Sorry Rip, just couldn't do it ...

[fluxboy]

So I think to myself:

This Starting Strength routine worked. And I bet there's all sorts of people out there that could use a nudge. Perhaps I can do my part to spread the word.

I swing by T-Nation and bodybuilding.com and I'm horrified. Absolutely horrified. I type in "Rippetoe", and I find the most bizarre questions I've ever come across. And you should see the answers. Just weird shit that I can't even respond to. I'm mean, its so far off, it's not even wrong. Then I go to "Transformations of the month" and all I see are fat guys with their belly sticking out, "transformed" by dropping thirty pounds, sucking their gut in, tanned, bleached, and ... oiled?

It's weird. And creepy. And they want to know what supplements were taken.

(My first thought: estrogen?)

I was going to just put a nice post on how a simple little book called Starting Strength taught me how to squat, bench, deadlift, power clean and press correctly. And along the way, I put on thirty-five pounds in a few months.

Fuck that.

I don't want to be near a forum with oiled guys and hyper NOs vacuum pumped androgelatin.

Sorry Rip, someone else will have to spread the word. I just don't have the stomach for it.

I'm serious.

Regrets,
Flux

Here's a select quote:

-"I asked if it's okay to do calf workouts while on the program... how is this not directly pertaining to SS. I'm not saying, guys am I allowed to add calf raises to the program? No, i'm not a little bitch, if i wanted to add them i would do so... I'm asking if it's necessary to do them. FOOL!"

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, the internet is a very weird place.

[Pnigro]

I've been a member of bodybuilding.com for 3 years now, and I have to agree with a lot of what you say. I learned a lot from the bb.com forum, but it has so many members, and anyone is allowed to give advice, so there's too much crap.

I learned the importance of compound exercises and nutrition, but nothing has taught me more than SS and PP.

I still love that site though, but you gotta be very careful when reading information. There's a lot of hidden gems there and that place is very inspirational as well.

[Drewfasa]

So I think to myself:

This Starting Strength routine worked. And I bet there's all sorts of people out there that could use a nudge. Perhaps I can do my part to spread the word.

I swing by T-Nation and bodybuilding.com and I'm horrified. Absolutely horrified. I type in "Rippetoe", and I find the most bizarre questions I've ever come across. And you should see the answers. Just weird shit that I can't even respond to. I'm mean, its so far off, it's not even wrong. Then I go to "Transformations of the month" and all I see are fat guys with their belly sticking out, "transformed" by dropping thirty pounds, sucking their gut in, tanned, bleached, and ... oiled?

It's weird. And creepy. And they want to know what supplements were taken.

(My first thought: estrogen?)

I was going to just put a nice post on how a simple little book called Starting Strength taught me how to squat, bench, deadlift, power clean and press correctly. And along the way, I put on thirty-five pounds in a few months.

Fuck that.

I don't want to be near a forum with oiled guys and hyper NOs vacuum pumped androgelatin.

Sorry Rip, someone else will have to spread the word. I just don't have the stomach for it.

I'm serious.

Regrets,
Flux

Here's a select quote:

-"I asked if it's okay to do calf workouts while on the program... how is this not directly pertaining to SS. I'm not saying, guys am I allowed to add calf raises to the program? No, i'm not a little bitch, if i wanted to add them i would do so... I'm asking if it's necessary to do them. FOOL!"

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."

[TheKunga]

This is so true, after reading around here, and Ripp's books I just can't mentally handle some of the writing over at bodybuildingdotcom. I just can't explain it, although retarded comes to mind.

Stuff like "If I do bis and tris together in this split will I get huge" etc etc...

Thumbs up to Mark, your books have changed my lifting ways for the better

[h k]

Here's a good quote from t-nation:

Does anyone else have a problem with this program [my note: SS]? It's an insanely low volume of work, and I've not met a single person with a decent total who's done the program. Granted, it's a program that'll get kids hitting basic exercises instead of the pec dec, but they also live in fear that some sort of Overtraining Boogeyman is going to emerge from their closet and steal all of their muscle if they even THINK about doing more than the 11 total sets (or thereabouts) that he prescribes. Lastly, insofar as I know, Rippetoe has never totalled decently in a meet or the gym, and looks like he's never entered a gym, leading me to think that "Starting Strength" should really be called "The Blind and Fat leading the Blind into the Squat Rack."

Thoughts?

It's amazing how deep critique people can give without even reading the book. Oh the internet...

[Mark Rippetoe]

I guess the T-Nation boys don't remember me competing in the 80s, since kids weren't allowed in the warmup room. It would be logic of the worst kind to base the weight of one's opinions about lifting weights on one's former, or even current, total, the genetic variable being as important as it is. I was never a very good lifter, and I have never claimed to be. In my defense, it has been my experience that good athletes are usually poor coaches. And I have actually never claimed to be a good coach either. But to clear up the misconception that I was never a lifter at all, here are my previous PRs at 220:

Meet squat: 611, (622 got 2 reds, one depth and one politics)
Gym squat: 600 x 3 Both done in a single-ply Frantz suit I still have.

Meet bench: 396 on an easy 3rd attempt after my foot slipped on the 2nd with that weight.

Meet deadlift: 633 on two separate occasions.

PR Total: 1643

Won the Greater Texas Classic at 198 in 1981. Retired from PL competition in 1988.

[Stevo]

Any videos of these monster lifts floating around for us posers to see?

[fluxboy]

Gee Rip,

That's like, literally, twice as strong as me.

Looks like I'm gonna need another 57 days ...

Maybe even longer.

[Mark Rippetoe]

No video. It was 1985. A paucity of camcorders existed at the time, one that has just recently been rectified. You'll just have to believe me.