Starting Strength Channel: Podcast 3

[Barnebus Frey]

Great stuff again - will be recommending this to people!

[hollismb]

Another quality listen, even for those familiar with the material. The only thing I was anticipating (but didn't get) was a mention of the effects of strength training on bone density and cartilage retention during the 'health' section, but I'm also aware there's enough material there for a whole other episode, so the absence may have been deliberate.

[wal]

You listen while you workout? I've been listening while playing minecraft

Sorry to disillusion you, it was not a workout workout. I was out the back welding up a BBQ plate that had a crack in it. Eating is more important than weights you know.

[solomani]

I enjoyed it.

Though most of it I am familiar with there was something new for me - relation of muscle mass to the functioning of the immune system. I knew stronger people got sick less and when we got sick its not as bad as it could be. But I know this from experience not from reading anything on it. Can someone go into more details on the actual relation between the two?

Google has given me some info but I trust this board a bit more than random Google searches.

[Mark E. Hurling]

There is a larger group of folk out there that need this type strength training to maintain lifestyle quality. Balance problems are where some old guys start falling off the perch, hip fractures kill them just as good as a heart attack.

I have been to retirement seminars that just don't bring this subject up. Yes Mark your right mate. Hope you can expand your training to the older generation back home.

Hurling where in the blue blazes are you? You can back me up here.

Sorry, I've been busy schooling people about hamstring recruitment and threatening vengeance on dirty old men for having sex with the underage down in E&P.

No, I've heard the same stuff wal. In fact, I look at my age cadre in those seminars and shudder thinking about how I (so far) ducked the worst of the age bullet. I can see that a sizable percentage of my crowd will be lucky to be reasonably ambulatory by the time they hit 70. And this is in health crazy CA. My counterparts where I came from in the Midwest are mostly in even worse shape.

But Rip talks about this stuff in his books, all of them. Not just SS:3. I asked him at the seminar in Costa Mesa last year if I was the oldest guy to attend. "Nope. Not even close, Hurling, and more than you'd think." The word is getting out. Sully is doing with with folks around his base in Michigan and I intend to much the same. Even if I never manage to pass muster as a certified coach. I can still do my best to convince the other geezers to get off their asses and get under the bar, leading by example if nothing else.

[Sean Herbison]

leading by example if nothing else.

That's usually the best way to lead.

[Kyle Schuant]

Rip, I think you're at your best when speaking on the more practical side of things. The forces within the body during a deadlift? It wouldn't even occur to most people. I think perhaps a lot of this sort of talk comes from spending years on the internet, dealing with pedantic wankers who never lift - trying to anticipate their bullshit arguments before they make them.

The 365lb squat guy becoming a 550lb squat guy is a better approach, practical examples. And more lean mass means better resistance to illness, that sort of thing. That and exercise description etc is where you really shine.

Hurling, leading by example does work. I've contributed to a big change in the culture of the gym I work in over three yesrs, there are many more women and older people lifting than there used to be, and many more lifting properly. There's a long way to go, of course, more people are exercising than training. But nobody stops to look at my client in her 60s deadlifting.

[hollismb]

The forces within the body during a deadlift? It wouldn't even occur to most people.

Probably not most people, and probably not even those who are trying to pull a max deadlift, since all they care about is getting the bar off the floor and not blowing their spleen out their ass, but if you're defining 'strength' and explaining how and why it's measured, it bears mentioning.

[wal]

Hurling motivation is a load that some people can't lift. Coaching is one thing but if you can motivate people to at least have ago your more than half way there. Your lead by example is all some folk need and thats a good start.

[tallison]

All good stuff, but I had a hard time figuring out who the intended audience was. For some reason I was expecting something very basic -- somewhat like the book intro -- and was thinking about sharing it with my family who frequent the gym, but have not caught the free weights bug, quite yet. The way it got started seemed more aimed at coaches and maybe mid-level and up practitioners of various sports (high school football and dedicated cyclists came to mind). That's cool if that's who you wanted to be talking to, but the somewhat advanced jargon used and the focus on competitive athletes would have lost most of my family - which is unfortunate because the second half about general health effects and aging is exactly the kind of thing they need to hear.

I know Starting Strength started out aimed at those who train other people. Maybe you've got that same audience in mind with these podcasts - in which case, they're great. If you're aiming to reach trainees, directly, though (or provide material that trainers can point their trainees to) then I think the message has to be more segmented and focused. Maybe an introduction for young athletes, an introduction for endurance athletes and an introduction for masters athletes (casual and competitive) as separate podcasts?

Just a thought. Personally, I aways enjoy hearing or reading the product of your years of thinking hard and well about this stuff - even when it doesn't relate directly to my training or communication goals .