What is this product?
Strong enough? Thoughts from Thirty Years of Barbell Training
What does this product claim?
| Product Description There are lots of things about weight training in general and barbell exercise in particular that can only be learned by spending way too many hours in the gym. And honestly, unless you’re a gym owner, this is a really weird way to spend 75 hours a week. Mark Rippetoe has been in the fitness industry since 1978 and has owned a black-iron gym since 1984. He knows things about lifting weights and training for performance that most other coaches and professionals have never had the chance to learn. This book of essays offers a glimpse into the depths of experience made possible through many years under the bar, and many more years spent helping others under the bar. |
Where can I get it and how much does it cost?
Review:
This is a smallish paperback weighing in at right around 200pages. The cover and paper are sturdy and bright with easy to read font. The book is composed of 19 different chapters\articles. Each of these flow well and you could get through any one in a sitting without fear of falling asleep. The articles themselves cover a broad spectrum and while not necessarily affecting\building on each other they don’t detract or take away from each other either. Each could be considered a stand alone and the reader would do well to take the book on that mindset.
Commentary:
Let’s pretend that I have both “Starting Strength” and “Practical Programing” and that colors my review of “Strong Enough”. As stated above this is a collection of articles and not a book. Some were strait up educational and others were a little more along the lines of silly but thought provoking. All of which are pretty good.
The unfortunate news: “The Slow Lifts\The Squat\The Press\The deadlift\The Bench Press\The Power Clean\…of the Deadlift\Popular Biomechanics”…any of that sound like it may be familiar ground? With almost half of these being covered in painful detail in “Starting Strength” and a couple more topics that might appear in PP I found myself asking how many times I was going to be forced to read how to deadlift in my life. It’s not that these articles are bad, they’ve just already been said…by that author…in a similar way…many times. The rest of the articles are a little more interesting (fresh), but when you cut a 200pg book in half you’re not really talking about a lot of content.
It’s impossible to say that the book doesn’t deliver in its claim, it obviously does and some people will buy it, read it, and it’ll change their lives for ever. If I had $15 to spend I’d wait another $5 to get Starting strength or Practical Programming. If I already had both of those books and had $15, I’d go to $1 longneck night at the local watering hole and get screwed up.
The book is solid. The information is solid. Unfortunately most of “the thoughts from thirty years of barbell training”, you’ve already read. If you’re unfamiliar with Mark Rippetoe then you might do well to pick this one up as it’s a fair price for good information. If you ARE familiar with Mr. Rippetoe’s work then you might be served holding off on this one till you thumb through it in your local bookstore first.
