Starting strength
by Mark Rippetoe · first published 2005
64% recommend31% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Thorough, beginner-friendly guide to barbell training built around squat, deadlift, press and bench, with a simple linear-progression program and form detail. Suits novices who want confidence in the gym.
Common criticism: Hard to learn lift technique from text alone; the long per-lift sections can overwhelm
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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…"scientific" to describe their exercise pitches. Please don't waste your time with this "workout," unless of course you're so weak and fragile that it'll literally kill you to do a squat. Really look into Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe for actual good advice. "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general." - Mark Rippetoe Edit: Btw, time comparison: spend years chasing the latest "scientific"…
on “The Scientific 7-Minute Workout” ↗…life. If you want to have a healthy, long life focus on overall strength. Squats, deadlifts, odd-object carries etc. If you're new to lifting, have someone who isn't show you proper form. Or just read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Its the bible of heavy lifts. Source: I can deadlift more than 3 times my bodyweight while still having a 7 min mile.
on “Raising the American Weakling” ↗…really bad lower back pain years ago. Started going to the gym and doing weight training. Went from not being able to deadlift 80 lbs without pain to 495lbs for 3 reps. No back pain now. I also recommend "Starting Strength" by Mark Ripptoe. It works. I wish I could convince my wife to do back squats and deadlifts. She's also having back problems but she's stubbornly refusing to do anything about them.
on “Weight Training Is the Best Exercise for Bone Strength” ↗For anyone interested... if you want good posture, if you want to really be in shape, there are a million fads out there, but the best book by far is "Starting Strength" [1]. (It's also one of the best-selling on Amazon.) It essentially focuses on just the squat, deadlift, press, bench press, and (later) power clean, devoting around forty pages to each, and explains…
on “What happens when you sit at a desk for 13 years and also exercise” ↗The book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (book and author pretty much universally lauded by the strength training community) is also a great starting point. Beginners can often become overwhelmed by all the differing viewpoints…
on “Association between muscular strength and mortality in men (2008) [pdf]” ↗…the knees from the open chain loading. It's good to be thinking of this stuff though. I highly recommend Athlean-X(his free youtube videos, can't say anything about his programs) and Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program. Between these two, I've gotten into a little weightlifting and I'm loving it. My posture is better than it's been in 40 years. Just do yourself a favor and go slow. Muscles adapt quickly…
on “Common Muscular Weaknesses” ↗Starting Strength - because this time I actually started lifting instead of just reading it :) The Pragmatic Programmer - It has been recommended to me by a good developer that is self-taught like me. So far so good.…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗I'm skeptical of anybody who claims to have a simple answer to success at weight training. The more I learn about weight training, the more ignorant I feel. A few books I've enjoyed lately are 'Starting Strength' by Rippetoe and Killgore and Brookfield's 'Master of Hand Strength'. The latter book is a real eye-opener: every page is stuffed with information that makes sense, but you never would have thought…
on “Fitness for geeks: my annual review of the Stronglifts 5x5 program” ↗Just as a minor complaint, "Stronglifts" is just Mark Rippetoe's intermediate program lifted directly from his Starting Strength book and shamelessly rebranded. If people are just getting into lifting, you can't do better than Starting Strength[0] for background info and mechanics on the main lifts. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook...
on “Common Muscular Weaknesses” ↗…you could do to improve your health. The program to which you refer (http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra...) seems to be a slightly different spin on Mark Ripptoe's legendary Starting Strength program (http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength...). If you are serious about improving your strength and health in general, buy Mark's book (http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp...).…
on “Fitness for geeks: my annual review of the Stronglifts 5x5 program” ↗If you are serious about it, there's a book by Mark Rippetoe called Starting Strength that explains this in more detail.
on “This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym” ↗…posting results from these predominantly weight lifting programs. Helps keep me motivated on what I'm doing. If anyone is interested in starting, but lacks the money for a personal trainer, I've found Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe (http://www.amazon.com/By-Mark-Rippetoe-Lon-Kilgore/dp/B005PI...) to be a huge help in learning all the lifts. The first chapter is almost 60 pages just on squats going over everything…
on “How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)” ↗For those curious to get started, Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe is the gold standard in beginners programming. http://startingstrength.com/ It takes you through the basic compound exercises and talks about some important concepts in weight training,…
on “Weight Training Is the Best Exercise for Bone Strength” ↗…failed to find that exercise-life balance. Additionally a lot of conventional wisdom in exercise science borders on "voodoo", and some are challenging it [1]. [1] Search for Mark Rippetoe's articles on Starting Strength. See, for instance, https://startingstrength.com/article/why-you-should-not-be-r... (the name is a bit misleading).
on “What if regular exercise is the best cognitive exercise?” ↗…level of strength that requires training, but is achievable for most people with intelligent (but not necessarily complicated) training. Any competent strength coach can take you there. Reading the book Starting Strength by Rippetoe would be my recommendation of where to start. 2) The benefits of endurance training are similarly well-documented (e.g., https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-5k-not-the-marathon...).…
on “How Aging Research Is Changing Our Lives” ↗