Your Favorite Starting Strength Quotes

[Mark Rippetoe]

Post them here. Inquiring minds etc.

[GammaFlat]

That's not heavy

[BenBoskovski]

“We don’t care if you got your vertical from 16” to 32”. You didn’t. But if you did, we don’t care.

[Alexander Dargatz]

With pleasure.
These are the first that come to mind that I actually use sometimes.

(paraphrased from memory)

"The worst advice you can give to an aging person is to take it easy. Easy makes you soft, and soft makes you dead." (Sully)

"Some people seem to have acquired the idea that they have the inalienable right to stroll through life wihout ever having sweated, picked up anything heavy or eaten less than they wanted at every meal. This approach is, of course, wrong, and it has led to a host of unpleasant, unattractive and entirely avoidable problems in a population that seems puzzled as to why things are not going well." (Rip. Sorry, I probably messed that up somehow)

"If I had a Dollar for every squat above parallel I see at my gym, I'd be a broke motherfucker." (Rip)

"I am a lifter, and I lift heavy things" (modified for motivation when it gets heavy and I get scared from Paul Horn:

You embrace the fear. You love it when it feels heavy. You hate variety. You think people who make up bullshit excuses to justify their desire to do something easier are just scared, and you are not one of them. You are a lifter, and you lift heavy things. When you walk into the gym, you look around at all the bros doing arm work and five different chest exercises, and you smile because you know they don't know what you know. Or, maybe they do, but they don't have the balls to stay the course, put more weight on the bar and squat something they're afraid they can't squat. But you do that. You do that three days a week. You face your fear over and over and over. And sometimes you fail. Sometimes you can't get another rep. But you show up for your next session, and you try again. You stick to your plan. You learn how to fail. You learn how to try again. You learn that it won't kill you. And because you learned that, when life kicks you in the nuts, when your dog dies or your girlfriend dumps you or boss fires you, you can handle it. You can face it and feel it and know that you will get past it. And that, my friend, is more important that how much weight is on the bar. It's supposed to feel heavy. You're supposed to be scared. If you're not, you're not living.

- The whole Pajama Boy article
- (oh, oh, and the Why You Should Not Be Running article)
- (and most other articles, duh)

[Eric Schexnayder]

So many. Don't have my copy with me, but a paraphrased choice few:

-"Should you choose to bench using a thumbless grip, please do so at home so as to not disturb others who train seriously at the gym."
-"When in doubt, leave it out."
-"It is educational to see what happens to these people as their squat numbers go up."
-"If you don't stop misinterpreting this, I will have you all killed."

[tbennett]

A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong.

[Chad Mynhier]

There is never an absolute answer to everything, except of course that you have to do your squats.

[Daniel Cavallari]

"You know what would help your squat the most? You gaining 50 pounds."

[Tom Lang]

"I recommend against deciding that you can't get stronger, then behaving as though this is true."

[magadorm]

If you insist on wearing gloves, make sure they match your purse.