September 01, 2025
Indolence Edition
On Starting Strength
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It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Healthcare –
Mark Rippetoe talks to Kelly Fristoe about the health insurance industry, broken healthcare delivery, and the need for dismantling and rebuilding the entire system. -
Easy Doesn’t Work by Amanda Sheppard –
“Easy doesn’t work” is a quote you will find on the wall of every Starting Strength Gym. There are probably iterations of it in every weight room or team room at every level of sports, or even on… -
Can You Grind Through Your Heavy Bench Presses? –
Rusty Holcomb discusses the skill of grinding – pushing hard against a bar longer and harder than you want to – and demonstrates how to use pushes against the pins at the bench sticking point for lifters who need extra practice with this skill. -
Power Clean Your Deadlift Warmups by Mark Rippetoe –
The power clean is an important exercise in the Starting Strength method, and it’s the one that gets left out most of the time. This is because 1.) you are afraid to do something you regard as unfamiliar or difficult… -
Stress by Mark Rippetoe –
In These Trying Times, every sentient individual is under at least a little more psychological stress than normal. I’m not sleeping well, and my assumption is that no responsible adult is. - Weekend Archives:
Personal Records by Jim Moser –
If you want to set more personal records in your barbell training program, or if you want to be successful at your next weightlifting contest, this article is for you. Early in your training PRs come… - Weekend Archives:
What Makes a Good Coach? by Mark Rippetoe –
The profession of Barbell Coaching has come a long way in the past few years. I’m happy to say that Starting Strength has played a big part in its development, by quantifying the lifts and their technique…
In the Trenches
Starting Strength Coach Jarret Beck shows Katie Nunn the proper position of the bar for the squat at the recent squat and deadlift camp held at Starting Strength Columbus. [photo courtesy of Starting Strength Columbus]
Using a tactile cue, SSC Jarret Beck shows Arturo Corrales the correct hip position for an efficient deadlift at the recent squat and deadlift camp at Starting Strength Columbus. [photo courtesy of Starting Strength Columbus]
Starting Strength Cincinnati member Sarah shows off a solid shrug during lockout while warming up her press. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]
Debra Dowdle’s training partner at Starting Strength Atlanta is her daughter Avril, and they tag team attending to her newborn son. His Nana doesn’t mind stopping her workout to run out and pick him up some diapers, but nobody touches her bar; her platform is reserved, and Debra wants to finish her program when she gets back. [photo courtesy of Adam Martin]
Get Involved
Best of the Week
Heart Attack Recovery
ChrisNaron
I had heart attack on Sunday and am waiting to be discharged in a few hours. I searched for some articles on this site a found a couple of helpful ones in terms of knowing I’ll be able to train again. My question is how to treat my return once I’m given the green light. I don’t want to start out too light.
100% blockage of the aorta.
55 year old male. 5’6” 225 lbs. lost 35 lbs since January by eating clean. I was tapering my calorie deficit to stall muscle loss.
Squat 305 3×5
Deadlift 325 1×5
Press 140 3×4
Bench 230 3×5
My last workout was Thursday, and it felt good. I’ve been walking 10,000 steps a day without any problems since the beginning of August. And it’s been hot.
My diet before was admittedly pretty bad. Years of commuting an hour plus while coaching football made it easy to make excuses about diet and training. I’d do well for a little while, something would happen and I’d slip back into old habits. I tried hard starting spring of last year and then doubled down this year, hardly ever missing a training session.
There’s also a history of heart attacks on my mom’s side, but they were all smokers and had even worse habits than me. But I suppose genetics are the dominant variable.
Cholesterol was slightly high. 112 for the bad, 42 for the good.
Jdcuth
You will be able to train again (and it remains critically important) but I agree too much information is missing to know when. There can be complications in the days and weeks after a heart attack that mean you will need to be “signed off” that your cardiac issues are stable. But I recall an excellent article on here about Rip coaching a client post MI that might give some further inspiration.
mbdonne
I had an MI in 2019. I was 63. I had been training for about 15 years at that point. I started with about three months of “Cardia Rehab”, basically 30 minutes of different machines, 10 minutes each, three times a week. Rower, elliptical, airdynes, treadmills, that sort of thing. BP was monitored during the exercises, and wearing a heart monitor. I guess they would get alerted if I died. After three months, and with permission of my cardiologist, I went back to lifting. Started low, and got all the way back to my pre-morbid numbers until I ruptured my quad tendon squatting (a story for another day). Good luck with your recovery.
Oso Rojo
I’m a few weeks ahead of you in the process. I’m 63, 5’10” and 195lbs. Squat was 270 and deadlift 320. It was 100% blockage and required two stents. It appears to have been genetic.
I just finished week four earlier this week. The cardiologist didn’t want me driving for four weeks due to likely hood of complications. They have had to adjust my meds along the way. Today I’m starting cardiac rehab to make sure my heart will respond the way it should. After 4 weeks of cardiac rehab, if nothing bad is found, then I’ll start LP at the bottom. It will be a bit embarrassing, but it’s me and the empty bar until I earn some weights. Luck I have the son of one of Rip’s old SSCs lifts at the same gym and he’s promised to not laugh, hahaha.
I’m walking 2M a day to build up stamina and plan on taking it slow and steady. Until I have 3 or 4 months of good heart functioning I’m not going to push it.
I think your cardiologist is going to have a lot to say about your next few weeks and months.
PS: Rip is right, “Strong people are harder to kill!”
Best of the Forum
bruising from improper belt use?
fredfredfred
Most of the time, after I squat with my belt, I get a bunch of bruises all across my lower abdomen.
I don’t actually feel any discomfort from this, and I don’t care what it looks like, so if you think I should just ignore it, I’m happy to do that. However, I wonder if it comes from improper use of my belt. I started wearing my belt a little higher about a month ago (because I found it gave more stability) and the bruising has gotten more severe since then.
Is this just a typical harmless thing I should ignore? Am I going to damage something for real if I keep this up? Do I need to wear my belt more loosely or something? If it matters, I am using a 3″ powerlifting belt from Best Belts. I chose the smaller width because I am a very short individual at 5’4″.
Mark Rippetoe
MOTHERFUCKER!!!!! You’ve broken some blood vessels!!! Call an ambulance. NOW.
fredfredfred
I was sort of kidding with the part about it being dangerous. I’m just wondering if this means I’m wearing the belt wrong or I should just ignore it.
Mark Rippetoe
Does it hurt very bad?
Andy Baker
It happens when you are fat and you have a fat roll that squeezes out of the bottom of your belt and gets pinched between the edge of the belt and your quad. It happens to me all the time. Try sliding your belt down just a little lower.
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