If you’re a heavier trainee, chin-ups are difficult… but not impossible. Case in point: I’m nearly 50 years old and weigh 245 pounds, but I do chin-ups for volume rather than output. Here lies the secret to my chin-up success.

If you’re looking for sets and reps, you’re in the wrong place. But if you wanted some insight on players’ knowledge bases, individualized programs, and how new technologies are becoming more reliable, from Aaron Hoback, athletic trainer for the Milwaukee Brewers, you’re right where you should be.

Brian Alsruhe’s training style is going to be different than what you’d usually see at the elitefts S5 Compound, but that certainly didn’t stop him or Team elitefts athletes from exchanging ideas and having a good time.

In my last article, I went over 2 of the 5 dysfunctions of a team. Here, I’ll cover the remaining 3 and how to bring the team closer together.

I have compiled a list of what I have noticed in the 35 years I have spent in gyms that I feel are the five biggest obstacles to growing a great set of titties. Also, ease up on the bench press.

The conjugate method isn’t simple for everyone, which is why Dave decided to write down an explanation on the Table Talk table.

Want to smoke your old PRs? Try applying daily undulating periodization, or DUP, to your programming. Rather than changing sets, reps, and intensity every 6 to 12 weeks, DUP changes those variables on a daily basis.

A coach once asked me, “Why do you lift?” My reply: “If aliens landed here and saw a basketball game going on, they wouldn’t have any clue what was happening. But if they saw lifting, they could at least wrap their heads around what they were seeing.”

Growing up in the ‘80s, Brian Alsruhe found strength in Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and He-Man. The one thing these people (and cartoon character) had was muscles; therefore, he’d need muscles to be strong. That brought him to martial arts, forming a strong mindset, and eventually, to strongman.

With three different heights in one plyobox, the elitefts Tri Plyo Cube is a great tool and one you should definitely have in your home gym.

Parents are understandably worried about their children starting strength training. Ease their minds by selecting appropriate exercises for their kids.

With this training-while-traveling program, keep in mind I’ve been in 6 cities in 5 different states in the last 5 weekends and on the road for 20 of the last 35 days. My needs and resources in terms of time, help, equipment, recovery, and a host of other factors may vary from yours.

I have always felt that a big part of my writing should be to save as many people as I can from making the mistakes I have made or witnessed others make in my 3.5 decades of bodybuilding. I’ve narrowed that list down to 10, and hopefully this saves you from yourself.

“I don’t need a psychiatrist. Give me a squat rack and a deadlift platform and a bench and a couple of Atlas stones, and that’s my psychiatric chair right there.” Everyone needs a safe haven, and elitefts coach Clint Darden has found his at the House of Biceps in Cyprus.

I introduced my daughter to resistance training a couple of years ago. This August, we ramped up the training with two weekly sessions and speed training. This article details some excerpts from the resistance training portion of our program.

I firmly believe you have to start at the simplest movement that someone can master correctly, and then, over time, progress from that simple movement to the more complex movements. The process is one of progressive skill acquisition.

You don’t have to be an expert lifter to make your training partners better. You just have to always be actively watching and engaged in training. Here is how you can be an asset to your group — even as a newer lifter.

We think of the Kettlebell Windmill as a largely upper body exercise, but I’d like to make a case that it’s one of the most underutilized exercises to promote hip loading and control bilaterally.

I thought the problem was just economics: that coaches could only make an hourly wage, but owners make profits. But that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was that I could have made more, but I didn’t know how. And my boss didn’t know how, either.

Believe it or not, the Air Bike can provide more benefits than just smoking your clients.

Why is it that you feel weak after returning to the gym after a little bit more than a week? It really comes down to intramuscular pressure. Use it to your advantage to maximize performance.

If you train gen pop, how do you get into your clients’ heads? What exercises do you choose? Dave Tate answers these questions based on his experiences from training gen pop.

I have nothing against the Olympic lifts. They’re fantastic movements that create explosive power. It’s just that there are safer alternatives that still force the lifter into triple extension.

If your lifts are stagnating, it’s time to think and look outside of the box.

This 12-week cycle is very effective when followed to a T. If picked apart, it won’t work as well, so listen closely.

Train hard and train to failure. That’s it. That’s really all it takes to get huge.

Not sure how to apply the conjugate method for training general population clients? Don’t worry about it; I’ll break it down for you right here. It’s easier than you think.

RPE training is great at helping you learn about your body on a daily level and what you can and cannot handle. Plus, you don’t have to worry about percentages, which is a bonus if you’re a powerlifter who isn’t all about doing extra math.

Keep in mind the training frequencies listed here can still vary a lot depending on the person. These are just numbers to keep in mind as you figure out the best frequency for you!

Wrapping someone else’s knees might seem easy, but when it comes to being a self-wrapper, that’s another story. Luckily Joe Sullivan’s familiar with being a self-wrapper, so he’ll show you the ropes — and how to better wrap your training partner’s knees.

My hope for any of you lifters, young or old, novice or elite, would be that you can take a more educated approach to your next training program, and managing your training schedule and economies is a great place to start.

Stop saying “breathe into your belly.” It’s physically impossible for us to breathe into our bellies! We need to rethink this cue and review breathing mechanics before we can go around fixing people’s breathing.

A lot of people think online training is easy to do, easy money, and something anyone can do and be successful at doing. They’re all wrong. It takes a lot more work than that. If you’re thinking about dropping your 9-5 gig for an online training job, take these points into consideration first.

With a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, a master’s degree, and a doctorate in the works, you think I’d be smart about how I trained. Well, think again! I’ve spent most of my life training like an idiot. Don’t make the mistakes I did. Learn from them.

As I approach my 45th birthday in December, people keep asking me what things are like now that I’m in this life stage. Some things change; some things don’t. But the things that change are important, and I’m going to talk about them here.

It’s back to the drawing board for Dave Tate — specifically the drawing board for explaining how to set up a conjugate method training program.

Think about all of the things you would never miss a training session for, and then think of all of the things you missed with your family due to those sessions. Those memories you missed out on are only a fraction of the pitfalls you’ll face in powerlifting.

“Dumbbell rows are bodybuilding burpees.” For more wisdom and the full post-Table Talk Podcast workout with Justin Harris, read on. This back workout is complete with pull-overs, pull-downs, deadlifts, and multiple row variations (one by which Justin deems as the best lat exercise there is).

You’ll learn a lot from your strength and conditioning internship — but there are some things you might glean over. Keep these points in mind, and you’ll get even more out of your internship than you thought possible.

Oh, lordy, are you over 40? Sure, you might not feel like 40 most of the time (or all of the time), but you need to remember you’re not a 20-something anymore, so you can’t be training like one, either. Back to the question in the title… Yes.

How many of these things do you think about when you’re training? What could you be doing to make yourself and your training partners better?

After an ugly incident with a Smith Machine, Lily Starobin decided maybe she needed an actual powerlifting coach. She didn’t anticipate, however, to find a coach in Dave Tate.

Quick fixes: They’re usually bandages on a leaky pipe. But in some cases, a quick fix might be more like the duct tape that fixed the Apollo 13 module. These 3 technique fixes are like duct tape for your deadlift, so wrap up and strengthen that lift.

The goal with this series is to get to you to think about how you can manipulate the max effort, dynamic effort, and repeated efforts to fir your needs and to understand that conjugate is a fluid system that requires experimenting.

It’s great you can point out each origin and insertion of every muscle, but your client doesn’t care. Your end goal is to get your client results and to make them feel better about themselves — not getting them to the point where they’re limping out of your gym.

In conjugate, accessory work plays a huge role, even if it isn’t one that gets the attention. Accessory work is going to help fill your gaps and prevent you from developing new ones.

Ever heard the saying, “If you can’t explain something simply, you probably don’t understand it?” If you’re going to bring in clients, you need to make your pitch short, sweet, and simple.

Ed Coan and Dave Tate explain their rationales and favorite accessory movements and variation lifts for training weak points.

As I said in Part 1, conjugate is one of, if not, the most effective training systems when it is executed properly. Moving a light weight fast isn’t enough to make the dynamic effort method work. Moving a light weight fast with intention is.

Try to keep an open mind when trying a new, proactive approach to anything, even if it doesn’t quite feel right at first — whether it be your job, social media, or a new program. Just because it doesn’t feel good right away doesn’t mean it won’t later on.

I hope my story encourages you to realize that your past does not hold you back, no matter the story. There is always a way to use negative experiences for good and help others. It is also at that point you are no longer pushed by pain, but otherwise, pulled by purpose.

In my opinion, conjugate is one of, if not, the best training systems — when employed properly. If it isn’t working, don’t disregard the system; instead, check your application.

I recently turned 78, and that certainly hasn’t stopped me from training. After the responses from last month’s article, I decided to delve a bit deeper into my little old man conjugate training program. Enjoy!

Remember Cody, my client I talked about in my last article about benching? He absolutely destroyed at the Iron City Open and got a 10-pound deadlift PR total. The secret to his success? It’s in this program… because it IS this program.

“Buy nice; don’t buy twice.” That saying might apply to elitefts equipment, but it might also apply to running shoes when it comes to doing cardio… Any suggestions for replacing a 27-year-old pair of sneakers?

Want to get the most out of your wrist wraps? Or maybe you don’t know where to start when it comes to all of the wrist wraps elitefts offers. Look no further than this article, which rounds up some of the best wrist wrap guides and related workouts.

When a doctor who knows how I train gave me his diagnosis, I had no idea what to do because I hadn’t met anyone that had this constellation of stuff. Neither had he. The best foundation we came up with was based on the same principles in the previous articles.