Choice Edition - Starting Strength Weekly Report February 10, 2020

Starting Strength Weekly Report

February 10, 2020

Starting Strength Radio

Homeschool: Apprenticeship For Adulthood – Mark Rippetoe and Starting Strength Coach Nick Delgadillo discuss government schools, homeschooling, and approaching education as an apprenticeship for adulthood.
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Starting Strength Channel

Knee Tendonitis? Rip teaches the box squat and describes its use as a primary exercise when a lifter has achy knees.
Programming - Muscles, Models, and Metaphysics – Dr. Sullivan presents a lecture on programming models during the 2019 Starting Strength Coaches Association Conference held in Wichita Falls, TX.

Articles

Freedom (The Irreducible Human) versus Cleverness – Daniel Oakes takes on training for strength (and a dog).
From the Archives: Colin Webster shares quotes and perspective from Iron Mike Webster.

Training Log

Chalk in the Gym. Yes, there is a right way to approach its use. Mark Rippetoe explains.
From the Archives: Rip explains how to achieve the correct back angle for The Squat during the platform instruction at a Starting Strength Squat Camp.

In the Trenches

michael guadet deadlift lockout starting strength seminar

Michael Gaudet locks out his last deadlift during the platform session at the Starting Strength Seminar held at Filthy Power Gym in Las Vegas this past weekend. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]

bianca arizpe squatting at the starting strength seminar

Bianca Arizpe squats during the Starting Strength Seminar earlier at the same event. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]

stan efferding and mark rippetoe in las vegas

Stan Efferding and Rip hang out during the Starting Strength Seminar in Las Vegas. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]

Mark Rippetoe and Greg Crouchley of Justin Boots at the recent Ft Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

robert santana nutrition seminar starting strength houston

Robert Santana leads the Starting Strength Nutrition Seminar held at Starting Strength Houston at the beginning of the month.

tanya squats first plate starting strength denver

Tanya is Startng Strength Denver's 4th female lifter to squat a plate within a month of starting the program. Congrats, Tanya! [photo courtesy of Jay Livsey]

lynbook titans training at woodmere fitness club

The Lynbrook Titans middle school football team came in for their first day of training at Woodmere Fitness Club. The boys learned to squat and press their first day. [photo courtesy of Inna Koppel]

Diego Socolinsky presents at Fivex3 Training's programming workshop for strength training held this past Sunday. [photo courtesy of Fivex3 Training]

Bjorni keeps watch at sunset. [photo courtesy of stef bradford]

Best of the Week

Coronavirus

Buddy Rich

Rip, please put my mind at ease. Is this all hype or are we all going to fucking die?!

Mark Rippetoe

We're all going to die. But probably not of this. Remember that total mortality of the 1918 Spanish Flu was "only" 3-5% of the population. I think that it is not as virulent as it was first thought to be, or it would already have jumped borders more quickly than it has. But it could mutate. Bottom line: WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY. Works better than alcohol gel.

Chicken Legs

Only a few hundred people have died worldwide from this strain of coronavirus, while there have been at least 10,000 deaths from influenza, with 19 million people getting the flu and an estimated 180,000 being hospitalized with the flu, yet people still won't get a flu shot. These are the same people freaking out about coronavirus.

Erik Y

Writing in from China. This thing is super contagious, and it doesn’t show symptoms for one to two weeks. It’s bad news if you’re a senior citizen, worse if you’re a smoker or asthmatic, and otherwise nothing to worry about. The most important thing is, as Rip said, to wash your hands frequently. Here in China, you wouldn’t want to get a ton of people in a room together, either. Other than that, I wouldn’t focus on it too much.

Best of the Forum

Torn meniscus

angie.odom

I recently tore my right meniscus. They called it a bucket handle tear. I tore the left meniscus about 2 years ago and quit squatting for about 6 months. It healed without surgery. I really don’t want to take that kind of time off again. I refused to get it scoped. Can I still squat? Should I take time off to let it repair?

Mark Rippetoe

A bucket-handle tear will not heal unless you are 4 years old. Maybe not even then. How did you tear it? Age/height/weight/lifts

Maybe Will can respond with his opinion.

Will Morris

The most important issue at hand is this: what are the symptoms the original poster is experiencing?

bjvinson

I’ve had a bucket handle tear for almost 40 years and squatting doesn’t bother mine. I guess the answer is “it depends on whether or not it hurts to squat”

cantara256

I had one of those, also on the right. I don't even know when my original injury was; probably 15 years ago running. But two years ago it flared up after kickboxing, and the swelling didn't go down after a couple months, so finally I saw an orthopedist and that's exactly what he called it: a bucket handle tear.

I had no choice; my meniscus had moved and was aggravating my knee, surgery was my only option. So... they ended up removing the meniscus completely. It was out of place and so torn it was effectively useless.

I recovered very quickly; I was walking within days and was back squatting after a few months. I have had no issues whatsoever in the gym; it healed surprisingly well. I don't feel any issues with my knee at all, and finished my linear progression just fine.

I can't run ever again. I feel the pressure on my knee even after 10 minutes of jogging.

The only other caveat is my doctor recommended I squat only to just above parallel; certainly not below. Last time I video checked myself I'm pretty sure I'm going parallel; I've never felt any issue with my knee at all, and my last 5RM was 300lbs.

The last thing to be aware of, and I wish my doctor had told me beforehand: If they completely remove your meniscus (they may not), they may recommend to additionally shave off a small part of your bone to compensate for the missing meniscus so you don't have bones rubbing against each other. In my case, I have a funky misalignment on my right that separates the bones enough. This isn't an issue, so I'm fine. But definitely ask about that and any other restrictions.

In spite of all of the above, I am very happy with the surgery, recovery, and results. Other folks I know have had this have also had great results. I'd ask your doctor about the tradeoff in risk between getting the surgery now, when part of your meniscus can still be salvaged, vs a more serious injury later where it may have to be completely removed with some bone shaving on top.

Will Morris

That's not necessarily the answer. The "it depends" qualifier is whether or not there are mechanical symptoms, such as mechanical locking, of the knee.

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