SS Houston Squat Camp Review

[Isaac Medina]

I went to SS Houston's squat camp this past weekend and, WOW, what an experience.

When I walked in the door, I was greeted by Josh Wells, with a friendly smile and a firm handshake. I looked around the gym, with a big-ass goofy smile on my face, similar to how a child is amazed by a giant candy store. I knew I was in the right place. "This is home", I muttered to myself. Seeing the huge dudes working at SS Houston (Chase Lindley, Josh Wells, and JD Shipley), in person, made me realize that I need to work that much harder and that I was about to learn a thing or two about heavy ass weight.

The camp started off with a lecture on what strength is, and the physics & biomechanics of the Squat. Afterwards, Chase chose me to be the model for the Teaching Method for the Squat, which I thought was pretty cool. I was smiling internally (I know, I'm sappy as hell, but whatever, it was a cool experience, okay?). Then we split up into groups and we started applying what we learned immediately onto our partner.

Then the meat and potatoes: The Squat itself. We all went thru warmups and work sets, and seeing Chase and Josh coach a myriad of different anthropometries into the correct Squat was invaluable. Probably the most helpful thing at the camp, in my opinion, next to having an SSC coach me in a very calm but commanding way.

I squatted a little less than I was planning on, but I'm 100% okay with that. Chase helped my squat immensely, and gave me some very personalized and helpful cues to improve my movement pattern in the Squat. I can't wait to use all the cues I was shown to make my LP that much better, and get one step closer to being Harder To Kill.

Afterwards, we had a Q&A session that was very helpful, funny, detailed, and insightful. Tons of knowledge and wisdom was flowing from the SSCs to everyone else in the room.

I also wanted to make note of how much the staff at SS Houston cares. I asked if they were open on Sunday (which they weren't), because I wanted help with my Power Clean. Josh Wells told me that he'd work with me anyway. He took time out of his day off, away from his wife and 7-month-old baby, to help me out. What an outstanding guy. He brought my Clean up from 52kg to 75kg in just one private session, giving me really easy-to-understand cues and making every minute of the session enjoyable and helpful. So, shoutout to Josh Wells.

If you're on the fence about coming to a Starting Strength Training Camp, please take my word for it and GO. It'll be the best thing you do for your lifting.

[Ray Gillenwater]

Isaac, thanks for sharing - I love hearing about positive experiences at the gyms. The crew in Houston is legendary. Glad you enjoyed!

[Isaac Medina]

Oh man, everything about it was excellent. I'm not sure how the pay structure works for SSCs at the gym, but Josh and Chase deserve a raise! Haha