January 12, 2026
Viage Edition
On Starting Strength
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Training Equipment –
Rip and Rusty follow up their discussion of setting up your own gym with one covering the contents of your gym bag. -
Cardio: The Silent Exercise by Adrian Nilsson –
Tired of doing endless miles and wondering if any of it is actually doing something? You’re not alone. Cardio is important, yes, but so silent you can’t tell if it’s paying off. If you cannot stand to… -
Simple Bench Press Tips –
World’s Okayest Starting Strength Coach, Pete Troupos, goes over three quick tips you can incorporate in your bench press immediately. -
Do You Have This Character Flaw? by Gus Worden –
I work for an employer. The chance is strong that you do too, even if you are self-employed. Unfortunately for those in the latter group, they have a horrible boss and a worse employee… -
Weightlifting: Practicing vs. Training by Carl Raghavan –
Weightlifting is the sport of the snatch and the clean & jerk. By definition, if you are not practicing or training these two lifts, you are not weightlifting. You may argue otherwise… - Weekend Archives:
Combat Worst-Case Scenario by Ryan Whittemore –
“All the mystery of combat is in the legs and it is to the legs that we should apply ourselves.” I remember reading this quote by Marshal Maurice de Saxe… - Weekend Archives:
Training Female Lifters: Neuromuscular Efficiency by Mark Rippetoe –
In a previous article I stated, “The reason why women’s deadlifts don’t always obey this rule has to do with the same reason women can perform a much higher percentage of their 1RM for reps…
In the Trenches
Brent Carter starts off this past weekend’s Starting Strength Seminar with a lecture on coaching theory. [photo courtesy of stef bradford]
On a very loud and kinetic Friday night at Starting Strength Atlanta, Adam Martin, SSC, gets up close and personal to cue Patrick King through the last rep of his PR 1×5@315 squat. [photo courtesy of Starting Strength Atlanta]
Dave gets up early and trains at 5:30am with his wife Michelle at Starting Strength Boston. Here he is crushing a new 85lb Press PR. [photo courtesy of Michael Shammas]
Get Involved
Best of the Week
New Food Pyramid
Mark Rippetoe
By now you have all heard about the “new food pyramid”, that finally makes some long-awaited sense. It emphasizes proteins over carbs, and shockingly enough is being criticized by the medical community, the Keepers Of All Knowledge. Somebody find me a postable link to the graphic.
Jason Donaldson
The gov’t site has animations and such – here’s a screen shot. Is that what you wanted, Rip?
Note how this ABC affiliate “reports” on the new food pyramid by…straw manning it with supposed counter examples that are 100% processed food responses.
Will RFK Jr.’s food pyramid change grocery stores?
It’s almost as if whoever wrote this script either didn’t actually read the new site, read it but is unable to understand it, or is intentionally lying. None of which could be the case, of course, since the journalism industry employs the best of the best as a bulwark of truth, liberty, and the American way of life, of course, so I must be missing something.
Another one to file under the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect…
Best of the Forum
Starting strength to fix runners knee.
Zdmyers690
I’ve been following your stuff for a while through the Starting Strength Podcast, app, and YouTube channel. I really like what you have to say. I’ve noticed that you believe majority of the physical therapists out there are full of shit. I do agree to a point based on experience.
I have been dealing with a nagging runners knee in both knees for about a year and a half. This happened due to overuse from trail running/ racing 10-20 miles weekly. Initially, I wasn’t able to walk up or down the stairs without pain. Through the stretching and body weight exercises i was able to manage the pain but it never truly subsided. So I decided to go to another therapists which did incorporate stretches and foam rolling with strength exercises with dumbbells. The specific dumbbell exercises were one legged RDLs alternating legs (3 sets of 14) and goblet squats (3 sets of 14). This did help dramatically, but still not back to normal.
My question is do you think that the beginner linear progression will should be modified? If so how? Box squats?
Any suggestion is very much appreciated as I want to become a stronger individual as strength is the only thing that matters in life.
Mark Rippetoe
Have you done squats and deadlifts?
Zdmyers690
I’ve done one set of regular squats but ended up getting pain in the knee near the patella. From your videos I think it might be a form issue but I also don’t have a pair of squat shoes, so that could be an issue as well. All other squats were in the form of a goblet squat.
I’ve done many sets of alternating one legged RDLS. The regular deadlifts don’t really bother me.
Do you think some pain would be normal in the squat and I should just continue the program as prescribed?
Frank_B
I had the same issue when I started my NLP a few years ago. It’s never been “fixed” as though I didn’t run, but a heavy set of deadlifts is the thing that usually makes it feel best. Squats… Meh… if I can stay out of my knees it doesn’t aggravate them, and if I can’t, I’ll irritate it but it wont get worse than it ever was before.
I was dabbling around with some RDL’s a few months ago as they seemed to make a back injury I had feel better. My knees felt great after those! Almost like someone injected grease into them. I’ve started warming up my deadlift with RDL’s to about 275-300 and then I pull the remaining warmups from the ground. That makes the tendinopathy (if that’s what it is) go away for a few days.
I think as long as you get coached to stay out of your knees in the squat, your experience will be similar.
Mark Rippetoe
Get the book, do the exercises and the program exactly as described. It will fix your knees.
Credit : Source Post
