Author, Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd Ed. Starting Strength is a website promoting effective, barbell-based strength training.
Starting Strength is a systematic approach to the classic barbell training method of improving Strength – the most critical characteristic of successful athletes and healthy useful people. The Aasgaard Company publishes articles, videos and other resources on this site. It also hosts the Starting Strength Forums, providing an active community for the discussion of training questions and achievements, as well as the famous Mark Rippetoe Q&A forum.
06/18/2026
Goals 107: Situational Goals | Carl Raghavan
Sometimes in life, you have to do things that you don’t want to – even in training. Welcome to adulthood. So what do you do? Quit? Write the whole thing off? Better still, you wait for your “perfect” moment to start over – again? That, my friend, is a mistake.
06/17/2026
Lessons in Barbell Training | Oliver Sifkovits
Over the course of my career as a coach and lifter, I have come to understand several things. One which stands out for me is that the process of getting stronger draws many parallels to other aspects of our life. In essence, the barbell can become our life teacher, as well as our teacher for life. Whether you have been training for several months, several years, or are thinking about getting started, this article was written for you.
06/16/2026
Something Always Hurts | Zachary Millunchick
You could say I have about three years of training history under my belt. That short time has been enough to understand something basic and simple about strength training: Something always hurts.
06/15/2026
CrUSh the Bar | Rusty Holcomb
If you're going to grab a barbell, GRAB the barbell. Rusty explains how you should be squeezing the barbell while lifting.
06/15/2026
Huisst Edition - Starting Strength Weekly Report June 15, 2026
Bad Advice; Answering the Critics: Michael Boyle’s Functional Training; Don't Make These Press Mistakes; The Correct Place for the Bar in Your Hands in the Deadlift; Adaptation: Period, Persistence, and Prioritization; Stance Width and the Press; The Inappropriate Use of the Rack Pull; Non SSC Client Keeps Bending Elbows in Rack Pull; Starting Strength and one kidney
06/14/2026
Weekend Archives: The Inappropriate Use of the Rack Pull
I have noticed an increasingly common problem in barbell gyms, that I attribute primarily to laziness. Yes, the rack pull exercise is easier to do than the full pull off the floor. Yes, it's easier to get into a good lumbar extension...
06/12/2026
Bad Advice | Starting Strength Light Day #21
Rip and Rusty discuss the costs of following bad advice instead of a correctly designed program.
06/10/2026
Answering the Critics: Michael Boyle’s Functional Training | Kim Goss
Quoting German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, athletic fitness influencer Michael Boyle said truth passes through three stages:
Stage 1. Ridiculed
Stage 2. Violently Opposed
Stage 3. Accepted as Begin Self-Evident
Boyle describes traditional strength coaches as barbell meatheads who are stuck in the Violently Opposed stage.
06/09/2026
Don't Make These Press Mistakes | Rusty Holcomb
Rusty takes you through some common press position mistakes seen in those with long forearms.