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Mark Rippetoe, the author, is a broken old man as a result of his methods. He is also known as a loudmouth that gets more attention than he deserves in the com

Mark Rippetoe, the author, is a broken old man as a result of his methods. He is also known as a loudmouth that gets more attention than he deserves in the community. I would not recommend his methods or book. Although his book got popular among amateurs, it has no place in modern powerlifting and is considered antiquated and rife with bad advice.

iron0013 7y ago
That's news to me, but based on my gut reaction to the way Rippetoe writes and speaks (bloviating and seemingly over-certain about the science of things, which gives the impression that he actually knows very little about the science) I'm not surprised! Do you know of any alternative books or other sources that don't suffer from the same issues?
MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
What would you recommend as alternatives?
- tjpaudio 7y ago
  Wendler 5/3/1 is popular.
- scott_s 7y ago
  Beginner’s Guide to Powerlifting by Chad Wesley Smith: https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-powerlifting/ https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-power... I have not read the book, but Chad is a respected competitor and coach in the community. I have watched the Juggernaut Training YouTube channel for a few years now, and they always have sound advice for both beginner and expert lifters.
agent008t 7y ago
Any summary of what specifically the bad advice is?
CodeAndCuffs 7y ago
Rippetoe has a video of him deadlifting 500 pounds at age 56. He's not the peak of physical fitness, but he is significantly stronger than most people. To say that his advice is antiquated is controversial at best. SS is written for the brand new beginner, and is advertised as such. Its prototypical student is a high school freshman that weighs 140 lbs and needs to get bigger and stronger to make the football team. Another commenter said it ignores other factors like diet and rest. This is objectively incorrect. The book harps on eating and sleeping/resting. Rest days are sacred. If you are trying to go from. 100 lb squat to 300 in a few months, you sleep and eat, taking occasional breaks to lift heavy. If you are fat, eat slightly less. SS isn't about body building, it's about a brand new lifter getting to a non-embarassing level of strength. That means eating an adequate amount of food, erroring on the side of eating too much, and just cut back the calories after you have a 300+ lb squat. People like to make a meme of things like the 'Gallon of Milk A Day' advice. That's not general advice. That's for the 110 lb 15 year old who doesn't like eating food and wants to get bigger. It's not advice for the 20 something software dev trying to go from weak and fat to bodybuilder
- tjpaudio 7y ago
  I'm a former national level competitive powerlifter, I am just echoing how he is viewed from the athletes in the actual sport.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
toasterlovin 7y ago
On the contrary, Rippetoe is the only author who has a rigorous, physics-based framework that explains why he recommends doing the lifts the way he does. Speaking frankly, the rest of the industry is mostly jackasses selling lifting-bro bullshit and crackpot theories.
plausibilities 7y ago
That's why you switch to Sheiko methodology once you break past the n00b gains

iron0013 7y ago

That's news to me, but based on my gut reaction to the way Rippetoe writes and speaks (bloviating and seemingly over-certain about the science of things, which gives the impression that he actually knows very little about the science) I'm not surprised! Do you know of any alternative books or other sources that don't suffer from the same issues?

MrBuddyCasino 7y ago

What would you recommend as alternatives?

tjpaudio 7y ago
Wendler 5/3/1 is popular.
scott_s 7y ago
Beginner’s Guide to Powerlifting by Chad Wesley Smith: https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-powerlifting/ https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-power... I have not read the book, but Chad is a respected competitor and coach in the community. I have watched the Juggernaut Training YouTube channel for a few years now, and they always have sound advice for both beginner and expert lifters.

agent008t 7y ago

Any summary of what specifically the bad advice is?

CodeAndCuffs 7y ago

Rippetoe has a video of him deadlifting 500 pounds at age 56. He's not the peak of physical fitness, but he is significantly stronger than most people. To say that his advice is antiquated is controversial at best. SS is written for the brand new beginner, and is advertised as such. Its prototypical student is a high school freshman that weighs 140 lbs and needs to get bigger and stronger to make the football team. Another commenter said it ignores other factors like diet and rest. This is objectively incorrect. The book harps on eating and sleeping/resting. Rest days are sacred. If you are trying to go from. 100 lb squat to 300 in a few months, you sleep and eat, taking occasional breaks to lift heavy. If you are fat, eat slightly less. SS isn't about body building, it's about a brand new lifter getting to a non-embarassing level of strength. That means eating an adequate amount of food, erroring on the side of eating too much, and just cut back the calories after you have a 300+ lb squat. People like to make a meme of things like the 'Gallon of Milk A Day' advice. That's not general advice. That's for the 110 lb 15 year old who doesn't like eating food and wants to get bigger. It's not advice for the 20 something software dev trying to go from weak and fat to bodybuilder

tjpaudio 7y ago
I'm a former national level competitive powerlifter, I am just echoing how he is viewed from the athletes in the actual sport.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

toasterlovin 7y ago

On the contrary, Rippetoe is the only author who has a rigorous, physics-based framework that explains why he recommends doing the lifts the way he does. Speaking frankly, the rest of the industry is mostly jackasses selling lifting-bro bullshit and crackpot theories.

plausibilities 7y ago

That's why you switch to Sheiko methodology once you break past the n00b gains