Dani benching at Starting Strength Boston. She started a year ago and has progressed from a starting weight of 60 lb to a 1 rep maximum of 125 lb last month. [photo courtesy of Austin Khamiss]

Starting Strength Cincinnati member Keegan stands tall as he pulls his last deadlift rep. Keegan joined the gym one month ago with the goal of becoming the strongest bass player in the world. [photo courtesy of Tony Maldonado]

Upperclass Cadets learn and practice the squat and deadlift in preparation for their role as Cadet Cadre during upcoming New Cadet Basic Training at West Point. [photo courtesy of Greg Hess]

Julie squats 185 lb (and works on keeping her knees shoved out) as she prepares for the upcoming IronFest meet - a team competition at Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of Phil Meggers]

Alexanne shows up and does work despite a foot injury that put her in a cast. There is always a reason to show up no matter the circumstances. [photo courtesy of Josh Wells]

Rip playing a set at the Wichita Falls Athletic Club midsummer solstice gathering. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]

Meet Results

The 2022 Testify Strongman Summer Showdown contest was held this past weekend. The Epic Strongwoman award (Morgard the Manatee) went to Ashley Bryant, and the Epic Strongman award went to Chris Charvat. Full results

Chris Charvat launches the 50 lb sandbag and clears 14 ft at the 6th annual Testify Strongman Summer Showdown this weekend in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of Testify Strength & Conditioning]

Brianne Holm pulls the truck 100ft in under 30 seconds at this weekend's Testify Strongman Summer Showdown in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of Testify Strength & Conditioning]

Brothers Nathan and Michael Oehler (left and right, respectively) go head-to-head as they wrap up the deadlift medley at this weekend's Testify Strongman Summer Showdown in Omaha, NE. The deadlift medley consisted of 1 rep with a truck tire deadlift, 2 reps with farmer carry handle deadlifts, and then as many reps as possible of axle deadlifts until the 1 minute cap was reached. [photo courtesy of Testify Strength & Conditioning]

aschaul10

Quick question with regards to skipping lifts. Working through the NLP and am supposed to lift today, however for the first time in a while I pitched fast pitch softball in a tournament this weekend and am pretty sore in the shoulders, glutes, etc. and all around pretty stiff. My lifts have been pretty heavy (for me) the last few weeks, and I worry that if I lift today I will not be able to make my weight jumps/overloads and may fail due to the soreness/fatigue from the weekend.

In a situation like this, am I better off trying to push through my lift today, or skipping a day to get to feeling 100% before I lift again? Thanks!

Mark Rippetoe

As I have pointed out several thousand times, your subjective perception of how you feel is irrelevant, because it is unreliable. If you don't want to train today, don't train, but if you can't train when you're tired and sore, you're going to have a very short career under the bar.

VNV

It is ironic that the Prime Directive (~ your feelings are irrelevant) is not in the book (I think).

Mark Rippetoe

May have to add a section.

David A. Rowe

Rip, one of the things I've run into as an amateur coach and person who's tried to get people into strength training is the usual resistance from the un- or ill-informed. Typically, the people who are first-in-line to get under the bar for duty or general fitness are the people who have experienced life events, injuries, or dealt with critical situations and illnesses where it was immediately apparent that they needed the benefits.

What are your thoughts on tracking something simple that can be performed easily in most locations like a 100m sprint time to show that strength really is foundational, and won't make you slow, fat, or likely to "gas-out" quickly? Would it be useful as another metric, or a waste of effort? I've learned enough to zen-out when people say "no" or lack the gumption to do the work, but ignorance still irks me a bit. I wonder if being able to say, "Here's the data on my lifters who did solely strength training for 2-3 months" might work.

Mark Rippetoe

See if you can find the interview I did with Nick Berringer for RangerUp regarding this topic. I just tried, and maybe you can find it better than I can.

Oso Rojo

Is this the one?

Are you Strong Enough? An interview with Mark Rippetoe - | @TheRhinoDen | Home Of All Things Military

Mark Rippetoe

That's it. RangerUp took it down, but we have the permission of Nick Barringer to reprint it here.

Are you Strong Enough? An Interview with Mark Rippetoe | LTC Nick Barringer