https://youtu.be/v-WmWXFC9dw transcript powered by Sonix—the best video to text transcription service

https://youtu.be/v-WmWXFC9dw was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best way to convert your video to text in 2019.

Mark Wulfe:
From The Aasgaard Company Studios in beautiful Wichita Falls, Texas... From the finest mind in the modern fitness industry... The One True Voice in the strength and conditioning profession... The most important podcast on the internet... Ladies and gentlemen! Starting Strength Radio.

Mark Rippetoe:
Welcome back to Starting Strength Radio. Good Friday morning, afternoon, evening to you. Glad to have you with us, as usual. Today we're going to do our tried and true Q & A based program. We've gotten some decent questions in recently through various channels. But as always, we will start with the most interesting comments we always get every week on...

Mark Rippetoe:
Comments from the Haters!

Mark Rippetoe:
Sean McDonald says...

Mark Rippetoe:
Sean McDonald, that really narrows it down, doesn't it? How many hundreds of millions of Sean McDonald's are there in the world? This is just one guy in a sea of Sean McDonald's.

Mark Rippetoe:
"Mark Rippetoe is the man you want if you want to know how long it could take to take two minutes to learn something."

Mark Rippetoe:
That was artfully written, wasn't it?

Mark Rippetoe:
Yes. All right. And lemon tree says, "Rip is against anything other than his own opinions, and he gets so annoyed and worked up at anything that attacks his own beliefs. I love Rip, but it's quite embarrassing how long he spends talking about other people's thoughts. Who gives a fuck?"

Mark Rippetoe:
Well, you do. Lemon tree. Right there [points to printed out comment from lemon tree]. Fascinating.

Mark Rippetoe:
Oh, I like this and this, my favorite one. Joshua DSQUZA says, "You look like a fat turd." Bottom 1 percent, as Joshua writes from the state jail, he's not even... Joshua is not clever enough to even get convicted of an actual felony. He's just... He's done a state jail crime.

Mark Rippetoe:
How do they get access to the internet in the state jail? Do they let inmates have...

[off-camera]:
Smuggled in phones...

Mark Rippetoe:
Smartphones smuggled in? Could be... could be right.

[off-camera]:
In their butt pocket.

Mark Rippetoe:
And here's John Dwyer: "I like the part where the guests speak about themselves and how barbell training has helped them, but the incessant nudging about how stupid contemporary functional training has gotten to be stale. As always, please wear a lighter colored or more translucent shirt so we can see your nipples better. Thanks.".

Mark Rippetoe:
He was talking... Maybe he was addressing that to Julia. Had to be.

Mark Rippetoe:
Let's let's let's assume it's Julia. And that's it for Comments from the Haters!

Mark Rippetoe:
Now. Let's start our little Q&A. These things have come from all over the internet -- Instagram, e-mails. Where else?

[off-camera]:
SpeakUp

Mark Rippetoe:
SpeakUp. Several other places.

Mark Rippetoe:
Had an ad for a car on Hemmings one time, I think one or two of these are from there... They're from all over the place. All right.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. Gabe asks. He says, "My name is Gabe." Got that out of the way. "I'm looking for some thoughts/suggestions on a sciatic nerve issue. I have I have had this nerve issue for the last four years. The pain starts in my right butt cheek and shoots down my leg into the back of my knee, along with traveling up into my lower back. Tried everything from massage therapy, stretching foam, roller, TENS, etc. Some days it's a ten out of ten pain scale and some days I hardly notice it.".

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. Just stop right there. This is the reason I wanted to address this. All right. First, sciatica is typically associated with piriformis tightening and the best way to do that is to have somebody that knows how to do this stick their elbow down into the hollow spot on your ass cheek and rub that thing real, real, real hard for 15, 20 seconds and actually mash on the piriformis to get the get the thing to release a little bit. And that typically takes care of sciatic pain in, you know, the period of time it takes to perform that massage.

Mark Rippetoe:
It's real, real painful. I assure you, it's more painful than the 10 out of 10 pain scale you're reporting. That Gabe here is reporting on his sciatica. It hurts real bad. I suggest bourbon before you get someone to do this.

Mark Rippetoe:
But let's look at this pain scale thing, OK? This is this is terribly interesting, as is always the case with self-reported perceptions of pain or difficulty or anything like that. It's the same thing as RPE, it's completely unreliable. All right, 10 out of 10 pain means that you are drifting in and out of consciousness. OK. In other words, you've already had a seizure and your central nervous system is shutting down from the sensory overload.

Mark Rippetoe:
You haven't had 10 out of 10 pain, Gabe. That's that's not what that is. I've had eight or nine level pain and I know what it feels like. I was in the hospital after my knee surgery back in 94 and. Actually went into a convulsion and I've I've told the story on on the podcast before. Pain is is always overreported by people who have not ever had the level of pain that you only experience in a life or death setting or in, you know, post-op in some situations where the pain level's been poorly controlled. You're not walking around with 10 out of 10 pain. Doesn't happen. You can't walk with 10 out of 10 pain.

Mark Rippetoe:
So. I've had sciatica, I've had bad sciatica, bad sciatica, where you're really limping and moaning and whining and shit is, oh, maybe five. Be considered five or six level pain. It's not 10 out of 10.

Mark Rippetoe:
You guys, you know, the the the the thing... and I don't like your doctors any thing else to make fun of the general public about, but when you go to the doctor and he says, "How bad is it hurting? Scale of one to 10" and you say ten. The doctor says to himself, "Oh goddamn, another one of these." All right.

Mark Rippetoe:
So don't don't, don't, don't feed that. All right. Learn to appreciate the fact, yeah, we know your back hurts. I know you got sciatica. I know what it feels like. It's not 10 out of 10.

Mark Rippetoe:
But keep in mind that sciatica is very treatable. It's very treatable. You just have to find a therapist that knows how to do it. And the way to do it is to the way I do it. When I have to do it, when I have to treat these things, I've got a little table in my middle room. I'll lay down on the table. I'll put the the bad side up. I'll bend the knee up, create a little exposure of the glute and I'll stick my elbow down in that thing and I'll lean on it with my whole bodyweight and I'll rub my elbow in a circle for ten or fifteen twenty seconds - as long as the patient will... can lay there and stand it, because I'm telling you, this hurts. But you get up and it's gone. Right.

Mark Rippetoe:
Sciatica like that is very treatable. In fact, whenever I have had sciatica, I typically go ahead and do my squat workout, it's gone by the end of squat workout. Usually fixes it.

Mark Rippetoe:
So don't be... Don't let sciatica cripple you and certainly don't let sciatica make you say stupid things like it's 10 out of 10 pain because it's not, OK?

Mark Rippetoe:
Now. "I've deadlift..." Who's this? This is Sean Bogart. "I've deadlifted 6 years" No "I've deadlifted for years with no issues with my knees. I took some time off of lifting as I was training for a marathon. Now that I'm lifting again, I've noticed when I deadlift higher weights, my knees are buckling, caving in. Any thoughts on the issue?".

Mark Rippetoe:
Yes. Sean, you're weak. You know why you're weak? Because you were training for a marathon. Marathon training makes you weak. All right, you don't retain strength training for a marathon because marathons do not require strength. They just require that you not care that you've signed up for running twenty-six miles.

Mark Rippetoe:
One foot in front of the other. Twenty-six miles. And I'll bet you didn't run it in under two hours either, did you?

Mark Rippetoe:
That that's all there is to that. Quit training for marathons and you'll quit being weak. Maybe you will one day again soon be able to keep your knees straight when you deadlift.

Mark Rippetoe:
OK. Here is this is Mike Palios. I'm reading these names because they put their names on them. I mean, if you send me an email and your whole name's on here, I want to get you credit for the question. Right. They didn't write in anonymously. Anyone disagree with that policy?

[off-camera]:
No.

Mark Rippetoe:
Everybody thinks it's good? All right. Good.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. He says he'd sent this by Twitter, but he'll give it a shot by e-mail. He's forty-five. He's trying for a one mile race on 12/31/19. He started Starting Strength last week, but he's running a race, a one mile race, on New Year's Eve. All right. So he's, what, 10 weeks out says he's going to run twenty to twenty five miles a week.

[off-camera]:
Why?

Mark Rippetoe:
For a one mile race, he's going to run twenty to twenty five miles a week.

Mark Rippetoe:
"How should Starting Strength progress expectations be adjusted if at all?".

[off-camera]:
He's going to start training January 2.

Mark Rippetoe:
Yeah, in other words, what you're going to do, you're going to start training Starting Strength January the second, because if you are intending to run twenty-five miles a week from now, you can't train for strength while you're running twenty-five miles a week. You can't do this program anyway. That's bizarre.

Mark Rippetoe:
He has a 30-year history of running triathalon. Very little lifting outside of push ups and pull ups. Which, by the way, are not lifting, right?

Mark Rippetoe:
"I've never been particularly strong." That's what a shock. And but he can run forever.

Mark Rippetoe:
Well, Mike, it. Mike, my friend. It just depends on what the hell you intended to do here. If you're going to... if you want to get stronger, you have to understand that stronger and twenty-five miles a week running are two mutually exclusive concepts unless you're particularly gifted.

Mark Rippetoe:
Now. Now, Fox - Fox is not normal, though - what did Fox do last time he was here? He pulled a set of 585 deadlifts, having run twenty-five miles that week...

[off-camera]:
He's a freak of nature.

Mark Rippetoe:
Yeah. But Mike, you're not Fox. OK.

Mark Rippetoe:
So. So your question is how should your progress expectations be adjusted, if at all, you should adjust your progress expectations to zero, and when you get serious about getting strong, you're going to need to spend several months not running and doing Starting Strength. And what you'll find is, is when you go back to running, you'll be just fine. You'll be just fine.

Mark Rippetoe:
Although I question the either intelligence or intent of a person who's running twenty-five miles a week in preparation for a one-mile race. That's not particularly good planning either, so...maybe you ought to look into this a little bit more. OK. But thanks for the question, Mike.

Mark Rippetoe:
OK. Now, here is a guy by the name of Brian Walters who wants to know... He says, "Hi, Rip. Do you ever go fishing? Do you have a favorite fish?"

Mark Rippetoe:
I don't ever go fishing, Brian. I've got a place to fish, but I just don't go fishing. I catch - and I think I've mentioned this before - I catch exactly the same number of fish if I go fishing as if I don't go fishing. So I've decided that the time is better spent by not going fishing.

Mark Rippetoe:
And I don't have a favorite fish other than the one that I don't have to catch. I like salmon. Salmon's good. That's a that's a favorite fish - I've never caught one because I can't catch fish.

Mark Rippetoe:
Arctic char is very good. You've ever had Arctic char?

[off-camera]:
I'm not big on fish.

Mark Rippetoe:
You don't like fish? Nobody likes fish? Well, you people are just not as cosmopolitan as I am.

Mark Rippetoe:
Yes. I so enjoy being superior to other people.

[off-camera]:
To your employees.

Mark Rippetoe:
To my employees.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right, here is actually a good question. John David Maher - spells his site name the same way that Bill Maher the comedian, using the term loosely spells his. "Any suggestions on adding more arm strength? I do fine on my squats when I do bench, deadlifts, my arms are very weak.".

Mark Rippetoe:
I don't know how he would know that his arms are weak when he's doing deadlifts. I mean... John, do they hang onto the bar or not?

Mark Rippetoe:
"My core, chest, back and abs have a lot of strength, but my arms are weak. Suggestions for how to strengthen arms will be appreciated. Bought your book on Kindle, great resource. Sixty-five, been lifting light weights for about six months. How?" And then he says, I've noticed a difference in my core, back, chest, and abs lifting light weights. Work out with weights three times a week. Walk about a mile, three days a week.

Mark Rippetoe:
Well, all right. First thing I would suggest is that that, John, you have not tried to get anything strong lifting light weights. So the first approach I would take to strengthening my arms would be to lift heavier weights because strength is a production of force and lifting light weights does not require much in the way of force production. That's why we call them light. If they're light, then you don't have to produce a lot of force to lift them. And if you're not producing a lot of force lifting the weights, then nothing has to adapt. And it's an excellent way to stay exactly the same all the time is to lift light weights because they don't force anything to change.

Mark Rippetoe:
That having been said for older people... and Dr. Sullivan up in in Farmington Hills, Michigan, runs his gym as essentially a geriatric practice, and he... I don't even think he'd let you sign up his gym unless you're 55 or older. And he's he's done an interesting approach to some of these people that are old and frail in that he has them do standing barbell curls as one of the main lifts.

Mark Rippetoe:
Now, I have, you know, been critical of people that go to the gym and just do curls because that's stupid. Right. But for a 75-year-old guy whose shoulders are so beat up that he can't press and he has a lot of trouble bench pressing, too. I mean, we've got to do something for the upper body for arm strength and standing barbell curls have have proven their usefulness as a multi-joint structural exercise in cases where better movement patterns are not available to the trainee.

Mark Rippetoe:
So not this is not John's case. John's just fucking around. He's lifting light weights and wonders why he's not strong. Well, that's why you're not strong, John. You're lifting light weights. If you want to get stronger you have to get where you are lifting heavier weights.

Mark Rippetoe:
But keep in mind that a barbell curl's not always to be laughed at. There are there are certain instances where they can be very carefully applied to the right person's training and where a lot of benefits in terms of ab and back strength and and leg strength. Even for that matter, position holding strength is is benefited by doing a standing barbell curl. Just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.

Mark Rippetoe:
And I hope you understand that I'm not advocating the addition of barbell curls to the basic novice program. That's not what I'm saying. But you know, those of you that... you know, you're going to say go ahead and start typing. Right.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right, "Rip, I hope this finds you healthy, well, and thriving." Well, yes, Kenny, it does. I'm just as fine as frog hair. I'm doing just well. "I realize that you are real busy and don't mean to give you more to do. And I will understand if you don't have time to reply to me. Well, Kenny, here we are. I'm replying to you, so hurry up. All right.

Mark Rippetoe:
"My brief story is that I am a 53-year-old male living in Scotland. I have several problems with my health. I'm 5'9, 245-250. Not a pretty sight. Don't always didn't always look like this. Need to turn things around somehow. Symptoms that I suffer are with following."

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. Now, here are several bullet points. I want you to take careful note of this pattern. All right.

Mark Rippetoe:
"Feel down in mood. Lethargy, low energy, low to no sex drive. Poor motivation. Head feels like it's full of cotton wool, brain fog getting fat and weak. Sore joints. Doctor carried out various tests after and after blood tests they gave me the results below. They told me that I was getting old, accept it and to lose weight."

Mark Rippetoe:
"Bloods were taken and all are within normal range except the following hormones. FSH is high." Something's trying real hard. "Lutenising hormone is high." Something's trying real hard. "Testosterone is low. Nine nanomoles per litre. Reference range is nine point four to thirty-one. Calculated free testosterone is 183. While the reference range of 245 to 785.".

Mark Rippetoe:
See a problem?

Mark Rippetoe:
"I asked for something that would boost my testosterone levels and they gave me gel sachets, which I had rub on my skin, were totally shit, made no difference to me at all. Looking at what I have written, what do you think I should do? I don't feel ready for the scrap heap yet. I have a decent gym in my basement, but just don't have energy, motivation to get down there and use it."

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. Several several things here. I don't know what your diet's like. Don't know how you are sleeping. Imagine you're not sleeping for shit because with this list of symptoms goes... goes bad sleep. All right. You're not sleeping well. I don't know what you're eating. All right. Don't know how well you're eating. Don't know well you're taking care of your diet. Don't know if you're gettingg enough protein. You didn't mention any of that. All right. But this is a classic presentation for testosterone replacement therapy. It's a classic presentation.

Mark Rippetoe:
There is no set of symptoms and bloodwork tat you could have that more thoroughly indicate the need for testosterone replacement therapy than this. Now they gave you some things to rub on your little skin. All right. I mean, let me point something out. If we are trying to get your serum testosterone levels up. We can only be sure of the dose we deliver to you if we inject it into your muscle belly. And intramuscular injection of testosterone is the only quantifiable way to administer a dose of testosterone.

Mark Rippetoe:
Skin treatments get rubbed off, get rub onto your wife, on the dog. You know, they they absorb differently depending on how thick your skin is, various conditions on the surface of the skin. And if we're trying to make sure that we are delivering an actual dose of testosterone, that's going to get you up where you need to be - and where you need to be is at the top of that reference range, you want it as high as you can get it, actually. If it goes above the reference range, it's not going to kill you. But a guy with that set of symptoms really is in a situation where he needs to have his testosterone increased.

Mark Rippetoe:
Testosterone replacement therapy is an extremely beneficial approach for most men over the age of 45 or 50. In my opinion, I think everybody over the age of 45 or 50 needs testosterone replacement therapy if he intends to not complain about having low testosterone. All those symptoms, that's low testosterone. It's classic presentation. And if the British Public Health Service is not capable of helping you out in an effective way, then perhaps you need to investigate alternate sources of testosterone.

Mark Rippetoe:
I don't know what the situation is for private TRT clinics in the UK. I hope that your bizarre little society over there has left open the possibility that such a business could exist. I don't know. I don't know enough about the situation over there. But you need some testosterone. You need to figure what you need to do to get it. You can fuck around with this the rest of your life and slide down into a situation where you just don't care anymore. And if you don't mind not caring, then that's the way to go.

Mark Rippetoe:
OK. But that's not what I'm going to do. All right. And if you want to feel better, then. First thing I'd do is examine my diet, my sleep. Get back to training, get those things out of the way because you have control over that. All right. You have control over your diet, your sleep and your training. If you get that all squared away. The next thing I would suggest is to investigate testosterone replacement therapy, and you may have to do some extraordinary things to get it if they're not going to help you. But injectable test is cheap. It's way cheaper than the derm approach to the thing. And I think that's something you ought to look into.

Mark Rippetoe:
Okay. "Dear Mark." This is dear Barent DuBois - Barent DuBois. I guess. "I enjoy listening to Starting Strength Radio. It's an excellent program." I couldn't agree more.

Mark Rippetoe:
"I recently finished Episode 20. B-52s in the Strategic Air Command with Scott Davison." My favorite show to date. Hell, I've watched that three times. I just like listening to Scott's stories and I'm glad you enjoyed it like I did. "It was this was a fascinating discussion. As a counterpoint have you heard of or read the book Among the Dead Cities by AC Grayling?" I have not. I have not. He says there's a wonderful discussion about about the book put out by C-SPAN where Grayling and Christopher Hitchens discuss and debate the book. And he gives the link to that. That will be in the doo-bil-ee-doo at bottom down here.

"And it is much to do with the moral and ethical considerations of the allied bombing campaign and the morality of bombing as a method of warfare in general." And he wants to know, do I enjoy historical non-fiction, if so, are there any other books, authors you would recommend.

Mark Rippetoe:
I do read a few things, although I'm not gonna be in a position to recommend anything because this is not my specialty. I just read... right in the middle of a book on the history of Area 51 that I find fascinating, although poorly edited. I can't remember the name of the author that wrote that. That was that thing Nick gave me.

Mark Rippetoe:
Fascinating book. Area 51, apparently... as you know, Area 51 is - and she pays some service to this aliens thing - but primarily Area 51 is a is a is a really of a place out in the middle of the desert in Nevada where they develop clandestine aircraft. And...

[off-camera]:
Is it Annie Jacobsen?

Mark Rippetoe:
Yeah. Annie Jacobsen book is is what that is. She really needs an editor that's like better than she is. But a whole lot of good work went into this book and it is it's fascinating. It talks about the development of U2 and the A12 and the SR71. All of those projects took place out there in the middle of the desert. And I'm fascinated with aircraft. But the the books about that topic are very, always very interesting. And she gets off into the aliens thing and stuff and didn't really do a very good job with it, but the the information about the aircraft are fascinating.

Mark Rippetoe:
Allied bombing during World War 2. That's an interesting an interesting topic. A lot of people like to immediately jump to the conclusion that saturation bombing - this this type of strategic bombing as opposed to tactical bombing - is immoral in the case of war. That's an interesting and interesting position to take. It really is.

Mark Rippetoe:
Is it moral? Was it moral to wipe out Dresden and Leipzig in World War 2 with strategic bombing? The question that you would have to ask is why were we doing the strategic bombing of Leipzig and Dresden? And I think had Hitler not invaded Poland, it probably would not have been necessary for, you know, and all the subsequent misbehavior that took place on the part of the German government, World War 2.

Mark Rippetoe:
I think the saturation bombing of Leipzig and Dresden probably would not have been necessary. So the question would then become was the method that presented itself as the most effective deal with the larger geopolitical situation. The method that was... a situation it was not our creation. Was the method that we found necessary to deal with that moral or immoral? And outside the context of the bigger picture, I don't think that questions is answerable.

Mark Rippetoe:
Whatever we did to bring that situation to a halt was moral because it needed to stop. Was the - in a similar in a similar vein - was the firebombing of Tokyo by Curtis LeMay's bombing units, was that moral? killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Mark Rippetoe:
The deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians is by itself obviously immoral, but whose fault was that? Had we not done it and had Japan continued down the road they were on? Would the conclusion of that activity have been moral too?

Mark Rippetoe:
You know, when governments go to war, they embroil their citizens in activities that their citizens don't necessarily choose to be embroiled in. Nonetheless, the situation is created. Had we not bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan would not have surrendered.

Mark Rippetoe:
And, you know, and this has been kicked around, and in my opinion, is is not particularly valuable on this, but you did ask when you mentioned the morality of bombing as a method of warfare in general - is effective in ending the conflict? And whose side of the conflict is the moral side of the conflict? Those are terribly complicated questions. I understand things are not always cut and dried.

Mark Rippetoe:
But strategic bombing works. We discussed that with with Davison and his thoughts on it or are interesting and relevant. And I think that whatever stops the war ultimately ends up being moral. And we'll give that some more thought later. See if we can find somebody else to talk to about it because that's an interesting question.

Mark Rippetoe:
I don't like... I like interesting questions like that that get us outside the context of training occasionally.

Mark Rippetoe:
Oh, this is interesting. "P.S. I also listen to your discussion about trans athletes in episode 1. I have a sister-in-law who is trans that I'm very close with and I admit to a certain hesitation before I listened to 'A Lie Agreed Upon'" which was our title for the show, "However, I found your discussion to be very informative, sensitive and thoughtful. Thanks." Well, I appreciate that very much. That's Balant DuBois'comments.

Mark Rippetoe:
Okay. Now back to topical material here. Sasha Herfort... Sacha Here- for. Since we're doing French. You realize, of course, that my name is pronounced 'Rib-deux.' That's absolutely true. It's a French name, a French name. You'll notice that when you when you listen to NPR, National Public Radio, everybody with the Spanish surname has to have their Spanish surname pronounced with a Spanish accent.

[off-camera]:
An incredibly thick...

Mark Rippetoe:
An incredibly thick, almost comical Spanish accent. No one's name is "Garcia" on National Public Radio. They are "GART-SEE-AH!" So if your name is John Garcia or Brian Garcia, it's pronounced Brian GART-SEEEE-AH!!! Not I don't understand the reason for this pompous nonsense. This moralizing about tje pronunciation of a foreign name. I just hope that I get the chance to go on NPR and insist that they pronounce my name "REEB-DEUX."

[off-camera]:
I just say just go with it now. All the time.

Mark Rippetoe:
Yeah I could start repronouncing my own name. Rebrand myself. It's only rebranding after all. REEB-DEUX. People re-brand all the time, right?

[off-camera]:
Wear a beret.

Mark Rippetoe:
Wear a bere. Cigarette with a cigarette holder. Ascot, right?

[off-camera]:
I really like this version of you that I've got in my head.

Mark Rippetoe:
Copy of Rousseau on the table here for reference purposes.

[off-camera]:
Curly mustache.

Mark Rippetoe:
Curly mustache. Oh god almightly.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. So Sacha Herfort asks, "Can you go into detail about strength not being specific as opposed to skill. When I discuss strength training with friends, I find it difficult to argue that point. Common objections are that gymnastics or climbing require strength in a very specific pose. Say the iron cross or toe heel hooks and such poses are better trained by adding or removing weight to said pose."

Mark Rippetoe:
Ok, Sasha, let's see if we can figure out a way to explain this. If we are talking about gymnastics or climbing that require hand strength, I don't know of a better way to develop hand strength and to get your double-overhand grip deadlift up to 405 for a set of 5.

Mark Rippetoe:
And how do you get your deadlift up to 405 for a set of 5? Well, previous to 405 you had to have done 400 for a set of five and then 395 for a set of five and the 390 for a set of five and then 385 for a set of five and then 380 for a set of five and then 375 for a set of five. And prior to that 370 for a set of five and 365 for a set of five and 360 for a set of five and 355 for a set of five. And all the way back down to the day you started at 135 for a set five with a double overhand grip, five pounds at a time.

Mark Rippetoe:
What happens to your grip strength holding onto a bar with a double-overhand grip? As you progress from 135 to 405, your hands got stronger. Is it necessary for me to explain to you that hands that are stronger gripping a bar with a double-overhand grip are also stronger in this position as well?

Mark Rippetoe:
Do you understand that strength -- see, this is this is the the the essence of the question -- strength is not specific. A stronger hand is a stronger hand no matter what position that hand is used in. In other words, it doesn't matter how you position the hand while it's getting stronger. If all of the muscle mass that you can call into the movement pattern is used in the exercise, that makes it stronger. And the exercises worked over a full range of motion with increasingly heavy weight, then the strength that is produced by that type of training is applicable in every situation where you use your hand. All right.

Mark Rippetoe:
It doesn't require that you be hanging off of a wall with increasingly heavier weights tied on your ankles. To build the strength, it's much more practical to build that strength with the barbell sitting on the floor that you pick up. Now, I understand all the considerations necessary for maintaining low bodyweight for a climber or a gymnast. Okay, I understand all this shit, but we're talking about the process of getting stronger. That's how you get stronger. You get stronger in the way that produces the most effective increase in strength. And that will therefore be the most effective way to get stronger for any activity requires that strength.

Mark Rippetoe:
In fact, it's... the more general your approach to the acquisition of that strength, the more things get strong in you than if you just try to mimic the the one aspect of the use of the strength that you're going to encounter during the sport exposure. Right? If all you do to get your hands strong is hang, then what about your hips and your legs and the rest of your back and shoulders, trap and all that other stuff that could be getting strong at the same time. Where you're leaving that out. So you're not being efficient in terms of your training. All right.

Mark Wulfe:
But what you have to understand is that a man can deadlift 405 is stronger than a man can deadlift 135. And strong all over. He's strong all over because a deadlift uses all the muscles. Therefore, everything got stronger. Stronger. Means force production. It doesn't mean force production in a certain pattern of application. It means the ability to produce more force against the external resistance and whatever that external resistance is, the force production capacity is higher. If you're stronger.

Mark Rippetoe:
I mean, I hope you understand this. You don't have to. This is what's wrong with functional training. It it it completely misses the point that strength is a general adaptation all over the body. If it's acquired correctly. And if if you are... if your deadlift goes from 135 to 405, everything on you got stronger. And everything that is in your body that is now stronger is now capable of more force protection. It doesn't matter what subsist... what the specifics of that application are.

Mark Rippetoe:
So how do we most effectively acquire strength? We acquire it, not in the way that it looks like we're going to use it when we apply it. We acquire it in the way that's the most effective and efficient for the acquisition of the strength itself because that gets the job done much more efficiently and effectively than trying to analyze the terminal application of that strength and making the acquisition of the strength look just exactly like that. That's inefficient. And I hope you understand that.

Mark Rippetoe:
Iron Cross comes up. The Iron Cross is a perfect example of an activity that applies strength to the specific application of that strength through what we call practice. All right. Now, a light guy, a lightweight 130 pound gymnast can... is not going to have as much trouble displaying his strength in the Iron Cross position as a man that weighs 200 pounds. Obviously, that's why gymnastics favors a light bodyweight. But what I'm telling you is that the bench press and the deadlift and the weighted chin would be the best ways to acquire strength for an iron cross. And then you practice the Iron Cross applying that strength in the specific movement pattern you're going to use on the rings.

Mark Rippetoe:
So that's my position on this. If this needs further elaboration, Sasha, let me know. We'll talk about it again.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. Oh, this goes over here. All right, now... coffee.

Mark Rippetoe:
Isn't that a beautiful mug?

[off-camera]:
We sell that on the store.

Mark Rippetoe:
These things are available - startingstrength.com Get yours today.

[off-camera]:
Also that T-shirt too.

Mark Rippetoe:
This T-shirt. You like this T-shirt? Isn't it cool? Black on black. Subtle. Understated. They're very cool, very sexy, especially on me. Yet I notice the little lines in the shirt. How to I get rid of those? Every time I look at these videos, I've noticed the lines. Does that look different?A

[off-camera]:
A little better.

Mark Rippetoe:
Does that look better or just different?

[off-camera]:
Pull your shoulders back. Stick out your nipples. Whoa! You been working out? Why are they so hard?

Mark Rippetoe:
I don't know. I think it's you, Bre. Could be.

[off-camera]:
Well, I hope it's not me.

Mark Rippetoe:
It's not odd. I assure you, it's not you, Rusty. It's not you.

Mark Rippetoe:
Here's a few random questions from Instagram. "What are your thoughts on the use of shock collars in horse and dog training?" Like somehow those are equivalent. Horse training with a shock collar is an excellent way to get everybody killed. All right. So if you want everybody dead, you go right ahead and do that. OK. Dog training, they're very useful. Very, very useful. It doesn't take many times of shocking a dog with a shock collar before he understands that God doesn't want him doing that thing that he's doing.

Mark Rippetoe:
Oh, God. We had had introduced Alfred to the shock collar because he got to where he was chasing cows. One time. It took one time. He went off chasing the cattle and I turned that thing up to about 11 and shocked him. And he flipped over on his back, flipped over on his back, yelled, screamed, cried. He howled pitifully and came running back because he didn't associate the shock with me. He associated the shock with the cows. He thought the cows had shocked him. And he wouldn't... he'd never set foot around a cow ever again. He was very impressionable. He learned very quickly. That took one time, one time.

Mark Rippetoe:
And I gladly shocked him because it was, you know, you can't have a cow, can't have a dog chasing cattle. Just can't can't have it. So that worked real well for him. But on a horse? Have you lost your mind? God almighty. Oh, I got.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. _josephaguilar_ asks, "Will Rip ever return to his 80s shaggy-haired glory?"

Mark Rippetoe:
Joe, come on, man. No. You know, I don't need this shit. I don't need. I don't need you rubbing it in. Go away.

Mark Rippetoe:
All right. "Hello. I've been tempting to run the novice program at least three times over the past few years, but I've been derailed each time, mainly due to life events which affect recovery. I'm forty-six years old 210 and pretty much intact," he says.

Mark Rippetoe:
And by that I interpret that his situation is... such that the "animal rescue" people have not adopted him out of a shelter.

Mark Rippetoe:
"But I seem to stall quickly when my squat hits 260ish. Is there a point where I should just accept the fact that I'm not the intended demographic and look to some other type of program?".

[off-camera]:
No, Alexandro, you should accept the fact that you're not doing the fucking program correctly. Do the fucking program correctly. What's the name of the article? A Clarification. Look at two articles, A Clarification and The First 3 Questions. Read those two articles, just two articles. You're you're not doing the program. That's all there is to it.

"I was curious," Sam asks "I was curious about your opinion of pre-workout supplements. I've read your article on supplementation, I know caffeine can be useful for lifting, but do you think the average lifter should get after a pre-workout mix or just through taking caffeine pills?"

Mark Rippetoe:
Well, I'll tell you what, if you guys want to do a pre workout drink, I think that's fine. There's some other stuff in it that might be beneficial to you. I think you need to try one or two or three. So it would see which one works best for you.

Mark Rippetoe:
A lot of people have used coffee with sugar. For decades, that's been the pre-workout drink of choice.

[off-camera]:
I use Pulse from Mike...

Mark Rippetoe:
Matthew's Pulse. Yeah, that's good stuff.

[off-camera]:
I think it is fantastic.

Mark Rippetoe:
That's that's good stuff. Pulse from our friend Mike Matthews. Legion supplements and they're on Amazon. I highly recommend that one. Pulse, a very good pre-workout drink.

Mark Rippetoe:
You know, monsters, probably. You know, people do that. I don't understand why everybody likes Red Bull...

[off-camera]:
Legion Athletics.

Mark Rippetoe:
Yeah. Legion athletics dot com or on Amazon. I don't understand why people would like Red Bull. It tastes like cat piss. I mean, tastes like cat piss smells. Let me let me clarify. OK.

Mark Rippetoe:
It's that obnoxious taurine or whatever was in that shit. Oh, God, I'd rather just be asleep. Any of these drinks that are, you know, stimulant in nature that have got some kind of caffeine in them from guarana or whatever source. If you... if you find that people find them, they don't tolerate a bunch of shit like that in their stomach before they train. If that's you, take caffeine pills, they you don't feel them at all for they don't upset your stomach. They've got no effect on your stomach whatsoever. But, you know, caffeine always takes 20 to 30 minutes to go in. Nothing is immediate with a caffeine supplementation. You have to take it well in advance of the event because it takes a while for serum levels to come up out of your stomach.

Mark Rippetoe:
So make your make your plans to take whatever pre-workout stimulus you intend to use prior to the part of the session. You know, time it for your warm ups or you need to do. But I don't think there's a magic about a pre-workout. I think that if you like a pre workout, that you oughta that you ought to use one. There certainly nothing magic about any particular group of supplemented ingredients in a in a pre-workout. Caffeine works pretty well.

Coffee with sugar. Worked for decades. I don't like the way sugar tastes, but.... I doing like the way sweet stuff tastes, really. But. Yes, it certainly give those a try. Yes, absolutely. Whatever helps you with your workouts is what you need to do. So that's that's about all the good stuff we got today.

Mark Rippetoe:
Those of your thoughtful questions you'd like to submit can be submitted to us through any of the avenues with which we communicate with you on social media. You can go to my Facebook page, my personal Twitter page, send it into e mail at the store. It'll get to this desk right here. And here in a few more weeks when we accumulate enough material to make a decent show, we'll do another Q&A.

Mark Rippetoe:
In the meantime, we thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time on Starting Strength Radio.

Quickly and accurately convert video to text with Sonix.

Sonix uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to convert your be/v-WmWXFC9dw files to text.

Thousands of documentary filmmakers and journalists use Sonix to convert be/v-WmWXFC9dw file to srt or vtt to make their media content more accessible to the viewing public.

Sonix is the best online video transcription software in 2019—it's fast, easy, and affordable.

If you are looking for a great way to convert your be/v-WmWXFC9dw to text, try Sonix today.