Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [0]
Basic Barbell Training
3rd Edition
Mark Rippetoe
with Stef Bradford
The Aasgaard Company
Wichita Falls, Texas
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Third edition.
Copyright © 2011 by The Aasgaard Company.
First edition published 2005. Second edition 2007.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in a form by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher. The authors and publisher disclaim any responsibility for any adverse effects or consequences from the misapplication or injudicious use of the information presented in this text.
Editor – Catherine E. Oliver, Plain English Publications
Layout & Proof – Stef Bradford
ISBN-13: 978-0-982-5227-4-5 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-982-5227-3-8 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-982-5227-2-1 (epub)
ISBN-10: 0-982-52274-6 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-982-52273-8 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-982-52272-X (epub)
Published in the United States of America
The Aasgaard Company
3118 Buchanan St, Wichita Falls TX 76308, USA
www.aasgaardco.com
www.startingstrength.com
Contents
* * *
Title & Copyright
Preface
In the Gym: Quick Reference
Chapter 1 - Strength: Why and How
Why Barbells
Chapter 2 - The Squat
Loaded Human Movement
Squat Depth - Safety and Importance
Learning to Squat
Leverage and Moment - The Basis of Barbell Training
Common Problems Everyone Should Know How to Solve
The Master Cue
Breathing
Spotting the Squat
Personal Equipment
Coaching Cues
Chapter 3 - The Press
Learning to Press
Faults and Corrections
Chapter 4 - The Deadlift
Learning to Deadlift
Back Position
Pulling Mechanics
The Little Details
Chapter 5 - The Bench Press
Learning to Bench Press
Common Problems Everyone Should Know How to Solve
Breathing
Racking Errors
Spotters
Chapter 6 - The Power Clean
The Neuromuscular System
Power, Force Production, and Velocity
Learning the Power Clean
Correcting Problems
The Power Snatch
Chapter 7 - Useful Assistance Exercises
Partial Movements
Squat Variations
Bench Press Variations
Deadlift Variations
Press Variations
Ancillary Exercises
Barbell Training: There's Just No Substitute
Chapter 8 - Programming
Learning the Lifts
Nutrition and Bodyweight
Equipment
Soreness and Injuries
Barbell Training for Kids
Authors
Credits
Feedback
Preface
Damned if things haven’t changed in the four years since the 2nd edition of Starting Strength was written. The Aasgaard Company has changed personnel, I have met lots of people who have taught me many things, and we have had enormous success with what I thought was going to be a book ignored by the industry, academe, and the exercising public. I was right about the fitness industry and the folks with tenured positions, but I was wrong about you. Since 2007 we have taught several thousand people how to do these five lifts in our weekend seminars, and the 2nd edition has sold more than 80,000 copies, making it one of the best-selling books about weight training in publishing history. Thanks.
Now that we’ve learned some things from you guys – the ones we’ve been busy teaching for four years – the previous material in the 2nd edition is screaming for an update. Some of it is stale, incomplete, or just plain wrong, and it can’t just lay there like a bureaucrat, badly needing something useful to do but making money anyway. This effort is not just the culmination of a top-to-bottom, year-long rewrite. It is the product of an intensive four-year testing program with many of you serving as the experimental population, one which has improved the teaching method for the five lifts, with an extra one thrown in.
It has also been a four-year school for me, as I have tried to find better ways to explain what I know to be true in terms that are understandable, logical, and, most importantly, correct. Much of this material is not in print anywhere else; hopefully, that doesn’t make it wrong. But you’re pretty