Customer Reviews

Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a practicing physician in his early 40s who had never seriously done strength training until last August and I have come to the opinion that there is no better investment you can make in your health and fitness than to buy this DVD and Rip's book Starting Strength (2nd edition). I especially recommend the DVD and book for older trainees like myself and women - people whose idea of fitness is doing hours of mind-numbing "cardio" or doing useless isolation exercises on machines trying to "tone."

I have used Starting Strength to guide my weight training over the last eight months and it has changed my life and health tremendously. I just got this DVD and it is awesome - compliments the book perfectly. I read parts of Starting Strength 10-15 times, e.g., about Power clean technique, but seeing the exercise on video cleared up some remaining issues. Very helpful seeing all ages, sizes, and levels of trainee, both men and women. Buy the book and the DVD and you will have a master class right at home for less than my monthly gym membership fee. Learn to do strength training properly and safely - especially how to squat. As Rip sez:

"There is never an absolute answer to everything, except of course that you have to do your squats."

Buy it - use it - get strong. The price is an absolute steal.

Length:: 2:28 Mins

Watch the trailer here!

This is the companion DVD to Rippetoe's Starting Strength book. At almost 2 1/2 hours, it is an absolute must for anyone who either has the book or is interested in learning how to perform the major lifts correctly. The book covers squats, deadlifts, power cleans, presses and bench press. Each segment has several people of different ages who are "coached" through each lift, starting from the basics and progressing from there. While the book in and of itself is fantastic, there is some truth to "a picture is worth a thousand words", especially in video format. Unless you are able to attend one of his certification seminars, this is the next best thing. Actually, it may be better than the seminars in that you can pause, rewind and learn at your own pace. I have done both the seminar and own the DVD, and would not hesitate to recommend this product.

It has been awhile since I have down some power lifts I was all about the P90X workout for a year but then like everything became bored with the program. I bought the DVD so I could see the techniques and I have to tell you I didn't think the DVD was going to be this good. Great Detail that makes you perform the excercises properly. I also love the program short and sweet and a lot of fun. Also my arms have increased in size without doing any curls. This was something I was a little worried about. I am getting bigger everywhere and I like the newly added strength I have gained. Great DVD for any age buy it.

I have mixed feelings about this DVD. On one hand it has some great demonstrations of proper form in the lifts covered. I certainly learned some things I had overlooked previously. On the other hand, it goes to extremes of seemingly endless repetition of the lifts without any demonstrable benefit to the viewer. It really needs to have a quick review section for each lift just showing the essentials so a person can jump into it for a quick refresh to assure them of proper technique. It's nice that they have a number of different body types performing the demo lifts but there's very little useful information regarding how to correctly compensate in the form based on individual physical limitations. It would have been really nice to categorize the body types so you could, again, get into some information more helpful for your particular problem. Also, there's some hints for how to exercise around an injury but nothing in depth for other limitations. A particular disappointment for me was the lack of any remedial action for my particular problem in the press - lack of shoulder flexibility. It seemed that none of the demonstrators had any problems with shoulder flexibility and easily moved into proper position. I agree with another reviewer that other exercises such as dips and pullups desperately need some coverage rather than the endless repetition of the same movements covered. I'm still pleased that I bought this DVD but there's many areas where it falls far short of what it could have been.

I've never written a review on amazon before, and for all I know I probably never will again. The Starting Strength DVD has forced my hand into action. I'm a huge fitness enthusiast, and have a good sized library of various training resources. Without a doubt this is the single best fitness related purchase I have ever made. If you want to learn to squat, deadlift, bench, press, and clean this DVD (and perhaps the Starting Strength book) is the only resource you'll need. For as long as I can remember I have always struggled with feeling 100% comfortable with the squat. I never felt like I was efficiently transferring my power. Two viewings of this dvd and a few practice reps with a light bar while watching the instruction to ingrain the motor pathway have revolutionized the way I squat. I now feel like the power is being transferred directly through my body, through my heels and into the floor. An unbelievable difference. Every single lesson has had a huge positive impact on my technique. Buy it!

I hadn't worked out in over 20 years. I wanted to get back into lifting but wanted to learn the correct methods.
I'm older now and didn't want to hurt myself with bad technique. When I first popped this into my DVD player I said "what the....".
It's just the basic weight lifting moves. Bench, squat, press ect.
Then I listened to what the trainer was saying and realized that was all that mattered.
I realized that what I had been taught years ago by the local gym know-it-alls and others were wrong.
Don't look at the quality of the video listen and watch what is being taught here.
It would cost hundreds for an experienced personal trainer to teach you what you will learn in this DVD.
It's better to learn correct technique now than try to fix it later.
I'm very satisfied and I think you can learn something from this video if you are a beginner or have been lifting all your life.
The video also features ladies learning too. So women should enjoy this also if they want to learn how to properly lift.

I've all three of Mark Rippetoes products, Pratical Programming for Strength Training, Starting Strength and this very DVD and i'd say that this DVD helped me more than the books. I'm not knocking the books, SS is excellent and a must buy along with this DVD in my opinion and PP is abit more advanced but is applicable to a much wider range of lifters, athletes from many different sports.
But i sometimes get a bit lost in the details of exercises. I struggled with the Power Clean specifically for ages and am just about happy with it, my problem was i tended to over think it. Watching Rip teach the PC to old guys, girls from scratch showed me how simple it really was (jump with the barbell in hand, rather than simultanous triple extension) and just noticed that my squat could've been better from watching the DVD having thought i had it nailed before. Really recommend this DVD along with SS the book to anyone wanting to but on a bit of muscle and not waste there time at the gym (as i did for ~7yrs).

Great video. All the same great advice as in the book but easier to understand the proper form. Only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because it is very long and drawn out. Each exercise is demonstrated by 5-7 people at least 3 times each. Makes the video 2.5 hours when there is about 30 minutes of actual instruction. I guess it could be good if you need the repetition but I found myself fast forwarding quite a bit.

Coach Rippetoe puts on a clinic right in one's living room. The beauty about this DVD is that coach Rippetoe explains and shows the students (10+) the correct movements for the various barbell exercises but he also corrects the students until they are all using the right technique for the particular exercise. He uses beginning and intermediate level students. This mix of students is extremely helpful to one's learning.

The part that makes this DVD so wonderful is that after I watched the countless corrections and hints given by coach Rippetoe to each student, I unexpectedly caught myself correcting the student's technique towards the end of one of the exercise's presentation. I vividly recall one instance where student was showing a subtle up/down rear-end movement causing his chest to drop at the start of his deadlift. I said to myself, 'chest needs to rise up, not drop', and watched coach Rippetoe address and correct this problem shortly afterwards. This DVD is indeed a clinic on barbell training where the viewer is actively learning.

I hope he makes more DVDs on other barbell exercises. Well done!