Twue Wuv Edition

Starting Strength Weekly Report

February 14, 2022

On Starting Strength

What Makes a Good Client – Rip describes what makes a client a good one and how to avoid getting fired by your coach.
Tempo Squats – Starting Strength Coach Carl Raghavan explains why you would program tempo squats and how to do them.
Learning How to Fight – Ray Gillenwater and Nick Delgadillo discuss learning to fight, training, and how to pick the best coach.
Online Coaching Services and When To Utilize Them by Rebecca Skinner – It’s no surprise that Starting Strength Coaches will tell you that in-person coaching is an invaluable experience...This saves time: the faster the lifter can learn technique correctly, the faster the progress...[b]ut what do you do if you aren’t close to a Starting Strength Coach, Starting Strength Gym, or Starting Strength Affiliate?
Goals 104: New Year’s Resolutions by Carl Raghavan – The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they are the enemy of consistency. They’re not really about self-improvement. They’re just a marketing scam. The reality is, it doesn’t really matter[.]
Weekend Archives: Spiritual Training: The Linear Progression by Geoff Bischoff – I am a spiritually-minded man whose strength has gone up. And it has indeed been instructive. I’ve learned that strength training, especially the active pursuit of physical strength, is the best servant of my soul. Barbell training is training in virtue, and virtue is foundational to a healthy soul.
Weekend Archives: Incremental Increases by Mark Rippetoe – Without an appreciation for the importance of continued, sustainable incremental increases in training loads, there is no appreciation for the most fundamental form of programming.

From the Coaches

The Weights and Plates podcast discusses macro tracking with strategies for learning to track macros and avoid frustration along the way.
Rori Alter discusses how manage training fatigue in your barbell training program.
Quit making these mistakes when pressing! Accompanied by some hideous pressing at the outset of this video, Phil Meggers covers several common press errors as well as how to fix these mistakes.
Weightlifting bars vs powerlifting bars vs hybrid bars. . . what's with the different markings on barbells? In 2 minutes, Phil Meggers simply explains what the markings mean, what purpose they serve, and how to know which one to use.
When pressing or benching, a very common error is to take a grip that carries the bar back in the fingers. Phil Meggers shows you the "diamond grip" approach, which quickly solves this issue.

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In the Trenches

new lifter learns to bench press at starting strength boston

Austin Khamiss goes over the basics of the bench press with a new lifter at Starting Strength Boston. [photo courtesy of Arthur Frontczak]

Katelyn pulling 160x3x2 at Starting Strength San Antonio. [photo courtesy of Victoria Diaz]

jaden squats 285 for work sets in his linear progression

Jaden squats 285 lb for three sets of five as he continues his linear progression at Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of Phil Meggers]

jd shipley coaching rodolfo on the bench press

JD Shipley coaching Rodolfo De La Garza Nunez on the bench. [photo courtesy of Josh Wells]

group picture at starting strength dallas

Snow day workout at Starting Strength Dallas. From left to right: Jeff, Brent, Chandler, and Fred. [photo courtesy of Brent Carter]

Best of the Week

R.I.P. John Thomas Suggs 9/1/36 --2/1/22

Mark Rippetoe

My old friend Tommy Suggs died this morning at the age of 85. "Supe" – (for "Super Suggs") as Starr called him for decades -- was a good man. He was very important to the iron game, one of the very best coaches in Olympic weightlifting back when we were good at it, and was just one helluva lot of fun too. He is survived by his loving wife Karen and far too many kids and grandkids. A toast tonight for Tommy Suggs!

Ryan DCNT

Rip, thanks for exposing us to Tommy. I'd have never known about him if it weren't for you. RIP Tommy!

3rdcoast_slope

Thank you for introducing him to us. His memory and wisdom lives on.

kpsmiley

Obituary link: John Thomas "Tommy" Suggs, Jr.

Mark Rippetoe

An excellent tribute to Supe.

Best of the Forum

Head Injury w/ Clean CT

NoStepOnSnek

Slipped on ice last night and bashed the back of my head against the door jamb. I saw stars and was disoriented for a few minutes and, after realizing I had a good sized laceration on the back of my noggin, went to the ER.

Got stapled up and asked for the CT scan, which came up clean. I have no nausea and no headache (except for pain at the laceration) and otherwise feel completely fine. In fact, I credit my training for not having any back, neck, or limb injury as a result of the fall.

Also, I’ve read Mark’s admonition in an old thread of “Have you had a cranial CT? If not, get one now. And do not ask some shithead on the internet about your closed-head injury ever again.” But, I’ve had the CT. The guy in that thread did not and had other symptoms.

The ER doctor said to take a week off because I have a “head” injury. But, if everything came up clean and I have no other symptoms, I’m wondering if I really have a “head injury” or just a laceration that happens to be on my head.

Knowing that doctors will tend to be overly cautious, I just don’t know if a clean CT is enough to take me out of the realm of legitimate medical advice, to which I should adhere, and back into the realm of listening to shitheads on the internet.

A week off sounds excessive, considering I haven’t missed a training day in two years. I want to just shift my schedule back one day to see how I feel today before getting under the bar again tomorrow. But, if I’m really in a “don’t be an asshole and listen to the doctor” situation, I’ll just suck it up. Dying under the bar with a brain bleed sounds less than productive for my training goals.

Mark Rippetoe

I don't think you have a "head injury" per se, but rather a cut on your head. Warm up carefully and see if anything unpleasant occurs.

NoStepOnSnek

Feeling ok today, not great. But that might have something to do with lack of sleep after a night in the ER.

My wife says I was disoriented for more like an hour, not just a few minutes, so I guess that’s more reason to take it slow. I’ll feel it out with the warmups tomorrow and try not to be a hero.

Matt James

I had what I thought was a mild concussion in 2016. Was a fair bit disoriented for most of the evening. Didn't think too much of it and went off on a week's vacation that involved hiking/running all over the Black Hills and generous quantities of good bourbon. By the time I got back I was in bad shape, and dealt with the after effects for months (headaches, memory loss). I got a CT when I got back from the trip and it was clear, for what it's worth.

A week off may be excessive assuming it's mild. But be careful. You may feel fine during your workout and feel like shit the next day. Obviously if that happens you need to rest until your symptoms are gone. If you're feeling off today, it may not be a bad idea to give yourself another day or two of rest before you train again.

Just my two cents. Don’t be a dumbass like me. A couple days off from training is a lot better than weeks or months of bullshit.

Mark Rippetoe

Yes, you can concuss without a bleed. Remember: warm up carefully and pay attention to what is going on.

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