August 11, 2025
Topo Version
On Beginning Power
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Training Response at Different Life Stages –
Rip discusses how coaching response adjustments over time, evaluating and contrasting completely different phases in life. -
You Can’t Get into the Low-Bar Squat. What Now? by Steve Ross –
First issues first – everyone must squat. There’s merely no substitute for it, and for the overwhelming majority of individuals, there’s no excuse to not. The explanations have been crushed to dying… -
How to Pause Your Pulls –
Beginning Power Coach Josh Wells exhibits methods to use a pause on the knee to study to maneuver exactly for the Olympic lifts. Repair your preliminary knee extension, steadiness, and again place and make each rep rely. -
Winners vs. Losers by Jack Bissett –
Let me let you know a story of two lifters: Bob and Kelly. Bob is an accountant, he’s in his mid-thirties, he’s married to a stay-at-home mother, and he has two youngsters and a canine. Kelly is a challenge supervisor… -
You Must Understand the Gravity of Your Situation by Steve Hill & Mark Rippetoe –
On the Atlanta Beginning Power Seminar, whereas watching movies of the clear & jerk and the snatch, we famous that Pyrros Dimas had an uncommon pulling model: because the bar passes the knees… - Weekend Archives:
Your Back Trail by John F. Musser –
On the finish of the day you possibly can’t do something about it. You are proper, her household is big. There are brothers, sisters, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, and geezer Mother and Dad. There are tons of… - Weekend Archives:
The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Learn About Lifting Weights by Mark Rippetoe –
Your decrease again could very effectively be doing completely nothing that you just inform it to do. Studying methods to management the muscle tissues that set the curve of your lumbar backbone could also be crucial factor you study…
Within the Trenches
Keith at Beginning Power Cincinnati deadlifts a 500 lb PR after beginning to practice solely 3 months in the past. Keith had by no means lifted weights earlier than beginning on the fitness center. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]
Larry deadlifts at Beginning Power Cincinnati. Throughout his time coaching on the fitness center during the last 3 years, Larry had surgical procedure for cervical stenosis and recovered from getting hit by a automobile and spending a month in intensive care. He attributes his restoration to getting sturdy. [photo courtesy of Nick Delgadillo]
Avril Laurendine develops her again power as apprentice Travis Collier develops his teaching eye at Starting Strength Atlanta. [photo courtesy of Adam Martin]
Julie Rosseter focuses her eye gaze on a set reference level as she presses at Starting Strength Atlanta. [photo courtesy of Adam Martin]
Get Concerned
Better of the Week
Why the press prevents shoulder issues and my thoughts
Griffin727
I’ve seen on right here that doing the press helps forestall shoulder accidents. My query is what’s the foremost mechanism of why? I really feel most individuals harm there shoulders outdoors the fitness center extra typically then from doing simply the bench press and never the press. I really feel most of my tweaks occurred from not managing the restoration a part of the method in addition to I ought to. Might or not it’s that individuals who use the bench as their main upperbody movment get harm extra as a result of when you get stronger the bench press can develop into a fairly large driver of stress. Which for some can get just a little troublesome to handle? Have been as with the press, even at a intermediate degree you continue to should not utilizing a ton of weight. Theoretically by nature it makes it the prefect mild day and helps prevents the over reaching of stress wherein could cause accidents to the shoulder space. It is onerous for me to purchase into the entire muscle imbalance concept, if one is deadlift and doing row/chins as effectively.
Satch12879
As the entire main barbell actions are systemic within the nature of the stress utilized and the power constructed; the explanation the press aids in shoulder damage prevention is that it serves to strengthen the entire small muscle tissues which are primarily concerned in holding the joint collectively, simply by advantage of performing the motion correctly.
Maybach
It’s potential in principle that the way in which some folks program the bench press would possibly result in damage. This principle is analogous to my observations in regards to the deadlift, which is that most individuals who “harm themselves deadlifting” are programming it improper, and “improper” can get fairly foolish within the basic inhabitants
The bench press, nevertheless, by way of uncooked quantity is tough to essentially overdo, definitely a lot much less so than the deadlift or squat. Chucking a bunch of deadlift quantity into your program normally results in “damage”, whereas chucking a bunch of bench press quantity in fairly often ends in a heavy ass bench press.
I agree that “muscle imbalance” as the way in which it’s normally talked about in train circles might be horseshit: if the drive of muscle tissues is transferring a joint a technique will increase, then the drive the antagonist muscle tissues want to beat to maintain the joint “in steadiness” will ALSO enhance, which ensures that on the very minimal, they “hold tempo” with the first muscle. You’d should work fairly onerous to get your pushing musculature to exert extra drive on the shoulder than the shoulder itself is experiencing throughout coaching, which ought to *strengthen it*. In the event you had been to coach solely pushing actions, and ignore pulling actions, the principle uncomfortable side effects can be a weak pull.
However the concept is not essentially pointing within the improper course. The bench press is exclusive among the many 5 main lifts in that it requires using what’s, successfully, a form of orthotic. Regular shoulder movement (which the press is an instance of) hardly ever makes use of this orthotic. So I suppose it’s potential that it does “omit” some musculature that wants coaching. Invoice Starr appeared to assume this was the case. However it’s lower than the urgent muscle tissues develop into “overtrained”, and extra that it leaves out muscle tissues that SHOULD be educated, and causes the usual issues of weak point. Notice that bench press shoulder issues and weak folks shoulder issues are normally across the identical kind and severity, whenever you account for the truth that people who find themselves . Benching loads are utilizing their shoulder extra, and are paying extra consideration.
The choice rationalization is the noticed tendency that it’s really potential to really for actual ding your shoulder within the bench press. That’s, the factor folks THINK occurs to them on the deadlift, really does on the bench. The shoulders can get into compromised positions on the bench, and topic some poorly innervated tissue to some comparatively heavy weights. That is nearer to your concept, however shouldn’t be a strictly quantity/ stress dosage phenomenon, however relatively a way one.
novicejay
Does this imply the explanation the press mounted my ac joint (which was on hearth by the way in which) is that the muscle tissues received stronger and in some way transfer one thing into the precise place?
Jason Donaldson
There are a whole lot of shoulder points which are mounted (or higher, prevented) exactly by strengthening the musculature across the joint.
The shoulder is assessed as a ball-and-socket joint, as is the hip. Nevertheless, the hip joint’s construction is a deeper socket, and it bears weight in another way, counting on the bone construction to a a lot larger diploma. The construction of the shoulder joint, nevertheless favors mobility over stability, which is what permits the vary of movement that we’ve there. Because of this, what holds it collectively is the muscle construction, therefore the sturdy correlation between the well being of the joint and the power of the muscle tissues round it.
To make this strengthening handiest requires that the strengthening be executed in pure motion patterns, to herald all the required buildings. That is the place the press (and the chin and the deadlift, actually) actually shine.
Better of the Discussion board
Leg Presses?
PrimalFist
From an excellent article you wrote:
“Lifters, bodybuilders, and power athletes typically lose sight of the truth that they’re actually in the identical state of affairs. For us, heavy work on squats, deadlifts, bench presses, presses, energy cleans and snatches, leg presses, and perhaps barbell rows for bodybuilders will comprise the overwhelming majority of the productive effort we’ll expend all through our coaching careers.”
Questioning why you snuck leg presses in there?
Mark Rippetoe
I feel somebody has taken over PrimalFish’s account.
Scaldrew
What makes you assume so, Rip?
stef
The actual quote: “For us, heavy work on squats, deadlifts, bench presses, presses, energy cleans and snatches, and leg presses and perhaps barbell rows for bodybuilders, will comprise the overwhelming majority of the productive effort we are going to expend all through our coaching careers.
Mark Rippetoe
That is the second low-quality query from his account in 2 days, and he is sharing an IP tackle with Gettingstronger. I do not keep in mind him being a troll. Transferring commas round to begin shit I did not count on.
