March 03, 2025
On Starting Strength
-
Training Stages and Age –
Rip discusses how programming changes as strength accumulates as a result of training and what aspects vary when trainees start at different ages. -
How to Approach Training for the Elderly by Mark Rippetoe –
Of course I’m kidding, because if you’re training you’re not really elderly, in the sense that the government uses the term for Medicare Recipients and people on 13 prescriptions. Training keeps this from happening… -
Halting Deadlifts: Targeting the Start of the Pull –
Rip explains the purpose and technical aspects of the halting deadlift, a heavy, partial used to load the pull off the floor, stressing the ability to hold the back in extension. Intermediate and advanced lifters pair this lift with the rack pull to productively train the full range of motion of the deadlift. -
Balance in the Press: You Have to Lay Back by Andrew Lewis –
Pressing heavy requires mid-foot balance and a pristine bar path. A person is in balance when the center of mass is inside the base of support. It doesn’t need to be centered. He could be on his toes or heels or in the middle… -
Becoming More Coachable by Michael Jones –
In most of the typical kung-fu movies the trope of the master-disciple relationship recurs to almost the level of cliche. But all cliches are cliches for a reason: there is a kernel of truth to them. This particular one… - Weekend Archives:
The Truth by Jim Steel –
I am a college strength coach, and I am struggling. I am struggling with the state of strength training today. Whether it is training athletes or training the general population, there are a few basic tenets… - Weekend Archives:
Losing Bodyfat or Gaining Muscle Mass: Which is More Important? by Mark Rippetoe –
Muscle mass comprises between 30 and 50 percent of your body’s total weight – the more the better. Composed of more than 650 muscles, it is the primary user of calories in the active human body…
In the Trenches
Last weekend, Raj competed at the Powerlifting Singapore Combined Nationals 2025 in the Masters 3, 93kg category. He was competing in the Masters 3 category for the first time and put on a great performance, setting the deadlift national record in the process. He finished with a 167.5kg Squat, 112.5kg Bench, and 217.5kg Deadlift. [photo courtesy of Shaun Pang]
70-year-old Anna benches 132.5 for a single and deadlifts 260 for a triple as she traines under Greg Hermann at Traditional Strength in Oklahoma City. [photo courtesy of Trad Strength]
Luz nails this split jerk (following an equally solid split clean) early Friday morning at Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of PHil Meggers]
Dean, standing 6’8″, buries his final working set of squats under the watchful eye of coach Sam Krapf at our Salt Lake City Squat and Deadlift Camp. The bar’s long travel with each rep mirrors his own long journey from Denver to attend the camp. [photo courtesy of Jordan Hansen]
Jared powers through his last deadlift set during the Salt Lake City Squat and Deadlift Camp led by Sam Krapf. With his new found pulling mechanics and strength, bucking bales on his homestead in Vernal, Utah will be no issue. [photo courtesy of Jordan Hansen]
At Starting Strength Atlanta, apprentice Dave Tomczak instructs Suzanne Warshaw on the critical importance of the barbell being directly over the midfoot balance point in the deadlift setup. [photo courtesy of Adam Martin]
Get Involved
Best of the Week
US FDA issues labeling changes for testosterone products
Mark Rippetoe
A very important development: US FDA issues labeling changes for testosterone products
Results from the trial concluded there was no increase in the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in men using testosterone for hypogonadism. The agency said it is recommending adding results from the trial to the labeling in all testosterone products, retaining the “limitation of use” terminology for age-related hypogonadism while removing language related to an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.
Dalan
All we have to do now is to get doctors to read labels.
Is Wittmer or Dr Nichols still the SS recommended doctors, btw?
Best of the Forum
Sport specificity and strength
SS-FZ
In PPST, the sport specificity section mentions that we use the barbell movements to develop strength, and strength can be ‘practised’ in the sport that the trainee chooses.
If strength is the ability to produce force against an external resistance, and if we use the barbell lifts to get stronger, then does it follow that the more weight that someone can do in the barbell lifts the stronger they are?
If you have a power-lifter who’s just finished some squat peaking protocol, and you have a bodybuilder who squats only ONCE a month. Their numbers are:
Power-lifter: Squat – 205kg
Bodybuilder: Squat – 200kg
Is the power-lifter really stronger than the bodybuilder in this case? I mean if both were to ditch the squat rack and go do some leg extensions/leg press/leg curl (some movement that neither of them has practised before) who do you think could do the most weight on those exercises? who would be “stronger”? Could it be that the bodybuilder is just ‘out of practice’ in his squats — and if were to increase his squat frequency he could easily surpass 205kg (without gaining muscle mass)?
The question is this: How do you separate the practice of a barbell movement from the strength acquired using that movement if the movement is being used as a test for strength?
Perhaps muscle cross sectional area (over the entire body) is a good proxy for the ‘strength’ of an individual — all other things being equal (CNS efficiency). You’ve certainly mentioned yourself that muscle mass and strength are inseparable. Do you think this is a better ‘gauge’ for strength?
Mark Rippetoe
I have read this bolded question 3 times, which is my limit, and I don’t understand it. You guys feel free to interpret.
Will Morris
I’d assume he is asking if utilizing an exercise that builds strength as a test of strength results in a practice-effect that would artificially make a more practiced trainee “stronger” at one point in time than someone who may be stronger but never performs that exercise…..
The overall question, I suppose, could be restated as such: if Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever, could a hypothesis exist that a better basketball player did exist but didn’t play basketball….
Dalton Clark
I believe he is saying that you can’t say the powerlifter is stronger because he has trained the skill of squatting while the bodybuilder only practices it once a month – in his example.
JohnStrangeway
I believe SS-FZ is asking; is a bodybuilder who squats once a month, considered stronger than a powerlifter at around the same max who trains the squat more often?
Thus stronger because he puts less work in to get the same squat weight.
In reality I would say are the same strength (assuming everything else like bodyweight weight is equal)…. for now…
You would have to assume before the 205kg peak the powerlifters max was below 205kg, so after his next peak he will be lifting more than 205kg If the bodybuilder is only squatting once a month the PL will surpass him in the squat because he is “training the squat.” The bodybuilder will not make the same progress unless the PL is closing in on his potential and the BB is a novice+.
Just ships passing in the night lol
Now that I think about it, the PL is stronger, he did 205kg. At a meet they dont ask you how often you train, you score what you lift.
Also depends on the organization, if the organization bans PET (performance enhancing training) the powerlifter will be disqualified for cheating. Makes me sick, squatting every week to get better at it, disgusting.
Barry Charles
He is asking how you separate practice of the sport from strength training if strength is the sport, e.g. powerlifting.
What do I win?
Mark Rippetoe
My gratitude.
Credit : Source Post
