S B Coaches College - The Wisdom of Mark Rippetoe




		The Wisdom of Mark Rippetoe *Michael Boyle, MA, ATC* Share \|

I love when someone makes me think. Last week on t-nation, a site I visit less and less these days, Chris Collucci interviewed Mark Rippetoe, a great strength coach and a great writer. www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/starting_strength

I know an article or an interview is good when it causes me to change my thoughts about my program and ultimately change my program. This interview did both.

Before I continue with my praise of Mark Rippetoe let me make it clear that I find his support of Crossfit incongruous. How such a great coach can support a program that expresses absolute disdain for technique or safety is beyond me. However, for those who have seen me speak this is the “disagree versus dislike” think. I vigorously disagree with Coach Rippetoe on Crossfit but really like his thoughts in many areas.

Lets get back to the good stuff. Rippetoe is disciple of Bill Starr. Early on, so was I. I think The Strongest Shall Survive is a fundamental book we all should read. Sort of like being made to read the classics in school. I need to add it to Recommended Reading on strengthcoach.com . In fact, my first instructor in Weight Training at Springfield College ( Bruce Buckbee) had come to teach at Springfield from Hawaii where he worked with Bill Starr. Strongest Shall Survive was our text in class. Talk about a great education.

In the interview Coach Rippetoe talked about the simplicity of a basic linear program Select your fundamental exercises, get good at performing them and, get strong by adding five pounds per week. So beautiful and so simple. I immediately emailed my staff and said “we need to make our beginner program simpler” Our program is not basic enough and trust me, we are pretty basic. What you realize is that if a kid bench presses once per week for ten weeks, he/she only get 10 chances to improve at the skill of bench pressing. That is simply not enough. In our desire to have a well-rounded program we insert too much variety. We don’t give the kids enough exposure to the basics and, then we wonder why they are not mastering the basic lifts.

This fall our new athletes ( those that have never trained with us before) will use the most basic program we have ever implemented. We will use a Big Three as Starr recommended of hang clean ( Starr was a power clean guy), front squat ( Bill favored back squats) and bench press. In addition we will include Trap Bar Deadlifts for in effect a Big Four. We will then fill in the blanks with some chins and rows. The emphasis will be on developing a solid technical base from which to expand.

Rippetoe puts it simply “nothing works better ( for a beginner) than a linear progression of simple barbell exercises, that has you go up in weight every workout”. What Rippetoe overlooks or understates is that learning is also faster through repeated exposures. Coaches worry too much about kids getting bored. A kid who comes twice per week for ten weeks will not get bored by twenty squat workouts but, they will have a better chance of becoming a better squatter.

Michael Boyle is one of the worlds foremost experts in strength and conditioning and the editor of strengthcoach.com, a website exclusively devoted to performance enhancement.