The new ss podcast is lame

[Alex Ptacek]

I asked him to make the heaviest breakdown possible, and then transition into a slower, heavier breakdown.

I'm proud to work for a company that knows about breakdowns.

[Johnsonville]

Holy shit you have a keen ear. The guy that wrote our intro jingle, Keith Barney, is a founding member of both bands and was a songwriter for both (still is for 18V). I asked him to make the heaviest breakdown possible, and then transition into a slower, heavier breakdown. Nailed it. Rip refers to this music as "a waste of electricity." BTW, in case you're a fan of Heavy K's, you might be interested to know that he designed our logbook app (the one exclusive to SS Gyms).

I've been accused of many things, but never of being hilarious. BRB, going upstairs to tell my wife.



Sounds good to me, but I still encourage those with poor emotional regulation to lash out at me. It's fascinating behavior to observe and a reminder to treat my children well so they don't end up like this. DEAR STRANGER I AM VERY MAD THAT YOU EXIST AND DARE TO CREATE THINGS THAT DON'T CATER TO MY SPECIFIC PREFERENCES AND SENSITIVITIES AAWWRRAARRGGHHHHHHH!!!!

You seem to be the one who is mad here, I was just giving my opinion and all. The fact that this stupid thread I made after being at the bar is still alive is pretty weird to me.

[VNV]

You seem to be the one who is mad here, I was just giving my opinion and all. The fact that this stupid thread I made after being at the bar is still alive is pretty weird to me.

Many post-under-the-influence.

Now here's a question. Can ChatGPT detect your state of sobriety and issue a pop-up note before the post flies? Like a grammar-checker, but far more invasive. I think Microsoft bought ChatGPT/OpenAI; so they could easily splice it into Outlook/Mail/Windows etc.

[Ray Gillenwater]

You seem to be the one who is mad here, I was just giving my opinion and all. The fact that this stupid thread I made after being at the bar is still alive is pretty weird to me.

Next time you have an opinion to share, be constructive and I'm all ears.

[Johnsonville]

Next time you have an opinion to share, be constructive and I'm all ears.

I agree with you there, ray. Hence why I’ve kept my mouth shut on this one.

[Yngvi]

What a beautiful evolution we have seen of the relationships in this thread.
Very heartwarming.

Ray, I am interested in hearing more about this career you have moonlighting as an EMT.

[Ray Gillenwater]

Ray, I am interested in hearing more about this career you have moonlighting as an EMT.

I did an accelerated 5-week course last summer, 8-hours per day, 3-days per week. It was before Luke took over as President and these were some of the busiest weeks in recent memory.

I had a strong drive to get this done before my daughter was born in early January. I'm glad I did too because the midwives were delayed by over an hour on the way to our house for the birth and there was a period of time where I thought I may be delivering the baby myself - had my kit ready to go including an infant BVM.

The education is typical government - multiple choice tests, theory, memorization, and absolute information overload with not nearly enough practical work. I've been working hard to get some "on the platform" experience with a real emergency response team, but the county is not accepting volunteers - not even for the local fire departments.

The only option was a private transport group and they don't accept volunteers so I am now a $15/hr employee that works 1-2 12-hour shifts per month. I run standby at events like racetracks, expos at the local convention center, etc. I also run inter-facility transport for patients that aren't stable enough to be transported via private vehicle.

This experience has made me more convinced than ever that bringing strength to the world, especially to the elderly, is extraordinarily important. Our system is badly corrupted and oceans of people are suffering unnecessarily.

With the exception of a young gal on suicide watch, every transport I've had so far is an example of someone that likely wouldn't be in the awful circumstance they're in had they spent more time taking care of themselves - especially strength training.

It is psychologically challenging to care for people that are already dying but a good reminder to love on the people I care about as much as possible while we are here together and healthy.

Both of my grandparents on my father's side died in the last month. My grandfather was prescribed a medication that caused his throat to close. They sent an EMT to revive him and EMTs aren't trained to do tracheotomies. My grandmother suffered in a rehab facility. Dementia. Incontinence. Both of them placed too much trust in doctors, were on too many medications, and listened to others' advice to "slow down" and stop doing things like mowing lawns in the Florida heat. It's sad to see people from a generation with so much class go out with less dignity than they deserve.

My perspective: don't rely on the system for your health. Rely on the system for emergencies when needed but be ready to handle things on your own - the stakes are too high to leave it to chance.

[francesco.decaro]

I did an accelerated 5-week course last summer, 8-hours per day, 3-days per week. It was before Luke took over as President and these were some of the busiest weeks in recent memory.

I had a strong drive to get this done before my daughter was born in early January. I'm glad I did too because the midwives were delayed by over an hour on the way to our house for the birth and there was a period of time where I thought I may be delivering the baby myself - had my kit ready to go including an infant BVM.

The education is typical government - multiple choice tests, theory, memorization, and absolute information overload with not nearly enough practical work. I've been working hard to get some "on the platform" experience with a real emergency response team, but the county is not accepting volunteers - not even for the local fire departments.

The only option was a private transport group and they don't accept volunteers so I am now a $15/hr employee that works 1-2 12-hour shifts per month. I run standby at events like racetracks, expos at the local convention center, etc. I also run inter-facility transport for patients that aren't stable enough to be transported via private vehicle.

This experience has made me more convinced than ever that bringing strength to the world, especially to the elderly, is extraordinarily important. Our system is badly corrupted and oceans of people are suffering unnecessarily.

With the exception of a young gal on suicide watch, every transport I've had so far is an example of someone that likely wouldn't be in the awful circumstance they're in had they spent more time taking care of themselves - especially strength training.

It is psychologically challenging to care for people that are already dying but a good reminder to love on the people I care about as much as possible while we are here together and healthy.

Both of my grandparents on my father's side died in the last month. My grandfather was prescribed a medication that caused his throat to close. They sent an EMT to revive him and EMTs aren't trained to do tracheotomies. My grandmother suffered in a rehab facility. Dementia. Incontinence. Both of them placed too much trust in doctors, were on too many medications, and listened to others' advice to "slow down" and stop doing things like mowing lawns in the Florida heat. It's sad to see people from a generation with so much class go out with less dignity than they deserve.

My perspective: don't rely on the system for your health. Rely on the system for emergencies when needed but be ready to handle things on your own - the stakes are too high to leave it to chance.

Great story Ray. A podcast or an article about this would be really interesting.
Voluntary hardship, autonomy and responsible awareness need to become the new standard in society. Intellectual reasoning, practical knowledge, physical strength, open-mindness, indipendency, artistic taste. All these things would make a decent useful person to look up to for generations to come, and they have gained or lost value at different times in our history.
I think something like Starting Strength, and the type of people it attracts and now produces, can be an example of how these values are making a comeback.

[Ray Gillenwater]

I think something like Starting Strength, and the type of people it attracts and now produces, can be an example of how these values are making a comeback.

This was the furthest thing from my mind when I first approached Rip in 2018 but it's certainly turned out this way. Other than the program being the best solution for health and fitness versus anything else on the market, the culture and our values have been the main driver of interest from franchise owners and a good chunk of the coaches too. I cannot imagine working in tech or at any publicly traded company in the 2020s. We are fortunate that Rip and Stef built this brand and this community for all of us to benefit from.

[NicholasAstro]

I did an accelerated 5-week course last summer, 8-hours per day, 3-days per week. It was before Luke took over as President and these were some of the busiest weeks in recent memory.

I worked as an EMT in a super busy ALS system for 5 years. I wholehearted agree with your comments about potential patient outcomes or prevention if/had a baseline of strength been present.

I don’t think there’s much argument with this point I’d like to raise, but what I noticed in my system (especially among the medics and EMT’s not associated with our fire department) was our providers were significantly lacking in physical strength. I think the new technology with auto-loading gurneys and LUCAS devices are great; but the fact that most private ambulance companies don’t have any physical occupational requirements is terrifying to me. I had some coworkers that couldn’t even carry the gear bags up stairs to an incident location; god forbid they drop a gurney.