11H 11D 11M Edition

Starting Strength Weekly Report

November 11, 2024

On Starting Strength

Election Day, Bent Bars, and Deadlifts – Rip answers questions live from Starting Strength Network subscribers and fans.
Strength is a Second Job by Carl Raghavan – When someone asks me, “What do you do for fun?” I say, “Drinking.” They give me a puzzled look, and their next question is usually, “But isn’t the gym fun for you?” No...
The Jumping Position - Snatch vs. Clean – A common error in the snatch is entering the final phase of acceleration early, at the mid-thigh "jumping position" learned for the clean. This leaves the bar far from the body as the pull is finished. Starting Strength Coaches Stef Bradford and Josh Wells show how to use alignment and balance to find and move between the correct jumping positions for the two lifts.
Your Plan for Election Day by Mark Rippetoe – Election Day is tomorrow. It's going to be chaos. This is the most contentious and emotionally charged election in modern US history. No one knows what's going to happen...
Deadlift Setup Fix – Starting Strength Coach Nick Delgadillo coaches a lifter through a slightly modified 5-step deadlift setup that keeps her off her toes.
Weekend Archives: Body Composition for Barbell Training by Robert Santana – The quest for strength acquisition involves careful consideration of human anthropometry and body composition. Anthropometry refers to the measurements and proportions...
Weekend Archives: When to Omit the Power Clean by Mark Rippetoe – As we have said many times, not everybody needs to do the power clean. This has been repeatedly interpreted to mean, “I don't need to do the power clean.” Even more unfortunately...

In the Trenches

Aunt Jeanne Williams, affectionately known as “AJ”, locks out her deadlift at Starting Strength Atlanta under the watchful eye of Adam Martin, SSC. [photo courtesy of Laura Martin]

Eric squats 225lb last Sunday at Fivex3’s Squat & Deadlift Training Camp. He had tweaked his back while training on his own from bending over too much in this squat. SSC Diego Socolinsky corrected his form and his back felt great. [photo courtesy of Fivex3 Training]

Eric’s 16 year old daughter, Lily, joined her father at the same camp in Baltimore. Here she is deadlifting 185lb at a bodyweight of 114. [photo courtesy of Fivex3 Training]

At the Squat camp in Seoul, Sanghun Park sets a five-rep PR 10kg heavier than his previous 1RM under the watchful eye of SSC Kyoungha Kim. [photo courtesy of Inhyuk Eun]

inhyuk eun corrects the back angle of a lifter's deadlift

SSC Inhyuk Eun corrects the back angle for Sangwoo Kim's deadlift at the pulling camp in Seoul, South Korea. [photo courtesy of Kyoungha Kim]

SSC Tony Maldonado looks on as Starting Strength Cincinnati member Alex wraps up his Halloween evening workout. [photo courtesy of Tony Maldonado]

Marie teaches the press to Lalitha at Starting Strength Boston. All Starting Strength Gym members receive personalized instruction for every lift. [photo courtesy of Michael Shammas]

tara and jill pet gym dog milo before training

At Testify Strength & Conditioning in Omaha, NE, Jill and Tara understand that the best way to prepare for a challenging training session is to pet the local gym dog, and Milo certainly agrees. [photo courtesy of Phil Meggers]

group photo at starting strength atlanta noon class

The busiest lunchtime spot in the neighborhood is the M-W-F noon session at Starting Strength Atlanta. [photo courtesy of Laura Martin]

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Best of the Week

Hamstring Tear

FrankNJ

I believe that I tore a hamstring during a squat work set and am looking for advice on what to do about it. After coming out of the hole on the 5th rep of my first work set, I felt a sharp pain in the hamstring area (mid way between knee and glute). The work set was 305lbs. I then tried 285lb, but it was too painful to get down to parallel. I was able to do two more sets of 5 x 225lbs. The first rep at 225lbs hurt, but the pain dulled during the remaining 4 reps. Deadlifts were unaffected. I have slight discomfort when resting, but no severe pain. A small hematoma (2"x2") has appeared at about 9" above the knee. Do I apply the Starr Rehab protocol or just keep trying the heaviest weight that I can bear for the next workout?

Background:
60 years Old
187 lbs
In maintenance mode after years of lifting.
Squat work sets (305 to 315lbs)
Deadlift wok sets (325 to 340lbs)
Press work sets (120-125lb)
Just started TRT about 2 months ago with Wittmer.

Mark Rippetoe

Do you have a video of the deadlift sets? It's hard to believe that a torn hamstring would have no affect on the deadlift.

FrankNJ

Actually, I assumed that it was the hamstring because the pain is generally in the back of the leg. However, in looking at an anatomy illustration and a photo of the hematoma, could it be the adductor?

Mark Rippetoe

That's an adductor, and that's why the deadlift with that stance didn't hurt.

FrankNJ

I only know that it hurts when I squat. I can probably do 225 3x5 without too much trouble, or a lighter weight for much higher reps. I can probably go heavier than 225, but just concerned that it will get worse. What do you recommend?

Mark Rippetoe

If the motion doesn't hurt it, the injured area is not being worked, and isn't being forced to adapt. So, you squat. The sets of 25 program works for this very well.

Best of the Forum

Quantifying Chin-Ups

Scott701

Hi Rip, I'm doing the vanilla NLP (again after several years of not training) and am wondering what you think of the following method of quantifying chin-ups more precisely.

I am 6'3", 235lbs with a 39" waist. I am eating to gain weight and intend to be 275 by this time next year. I have noticed that bodyweight can fluctuate day-to-day which makes quantification of chin-ups rather imprecise.

My solution: use a weight belt to get "me" up to 250 and weigh-in on a bathroom scale (the same one each time) after S-P-DL on A-Day. (I can do about 1-2 reps of these right now). Perform the reps I can and then add eccentric efforts through 12 reps. Repeat weigh-in after S-B-PC on B-Day, but add reps to the first sets every time and increase the time and control of each eccentric. I would never go above or below 12 reps, but I would continue to increase the density of the first sets until I get to 12x1 @ 255lbs. Then I would add weight and repeat the process for as long as I can.

Thoughts: I realize this may take several weeks/months, and my bodyweight will be changing this whole time. My solution accounts for this with the weigh-in and the removing/adding of weight to achieve the exact weight of 255. (I have fractional plates.) Eating to get big will probably put 1 pound a week on my frame, so 255 will give me ~20weeks to reach 12x1.

Theoretically, I think this could be applied to anyone that can do one dead-hang chin-up at ~110% bodyweight.

Does this seem reasonable?

Mark Rippetoe

It's an assistance exercise. One of the aspects of an assistance exercise is that it doesn't train like the primary exercises. Stop worrying about it and try to PR something about your chins every couple of weeks.