I came to Starting Strength with some skepticism. With a solid background in CrossFit, Rippetoe’s approach seemed too narrow, too focused on a handful of barbell lifts. But I kept seeing people get stronger on his program while I was spinning my wheels. So I tried it. After several months on the program, and after coaching hundreds of others through it, I consider picking up this book one of the best decisions I have made for my training.
The premise is straightforward. Human beings get stronger by lifting progressively heavier weights in compound movements: the squat, the deadlift, the press, the bench press, and the power clean. Rippetoe explains the biomechanics of each lift in detail, covering everything from bar position to hip drive to breathing patterns. The book reads more like a textbook than a fitness guide, which is part of its appeal. You finish it understanding why these exercises work, not accepting some guru’s word for it.
One thing that stood out to me is the definition of “novice.” Rippetoe does not mean someone new to the gym. He means anyone who has not exhausted their capacity to add weight to the bar every session. By this standard, most people who consider themselves intermediate lifters are still novices. If you cannot squat with confidence and deadlift twice your bodyweight, this book is for you.
Rippetoe writes with certainty. There is no hedging, no “this might work for some people.” He tells you what to do and expects you to do it. I found this refreshing after years of conflicting fitness advice. The results back up his confidence. That said, he has a tendency to offer opinions on subjects outside his expertise, including nutrition and politics. You should ignore those parts.
If your goal is to get stronger and build muscle, Starting Strength delivers. The program is simple but not easy. You will squat three times per week and add weight every session until you cannot anymore. It is monotonous and it is hard. But it works.
This book is for people who want to understand barbell training from first principles. If you prefer variety, or if following a rigid program sounds miserable, look elsewhere. But if you are willing to commit to the basics and trust the process, Starting Strength will get you further than any other program I know.
My highlights
The human body functions as a complete system – it works that way, and it likes to be trained that way. It doesn’t like to be separated into its constituent components and then have those components exercised separately, since the strength obtained from training will not be utilized in this way.
There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.
Properly performed, full-range-of-motion barbell exercises are essentially the functional expression of human skeletal and muscular anatomy under a load.
A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong.
The full-range-of-motion exercise known as the squat is the single most useful exercise in the weight room, and our most valuable tool for building strength, power, and size.