Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition Paperback – November 11, 2011

I have been searching for this book for most of my life. I'm 55 and since I was in high school I've yearned for a definitive source on lifting. I had natural strength, but success can be the worst enemy of progress. By the time I was not the strongest kid in my class (Junior year of high school), I did not know what to do to be competitive. As it turns out, the programs we were aware of at the time were better than nothing but not very good. Where was this book back then?Mark wears many hats in this book: coach, trainer, physiologist, physics instructor, philosopher and occasionally comedian.I had never done a dead lift before this program - partially because I was afraid to get hurt. I am 2 months into the program and have increased my dead lift over 100lbs and no longer have any symptoms of back problems that have nagged me for over 20 years. I feel like I'm quite early in my journey.The documentation on squats is outstanding. Squats require superb technique and you get outstanding instruction from the book.My 13 year old son is in the program and his progress is ridiculous. His peers in school are left wondering how he's gotten so big and more importantly strong.The important things this book delivers:1) Focus on "system" disciplines where what you are doing attacks multiple muscle groups like the squat (calves, quads, hams, glutes, etc.)2) You get to know why. Call it my own proclivity but it is encouraging and inspirational for me to understand the "why". Most other stuff I've read does not do that. You not only get the "why" you are doing something, you also get the why other things are less desirable.3) Technique is an enormous focus of the book. This is critical. Injuries can be a problem when you're flinging around 100's of lbs. You get the guidance from this book on how to do things correctly which keeps you out of the injury "penalty box".4) Expectations are set. You are told how things will go (and why of course). He has been "dead on" in my experience (as well as my son's).5) A simple program. There are only a handful of lifts that you do. Workout sessions are not long and typically 3 times per week.I strongly recommend this book to anyone that wants to get stronger. As "Rip" says, no matter what you do physically, it's better if you're stronger. Get Strong!

Starting Strength provides in-depth observations and judgments on basic barbell training, which many will fail to grasp and eventually fail themselves as a result of their poor grasp of the essential details. It is not to say that there are no similar programs or books that can compare with Starting Strength, as there are quite a few. In fact, any solid barbell training book will have a similar foundation.I read Bill Starr's "The Strongest Shall Survive" many years ago, and the program doesn't differ all too much. Starting Strength is different in that it doesn't cover all of the same aspects, and lacks any information about supplementation and nutrition like Bill Starr's eye opening book (though much of Starr's nutritional observations may seem archaic or too eccentric to many modern readers, unfortunately). But Mark Rippetoe didn't determine that sort of information would be necessary for his book, and he is correct. It is the impressive depth of biomechanical realities, details and fixing foolish mistakes, explained in a logical and thorough manner, which set Starting Strength above any other barbell training book. But both books (Starting Strength, and The Strongest Shall Survive) are quite exceptional choices, especially for beginners.If you are a young man considering barbell training to improve performance in athletics, martial arts or simple self improvement through the barbell, and you lack the resources of a knowledgeable and highly expensive professional trainer, I would recommend this book, above all others to you. This book will aid you immensely, perhaps especially so to avoid unnecessary, painful and stupid injuries, which come so often to so many simply because they lack guidance. And who needs another setback? If you are not a young man, but still desire to learn how to perform heavy lifts and do it correctly for whatever goals you desire, I would recommend this book to you as well.

If you want to be strong...really strong, then the answer is simple: read this book.Being whole-body-strong is what this book encourages and teaches. Mark espouses a small number of compound movements done efficiently and properly to maximise your body's capacity to lift, as well as maximally develop your body's capacity to lift.But this book is not just a program. In fact if all you want is the program then you could find it online without looking very hard at all.For me, the real value in this book is primarily in the instruction on training the lifts. Before reading this book, my squat form was bad. I didn't need anyone to tell me: I just knew it. This, despite reading many instructional articles on how to correctly squat. After reading the chapter on the squat once, my form improved immensely...and I will continue to refer back to it for further development. Mark Rippetoe has gone to extraordinary effort to break the movements down into their component parts and describe them in a high level of detail referencing engineering principles, anatomical descriptions and some very helpful photo sequences. You don't need to be an engineer to understand what he's trying to say, nor an anatomist. Mark describes the lifts with reference to several disciplines of study in such a way that everyone who pays attention will pick it up, and learn a few things along the way.The other gem within this book is the no-nonsense, just-go-and-do-it approach to building strength. Mark believes: people should be strong; it doesn't need to take years to become strong; you only need a small number of lifts at the initial stages; and, you should add weight to the bar every session. This is manifest within the actual program and is endemic throughout the whole book.There's far more to it than that. To get it, you will have to read the book.Highly recommended.