What is your honest opinion on Mark Rippetoe?

[ROcknrollracing]

First of all, please keep in mind that I said “one of the best”. Not “the best”.

It‘s three things. Number one, sheer fame. Number two, the dude just makes sense. Number three, he is old and experienced. The dude is literally friends with Bill Starr who wrote the legendary The Strongest Shall Survive.

I myself follow Doug Hepburn’s training system, but I do have to give credit to Rippetoe for being a voice for barbell training in America. And he’s no pushover either. In his prime, he deadlifted what? 580 pounds?

Mark Rippetoe

The OpenPowerlifting project aims to create a permanent, accurate, convenient, accessible, open archive of the world's powerlifting data.

www.openpowerlifting.org

it was actually 633 as a 5'8" 220. He will tell you that he was very underweight. He was also on steroids.

 

[vision1]

Poker, I think you get ripped on a bit too much on these forums but you bring it onto yourself with the way you communicate.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Poker, I think you get ripped on a bit too much on these forums but you bring it onto yourself with the way you communicate.

I can take it.

 

[Oblivian]

This doesn't even make sense. He teaches the low bar squat because it uses more muscle mass over a greater effective range of motion than a high bar squat. Yes a bar an inch lower on your back does make a difference. I didnt realize that you knew of 2 different ways to teach a low bar squat? That is certainly a new one on me.

I really don't know how someone can follow strength training as long as you have and be this clueless. Pull up a powerlifting meet. You are going to have some going high bar, some going low bar. Those who choose high bar do so because they find it works out best for them. When you see someone going low bar, the technique is not going to be identical among lifters. This is going to be for a number of reasons including proportions, width of stance, bar placement, etc.

There is a reason Rippetoe doesn't coach "advanced lifters". He's shooting fish in a barrel. Getting a novice to gain strength isn't rocket science. When the novice is ready to move to advanced, other coaches will probably tweak a lot of things that Rippetoe taught. It's one step forward, two steps back for some of the lifters. There's a reason that a lot of top powerlifters aren't big fans of Rippetoe.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Rippetoe will be the first to tell you that he doesn't give a shit about advanced powerlifters. That does not mean that the low bar squat for its intended purposes that he uses it for is not optimal FOR THE PROGRAMS PURPOSE! He teaches it the same way to every single lifter he's ever coached that uses his program. I would venture to say that since basically nobody is going to be an advanced powerlifter considering there are about 80 in the entire world then why should anybody pay much attention to them at all or their methods other than for entertainment value?

I wouldn't say getting a novice strong is brain surgery but having structure like starting strength is a lot better than trying to just shoot blindly. That is where quarter squatters and half rep benchers are born from. I don't really think there is a better coach to this day for novices to the barbell.

 

[Baby Hanma]

Rippetoe will be the first to tell you that he doesn't give a shit about advanced powerlifters. That does not mean that the low bar squat for its intended purposes that he uses it for is not optimal FOR THE PROGRAMS PURPOSE! He teaches it the same way to every single lifter he's ever coached that uses his program. I would venture to say that since basically nobody is going to be an advanced powerlifter considering there are about 80 in the entire world then why should anybody pay much attention to them at all or their methods other than for entertainment value?

I wouldn't say getting a novice strong is brain surgery but having structure like starting strength is a lot better than trying to just shoot blindly. That is where quarter squatters and half rep benchers are born from. I don't really think there is a better coach to this day for novices to the barbell.

Just a minor correction. There are 80 elite powerlifters. Not “advanced”. Major difference there. Advanced powerlifters would be those squatting 450 pounds under 200 bodyweight, and that is very common.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Just a minor correction. There are 80 elite powerlifters. Not “advanced”. Major difference there. Advanced powerlifters would be those squatting 450 pounds under 200 bodyweight, and that is very common.

You are probably right although if you go on strength level.com it doesn’t seem to be that a 450 squat is very common.

 

[Baby Hanma]

You are probably right although if you go on strength level.com it doesn’t seem to be that a 450 squat is very common.

Yeah but “80 in the whole world”? Come on man.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Yeah but “80 in the whole world”? Come on man.

Yea other than the semantics let’s just say there aren’t many elite powerlifters. Just like
There aren’t many elite athletes in any sport.

 

[Oblivian]

Rippetoe will be the first to tell you that he doesn't give a shit about advanced powerlifters. That does not mean that the low bar squat for its intended purposes that he uses it for is not optimal FOR THE PROGRAMS PURPOSE! He teaches it the same way to every single lifter he's ever coached that uses his program. I would venture to say that since basically nobody is going to be an advanced powerlifter considering there are about 80 in the entire world then why should anybody pay much attention to them at all or their methods other than for entertainment value?

I wouldn't say getting a novice strong is brain surgery but having structure like starting strength is a lot better than trying to just shoot blindly. That is where quarter squatters and half rep benchers are born from. I don't really think there is a better coach to this day for novices to the barbell.

Tell me you have no idea what you are talking about without telling me.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Tell me you have no idea what you are talking about without telling me.

Let me guess If I had just trained like a bodybuilder instead of starting strength I would have been able to hang with John Haack?

 

[vision1]

Let me guess If I had just trained like a bodybuilder instead of starting strength I would have been able to hang with John Haack?

Plenty of people got stronger than you without SS though ...

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Plenty of people got stronger than you without SS though ...

Plenty of people did everything there was to do wrong that there is and became strong. That is not an argument it is just an observation.

 

[vision1]

Plenty of people did everything there was to do wrong that there is and became strong. That is not an argument it is just an observation.

Then your comment also becomes invalid, that's my point.

 

[Oblivian]

The more @pokerandbeer talks, the more he proves everyone else's point.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Then your comment also becomes invalid, that's my point.

perhaps but it does not answer my question.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

The more @pokerandbeer talks, the more he proves everyone else's point.

what point?

 

[vision1]

what point?

That his expertise is amplified by the fact that he works with absolute beginners.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

That his expertise is amplified by the fact that he works with absolute beginners.

but I never made it a point that he didnt

 

[Oblivian]

You are basically a caricature of my assessment of Rippetoe that I said from the start: Rippetoe is incredibly stubborn and not very adaptive. There are many different ways to coach a lift depending on factors such as frame. He always seems glued to one way and he's like that with his overall philosophy as well.

I also get a laugh that you referenced Haack - who squats high bar and completely different than how Rippetoe coaches. On top of that, he actually recommends beginners focus more on a "powerbuilding" program that is quite a bit different from Starting Strength.