A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong. This reality is offensive to some people who would like the intellectual or spiritual to take precedence. It is instructive to see what happens to these very people as their squat strength goes up.
Hmm. This sort of thing seems plausible, but I wonder how much of it is strength-specific? I’ve heard of eudaimonic effects for exercise in general (not necessarily strength training) and for mastering any new skill, and I doubt he’s filtering those out properly.
I understand this line of thought, but.. strength doesn’t have to be developed through weights, strength increase doesn’t necessarily mean much hypertrophy, and most importantly strength is a prerequisite/accelerator for increasing pretty much all athletic abilities (power, flexibility, endurance..)
He’s ignoring that people might not like how larger muscles look.
I guess the relation between muscle mass and physical attractiveness is non-monotonic, so a marginal increase in muscle mass would make some people look marginally better and other people look marginally worse. (I suspect the median Internet user is in the former group, though.)
ETA: Judging from the picture on Wikipedia, Rippetoe himself looks like someone who would look better if he lost some weight (but I’m a heterosexual male, so my judgement might be inaccurate).
Judging from the picture on Wikipedia, Rippetoe himself looks like someone who would look better if he lost some weight (but I’m a heterosexual male, so my judgement might be inaccurate).
I’m somewhat annoyed that the comments on this thread are vapid, but this might be worth responding to. It doesn’t particularly matter whether or not Rippetoe is himself currently ripped—see this Wikipedia article of yours for his domain expert credentials:
He is one of the few strength athletics authorities to publish both peer-reviewed articles as well as books for the lay population. Unlike most strength and conditioning academics, he has several decades of practical application as an elite-level strength coach, former competitive powerlifter, and a current gym owner.
Secondly, notice that he was a competitive powerlifter thirty years ago. Senescence is a bitch.
I didn’t dispute them. The grandparent and great-grandparent are about “how larger muscles look”. I can’t see how the passage you quote is relevant to the fact that I think he’s ugly.
-- Mark Rippetoe, Starting Strength
Sample: men who come to this guy to get stronger, I assume?
Hmm. This sort of thing seems plausible, but I wonder how much of it is strength-specific? I’ve heard of eudaimonic effects for exercise in general (not necessarily strength training) and for mastering any new skill, and I doubt he’s filtering those out properly.
Why was this downvoted?
He’s ignoring that people might not like how larger muscles look.
And personally (though I don’t care much) I would only care about practical athletic ability, not weight lifting.
I understand this line of thought, but.. strength doesn’t have to be developed through weights, strength increase doesn’t necessarily mean much hypertrophy, and most importantly strength is a prerequisite/accelerator for increasing pretty much all athletic abilities (power, flexibility, endurance..)
I guess the relation between muscle mass and physical attractiveness is non-monotonic, so a marginal increase in muscle mass would make some people look marginally better and other people look marginally worse. (I suspect the median Internet user is in the former group, though.)
ETA: Judging from the picture on Wikipedia, Rippetoe himself looks like someone who would look better if he lost some weight (but I’m a heterosexual male, so my judgement might be inaccurate).
I’m somewhat annoyed that the comments on this thread are vapid, but this might be worth responding to. It doesn’t particularly matter whether or not Rippetoe is himself currently ripped—see this Wikipedia article of yours for his domain expert credentials:
Secondly, notice that he was a competitive powerlifter thirty years ago. Senescence is a bitch.
Why “of yours”? I’ve never edited it.
I didn’t dispute them. The grandparent and great-grandparent are about “how larger muscles look”. I can’t see how the passage you quote is relevant to the fact that I think he’s ugly.