August 18, 2025
Incentive Edition
On Starting Strength
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Books, Bars, and PRs –
Rip answers questions from Starting Strength Network subscribers and fans. -
Focus vs. Visualization by Carl Raghavan –
In strength training, there’s a time and place for both focus and visualization. And no, they’re not the same thing… -
What is the Best Grip Width for the Clean & Press/Jerk? –
Grip width must be balanced between the demands of the pull, the rack, and drive needed to complete the second part of the lift – press or jerk. Stef Bradford and Josh Wells discuss and then show the differences between the positions for each lift. -
No One Cares About Your PRs by Phil Ringman –
One of the advantages of not beginning weight training until later in life, versus starting at a young age, is that virtually everything you do – at least for a while – is a Personal Record… -
The Close-Grip Bench by Mark Rippetoe –
The close-grip bench is perhaps the most common assistance exercise for the bench press – an assistance exercise being defined as a variation of the basic exercise… - Weekend Archives:
The York Barbell Series – Exhibitions by Bill Starr –
Bob Hoffman was, first and foremost, a salesman. He built the financial foundation for his weightlifting empire by going from house to house selling oil burners during the Depression… - Weekend Archives:
Strength and Prevention of Injuries by Mark Rippetoe –
Highly-motivated highly-talented athletes will push themselves to the edge of their abilities in an effort to win, since winning is what athletes do. Winning on the field of play takes precedence over everything else…
In the Trenches
Starting Strength Atlanta has a busy platform dedicated to the Olympic lifts. Lindsey Nelson takes her turn to train her program’s call for the power clean. [photo courtesy of Adam Martin]
Stephen is 70 years old and drives an hour and 45 minutes one way to train at Starting Strength Cincinnati. He views his memberships and the time spent in the car as an investment, and it’s certainly paying off. Here he is locking out the last rep of a deadlift triple at 350 pounds. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]
Meet Report
Scott goes 3 for 3 on the night and pulls a smooth 380 lb for a PR third attempt at the recent Deadapalooza event at Testify Strength & Conditioning. Scott competed along with his son, Jacob, who also set a PR at 255 lb. [photo courtesy of Chris Charvat]
In his first Deadapalooza (and competing with his dad!), Kyam goes 3 for 3 and sets a PR with this third attempt pull of 375 lb. [photo courtesy of Chris Charvat]
Get Involved
Best of the Week
Longer Rest Intervals
klh
This new article in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning studied 13 recreational lifters who did 5 sets of squats and 5 sets of bench press to failure, comparing rest intervals of 4 minutes and 8 minutes. The paper found that longer rest intervals produced better gains, and advocated alternating exercises to allow longer rest between sets of the same exercise.
This isn’t the Starting Strength routine, but I think the recommendation for longer rest intervals matches Starting Strength advice.
Mark Rippetoe
We do not train to “failure.”
Jason Donaldson
The technique of interleaving two different exercises has been discussed here before, specifically as a way of dealing with limited time in the gym. One way is to start the warmups of the next exercise between the work sets of the current one. Interleaving the warmups and work sets of two exercises can also be done, though this becomes harder when the weights are heavy. The main lifts all overlap to some degree or another with each other.
As to length of rests between work sets, the rule is to rest as long as you need to in order to get the work set, but no more, to avoid cooling down. This is a foundational concept in the method, and evidenced by it being the first of The First Three Questions.
Alexander Dargatz
Which I, as a psychiatrist, believe is important in more ways than only the physiological: We do not train failure.
Best of the Forum
What works triceps more Bench Press or Press?
PrimalFish
I know close grip bench press is commonly thought of as a tricep builder, but the press uses close arms too and has a more closed elbow angle. So I’m surprised the press is not thought of as more of a tricep exercise then close grip bench. Maybe I’m mistaken though, does bench or press use triceps more?
Mark Rippetoe
In which of these exercises is the triceps lifting a heavier weight?
MartinB
Isn’t the elbow joint rom part of the equation?
I think I misunderstood, I apologize but the author seems to use “bench” and “close grip bench” interchangeably in the title and in the post. Obiouvsly the press and the CG bench have a similar rom around the elbow joint.
Yonason Herschlag
The question can be rephrased: do we bench more than we press because there is more muscle contribution beyond the triceps with the bench (pecs and lats), and therefore the triceps are not contributing any more to the heavier lift than they do working in the press, or, are the triceps enabling heavier lifts in the bench because they contribute more because the angle and positioning enables the triceps to contribute more.
Mark Rippetoe
No, Rabbi, the question should be rephrased as, why do we bench more than we press? We have already answered that for you, in the book.
MartinB
We bench more because it’s a shorter kinetic chain but what does it have to do with triceps? The triceps work more in the bench than in the press because of the increased weight but what about the ROM? How do you define “work” done by a muscle Rip? It doesn’t seem a physics definition since force is not the only variable that defines work.
Mark Rippetoe
Except for the fact that the triceps lift more weight over a very slightly shorter ROM (which varies with anthropometry), it doesn’t have anything to do with the triceps. I don’t care about the triceps. If you care about the triceps, do LTEs.
Credit : Source Post
