Stronger people are harder to kill
American Strength Coach, Mark Rippetoe is as mad as a sack of snakes. He’s also brilliant - quite, quite brilliant.
The quotes below will give you a flavour of the man.
“There is never an absolute answer to everything except of course that you have to do your squats.”
“There is no such thing as ‘firming and toning’. There is only stronger and weaker.”
“If you insist on wearing gloves, make sure they match your purse.”
“Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not.”
And, of course, my absolute favourite..
“Stronger people are harder to kill than weak people and are more useful in general.”
As you might have detected, Mark Rippetoe doesn’t do ambiguity. In his area of expertise, which is the development of strength, he offers only rock-solid opinions.
I first encountered The Rip when I started lifting weights. (I call him The Rip).
Eager to find out everything, I googled: ‘The best books on weight-lifting’.
In virtually every single list I came across there was one common denominator - Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.
The Rip’s classic text is considered essential reading.
I bought it and read it.
The Rip was extremely convincing. I suspected his theories and methods were correct, but I didn’t know for sure.
How could I?
You don’t know for certain until you’ve tried everything.
Because remember, there were other books in those lists, and I read them too.
Some of those books were expounding theories which were in total contradiction to The Rip.
It was a very confusing time!
Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much everything.
Reading provides knowledge. But it’s only by applying that knowledge that you find out what really works.
What really works is what The Rip preaches.
But to fully understand The Gospel of Mark Rippetoe, you have to appreciate where he is coming from.
One of the central themes in Starting Strength is that most training methods aren’t very effective for normal people.
Consequently, huge swathes of people are wasting their time in the gym.
According to The Rip, here’s why a lot of people never follow the training protocol which will actually deliver the best results.
MOST RESEARCH STUDIES ARE BULLSHIT
A lot of training programme use research studies to validate their effectiveness. The Rip says most research studies are bullshit.
Studies are usually conducted at universities where the test groups are students - untrained students who are eating and drinking their heads off. As The Rip correctly asserts when you subject any group of untrained people to a six-week training protocol - they are going to show improvements. In essence, everything works in the first six weeks. The real question is: what continues to deliver the best results after those quick, easy gains in the first six weeks?
COPYING ELITE ATHLETES IS A BAD IDEA.
Copying the methods used in professional sports is daft. Most Professional athletes are genetic freaks. That’s why they are professional athletes. Not everything will work as effectively for normal people.
COPYING BODY BUILDERS IS AN EVEN WORSE IDEA
Most body-builders have got lots and lots of fast-twitch muscle fibres. This means they build muscle easily - much easier than normal people. The vast majority of people have got lots of slow twitch muscle fibres. What works for a body-builder isn’t going to work as effectively for Joe Bloggs.
So, if you should disregard most research studies, and ignore the methods used by professional athletes and anyone who has a proliferation of Type II muscle fibres (i.e the majority of body builders and a lot of Personal Trainers) - what should you do?
This is precisely the answer which The Rip seeks to provide.
And the answer is: you need to do strength training - ideally sets of five reps.
According to The Rip, five is the Goldilocks number of reps.
Four is too few, six is too many, five is just right.
Having trained a lot of normal people including myself I can testify with absolute certainty that The Rip is right.
Ignore The Rip at your peril.
His most-repeated quote: ‘stronger people are harder to kill’ has proved to be incredibly prescient.
We now know that strength and muscle mass do actually have a huge effect on lifespan and health span.
It’s not an opinion.
It’s a fact.
Stronger people are harder to kill!
So, how do we get strong?
You do The Shred.
Why?
Because we know how to get you stronger.
PH
LEANER, FITTER, STRONGER
The Shred is a holistic training programme which is designed to help you live better.
Join The Shred for The Med and we’ll help you get leaner, fitter and stronger.
Starting on Monday 10th June, our final weigh-in will be on Friday 5th July - just before you pack that suitcase for your holiday.
If you struggle on your own, come and join us.
The only thing you’ve got to lose is weight.
You can register for The Shred for the Med now.
Just go to our website:
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The Shred for The Med will run for four weeks: Monday 10th June to Saturday 6th July.
It costs £44.95.
Please read the information in the email which will confirm your payment.
If you want to join a WhatsApp Weight Loss Group, you must join The Shred Facebook Group before Friday 7th June.
The WhatsApp Groups are organised before The Shred for The Med officially begins.
A series of videos and posts on Sunday 9th of June will let you know what is involved so you will be ready to go when it officially starts the next day.
