Phone call with Rip from the UK

[Robin UK]

Yesterday I made a speculative phone call to a Rip’s gym in the hope of being able to thank him personally man-to-man for the awesomeness of Starting Strength. As luck would have it, he was in and took my phone call and it was an honour to speak to him. Living in the UK we are about a decade behind the USA in most things and rather too polite to call out BS as robustly as we should. The Starting Strength program is phenomenal and I wish I’d found it sooner. It’s honesty, straightforward presentation and timeless foundational roots of protocols that actually WORK is such a refreshing tonic and a necessary counterweight to a global fitness industry that’s chronically and increasingly at the mercy of charlatans. Coach Rippetoe has, as the great Nassim Taleb says, “skin in the game” and The Starting Strength protocol I believe is a great example of the Lindy Effect - time tested ie. The gold standard of validation, in total opposite to the “Instagram Effect” ie. fart in the wind tested. More power to all those at Starting Strength, long may the fabulous work continue and I’ll be doing my personal best to amplify the message over here in the UK, because we need it! Ps. Starting Strength cured my long-term Achilles tendon problem in three months, to which my orthopaedic surgeon said “That should not have worked, but it did”. The number of appalling practitioners in the world of so-called medicine needs addressing. Iatrogenics - a HUGE problem.

[Zappey1]

Not only is SS the most informative book about lifting probably ever written but it's companion book: Practical Programming for Strength Training will keep the gains going through a person's whole life. I truly wish I would have found SS earlier when I was in my early 20's.

Is is now our duty to spread the word of SS to who ever will listen!