Starting Strength is a comprehensive guide to safe and effective barbell training, focusing on five core exercises and their proper techniques. The book emphasizes strength training for overall muscle engagement and active living, rather than bodybuilding or weight loss.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore is a detailed guide to basic barbell training, advocating for safe and effective strength training. The book focuses on five core exercises—squat, bench press, deadlift, press, and power clean—and provides extensive explanations and illustrations for proper technique. The goal is to improve overall strength and muscle engagement rather than targeting specific muscles. The book also includes assistance exercises and advice on programming workouts to avoid overtraining and ensure progress. While it's not a weight loss or bodybuilding guide, it offers a persuasive argument for strength training as part of an active lifestyle. The reviewer found the book valuable as a reference and was inspired to incorporate the core routines into their own fitness regimen.
Quick quotes
The bounce at the bottom of the squat is merely the correct use of the stretch reflex — a muscle contraction enhanced by the proprioceptive detection of muscle elongation immediately prior to the contraction — inherent in any dynamic muscle contraction, added to the rebound provided by the viscoelastic energy stored in the stretched muscles and tendons. Essentially you are bouncing off your hamstrings, not your knees.
Exercise machines have made people a lot of money, and while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, they have been a very large diversion from more productive forms of training.
To get stronger, you must do something that requires that you be stronger to do it, and this must be built into the training program.