Quote of the day 4th October

From the September 26-27 Rip Cert/Santa Cruz, California

“Crabs for dinner?

Crabs are a pain in the ass.

They are a hell of a lot of work and cost too much.”

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Quote of the day 29th September

From the September 26-27 Rip Cert/Santa Cruz, California

On steps to take in helping coach back squat to
someone with one leg shorter the other.

“Step 1: get him a vas job and get him the fuck out of the gene pool.”


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Quote of the day 12th September

Coach Rip on shorts arms, deadlifts and cleans

Very short arms are a serious impediment to deadlift efficiency. Sumo may be your only option. This also makes cleans very difficult to use in your program.

The final solution is a vas job, so this defect does not get passed on into the gene pool.


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Quote of the Day 7th September

Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time.

You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to seek reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.


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Quote of the Day 3rd September

Women who claim to be afraid to train hard because
they “always bulk up too much” are often already pretty bulky,
or “skinny fat” (thin but weak and deconditioned)
and have found another excuse to
continue life sitting on their butts.


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Quote of the Day 31st August

Oh yes, the core is very important.

I talk about it here all the time, going on and on about the importance of Swiss balls and balance boards in core training.

Why, the core is absolutely essential to strength, health, and long life.

My advice is to get your one-legged Swiss ball squat up to 95 lbs. as quickly as possible so that your fucking core will be stable.

It's by far the best core exercise you can fucking do.

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Quote of the day 27th August

On resting in between reps:

It varies with the length of the set.
5s or fewer get a breath to reset. Longer sets might take 2 breaths.

During the last few reps of a true 20RM squat, just do what Jesus tells you.


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Quote of the day 24th August

Physical strength is the most important thing in life.

This is true whether we want it to be or not.


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Quote of the day 23rd August

Q: This is as SERIOUS, question... life and death. Are you a trekkie Rip? Be honest.

A: I watch the show, yes. Okay, fuck you. I am one of the proud folks who, at the age of 9, 10, and 11 were privileged to watch the first series in its entirety every week without missing a single episode.

Mr. Spock raised me, Captain Kirk taught me about women, and Mr. Scott is responsible for my malt whisky habit.

I have not watched TV hardly at all since about 1980, but I did see all of the Next Generation shows.

I have no use for Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise.

Once again, fuck you.


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Quote of the day 20th August

I was driving home the other night, listening to the radio, and the guy filling in for Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM was talking to some other guy about Nazis, UFOs, the Kennedy Assassination, time travel, and George Bush, and how it all relates to OneWorldGovernment.

This, of course, made me think about barbell training...

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Quote of the day 19th August

There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine,
that produces the level of central nervous system activity,
improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and
bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth,
connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and
toughness, and overall systemic conditioning
than the correctly performed full squat.


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Quote of the day 18th August

On a respectable number of pull-ups:

Well, I can do 16, and I'm 51 and I weigh 210.

So you have to beat me or you're a pussy.

And if you do beat me, you're probably using drugs.


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Quote of the day 17th August

Question: Why does meat help to become stronger and bigger?

Is there something special about it that isn't satisfied by eggs and dairy?


Mark Rippetoe: The lust for dripping, juicy flesh, you fool. Medium-rare dairy is too runny, and pairs poorly with a petite sirah.


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Quote of the day 9th August

Whatever the situation, anybody who says the belt is a crutch and that it makes the abs Go To Sleep or relax or whatever they say a belt does that is bad is utterly full of shit and has never had a heavy weight on their back with a belt on.

These people should shut the fuck up.


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Quote of the day 8th August

Most people lift shit wrong all the time.

We need to learn to do it right.

But we also need to come to the realization that if we do it wrong, it's not going to kill us.

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Quote of the day 7th August

The less strength you have, the more important it is to have more.

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Quote of the day 5th August

Question -

If you had to choose between wearing no shoes or running shoes to lift in which would you pick?


Rip's response:

"That is like asking me to choose between stabbing myself in the eye with a fork or burning the roof of my mouth with extremely hot pizza.

Can't we just avoid both?"

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Quote of the day 4th August

In response to a guy who had some life problems lately and afraid of sounding like a "pussy":

You don't sound like a pussy at all.

You sound like a normal human being, just like me, who thankfully has a barbell to keep him sane when things get shitty...and realize that one workout out of thousands does not affect your overall progress.

Training is a process, not the events of one day.

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Quote of the day 3rd August

In my gym, you get spotters, you safely dump it backwards loaded with the bumper plates, or you learn how to accurately judge your ability.

If you dump the bar on rails or pins or anything else in here, I will beat the cum out of you with the remnants of the bar.

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Quote of the day 1st August

Ganondorf:

I have heard elsewhere that your 20 rep squat protocol is for a) mental toughness (otherwise known as getting some balls) and b) gaining lower body mass.

Since you are a strength coach I would assume it works as a short term variation for strength gains as well?

What lifts are trained with 20 reps? I assume it would only be one set of them?


Rippetoe:

Ganondorf,

Once again it is not surprising that you have misinterpreted what I said.

Let me be clear: I am a Texan. I was born in Texas. My father was born in Texas. My grandfather moved to Texas when he was 10. My gym is in Texas. My house is in Texas. My dog is from Texas. I bought my motorcycle in Texas, even though it made in Marysville, IN.

So, the correct conclusion would be that since I am a Texan, my program only works for Texans. I hope this helps.

Quote of the day 30th July

Question -

Mr. Rippetoe,

I for one would love to come to your seminar; I just can't seem to find one nearby.

Any idea when you'll be in Ontario, Michigan, Buffalo NY and area, or even Pennsylvania??

If its within a decent radius of SW Ontario, I'll make the trip.


Rips response -

It would be really cool if you could come.

I'll try to schedule one for your convenience, so that you can make a short drive while I and my staff fly in, deal with the TSfuckingA, American Fucking Airlines, Budget Fucking RentAFucking Car, a wonderful hotel, and then you.

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Quote of the day 29th July

Poor form in the gym is caused by insufficient yelling.

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Quote of the day 27th July

At the end of Q&A time (February 2009, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

Q: I have just one more question, it's a yes or no question. Are you on Facebook?

RIP: What the fuck is Facebook?!

Thanks to Robin Maier for this one.

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Quote of the day 26th July

Rip responds to poster, Glenn's defense of
body-builders:

"You're kind of a pain in the ass, aren't you, Glenn?

I know who buys my books, I know what they want from barbell training, and I know that most of them will never diet most of their gains away for a physique show, shave their asses, paint themselves brown, oil themselves shiny, put on a thong, get up on a stage, and show everybody in the audience with similar problems how they look in a thong, oil, and paint."


Thanks to Mark Davis for sending this one in.

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Quote of the day 25th July

When asked about dealing with knee pain, Rips answers…


How bad is the pain?

On a scale of 1 - 10, with one meaning no perception of pain at all to 10 meaning the sensation of having all of your skin pulled off and then being rolled in salt as you writhe in unspeakable agony.

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Quote of the day 24th July

It's real neat to be a purist until reality hits you in the nose.

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Quote of the day 23rd July

Rip had torn his rotator cuff the week prior to the cert.

At one point during his lecture he picked up a 45# bar and pressed it for 24 reps with perfect form.

He then said

"What a masculine thing to do, huh?"


(this quote was sent to me by a member of the Facebook group but I cant remember who it was - sorry)

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Quote of the day 22nd July

During the Q&A:

Question:

When training an unconditioned person, how long do you suggest waiting before putting weight on the bar?


Rip:

About 3 or 4 minutes.


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Quote of the day 21st July

During a Q&A:

Question:

Coach, I train a few elite swimmers that can't even do a single pushup.

What do you recommend for such an athlete?

Rip:

Swimming ain't much of a sport, is it?

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Quote of the day 20th July

Learn to use a fucking belt!

Stop this bullshit!

It's not cheating.

A belt only makes your abs work harder.


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Quote of the day 9th July

Shitting yourself when you deadlift was omitted from [Starting Strength].

The best way to avoid this is to not deadlift when you need to shit, and vice versa.

Planning is the key here.

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Quote of the day 8th July

As for the definitions of butt wink and butt-wink Nazi,
the first is obscene and scatological,
and the second is not discussable due to European Union restrictions.

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Quote of the day 7th July

It is not necessary to bump the shins with the bar, or dig a ditch in the shins on the way up.

Good control of the weight is necessary to avoid this, and it should be avoided or sores get established on the shins that will be a problem for a long time - every time the trainee deadlifts he will break the sore open and make a big mess on his socks or worse, the bar.

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Quote of the day 6th July

When there's 1003 pounds on the bar,
the universe would like there to be a vertical bar path.

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Quote of the day 5th July

Hey Rip,

Haven't seen any ATL strip club reviews yet...

But sorry I coulnd't make it to the cert. I had racing to do.


Rip Replies...

I don't go to titty bars much anymore. They have never really appealed to me.

Like going into an expensive restaurant, reading the menu for 2 hours, drinking a little, then getting up and leaving without having had anything to eat but paying the bill anyway.

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Quote of the day 4th July

I'm not interested in what's been done in the past.

I'm interested in what should be done.

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Quote of the day 3rd July

Coach Rip was asked his opinion on CrossFit, kipping pull ups, bouncing weights during deadlifts and cleans, running 5km, zone/paleo eating and GOMAD.

His reply…

Nelson, you and a lot of people in CrossFit seem to be putting words into my mouth and misinterpreting many of the words that I put in my mouth.

First, kipping pull-ups and running 5ks are an important part of a program primarily devoted to general physical preparation. A strength program is not devoted to general physical preparation and so is conducted differently. No program should involve bouncing one's deadlifts or cleans off the floor.

Greg and I have talked about this at length, and he is aware of my opinion that strength is the most general of the ten physical attributes, because all of the others to some extent depend on strength or the process of its acquisition and strength depends on none of them.

As far as diet is concerned, let me go on record ONE MORE FUCKING TIME and say that a gallon a milk a day is recommended for people who are trying to gain weight. I have never said, nor will I ever say, that everybody should drink a gallon of milk a day. Were I to say something silly like that, everybody would be in correct in ignoring anything else I ever said after that point.

I have criticized no one for eating clean. I have criticized, and will continue to criticize, those people who fail to understand that an increase in muscular body weight would be very helpful to their met-con performance.

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Quote of the day 2nd July

What we're trying to do is get things fixed, not allow them to stay broke

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Quote of the day 1st July

(On dropping the bar without guiding it down)

"Why would you treat the barbell that way?

The barbell is your friend."

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Quote of the day 30th June

It doesn't matter where you want the bar to be.

The bar gets to decide

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Quote of the day 29th June

I recommend against a wooden squat rack,

for much the same reason that

I recommend against a wooden car.

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Quote of the day 28th June

On a missed squat:

Yes, 350 was pretty good.

Now, why do you think you missed 360, besides the fact that it was so fucking heavy?

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Quote of the day 27th June

Your butt knows where the bottom is.
You just have to trust it.

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Quote of the day 26th June

Am I offending anyone right now?

No?

Well, that's unfortunate.


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Quote of the day 25th June

Gravity always goes straight down.

Unless they're disturbing the ionosphere with those heaters they have


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Quote of the day 24th June

The spine is best at bearing a load in an arch


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Quote of the day 23rd June

Yes, it is the law here that un-aged cheese must be
made from pasteurized milk.

I mean, really, what good is having a federal government
if it can't make eating cheese safer for everybody?

Imagine the landscape littered with the corpses of
innocent children whose immune systems
were not up to the challenge.

Is that what you really want?

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Quote of the day 22nd June

Absolutely not. Never -- and I mean NEVER -- try anything that someone in authority, like Me, has not specifically approved in advance.

This is not allowed, and is specifically prohibited, because if you do this irresponsible thing -- this Trying Things For Yourself -- you might learn on your own, and again, this is PROHIBITED.

Let me ask you a question: Are you from North Korea?

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Quote of the day 21st June

There are many levels of understanding of trainees
and you should be in command of most of them.

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Quote of the day 20th June

Real-world applications are generally not as friendly as the barbell is.

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Quote of the day 19th June

When the reality of the situation becomes apparent to you,

you'll make expedient decisions.

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Quote of the day 18th June

I received this email at the Rip Quote of the Day Blog...


Dear Rip

I have been following the Zone diet religiously for about 2 weeks now. I am a medium sized female and I am seeing tremendous results.

My long term boyfriend of three years loves to finish in my mouth.

I was just wondering how many blocks of protein do you think are in a half ounce shot of semen?


Thanks, Sarah


I forwarded it to Coach Rip, here is his reply....


Write her back and tell her that Rip's is the only semen that has any actual protein, and that she'll need to see me about this ASAFP.

Quote of the day 16th June

On coaching

"Be conservative with your cueing and remember
that there are limits to what a human being
can listen to and process about their own movement."

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Quote of the day 15th June

Perfect is the enemy of good


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Quote of the day 14th June

There is never an absolute answer to everything,

except of course

that you have to do your squats.

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Quote of the day 13th June

Ask Old Santa for a squat rack.

Preferably one that won't fit down the chimney.

You can't do the program without it, and that would leave you forever an elf.


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Quote of the day 12th June

In response to a question on how to rehab tennis elbow –

We've discussed this quite a bit in the past, and the advice I give is to train through it with chins, deadlifts, and grip work.

Smother it with love and make it heal.

And you have to stop caring that it hurts.


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Quote of the day 11th June

Most of the problems with the bodies and minds of the folks occupying the current culture involve an unwillingness to do anything hard, or anything that they'd rather not do.

I applaud your resolve, and I welcome you to the community of people who have decided that EASY will no longer suffice.

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Quote of the day 10th June

During the middle of a Rip lecture, a very loud fire engine
goes screaming by the building.

The sound interupts Rip's train of thought momentarily.

He yells to the truck,

"Would you idiots please just shut the fuck up?"


Thanks to Christin Farrington Street for this one

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Quote of the day 9th June

From the Rip cert in Potomac in April.

During the final Q&A session, a question was asked about how to teach trainees the more physiologically nuanced concepts of the squat, deadlift, press, bench press.
Rip responds

"Well...I'm not that smart, you're not that smart, I get it, and you get it, so...(raises one eyebrow) just teach them the damn stuff."

Thanks to Brett Tom for this one

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Quote of the day 8th June

Rip: You need to drink one gallon of full fat milk everyday. It's almost mandatory.

Somebody from audience: I'm lactose intolerant, could I substitute milk for yogurt?

Rip: Gallon of yogurt.

Quote of the day 7th June

If lifting heavy weights for partial squats
were of any benefit for sports, Gold's Gym would be fielding
the majority of the 2008 Olympic team.

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Quote of the day 6th June

When asked if masturbation or sex hinders strength:


Yes, it does.

Never do either.

Ever.

Not if you want to be strong like bull.

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Quote of the day 5th June

At the end of the first day of the BB Cert, Rip explains what we will be covering the next day.

Rip:

Now... we will be starting the day off watching a series of videos.

Yes, we will be viewing some damn good porn. (laughter)

No it's better than that....we'll be watching and critiquing the deadlift and power clean.


Thanks to Christin Farrington Street for this one

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Quote of the day 4th June

From a CrossFit Barbell Cert held recently

Rip: Who in this group plays tennis?

(silence, no show of hands)

Rip: Nobody plays tennis?

(silence and shrugs)

Rip: Okay, any golfers n the group?

(silence, no show of hands)

Rip: Are you kidding me? Nobody in this fucking room plays either tennis or golf? Does anyone in the room do anything besides damn CrossFit?!!!

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Quote of the day 3rd june

The full squat is a perfectly natural position for the leg to occupy.

That's why there's a joint in the middle of it, and why humans have been occupying this position, both unloaded and loaded, for millions of years.

Much longer, in fact, than quasi-intellectual morons have been telling us that it's "bad" for the knees

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Quote of the day 2nd June

Guy 1: I was just wondering, are all the copies of [Starting Strength] missing pages 206-207, or is it just my copy?

Rip: Page numbers 206-207 were offensive to us, for numerological reasons we'd not care to discuss, so we omitted them and indexed around them.

No material is missing, just the 2 most horrible, sickening, disgusting, revolting, baby-killing, maggot-infested, sorry, rotten, substandard numbers in all of mathematics.

And good riddance, I say. Fuck 206 and 207, both of them.

Guy 2: Thank God someone has taken a stand on this.

Rip: Courage will always be the watchword of The Aasgaard Company.

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Quote of the day 1st June

You can't make people smarter.
You can expose them to information, but your responsibility stops there

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Quote of the day 31st May

I like musicianship, and it's quite lacking in most modern popular music.
You're always safe with old Chicago, the Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule, or Tower of Power.

Quote of the day 30th May

...bodybuilding is men on a stage in their underwear wearing brown paint showing other men their muscles.

It is training for appearance only, and at the contest level requires a degree of vanity, narcissism, and self-absorption that I find distasteful and odd.

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Quote of the day 29th May

Critiqueing a power clean:

...it shows a problem known as a Donkey Kick.

As the jump occurs, the heels come up in the back and then stomp back down into place. This is a terrible waste of time and energy, and contributes nothing to making the bar go up.

Stop doing this immediately or I will have you killed.

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Quote of the day 28th May

"Yes, if you squat wrong it fucks things up.
If you squat correctly, those same fucked-up things
will unfuck themselves."

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Quote of the day 27th May

...the rather inescapable conclusion
that the older men get,
the more like older women we become,
hormonally speaking.

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Quote of the day 26th May

never consciously squeeze our asscheeks in the weight room.
It's not a valuable biomechanical cue,
and it might get misinterpreted by the guys on the next platform.

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Quote of the day 25th May

While practicing the hang clean and not jumping the bar up enough - Rip said

"Erica! Erica! You are reverse curling that bar.

That is a moral sin like pedophilia and we will not allow it in civilized society!

Now I want you to remember: every time you do that, Jesus kills a little baby!"

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Quote of the day 24th May

Vibram 5 Fingers are gay.

They make you look gay.

And there are better ways to look gay.

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Quote of the day 23rd May

A common problem in analysis is the confusion of correlation with causation.

Baker illustrates this nicely for us.

Lots of people, all of whom are crazy as hell, train early in the morning without problems.

Coffee becomes more important than testosterone in this situation.

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Quote of the day 22nd May

I don't like Bono. He needs to train more.

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Quote of the day 21st May

The questions was….

Now that I'm at an intermediate level I switched to a 1x5 system. After 4 months of that I came back to SS

WOW. Something hormonal is going on. When I wake up in the morning it's like I'm 18 again. This happens the day after workout on recovery morning. I'm not old at 33 but this hasn't happened in years. Has anyone had this happened to them?

Rips answer…..

I assume you are referring to the hormonal effects of the program, and the subsequent effects on your tallywhacker upon arising from sleep.

Everyone who has a tallywhacker has had this happen to them.

It's the only reason Zach trains, and certainly the only reason his wife is still with him.

Quote of the day 20th May

There are no shortcuts.

The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy.

Let me be clear here: if you'd rather take steroids than do your squats heavy and drink enough milk, then you are a fucking Pussy.

I have no time or patience for fucking Pussies.

Please tell everyone you know that I said this.

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Quote of the day 19th May

Bill Starr was damned strong, primarily because
he worked as hard as any human being ever has.

He was not a genetic freak, but his balls were huge, and he applied himself to his training like few people have ever done.

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Quote of the day 18th May

Accumulating injuries are the price we pay
for the thrill of not having sat around on our asses.

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Quote of the day 17th May

…we have not spent the last 65 million or so years finely honing our physiology to watch Oprah.

Like it or not, we are the product of a very long process of adaptation to a harsh physical existence, and the past couple centuries of comparative ease and plenty are not enough time to change our genome.

We humans are at our best when our existence mirrors, or at least simulates, the one we are still genetically adapted to live.

And that is the purpose of exercise.

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Quote of the day 16th May

The deadlift is more functional in that it’s very hard to imagine
a more useful application of strength
than picking heavy shit up off the ground

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Quote of the day 15th May

If you want to look like some Abercrombie model, then find another program and enjoy your nice, easy training style.

If you are serious about adding muscle to your frame, then get under the damn bar and make it happen.

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Quote of the day 14th May

Never ask a question that you may not be prepared to have answered.

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Quote of the day 13th May

If you are so inflamed that you can't train,
and ibuprofen and fish oil help with inflammation,
maybe you'd better take the fucking ibuprofen and fish oil.

Quote of the day 12th May

The only time LSD (long slow distance) is necessary is if your going to compete in a sport that requires it.

It is far inferior to CrossFit-type metcon for producing an increase in VO2 max, it interferes with power and strength production, it can be quite catabolic and immune-suppressive in high doses, it destroys muscle mass, and the people that do it usually wear silly clothes.

Read the stuff on the CrossFit website regarding this, and you will learn many good, important things.

Quote of the day 11th May

Now I also know that you're supposed
to 'listen to your body',
but my brain says 'don't be a pussy, and just lift the fucking weights',
and that's just what I do.

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Quote of the day 10th May

Rip on the CrossFit Workout "Cindy"

Cindy is a vicious wretched bitch.

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Quote of the day 9th May

Newbie: Got any good ab exercises?

Rip: Got any better questions?

Quote of the day 8th May

Rip dicussing his form after bench pressing...

I didn't lock that last [bench press] out in a safe position over my fairly sturdy sternum, here.
I came up off the bench and put that thing right over the most valuable structures that I possess; teeth, eyeballs... all precious voice... [Rip then looks off camera at someone and shakes his head.] I'm 51, they aren't as valuable anymore as they used to be.

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Quote of the day 7th May

On bending the arms in the deadlift:

Bent elbows just absolutely suck.

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Quote of the day 6th May

....but then again, those who argue against squatting and deadlifting on the same day may just be pussies.

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Quote of the day 5th May

Neutral/hammer grip chins …What are your thoughts on these?

Rips Answer

I think that it doesn't matter that much, but that since I'm a gym owner and I'm supposed to have Big Arms, I'll keep doing my supine chins.

Have you ever seen my huge arms?

They are very impressive.

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Quote of the day 4th May

On drinking not 1, but 2 gallons of milk/day:

But you would be shitting primarily cheese.

Are you ready for this?

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Quote of the day 3rd May

On adding bike riding and leg extensions to the program:


The program in [Starting Strength] is not designed to be supplemented with anything. Neither of you -- old guy or young kid -- are in a position to recover optimally, as would be a 21 year-old genetic freak.

Just stick with the program and let it work for you unsullied by the trappings of muscle magazine silliness or a desire to gild the lily.

If you want to ride your bikes, don't be gone too long.

In fact, be back before supper.

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Quote of the day 2nd May

On not calling "The Press", "The Shoulder Press:"

We just call it the press, because how could you press without the shoulders?

You can leg press... but that's gay.

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Quote of the day 1st May

On the possibility of a failure to deadlift resulting in stroke:

Deadlifts that are too heavy to pull generally don't take very long; the bar just kinda lays there.

So if trying to move immovable objects was dangerous from the standpoint of stroke, the history of the human race would be littered with stupid people's corpses.

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Quote of the day 30th April

In response to a guy complaining that his leg curl weight
hasn't increased since he started dead lifting:

"That's like bitching about masturbation not being fun
anymore since you started dating a porn star"

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Quote of the day 29th April

Soy milk is essentially Coffee-Mate laced with estrogen, and is best left to vegans and other socialist vegetarian types that can't bring themselves to eat the completely natural-for-humans flesh of our friends the Animals but who have no trouble with slaughtering trillions of our other friends the Plants and processing -- in gigantic factories run by multinational corporations with shareholders that eat meat themselves -- very selectively chosen components of their poor little bodies into gooey shit that humans have never had an opportunity to adapt to digesting.

Why, eating such material, with its high levels of isoflavones, touted by gynaecologists as tantamount to Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT), will make you grow boobs, and this will screw up the clean lines of this fine young man's Under Armor.

I recommend against it.

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Quote of the day 28th April

...and since we all want big chesticles, we have to put some pec in it, ok? Chesticles are why we bench press, afteral.

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Quote of the day 27th April

My own opinion of Greg [Glassman] is that he has done more to legitimize actual training in the minds of the public than any other person since Arthur Jones destroyed it in the mid-70s.

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Quote of the day 26th April

On steroids:

There are no shortcuts.
The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy.

Quote of the day 25th April

Rip:

"Leg Pressing is masturbation."

Guy:

"Oh, come on. Masturbation isn't that bad."

Rip:

"Oh, I didn't say it was bad. But at least when I masturbate, I am not under the impression that I'm making anybody else cum but me."

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Quote of the day 24th April

The only legitimate use for a glove is to cover an injury...

A desire to prevent callus formation (possibly so as to not snag one's pantyhose)
does not constitute a legitimate use.

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Quote of the day 23rd April

"I alluded to this earlier, but I might as well be specific here: women don't give a shit about muscles.
Really. Women like money and a big dick.
Preferably both.
Sorry."

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Quote of the day 22nd April

CrossFit has the potential to change the popular cultural perception of what exercise actually means over the next decade, and I will watch with delight as selectorized leg machines are melted down into more useful items like re-bar and manhole covers.

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Quote of the Day 21st April 2009

It is because over thirty years of direct observation has demonstrated to me that when trainees drink one gallon of milk added to their regular diet and train in a progressive linear fashion, they gain significant muscular bodyweight, and those that do not drink their milk, even in the presence of progressive linear training, fail to do this.

They also fail to continue progressive linear training for the same length of time, because this is facilitated by the steady weight gain.

I understand that you're asking me if I have controlled for other factors such as failure to do the program correctly, and the answer is yes, of course I have, because I am not a complete idiot.

Those that will not do the program are not being considered when I make these remarks, because that would be too fucking obvious a hole in my analysis.

The difference in the milk drinkers is that THEY GET BIGGER THAN THE ONES WHO WON'T DRINK THE FUCKING MILK.

Please tell me that you understand this now.

Quote of the Day 20th April 2009

in response to a question about a protruding tailbone making bench pressing painful, Rip replys-

“I recommend that you grow an ass. This will solve many of your problems with training.”

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Quote of the Day 19th April 2009

Milk is quite literally better than steroids for a novice lifter to grow on, and no supplement produces the same effect.

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Quote of the Day 18th April 2009

Question:

Whenever i do dips, the second i let go of the bar it feels like a ton of pressure was just taken off my shoulders and upper pecs.

Do you know what causes this and what i can do about it?

Thanks.

Answer:

Perhaps you weigh 2000 lbs., in which case your perception would be remarkably accurate.

Otherwise, you're probably just happy to be through with the set.

The remedy would be to never let go of the bar, but that is impractical.

I suppose I don't understand your question.

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Quote of the Day 17th April 2009

In reference to a bicyclist who seemed to be saying that riding was similar to squats since they both made your legs hurt:

Yes they both hurt, but so do burning your hand and burying your bulldog. The differences are actually quite significant.

The trouble with cyclists is that their training establishment keeps reinforcing the silly bullshit that all recreational athletes want to believe: at some point, all serious athletes go outside their sport-specific work to improve, and recreational athletes just want to play their sport and wear the clothes.

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Quote of the Day 16th April 2009

Muscles don’t get leaner—you do.

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Quote of the Day 15th April 2009

And no, you don't excrete excess calories, because evolution didn't see fit to exterminate the species in this way.

If that happened, fat people would be in zoos where they belong since they'd be quite rare.

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Quote of the Day 14th April 2009

If you want to look like a bodybuilder, that's fine with me. That is a matter for you to discuss with your God and your psychologist.

But even a bodybuilder is a novice strength trainee until he's an intermediate.

The fastest way to gain muscular bodyweight -- the supposed goal of a bodybuilder -- is with a linear progression on the basic barbell exercises. And 5s are the way this progression works best.

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Quote of the Day 13th April 2009

When a guy (Alex) asked what to do about his balls hurting after squats...


Alex, buddy, you're on your own here.
Unless we get some other input.
My balls haven't hurt since 1973, when I learned how to finish what I started.

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Quote of the Day 12th April 2009

Any idiot can get on a treadmill and watch TV and then take great pride in the fact they've exercised.

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Quote of the Day 11th April 2009

The interesting thing is that everybody really already knows this, because there are few examples in life that don’t follow the basic rules of the universe, the ones that dictate the behavior of everything.

One of the most basic of those rules is that, with the exception of the occasional lottery winner, you pretty much get out of an effort what you put into it. We’re all quite familiar with this reality, although we are often willing to believe people who tell us otherwise, about exercise and about life.

The sooner everybody—both halves of the population—accepts the fact that effective exercise is more like training for athletics and less like lying around on the floor, more about performance and less about appearance, the sooner it will be understood that women really don’t need their own figure salon.

Quote of the Day 10th April 2009

"The Olympic Snatch is gymnastics with a bar".

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Quote of the Day 9th April 2009

I strongly advise against intentionally farting whilst moving heavy weights.

Sometimes -- especially under those circumstances -- farts have a solid center.

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Quote of the Day 8th April 2009

What Rip says to people that claim that barbells are bad for kids...

I say, "Quit asking for my fucking data, and let me, finally, see yours.

You stupid fools keep telling us that it stunts a kid's growth, or injures the growth plates, or makes them all require back surgery, or turns their hair red, or all this other fantasy shit.

I am not interested in your opinion, since it has no basis in fact.

SHOW ME YOUR DATA, OR SHUT THE FUCK UP."

You may quote me.

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Quote of the Day 7th April 2009

Question -

I only have exercise bikes available at my gym and was wondering what I could do with them. Could you think of any metcon workouts I could do that wouldn't be completely useless?

Rips Answer -

You can do 30 second all-out sprints with a moderate load, or Tabatas. Quite a hairy-ass experience, if done correctly.

Question –

When starting tabata should I use the empty bar?

Rips Answer –

On an exercise bicycle? Sure. Make a video.

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Quote of the Day 6th April 2009

You must wear socks or workout pants on the Dead Lifts.

We don't want your DNA on the barbell.

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Quote of the Day 5th April 2009

Baby mammals drink milk, and you sir, are a baby mammal.

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Quote of the Day 4th April 2009

In response to a thread about eating raw eggs, Rip replies

“Let's stop a second to consider where eggs come from: they emerge from a chicken's feathery, unkempt, unpampered ass.

You'll do this until a little bit of goo remaining on a shell makes you sick as a horse for about 2 days. Then you'll stop eating raw eggs.”

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Quote of the Day 3rd April 2009

You are right to be wary. There is much bullshit.

Be wary of me too, because I may be wrong.

Make up your own mind after you evaluate all the evidence and the logic.

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Quote of the Day 2nd April 2009

Testosterone levels peak in our mid-twenties,
hold relatively steady for another decade, and then
begin to fall like women’s clothes at the
kinds of parties we don’t get invited to any more.

Quote of the Day 1st April 2009

Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time.

You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to seek reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.

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We don't wear singlets because A...one...they're gay

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Quote of the Day 30th March 2009

While pressing the sacrum of a trainee before the back squat -

"Why does this tactile cue work so well?

Because Colin is not used to having a 53-year-old man slap him on the ass.

I'm making an assumption here."

(photo from Barbell Cert held at CrossFit Millford March 28th/29th 2009.
Courtesy of Keith Wittenstein at CrossFit Virtuosity)

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Quote of the Day 29th March 2009

Responding to someone who wanted the book spoon fed to them:

Steve, buddy, the plan is in the fucking book. That's what the book is about. That's why I wrote the book. This is a Q&A for people who are already using the plan IN THE FUCKING BOOK.

Get it, read it, and use it. Really, the book is too long to post here.

Get the fucking book

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Quote of the Day 28th March 2009

Question -

..a guy in my gym told me that his friend did the gallon of milk a day diet...and ended up losing all his hair. He claimed that the doctors told his friend it was because of all the milk he was drinking.

Do you know if there is any truth to this?

Rips answer

Hmm, the only adverse effects I actually know about the GOMAD is the fact that it makes your dick shorter, but I never considered it important enough to mention.

I'll have to add the baldness warning to the list immediately, because THAT'S not something to be taken lightly

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Quote of the Day 27th March 2009

Yes, you're absolutely right, the books are so disorganized as to be all but unusable, especially in the absence of the ability to exercise one's own judgment and apply a bit of common sense.

Please e-mail me your mailing address and I shall refund all of your money, including shipping, you fucking idiot.

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Quote of the Day 26th March 2009

Speaking of kettlebells snatches shoulder position and the Russian:

I am a child of the Cold War. I don't like them.

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Quote of the Day 25th March 2009

There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you're a pussy.

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Quote of the Day 24th March 2009

My opinion about barbell rows is as follows: fuck barbell rows. Really. Fuck them.

Stop wasting time worrying about barbell rows and get your deadlift up to 500.

By then you'll have your own opinion and you won't have to worry about mine.

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Quote of the Day 23rd March 2009

The vast majority of women cannot get large, masculine muscles from barbell training.

If it were that easy, I would have them.

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Quote of the Day 22nd March 2009

Your muscles cannot get “longer” without some rather radical orthopaedic surgery.

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Quote of the Day 21st March 2009

The Question was

... I have a question about working a more physical job. I'm 16, and just about to do SS (well, restart it at least) and im looking for a warehouse job. The thing is, im not sure if this would hurt my progress....

Rips answer

I mowed yards in North Texas in the summer while I was competing as a powerlifter.

If you can't train and work in a warehouse at the same time, you probably have ovarian cancer. Consult your gynecologist.

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Quote of the Day 20th March 2009

Trust me, if you do an honest 20 rep program, at some point Jesus will talk to you.

On the last day of the program, he asked if he could work in.

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Quote of the Day 19th March 2009

You guys that worry about eating clean are actually merely bodybuilders looking for justification for your obsession with abs.

You cannot get big and strong on 3000 kcal/day.

And you cannot eat 7000/day and eat perfectly "clean".

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Quote of the Day 18th March 2009

The bulk/cut approach holds that you can either add muscle or lose bodyfat, and that all training should be concerned with one or the other.

This assumes that aesthetics is the criterion by which progress is measured, that pictures therefore tell the story, and that picture magazines can be the arbiters of success.

This type of thinking completely ignores the performance aspects of training, and performance is much more easily and rapidly influenced.

Rapid, quantifiable progress keeps motivation high, much higher than waiting for a six-pack that may or may not show up.

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Quote of the Day 17th March 2009

And folks, for weight-gaining purposes, "eating clean" is not a useful concept.
Big Macs are.

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Quote of the day 16th March 2009

I don't even like Greg Glassman.
I don't have a cult like allegiance to the guy.
I really don't like him.
He's too hard to get on the phone and he doesn't drink my kind of scotch.

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Quote of the day 15th March 2009

A guy asks if hack squat is useful since his college does not have any squat racks only squat machines)

I recommend that you change colleges.

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Quote of the day 14th March 2009

(A guy gives a very detail problem of bowl trouble while squatting and ask if Rip or his trainees had similar problems)

Jesus, Andrew, I could have gone a long time without having to hear about this.

The obvious fix is to take a newspaper into the bathroom and not to come out until the whole thing is read.

Just before you train. Works for me every time.

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Quote of the day 13th March 2009

The question was –

“…is adding an hours walk as easy cardio helpful, detrimental, irrelevant to strength improvements…”

Rips answer

“Walking for an hour is not exercise. It's shopping.

If you count it at all, in any way, as part of your program ...well, I'll be disappointed.”

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Quote of the day 12th March 2009

The question was

'Does a bigger motor slow the car down?'

And the answer is

'No. But a bunch of junk in the trunk does.'"

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Quote of the day 11th March 2009

(A thread from someone worried about learning/doing power cleans by himself)

Usually, people just feel intimidated by anything that resembles a technical exercise and just would rather not do them. This is just being a pussy, and sets a bad precedent for the management of both training and life.

I think the Starting Strength includes an understandable method for learning to power clean, and just in case it's not simple enough I rewrote it for the new book so that it is even simpler. You don't really need bumper plates to do them if you don't have access, so that doesn't wash either. They are in the program because an explosive movement is a valuable contribution to power production, and they make deadlifts get stronger faster.

Okay, you don't need a coach to learn power cleans, because we fixed things up so that you can learn them out of the book. And what exactly is the downside of trying to learn them and failing? Firing squad? The fucking bodybuilders making fun of you from the safety of the dumbbell rack? Loss of wages?

Just try them before you decide you can't learn them without a coach.

Quote of the day 10th March 2009

Your form's going to break down under heavier weight. That's just the nature of the universe.

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Quote of the day 9th March 2009

Opinions are like phasers -- everybody ought to have one.

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Quote of the day 8th March 2009

That's it, the whole program. Adding a bunch of other stuff in, or even adding a little other stuff in makes it NOT MY PROGRAM, because it fundamentally alters your response to the stress.

Do what you want, of course, but it won't be my program if you do it your way.

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Quote of the day 7th March 2009

I don't read around the web much, because I'm old and busy, and just haven't got time. If I'm on the Internet, I'd rather be looking at porn.

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Quote of the day 6th March 2009

Women who claim to be afraid to train hard because they “always bulk up too much” are often already pretty bulky, or “skinny fat” (thin but weak and deconditioned) and have found another excuse to continue life sitting on their butts.

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Quote of the day 5th March

Jon Gilson from http://www.againfaster.com sent me this one

"I was deadlifting, I believe 365x5. Rip goes:

"Jon, you'd be a decent lifter if you'd just put on 60 pounds".

Asshole..."

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Quote of the day 4th March

On resting in between reps:

It varies with the length of the set. 5s or fewer get a breath to reset. Longer sets might take 2 breaths.

During the last few reps of a true 20RM squat, just do what Jesus tells you.

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Quote of the day 3rd March

"...what should my ideal body weight be for this program? Have you made a table for this, or what do you recommend?" - trainee

"Your ideal bodyweight as an ectomorph at 6' 0" will be 214.378 lbs. There. Happy? And if you lose or gain a pound, I will have you killed. It is important to be ideal.." - Rip

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Quote of the day 2nd march

"Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY 1ST MARCH 2009

Q: This is as SERIOUS, question... life and death. Are you a trekkie Rip? Be honest.

A: I watch the show, yes. Okay, fuck you.

I am one of the proud folks who, at the age of 9, 10, and 11 were privileged to watch the first series in its entirety every week without missing a single episode.

Mr. Spock raised me, Captain Kirk taught me about women, and Mr. Scott is responsible for my malt whisky habit.

I have not watched TV hardly at all since about 1980, but I did see all of the Next Generation shows. I have no use for Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise.

Once again, fuck you.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY 28TH FEBRUARY 2009

I was driving home the other night, listening to the radio, and the guy filling in for Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM was talking to some other guy about Nazis, UFOs, the Kennedy Assassination, time travel, and George Bush, and how it all relates to OneWorldGovernment.

This, of course, made me think about barbell training...

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QUOTE OF THE DAY 27TH FEBRUARY 2009

There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.

QUOTE OF THE DAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2009

On a respectable number of pull-ups:

Well, I can do 16, and I'm 51 and I weigh 210.

So you have to beat me or you're a pussy.

And if you do beat me, you're probably using drugs.

QUOTE OF THE DAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2009

On the ethics of meat eating:

Okay, have you ever been around chickens? They are stupid, uncooperative, inconvenient, ill-tempered creatures. They get what they deserve. Fuck chickens.

QUOTE OF THE DAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2009

Most people lift shit wrong all the time.
We need to learn to do it right. But we also need to come to the realization that if we do it wrong, it's not going to kill us

QUOTE OF THE DAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2009

The less strength you have , the more important it is to have more

QUOTE OF THE DAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2009

If you had to choose between wearing no shoes or running shoes to lift in which would you pick?"

Rip's response:

"That is like asking me to choose between stabbing myself in the eye with a fork or burning the roof of my mouth with extremely hot pizza. Can't we just avoid both?"

QUOTE OF THE DAY 21ST FEBRUARY 2009

On response to a guy who had some life problems lately and afraid of sounding like a "pussy":

You don't sound like a pussy at all. You sound like a normal human being, just like me, who thankfully has a barbell to keep him sane when things get shitty...and realize that one workout out of thousands does not affect your overall progress.

Training is a process, not the events of one day

QUOTE OF THE DAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2009

In response to a question regarding ho to safely dump a back squat

" In my gym, you get spotters, you safely dump it backwards loaded with the bumper plates, or you learn how to accurately judge your ability.

If you dump the bar on rails or pins or anything else in here, I will beat the cum out of you with the remnants of the bar."

QUOTE OF THE DAY 19TH FEBRUARY 2009

"Poor form in the gym is caused by insufficient yelling. "