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.
06/10/2026
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.
06/08/2026
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06/08/2026
The Correct Place for the Bar in Your Hands in the Deadlift | Mark Rippetoe
“JUST PICK IT UP OFF THE F*CKIN' FLOOR!!! GRIP IT AND RIP IT!!!! ARRRGH!!!!!” is the extent to which the deadlift is coached in some high school weight rooms, gyms, and garages around the world. I'm sorry, but this level of simplicity is insufficient, and yelling does not compensate for a lack of detail. Such advice will usually produce every possible incorrect position, including a badly miss-taken grip.
06/07/2026
Weekend Archives: Programming a Smooth NLP
As simple as the Novice Linear Progression (NLP) is, there is an awful lot of opportunity to mess it up. Mistakes usually come at points when a slight program adjustment is needed, but either too drastic a change is made or no change is made at all. This leads to lots of preventable problems.
06/05/2026
Two Old Guys Talking | Starting Strength Radio #351
Jim Steel sits down with Rip to discuss training, motivation, and his approach to lifting.
06/04/2026
You May Not Be Sleeping As Well As You Think | Phil Ringman
I thought I was sleeping well. Turns out, I wasn't. With an estimated 68.5 million undiagnosed sleep apnea cases, there is a chance you might not be sleeping as well as you thought either. Check it out.
06/03/2026
A Hierarchy of Variables in Strength Training | Andrew Lewis
The more frivolous the subject, the more fervently people will argue about it. This is especially true about fitness. People get so bogged down in the details that they miss the important overarching concepts – the forest for the trees...The foundation of training must be correct before digging deeper into the details.
06/02/2026
The Bar Doesn't Care About Your Sleep Score | Robert Novitsky
If you spend any time around fitness content today, it’s hard to ignore how much of the conversation has quietly shifted away from training in favor of recovery. In fact, entire industries have sprouted up to feed this growing obsession, and it’s not slowing down any time soon.