Wolf, you have truly outdone yourself. Much to take into consideration as I venture into the personal training industry with the goal of becoming a coach.
TMPHBITEU
Important Essay from Michael Wolf SSC: Lifting and Liberty
Starting Strength Coach
Wolf, you have truly outdone yourself. Much to take into consideration as I venture into the personal training industry with the goal of becoming a coach.
Member
Its nice to know that there are still free market impulses and opportunity in the fitness industry....at least on paper.
Don't try it in medicine.....get slaughtered.
Maybe, there is one free market and relatively unregulated medical practice other than cosmetic surgery....ie stem cell therapies.
This wont last long.
I would ask Counselor Butland.....are those waivers of indemnification signed by SS participants really worth anything?
I bet the Big Box gyms carry plenty of liability insurance.
✓ Member
This was a really well thought-out essay. Thank you for the read!
Member
An important point that may at first appear contradictory: In a government regulated system where people are still free to choose what they want, why is it a problem if they choose something that doesn't work? After all, you're for freedom of choice, right? You point out the problem with this false dichotomy well: Yes, they are getting exactly what they think they want, but they are also being denied the potential to choose something better because that thing has been regulated out of existence. You can't miss someone you never met, right? (Or maybe you just have a deep, unfulfilled longing and don't know where it comes from or what to do about it.)
A good corollary in medicine is the patient satisfaction scores. You want to keep the patients happy, right? Why wouldn't you? The problem is that patients don't necessarily know what they are missing, and -- contrary to the fitness industry -- there are so many restrictions on innovation that there is no one to come along like Crossfit and Starting Strength to clean the clock of the old system and show people what they are actually missing out on. Once they see that, then they (or at least the more intelligent ones) would choose what's best on their own (and over time this would drive the industry). But they can't see it, so they are stuck with nothing but bad choices. And so why not just do what makes you happy? Who is to say that double underhand rack pulls at 135 are a waste of your time? No one has even seen a better alternative.
The problem is a regression to a milquetoast regimen that's enough to make you think you're doing something but not enough to actually move the bar (so to speak). You can't get people to do difficult things like be strong and stay healthy if they can't see the benefit. And so in the absence of a superlative choice, they will cast into the dredge water for whatever makes them happy. But we are now finding out that happy patients are not the most healthy patients at all. Hospitals with the highest patient satisfaction scores actually have worse outcomes and the care is more expensive. Maybe limiting their choices and then assessing their satisfaction on a Likert scale is a bad idea? We may already know that it's a bad idea, but we are going to play this out to its bitter end first, because that's how government regulations work.
Member
Very nice article. A well thought through and articulated consideration of the issues surrounding regulation in the particular case of this industry but also as an illustration of a philosophy with wider scope.
One aspect of this discussion that confuses me is how it is that generally on this discussion board "the government" is seen as the source of so many evils in contrast to the flawed, but mostly free market, but "governance" (e.g. the close regulation of who and how someone can call themselves a Starting Strength Coach) is praised and practiced with gusto. I am not just trying to stir up shit, here. I genuinely see the same case for governance at the level of the Starting Strength Association and at the city, state and national levels. States often also rankle at Federal control, for instance. Is your dislike for "government" just a dislike of needing to defer to any more general authority other than the ones you have established and control? Clearly from most of your perspectives, I am confused. I would genuinely appreciate it if someone would take a moment to straighten out my thinking on this.
TMPHBITEU
I find it difficult to believe that you don't recognize the difference between our little flawed-but-mostly-free private company and the perfectly-willing-and-able-to-kill-you United States Government, in terms of the motivation to, the ability to, and the methods by which we control those behaviors we feel it necessary to control. For example, The Aasgaard Company does not imprison coaches who use RPE as a programming tool for novices, as flawed as that approach may be. Are you so thoroughly Leftist European that you do not understand the difference between free markets and government coercion? Haven't you guys already fucked up enough people's lives over this thirst for power over the individual?Originally Posted by tallison
Member
You point out another false dichotomy that is a common canard for those who call for more state control. And this has been addressed multiple times on the forums, because it comes up a lot. Constantly. No one (except small children) is calling for "no regulation." That's just silly. No government regulation does not mean no regulation. Free markets does not mean that there is no interest in quality control (Sinclair Lewis invented The Jungle out of whole cloth, because he was making a specious argument for government regulation -but couldn't find actual examples, so he made them up. Rachel Carson did the same thing for Silent Spring. Just because government generally regulates all the things does not mean that's the only way things are regulated. The question is about who is the better regulator. Do you want a career bureaucrat to tell you that you shouldn't squat below parallel, or that you just shouldn't squat? Do you really think that once something like the Starting Strength method is created and proven worthy that it could be handed over to the benevolent care of the state, and that would work? Or that, under the conditions that would require that, it would have been created at all? The problem, as I pointed out in my last post and Wolf addresses in the article, is that the best choices never get developed, because why bother? You're not going to put time and energy into developing a better mouse trap if it's just going to sit in your shop. So when we have government regulation of all the mediocre methods that haven't killed anyone yet. And it really ends up being a race to the bottom. The barriers to change are so high that it has to get really bad before anything positive can happen.
Member
Good article, but I believe the socialist interpretation for his experience is more convincing.
Comrade Wolf becomes disillusioned with his alienating work conditions and the harm to the consumer from adherence to the profit motive at the expense of quality services. He strikes out on his own, keeping the fruits of his labor and the sweat of his brow for himself instead of being exploited by a greedy boss who can’t even deadlift 225.
Soon to come: Comrade Wolf collectivizes his gym, with all profits split equally between coaches and staff. All SSCs follow his lead, and a portion of profits are devoted to providing SS seminars for the masses. Comrade Rippetoe orders those who don’t DTFP to be sent to the gulags.
Starting Strength Coach
Yep. So far, so good. We just need to make sure it stays that way. The personal trainer licensure issue is dormant for now, but it isn't dead...as I observed earlier this year, for the first time since they've been doing the survey, state licensure for personal trainers cracked the NSCA's top 20 most discussed fitness trends.
As long as they're not in Louisiana...and probably Connecticut...and maybe Virginia. Though I admit I haven't reviewed one closely for a while.I would ask Counselor Butland.....are those waivers of indemnification signed by SS participants really worth anything?
If they're smart, yes. As should individual coaches.I bet the Big Box gyms carry plenty of liability insurance.
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