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by Mark Rippetoe
*There are two groups of people who are responsible for most of the misunderstanding in modern strength and conditioning. They are the people you least expect to be blamed for this serious problem, because they're perfectly innocent of malicious intent even while they remain the source of the misunderstanding. *
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The sad thing is that the average person sees an elite athlete's lifting performance and considers that the high bar. They think "if Curry can DL 405x6 then maybe I can DL 315x5 after a few years of training" or they see "an unbelievable video of a college lineman 'squatting' 500# (for a single)". People simply do not believe me when I tell them that squatting 315# for reps is only a few months training for the average male. I think it's so crazy to them that they don't even try to educate themselves on the topic. Narrow-casting indeed...
Went to a Dr Monday this week(not my primary) , told them I had unexplained discomfort deadlifting 225, they said it could be because that is very heavy. I had to spend too much time explaining how that was not heavy at all.. in fact its very light for a full grown man that has deadlifted regularly for 30+ years. I am amazed(frightened) that in this day and age basic strength training is not understood. (In fairness, my primary Dr really does understand basic barbells and fully encourages me to get stronger, so at least a few are getting it)
I am glad to see this article go out on social media again. It is one of my favorites and something I'm tempted to send all my athletes (except the language might be a bit much for the age group I coach). The trouble I see is that athletes on the cusp of being great seem the most tempted to adopt bizarre training methods. They do so based on the very same bad advice given the elite athletes they are so close to becoming. They're a hard audience to reach because they become risk averse as success draws near. They become afraid to try anything not blessed by the elites. The trouble is, genetic lottery winners really do exist, and they really do outperform despite their inefficient training.
The success genetic lottery winners enjoy makes it appear that their inefficient training is the key to their success. It is an uphill battle to argue otherwise because an athlete is but one subject in a human trial of one. They will never know how good/fast they could be if they trained intelligently because they can't risk trying something that may not work. Again, they become too risk averse to find a better way. Their success traps them in an inefficient system.
That guy in the picture really looks like Chase...
