Mission 2, Day 41: Starting Strength and Mark Rippetoe

Today was another cardio only day as I cruise through a half a week of no lifting.  I ran another 3 miles.  I also set a personal best by hitting 2 miles in 16 minutes.  I must say that I ran very hard today.

I am currently going through Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe for the third time.  If you have not read this book, you have not learned about strength training.  Mark Rippetoe is the premier strength training coach in the country if not the world.  He is very closely tied to the CrossFit movement and is also a certified CrossFit trainer.  Reading Mark's book always gives me a chuckle because he is extremely prickly.  For instance, after going through the mechanics of the squat, Coach Rippetoe proclaims that you are ready to do a squat.  He tells you to use some chalk.  He then says “if your gym has no chalk, bring your own.  If your gym complains about your chalk, find another gym.” 

In the strengthmill.com forum, Coach Rippetoe has a Q&A forum.  Alot of people post links to their YouTube videos wherein they are squatting or deadlifting and they ask the Coach for his critique.  The reading gets very entertaining.  After one reader posted a huge list of links to different exercises, Coach Rippetoe comments:

“I assume these were attachments or links or something, but they are obviously fucked up somehow. Nevertheless, there have been lots of videos posted by now, and the intelligent trainee can compare his video to the ones already posted, read my comments on those, and draw his own conclusions about what I would say. So, be intelligent and do your homework.”

When the same reader finally gets a posted video to work, the Coach gives a very brief response:

“Look down. Quit looking in the mirror.”

Finally, the Coach has had enough of this reader:

“Look Sly, if your knees are traveling forward at the bottom and your heels are coming up in the air, it's wrong. I obviously can't see a lateral problem in this view, but go back and read the fucking book. There are lots of ways to fix this that don't involve brain surgery-level analysis. If your knees are going forward, make them go back. Or out, since if they go out they're not going back. Or your ass is hooked up pretty well to your knees — make it go back at the bottom, which requires that you lean over more, which will drag your knees back and stretch out your hamstrings. You have to get out of your quads and into you posterior chain, and there are lots of ways to do this. They're in the Fucking Book. Read it again.”

How is that for a blunt coach?  I was rolling on the ground laughing after reading these comments.  When another reader posts a video that has typical issues, Coach Rippetoe states:

“Standard deal, leg press with the bar on your back. See the many previous posts regarding this problem.”

When a reader asked when they should begin using a weight lifting belt, Coach Rippetoe responds:

“It's discussed in the book. Which you should always check before asking obvious questions.”

This is a guy that reminds me of myself.  I hate stupid questions.  However, Coach Rippetoe takes it to a new level.

I highly recommend Coach Rippetoe's books.  He spends alot of time explaining the correct form for various exercises.  He has a basic routine that you can use to increase your strength that is broken into two workouts:

Workout A

Squat
Bench Press
Overhead Press

Workout B

Deadlift
Overhead Press
Power Clean

That's it.  3 exercises and you work them for a long time.  You should see tremendous strength gains using these simple routines.  If you have not read any of Coach Rippetoe's books, start with Starting Strength as it lays the foundation for Coach Rippetoe's beliefs.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Thought for the Day:

In order to make a full physique transformation you need to committ to it fully and work at it constantly.

Come back tomorrow for the podcast as I am releasing it tomorrow.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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