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The popularity of the bench press needs no introduction – it’s the Prom King, captain of the football team and is banging the hottest cheerleader. Besides questions on accessory work, the bench press and how to increase it is the top question I get asked. But anytime I give advice to someone they respond with a host of reasons why it won’t work for them. So let’s present some of the best ways to increase your bench press, the excuses and then responses to the excuses.

For most average people, if you don't have a simple base of fitness (strength is part of it, too) you don't get to be confused when you hit a wall.

I met Dave in 2000 and he was the first person to really give me a chance.  I was working as a G.A. at the University of Kentucky's weight room; working with football and a few other sports. However, when you are a G.A., you aren't really on the food chain.  And for Dave to give me a chance and believe in me was a huge boost.

In this episode of Mark Bell's Power Podcast, there's tons of info on coaching athletes and training kids - and lots of stuff about mindset. If you want Done-For-You obvious training information it won't be your favorite episode but there is always applicable information for different goals when you apply concepts.

...eventually you'll hate your job.

Not training for a specific sport allows a lot of freedom and is insanely easy to do. But like training for a sport, consistency and discipline are key to getting the job done.  Like I tell my athletes, "Strong legs, strong lungs!"

For those interested, this is Jim's actual supplement list.

I first met Mark Valenti at the SWIS Conference in 2019; I believe we met in the restaurant/bar area.  And I don't think we talked about training one bit.  Mark and I finally got together in the London High School weight room and had an informal discussion about training, the psychology of why football is important for young men and even about Ron "Don't sass me, Birkus" Swanson.

In training, like life, nothing is free. You always have to pay a price

More than that, you have sport coaches who demand weird "character building" training for a month or more. This is code for "doing a whole bunch of stupid conditioning under the guise of making the players mentally tougher."  Basically this is what happens when sport coaches get together and watch too many Navy SEALS videos on the internet.

Question: What's your reaction to seeing top NFL athletes doing gimmicky shit on top of a Bosu ball and calling it "High-end Sports Performance Training for Elite Athletes"?

Question: I'm a firefighter and would like to know when I should focus on losing body fat or concentrate on getting stronger.

Athletes from The Past talk brazenly about their conditioning and workouts; all done supposedly to get them in great shape and turn them into stronger players (physically and mentally). There seems to be a premium on Mental Toughness amongst people from The Past.

With such simple and readily available ingredients, you'd think it would be impossible to get a bad taco. Well, won't you be surprised to learn there is a huge amount of bad tacos being made and consumed at THIS VERY MOMENT.

And even though EliteFTS hosted training logs from different athletes all over the globe, the only way we really knew if something was real was meet time.  There was no social media to keep people updated or to showcase gym lifts; the proof was on meet day.  And Travis definitely lived up to expectations.  In other words, he wasn't all talk and no bite.