Lion Edition

Starting Strength Weekly Report

March 07, 2022

On Starting Strength

The First Three Questions – Rip explains what causes most lifters to stall during the NLP from referencing his article, which nobody reads, The First Three Questions.
Barbell Tipping Point – Starting Strength Coach Andrew Lewis explains how changing the center of mass on the bar changes what amount of weight causes the barbell to tip when loaded unevenly and the importance of symmetry while lifting.
The Clean: Accelerating the Bar and a Clarification on the "Jump" – Mark Rippetoe describes acceleration during the clean and the role of the "jump" in learning to do the clean.
Bodybuilding Mythology by Mark Rippetoe – [T]he mythology that arose over the decades of bodybuilding mis-information will not loosen its grip on the fitness industry. This bears some discussion, since even you may still harbor ideas...
Honesty in Coaching and Lifting by Andrew Lewis – Honesty is essential to become a proficient coach. Honesty with clients is assumed, but more important is being honest with oneself...
Weekend Archives: Knee Position in the Squat – In this excerpt from a lesson in the Starting Strength Coach Development Prep Course, Nick Delgadillo explains knee position in the bottom of the squat.
Weekend Archives: Active Hip 2.0: The Directors’ Cut by Mark Rippetoe and stef bradford – [A]ctive hip is best understood as the use of an actively locked lumbar extension and actively shoved-out knees, which results in a below-parallel squat that incorporates a stretch reflex using all the muscles of the posterior chain in the most optimal way possible...

From the Coaches

Lowering the deadlift should be easy, but new lifters (and yes, even experienced ones) often struggle with this - usually due to a misguided desire to keep the back as vertical as possible on the way down. Phil Meggers provides a simple solution.
Stop raising your chest early in the squat - it's making for a weaker squat. If you're trying to drive your hips up when you squat but still struggle with the concept, watch this short video for a helpful fix from Phil Meggers.
What are box squats, how do you perform them, and why might a lifter do them? Phil Meggers explains.
From the Weights & Plates podcast: Peaking for Performance, and Debunking the "Forever Volume" Crowd.

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In the Trenches

Jeff grinds out his fifth rep deadlifting 500#x5 at Starting Strength Boston. [photo courtesy of Peter Engel]

Arienne presses 135 for a smooth set of 5. She has been training at Fivex3 Training for a year and a half. [photo courtesy of Emily Socolinsky]

chung snatching during group coach session

Jonathan Chung snatches 60kg during a group workout for Katy and Houston coaches at Starting Strength Houston. [photo courtesy of Matthew Gemmil]

starting strength beaverton early morning session

5:30 AM Session getting training done at Starting Strength Beaverton. [photo courtesy of Jen Smith]

steven pulls 500 for 3 at starting strength dallas

Steven trains online and alone but dropped in for coaching and community support at Starting Strength Dallas to pull 500 for 3 on Tuesday. [photo courtesy of Jayne Peyton]

dan squats sets of 170 in his linear progression at testify

Dan squats 170 lb for 3 sets of 5 reps as he continues his linear progression at Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE. [photo courtesy of Phil Meggers]

heather deadlifts bodyweight at starting strength cincinnati

Starting Strength Cincinnati member Heather with a bodyweight deadlift in just the 3rd week of her novice linear progression. She decided to train at SS Cincy because it's the best opportunity to fully invest in her own health and well-being. [photo courtesy of Marie Worsham]

steve trains his deadlift for an upcoming wfac strengthlifing meet

Steve Van Ooteghem pulls 275 at 71 years of age. He will be competing at the 2022 WFAC Strengthlifting Classic this April. [photo courtesy of Josh Wells]

Julianne locks out 135 lb as David looks on at Starting Strength Plano. [photo courtesy of Jacob Thias]

jordan coaches jim through his bench presses

Jordan coaching Jim through his bench press at Starting Strength San Antonio. [photo courtesy of Victoria Diaz]

a new lifter learns to press at starting strength chicago

Alex and Strah working with a new lifter during his intro the first week Starting Strength Chicago was open. [photo courtesy of Jon Fraser]

starting strength okc welcomes kids of members so they can learn

Starting Strength OKC welcomes members’ kids so they can watch their parents grow stronger. [photo courtesy of Chase Lindley]

Group picture from Starting Strength Boise Left to Right: Avery Martz, John Dowdy, and Brandon Kubo. [photo courtesy of Ben Gillenwater]

Best of the Week

Guns in Canada

William MG

Saw your piece on who should be scared and there seems to be a misconception on guns in Canada. Our gun laws are much more restrictive than in the US but we do have guns and as far as I know nobody is coming for mine.

But you are correct, your 2nd Amendment must never be given up.

If you want to know more about our system up here, reach out to me and I will give you some insight into our system.

Mark Rippetoe

Reaching out. Give us some insight.

William MG

I will call your office in the morning and give you my cell, you can call me. It's too long a discussion for a forum board.

AndrewLewis

I'd be curious to learn more about it too.

Gerald Boggs

If the opinions of my Canadian relatives are in any way representative of Canadians as a whole. Guns for hunting are OK, but guns for self-defense are wrong.

Mark Rippetoe

I haven't heard from him, so I don't know. But I'm not really interested in having a private conversation about this. This is a public board, and it will have to be posted.

Best of the Forum

deadlifts

Mmll

The other day I pulled 344 lbs for 4 reps then failed on the 5th. So I'll be aiming to get 5 reps at 344 tomorrow and then continue progressing.

Can you please advise on appropriate weights for warm up sets? I'm not sure if my warmup weights need adjusting. I've kept them the same for a while now. I've only been increasing the working set weight.

Currently I am doing 2 sets of 5 at 135 lbs, 1 set of 5 at 185 lbs, 1 set of 3 at 225 lbs, 1 set of 2 at 275 lbs.

Mark Rippetoe

Are you squatting before you pull?

J. Killmond

To help finish the work set, doing fewer deadlift warm-ups has been suggested in the forums. The idea is 3-5 warm-up sets, that "can be tapered down to two or even to a single rep for the last warm-up set, saving gas for the work sets" (Practical Programming for Strength Training, p. 74).

For 345, I would have done 13 fewer warm-ups (rather than 20), which might help getting the last rep of the work set: 135x4, 190x1, 245x1, 295x1, 345x5

Good luck next time!

BastiatBB

To Rip's point, if you have already squatted you should already be warmed up. Just need to prime the movement for the weight after that. I deadlift over 400#, but only take 2-3 sets before my work set. I usually start at 225 for 3 reps, then 315x1, and then maybe 365x1.

m s

Doing a set or two at 135 doesn't mess up the work set. It's pulling multiple reps close to the work set weight that can tire you out. It's silly to inflate the first warm up set weight just to minimize total warm ups.

Mmll

Yes. Squats, press, then deadlifts.

Mark Rippetoe

It's also pointless to do warmups you don't need. If you've already squatted 365x5x3, why in the hell would you need to pull 135 before a work set at 425?

Mmll

Thanks a lot for the responses. I did less warmups and got the 5th rep fairly comfortably.

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