August 25, 2025
Froe Edition
On Starting Strength
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Starting Strength Radio: Behind the Scenes –
Rusty Holcomb leads a tour of the studio and production process for Starting Strength Radio. -
Starting Strength: An Aphorism by Mark Rippetoe –
Today’s Market-Ticker post by Karl Denninger (which you should read every day) is especially insightful when applied to what we do here at Starting Strength. It is a guest post… -
The Great Lifter Dilemma –
Brandon Brendel of Starting Strength St. Louis addresses rest period management for serious lifters confronting heavy loads. -
Improving Dance by Getting Stronger by Emily Socolinsky –
As a former dancer (20+ years of dance, ballet and modern), I did not understand the true nature of what “getting stronger” meant. It took me twenty years to finally start training with a barbell… -
Why Do You Lift Weights? by Robert Novitsky –
Has anyone ever asked you, “Why do you lift weights?” It seems like a simple question, but it actually might take you aback and give you a moment’s pause… - Weekend Archives:
Back Rehab: A Case Study by Mac Ward –
During my last deployment I suffered a back injury that left me with a condition known as “Foot Drop”, sometimes called “Drop Foot.” My rehabilitation protocol was unorthodox, my recovery is complete… - Weekend Archives:
The 3 Most Effective Ways to Waste Time in the Gym by Mark Rippetoe –
Time is money. Money is scarce these days, everywhere but DC. You want to be stronger, so you go to the gym. The best use of your time there is the simple progressive barbell training program we have discussed before…
In the Trenches
Dylan Penka working through a heavy press on an energetic Saturday morning at Starting Strength Columbus. [photo courtesy of Paul Jackson]
Starting Strength Cincinnati member Kevin Douthitt rack pulls 430 pounds for a set of 5, well on his way to pulling 4 plates from the floor. Known by his co-workers as “The Ol’ Bull,” 62 year old Kevin is relentlessly consistent with his training and has now gone over a year without missing a single session! [photo courtesy of Chris Reis]
Matt just bench pressed a 300lb single at Starting Strength Boston. This was the last PR he needed to officially join Starting Strength’s “sticker club” – meaning a 200lb press, 300lb bench, 400lb squat, and 500lb deadlift. Congratulations Matt! [photo courtesy of Michael Shammas]
Get Involved
Best of the Week
Testosterone Reference Ranges and AUA Guidelines
Jason Donaldson
Not a question, just some interesting observations:
In looking through lab results, I noticed that the provider I use states that their method for testing testosterone…
“…is currently certified by the CDC Hormone Standardization Program (HoSt). Adult male reference interval is based on a population of healthy nonobese males (BMI <30) between 19 and 39 years old. Travison, et.al. JCEM 2017,102;1161-1173. PMID: 28324103.”
(emphasis added)
Of course, this has the fundamental flaw of being purely a statistical definition, without regard to symptoms or other impact-related factors. It also suffers from the usual shortcoming of BMI as the sole definer of obesity. That said, the reference range using 19-39 year old males as the standard seems to be a good sign for diagnosing age-related low T, instead of using / including older men’s numbers.
Having seen that, I looked up the American Urology Association’s guidelines, since the last time I heard about them, I recall seeing that they specifically recommended against treating low T when the cause was age. I was pleasantly surprised to read of a great number of changes:
Testosterone Deficiency Guideline – American Urological Association
There are a lot of good things there, such as telling patients that there is, in fact NO evidence that supplementing testosterone increases risk of cardiac problems and so on. In fact, a lot of these guidelines outright contradict the approach that we’ve seen a lot of folks reporting here on the boards that they’ve been prescribed, like one injection every two or four weeks. It’s not too surprising that new guidance has not penetrated the front lines of general practice, much less insurance, however.
Still, the AUA page is an interesting read, and does seem to be some progress.
Steve Cox
I wish those in charge at the VA would read that; I would’ve been put on TRT several years ago and be a lot better off now. Instead, they want to give out meds that are questionable at best, and then meds to fix the side effects of the first meds, and on and on. Fortunately they only have me on BP medication for now and I fought that one.
Mark Rippetoe
And THIS should tell you what you need to know about the “reference range”: Adult male reference interval is based on a population of healthy nonobese males (BMI <30) between 19 and 39 years old. It is an average of 1000 young men, not an optimum level derived from any clinical parameters.
Best of the Forum
What are your thoughts on the “Dead Press”?
AdamFiddler
If you weren’t interested in the specificity of competitive powerlifting but were interested in building the most horizontal-pushing type strength off the chest, would there be any advantage to training the bench press concentric-first like the deadlift? Would this way make it any easier on the shoulders?
Concentric-first lifting seems to have pretty good pedigree from the little I know, as Paul Andersen used it for squatting and the deadlift is, well, the deadlift. Do you see any problems with training the bench press this way other than that you would need a power rack to do it every time?
Mark Rippetoe
Have you read my book?
AdamFiddler
Not the bench press portion, guess I should go do that.
Adam Skillin
Wait, you written a book? More than one? You should have named the website after one of the books…
Credit : Source Post
