For the Sake of 5 More Pounds

by Carl Raghavan, SSC | March 25, 2025

You’ve heard it before. Hell, maybe you’ve even said it yourself.

“I don’t want to
get fat just to put 5 more pounds on the bar.”

This is the kind of
shallow thinking that holds people back. It’s a weak, superficial
view of strength training – one that ignores what we’re really
here to do.

For years, people have
tried to put Starting Strength in a box:

• “Just get fat and
  keep adding weight to the bar.”
• “Drink a gallon of
  milk a day and become a bloated mess.”
• “It’s just a
  SEE-food diet – eat everything you SEE.”

But when you tell them
to eat enough protein, move well, and sleep 8 hours a night –
perhaps even read the Not Feeling Athletic article – they
don’t want to hear it. That requires effort, discipline, and
patience. They’d rather focus on the downsides of gaining weight
than on the upside of getting bigger and stronger.

This kind of thinking
doesn’t hold up anywhere else in life.

In Denmark, for
example, I’ve noticed that many people make use of well-designed
trailers attached to their cars. And let’s be clear: some of these
cars are towing big, beautiful boats, so it’s not about money. It’s
about practicality. Instead of driving a larger, more expensive
vehicle full-time, they opt for a reasonably priced European or
Japanese car and use a trailer whenever they need extra capacity.
It’s a smart, flexible approach.

Strength works the same
way. Your body, like a car, benefits from having more performance
available when needed. Why do cars have speedometers that go well
beyond 100 mph, even though most drivers will never reach those
speeds unless you live near the Autobahn? Simple: because capability
matters. Even if you never push a car to its limit, having more
performance available when needed is useful. Ever had to overtake on
the highway? That extra power can be the difference between a clean
pass and a dangerous situation.

Now, think about the
cars people actually buy. If raw utility were the only factor, the
Honda Fit and Toyota Camry are cheap, reliable, practical, and
fuel-efficient – everything the average buyer should want. But they
don’t buy them.

Instead, they buy
sports cars, pickup trucks, and high-performance vehicles. Why?

• Most of them don’t
  race.
• Most of them don’t
  own a ranch.
• Most of them could rent
  a car for those experiences instead of buying one.

You don’t need a
black 1949 Mercury Eight Coupe or a pink 1959 Cadillac Eldorado
Biarritz or a purple 1971 Hemi Cuda. You want it because it’s
Driving Culture, a rolling art exhibit, and a masterpiece of design
and engineering. Also, boys love their toys.

They buy them because
we value tools that perform at a higher level than simply a vehicle
that takes you from point A to B. A Porsche is more than just a car –
it’s an expression of engineering excellence. A high-performance
truck isn’t just a car – it’s a machine that can do so much
more. It’s useful.

The same principle
applies to your body and your strength. The barbell isn’t just a
piece of metal with weight on each side. It’s a tool to build and
express a higher level of capability.

Dismissing 5 more
pounds on the bar because you might gain some weight is the mindset
of someone who doesn’t understand what they’re doing. A bigger
engine doesn’t slow down a car – it makes it more powerful.

Getting bigger and
stronger isn’t just about looking a certain way or chasing an
arbitrary number. It’s about becoming harder to kill and more
useful in general. Strength isn’t just for the gym – it carries
over to everything you do. A stronger body is a more capable body,
ready for whatever life throws at it. And that process? It should be
championed, not dismissed.