Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition 3rd Edition

by Mark Rippetoe (Author), Jason Kelly (Illustrator)

2,961 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0982522738

ISBN-10: 0982522738

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Starting Strength has been called the best and most useful of fitness books. The second edition, Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, sold over 80,000 copies in a competitive global market for fitness education. Along with Practical Programming for Strength Training 2nd Edition, they form a simple, logical, and practical approach to strength training. Now, after six more years of testing and adjustment with thousands of athletes in seminars all over the country, the updated third edition expands and improves on the previous teaching methods and biomechanical analysis. No other book on barbell training ever written provides the detailed instruction on every aspect of the basic barbell exercises found in SS:BBT3. And while the methods for implementing barbell training detailed in the book are primarily aimed at young athletes, they have been successfully applied to everyone: young and old, male and female, fit and flabby, sick and healthy, weak and already strong. Many people all over the world have used the simple biological principle of stress/recovery/adaptation on which this method is based to improve their performance, their appearance, and their long-term health. With over 150,000 copies in print in three editions, Starting Strength is the most important method available to learn the most effective way to train with barbells -- the most important way to improve your strength, your health, and your life.

-- Why barbells are the most effective tools for strength training.
-- The mechanical basis of barbell training, concisely and logically explained.
-- All new photographs and improved illustrations of all the lifts, and the biomechanics behind them.
-- Complete, easy-to-follow instructions for performing the basic barbell exercises: the squat, press, deadlift, bench press, power clean, and the power snatch.
-- Revised instruction methods for all six lifts, proven effective in four years of seminar, military, and group instruction.
-- How the human body adapts to stress through recovery, and why this is the foundation of the development of strength and lifetime health.
-- How to program the basic exercises into the most effective program for long-term progress.
-- Completely indexed.
-- The most productive method in existence for anyone beginning a strength training program.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Rippetoe is the author of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, Practical Programming for Strength Training 2nd edition, Strong Enough?, Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity, and numerous journal, magazine and internet articles. He has worked in the fitness industry since 1978, and has been the owner of the Wichita Falls Athletic Club since 1984. He graduated from Midwestern State University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in geology and a minor in anthropology. He was in the first group certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a CSCS in 1985, and the first to formally relinquish that credential in 2009. Rip was a competitive powerlifter for ten years, and has coached many lifters and athletes, and many thousands of people interested in improving their strength and performance. He conducts seminars on this method of barbell training around the country.

Product details

Item Weight : 2.2 pounds
Paperback : 347 pages
ISBN-10 : 0982522738
ISBN-13 : 978-0982522738
Product Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.75 x 10.98 inches
Publisher : The Aasgaard Company; 3rd Edition (November 11, 2011)
Language: : English

Best Sellers Rank: #4,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Weight Training (Books)
- #5 in Sports Training (Books)
- #224 in Textbooks

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Red_Tile

Excellent resource that has had an enormous impact on my quality of life.

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2017

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Excellent resource that has had an enormous impact on my quality of life. Combine this with the free Starting Strength podcast and instructional YouTube vids and you have your self a worthwhile education and practical application class. I put a rack and barbell in my garage and have been applying what I have been learning over the past 6 months.

Bench was 195lbs for 5 reps and is now 245lbs
OHP was 115lbs for 5 and is now 155lbs
DL was 315lbs for 5 and is now 455lbs
BS was 285 for 5 and is now 365lbs
and all still climbing..

Update: My Squat is now 415lbs DL 505lbs

As an added benefit, I am not constantly hurting myself with bad form and having to take time to heal and thus lose gains. Also, I don't hurt when I get up in the morning. All this with previous C-Spine, knee and nerve damage injuries from three combat tours to Iraq.

264 people found this helpful

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A GREAT system for getting strong the right way

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2018

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I heard about SS on the Art of Manliness podcast and was intrigued, as it coincides with my general philosophy around weight lifting - big, multi-joint movements that use the most muscle are the most efficient way to get strong and big. I had kicked it around but never really pursued it until a friend recommended it to me strongly. I would absolutely give the program 5 stars all the way, even if the adherents are little cultish :)

I give the book 4 stars because, overall, it's an excellent introduction to the method, system, program, philosophy, etc. of Starting Strength. Rippetoe's ("Rip" to the disciples) style is very strong and opinionated, which I like but I think needs to be taken with a grain of salt. That said, the diagrams (even in the Kindle edition) and explanations of the movements are really top notch and do a great job of helping you visualize the movements and do them right. I only deduct a star because some of the descriptions get a little long-winded. It can take a lot of patience to get through pages and pages of why low-bar is better than high-bar or front squat, e.g., with detailed anatomical descriptions, diagrams, physics lessons, etc.

The official Starting Strength app is a great complement to this book, and a really useful tool once you start training. It also contains a very consolidate set of excerpts and diagrams from the book that might be enough to get some people started on the system without reading the whole book. That said, I think it's still worth buying and reading the book for additional information and the context (even if some of it is a little drawn out).

I would recommend that anyone considering starting this on their own either consider finding a local SS coach (if you can afford it!) or SS-knowledgable friend to help get started, but with or without that I would recommend checking out the Starting Strength Youtube channel (DVD excerpt playlists for each move in particular) as well as the Art of Manliness videos where Rip coaches Brett on the moves.

59 people found this helpful

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Robert Sanek

This is one of my all-time favorite books, and started me on the path of ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2017

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This is one of my all-time favorite books, and started me on the path of strength training through compound lifts. I've even evangelized it to others, including both friends and parents. One of the best quotes of the book, which I still reflect on when demotivated to go to the gym: "A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong."

The reason I give 4 stars, though, is due to the author's way of communicating his belief system; many times in the book, Rippetoe will dismiss alternative exercises or forms of performing an exercise out-of-hand, without providing any reasoning, only harsh words. Such discussion may come off as authoritative to some, but it can feel a bit like promoting intellectual insulation.

56 people found this helpful

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Eric

Exercise Bible

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2016

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The only bad thing about this book is that it makes you want to go up to people and correct their awful form. Once you learn it, you can't unlearn it.
Mark Rippetoe provides an irrefutable argument that the best exercises we should use in the gym are barbells.
1. The exercises we choose from should use many muscle groups
2. The exercise takes us through the full range of motion
3. The exercise allows us to lift the heaviest weights possible (with good form of course)
As a personal trainer It's a shame that this information is neglected in most standard textbooks of the subject.
If you're going to buy one book to become a stronger version of yourself and not waste time then make it this one. You won't regret it.

66 people found this helpful

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AB Kay

Good advice and strong opinions

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018

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I'm not a fitness professional, but the general consensus seems to be that programs like starting strength are very good for beginners (squat-intensive whole body workout repeated three times a week, small number of reps per set, increase weight every workout). This book offers some coaching on how to perform the exercises (the basic instructions for the program can be found anywhere on the internet). It does it's job, though now that I've read it I'm really not sure it's necessary. Youtube and internet articles (some written by the author!) are a better teacher, and you really should find someone to show you the basics, even its a one time coaching session at the local YMCA.

The book and Rippetoe's internet articles very much argues that you must follow the program exactly, and that if you are unsuccessful, it is because you did not follow the program. I've taught people before (other topics) so I appreciate that students are always taking shortcuts or asking to apply adaptations and customizations that don't apply to beginners. However, if you read and watch other coaches, some of this absolutism is overkill. (e.g., on the topic of whether high or low bar squats are better suited to the program). His dietary advice... is old fashioned and seemingly not informed by science, but you can take it with a grain of salt.

25 people found this helpful

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RedRushFan

How getting strong really happens, in detail.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2019

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This book is the best selling of its kind because it is chock full of the fundamentals of the stress, recovery and adaptation cycle that anyone can use to get strong. Although the Starting Strength Novice Linear Progression program is aimed at those new to strength training with a barbell, the detailed information regarding the main lifts and the case for lifting as a means to getting more from life for longer makes the book essential reading for trainees of any age, sex or current ability. Alongside the Starting Strength website, this book can make a real difference to your life in a very tangible way. Not a novice lifter? You should still get it for the lifting instruction and anatomical knowledge and move on to the equally excellent "Practical Programming for Strength Training" that the author produced with Andy Baker. Between these two books you could glean all the information required to create and maintain the best physical version of your self - and for the rest of your life. Valuable knowledge indeed.

6 people found this helpful

It goes into great detail and is highly credible (there is no bro-science ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2018

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It goes into great detail and is highly credible (there is no bro-science in this book whatsoever, every detail is gone through in detail using real science), but it's a bit overwhelming. It would really benefit from a couple of page 'cheat-sheet' at the end just summarising the key points for each exercise.

9 people found this helpful

steve

Fantastic detail, without getting bogged down in "baggage-knowledge"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

Fantastic detail, without getting bogged down in "baggage-knowledge". The main lifts are so well explained in this book, and the waypoints so clear and lucid, that it genuinely affects what I'm doing under the bar.

I'm so glad I bought this book.

Downside is, I learnt that I can't squat 150kg, not properly. The upside is that I'm sure I will be able to, in due course. I dropped weight off the bar, and my technique, and awareness of my positioning, is now so crisp.

Can't recommend this book enough.

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Fantastic book, but i would recommend sourcing the real ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

DO NOT BUY KINDLE VERSION. Fantastic book, but i would recommend sourcing the real book. The real book is fantastic with big pictures and diagrams and big clear pages. the kindle version is hard to follow as the diagrams are small and cant be zoomed and often many pages away from the text concerning them.
Its expensive, but id recommend finding the real book. I think i paid around £35 from a strength training website in the uk

11 people found this helpful

Maccajoe

lift barbells get strong.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

I’ve had the kindle version for a while now but wanted the paper version. Some books are better on paper and this is one of them.
You will get strong if you follow the program, eat well, sleep well and stop mincing about.

3 people found this helpful

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