October 21, 2024
Large Print Edition
On Starting Strength
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The Ineffective Fitness Industry –
Rip discusses the core differences between Starting Strength and the rest of the fitness industry. He talks about why other methods fall short and how Starting Strength stands apart in delivering real, effective results. -
From Surgery on Both Feet to Crushing Weights –
Alisa shares her experience with Starting Strength after recovering from surgeries on both feet. Despite challenges, strength training helped her regain mobility, improve grip strength, and achieve greater confidence. -
The Belt and Your Training by Mark Rippetoe –
The function of the belt was detailed in a previous article on this website. Used properly, it reinforces the stiffness of the spine under a load. And to the extent that all the lifts depend on force transfer… -
Introducing Your 14 and 15 Year Old To Strength Training by Tom Bailey –
We want the best for our kids, don’t we? We’ve made so many mistakes in the gym, let alone in life, that we don’t want our kids to do the same. We don’t want them… -
You Don’t Have “Plenty of Time” by Mike Tuchscherer –
I’ll never forget my first 800-lbs deadlift in competition. I was still relatively unknown in the powerlifting world. I’d won a Jr. World championship, but I’d bombed out of four… - Weekend Archives:
A Recipe for Survival by Ryan Blom –
If you lift weights, you should understand the stress/recovery/adaptation process. Your body will go through it whether you understand it or not. Squats and deadlifts… - Weekend Archives:
Deadlift Mechanics by Mark Rippetoe –
The human skeleton is the system of levers that we use to interact with our physical environment. It is operated by a system of “motors” – little tension engines called “muscles” that…
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Best of the Week
Maintaining Consistency
John Watson
Rip, I’ve been following your methods since early 2014. I’m 61 now. My best lifts were about 5 years ago:
Squat 320×1
Deadlift 380×3
Bench 195×3
Press 135×1
I really grinded and worked my ass off for every ounce I ever added to the bar. When I first started I was motivated by the numbers. Just trying to get that 3 plate squat, or 4 plate deadlift.
My biggest problem, and the basis for my question, is inconsistency, gaps in my training, not attributable to anything specific. Poor motivation, or laziness, or physical/mental exhaustion, or depression, being a pussy, whatever it is, I constantly have weeks long gaps in my training. This has been a constant over the last 10 years. It’s almost as though I have to let all the accumulated fatigue dissipate.
Have you ever experienced this, or seen it in any of your trainees?
Basically what I’n doing now after a gap is quickly run my squat up to 135, 185, 225, and my deadlift from 185, 225, 275, using a 4 day split, and then 5 lbs a session from there, and similar with the pressing movements. But I always hit a point where I hit a gap. Am I overtraining, should I lighten up the regimen with more light medium days?
I find listening to your podcast, and reading your forum posts helps keep me immersed and actively thinking of training, which helps. Am I just being a pussy? What else helps drive discipline or motivation, how can I improve?
Mark Rippetoe
In the past ~50 years, I haven’t had more than a 2-week layoff. If I don’t train — at some level — I just don’t feel right. Guilt is stronger within me than laziness. Your approach is probably healthier.
John Watson
Thanks, I appreciate the perspective, that’s a pretty good training record. I definitely feel better when I train, and I feel much better about myself too. The guilt is there when I don’t, and I do always go back to it.
I might need to be more conscious about alternating deadlifts with a less stressful pulling movement earlier in my training, I tend to stubbornly stick with heavy deadlifts for every session, greedily pursuing gains, and while it hasn’t caused missed reps, it’s probably causing more fatigue than necessary, leading to missed sessions.
Best of the Forum
Tooth stains. Milk to blame?
Barry Halls
I have newly forming stains on, oddly, the lower half of my 4 top front teeth. It almost seems like they are turning transparent, almost in a straight line across them all. I have good dental hygiene and have had all one cavity in my life.
The only consistent dietary change since this started was a drastic increase in milk consumption. That and meth.
Is it the milk??
Mark Rippetoe
Milk, being white, is probably not the problem.
BareSteel
Excess fluoride intake during childhood can cause dental fluorosis. Sometimes the teeth look completely normal until your mouth gets very dry – then the stains become more visible. If the “new” stains are only visible some of the time, this might be the case (in which case the stains were always there, you just didn’t notice).
Mark Rippetoe
A better question: Is milk racist?
