deadlift this way:
EliteFTS: Top 8 Good Morning Exercises
The Good Morning Movement is one of the best movements to include in any strength program. Here are our top 8 Good Morning varieties.
The Pace of Your Stroke: Using Tempo for Gains in Size and Strength
I’ve dealt with several injuries over the last few years and it has caused me to do more research on how to get jacked (more research than I ever wanted to do in my life). However, it’s allowing me to get bigger and stronger, while still rehabbing injuries. The secret to this success has been speed.
Though This Be Madness, Yet There Is Method in It
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of my odyssey as a classroom teacher. Upon completion of my first year, the building principal summoned me to his office, and we reflected on what I needed to do to improve and become more effective as an instructor.
Methods for Training Clients with Hardcore Minds, Not Bodies
What happens when you get a potential client who is all about doing the most hard core exercises, who moves mountains and is willing to go the distance to achieve his goals? As I imagine, you’d probably be happy to have a motivated, determined, and disciplined trainee.
Training the High School Powerlifter
Having been head coach of the Warren Central powerlifting team for almost ten years, I can tell you without hesitation that training teenagers has to be one of the most frustrating, and at the same time, rewarding jobs of my life. Many of the guys I have coached came into our weight room as freshmen having never even seen a
The Key to Reaching Athletic Achievement
The most common questions I receive are “What type of program should I be following?” and “What type of program do you follow?” In my opinion, too many athletes concern themselves far too much about what training program they’re following. They don’t focus enough on the other myriad of factors that are more influential in determining how far they’ll go
Importance of Fast Twitch Capacity in Football Training
With the beginning of football season, the long anticipated excitement for the early powerhouse match ups has finally arrived. Coaches get their first look at new players, and fans can see what they can expect from their favorite teams.
Is Your Finisher Going to Finish You?
You’ve just spent an hour doing a grueling full body workout. Your body is spent from deep, heavy squats, weighted chins, and max effort incline presses. So what do you do now? How about loading up the bar for deadlifts? Why not do them with an underhand grip while you’re at it? Or while standing on a low box?
The Gun Show: The EliteFTS Top 10 Exercise Guide for Bigger Biceps
Honestly? I can’t believe I just wrote this title, nor can I believe I’m going to post this article.
Top 75 Training Books
Dave asked for the best book on training that you’ve read. Here are your 75 responses:
Get a Grip: Know What’s False
Dave stormed into the office, slammed down his energy drink and crashed onto his chair, still scrolling through his e-mails on his iPhone.
The 10,000 Hour Phenomena: If You Want More, Be More!
Ten thousand hours. According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, that’s how much time industry leaders have committed to their chosen vocation.
Econo Prowler Review
Team DOS just received the new Econo Prowler a couple months ago with the intent of using the hell out of it.
Want to Train at elitefts? Make a Plan or Suffer the Consequences
My first experience in the EFS gym…
Lessons Learned from Two Summers in Business
At my facility this past summer, I was lucky enough to have the privilege of coaching 40 different athletes four times a week. This was double the amount of kids that I was responsible for the previous summer, so it was really exciting to watch the business grow.
1100 Pound Abs
The other day in the gym, the topic of ab training for strength came up. I figured there was nobody better to ask than 1100 pound squatter Matt Wenning.
Problem—Raw Bench Press; Solution—Plyometrics
Speed training in the bench press has become increasingly popular. Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell Club popularized this concept by advocating a speed day in the bench press. Some call it a “dynamic” day, and some call it a “light” day.
Teach Them to Land First
Plyometrics have been a part of most athletic development programs for many years.
Beginner Deadlift Considerations: Conventional or Sumo?
The deadlift is the lift that a new powerlifter initially moves the biggest weights with and makes the most immediate progress.
Complicated
Recently on the Q&A, someone asked me about my thoughts on tweaking the DC training program. He was having some difficulties getting his numbers up but was worried about not following the program to the letter.
Of Politics & Idiocy, Part 2 Strength & Conditioning at the Coll...
This is part two of a two-part series.
EliteFTS Spotlight: Justin Cecil
Justin Cecil is a full time staff member at St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indiana, and serves as the head strength and conditioning coach at Lawrence Central High School.
Rethinking Interval Training
I love interval training, but one of the problems we commonly run into—particularly if someone isn’t prepared physically to sprint or doesn’t have a place to do it because of weather restrictions—is that repetitive, low amplitude motions are our only options.
Under The Bar: The S-4 Weekender Program Part 2
This article is the continuation of the Weekender Series that has documented the training of a few of our featured training log lifters, as well as the weekend group training in our weight room:
Army Physical Training and the Powerlifter
In October 2008, I joined the U.S. Army. I’m going to share my story about seven months of Army physical training compared to my experience as a veteran powerlifter.
Paying the Correct Price
“Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price.” —Napoleon Hill
EliteFTS Spotlight: Josh Bryant
Josh Bryant is a speed, strength, and conditioning coach. He is also a personal trainer who has works with many clients in person at Metroflex Gym in Arlington, Texas and via the internet.
Bench Press More Weight Instantly!
How many people do you see in the gym trying to make an exercise more difficult, believing the more difficult it is, the more effective the exercise will be?
Raising the Bar: A Review
Dave Tate’s first book, Under the Bar, was billed as a book that wasn’t about training but kind of was. It wasn’t about business but kind of was, and it wasn’t about life but kind of was. His second book, Raising the Bar, is very similar but with a dark twist.
Training Considerations for the Tactical Athlete
Many people consider sports such as golf, tennis, and martial arts to be some of the top sports that are most reluctant to buy into modern strength and conditioning techniques.
Failure Fixation
Did Arthur Jones have it right when he essentially devoted his life to convincing people they needed to train to failure?
Your First Meet
There are a few factors that must be addressed before you decide on a competition. First and foremost, are you physically ready for a competition?
Bench Training for Gear and Raw
Here at Lexen, we train raw for much of our upper body development, but by using both environments (the shirt and raw training), you can actually make personal records in each.
Underground Strength Session 2009 Review
It was Friday night. I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. This was nothing new, but when I woke up in five hours, I would be starting my trek to one of the strongest gyms in the Midwest—the EliteFTS compound.
Gaining My First 20 Pounds
There are many articles about gaining (quality) weight and its importance in performance in strength-related competitions.
