When I was 22 I underwent treatment for testicular cancer. During chemo, the nurses and doctors were quite impressed with how little it impacted me (in fact I only lost 2 lbs during treatment). They believed it was due to me having a bunch of muscle mass and strength to fight off the toxins. That experience further confirmed why doing strength training is one of the best things you can do. Not only is it better to become stronger and muscular but also the mental benefits and tackling chemo as a breeze. FYI I'm 23 now and still cancer free. Thanks, Rip for showing me the ropes :)
No i don't. As long as you still have one working testicle TRT isn't necessary hormones remain the same. Some even experience increased levels of testosterone, since the other testicle overcompensates. I've had my levels checked about a year ago and I was in the normal range (considering today's standards). Maybe it has increased since, but strength definitely also helps with testosterone levels
I went through the same thing when I was 27 and they told me the same thing. The reason for my tolerance to the chemo and surgeries was likely due to my muscle mass and strength training
I stumbled upon Starting Strength 3 yrs ago. Went from flat butt 185lb bikeriding and fitness training guy to strength training. Gained 60 pounds. Deadlift went up 200 pounds. Press almost doubled. Squats up 100. My numbers aren't huge but I started at age 58. 455 deadlift. I learned a lot from your podcasts too.
You are 100% correct. I am a 72 year old woman who strength trains with intermittent cardio 6 days a week. I am lean, toned and super healthy. My heart age is 39. I attend classes with people decades younger than me and I am able to use the same level of equipment as them. I take only vitamins and supplements. I am the living example of what you advocate.
I've trained a client who is now 69 for about 3-4 years. We built his squat up to 100kg and his deadlift up to 140kg. The man has been through a stroke (he has a fair idea what caused it) and double pneumonia in the last 9 months and he bounced back lifting again in no time is up around where he was before these set backs. Strong people really are harder to kill, and more useful in general. (As a wise man once said.)
I'm an internal medicine doctor and i wholeheartedly agree wirh your general message and sentiment. Strength training is indeed the way to go and that's what i use and recommend for my patients who want to get healthier. Doctors are great at treating patients with diseases, but Western medicine certainly still has lots to learn in terms of value and power of nutrition and exercise. It really is NOT a focus in our educational system and we have to seek it individually based on our interests. On the other hand, cardio is still obviously very important.. well for cardiovascular health as the name says. Not for weight loss or overall strength and combating fragility. Final point. Please don't shit on medications that you are not trained on. I respect your life knowledge, but statins are VERY important to SOME people. If i get a patient in the office with a blood pressure of 170/95, i'm going to start discussions on two things: life style changes AND medications. Because those lifestyle changes arent going to happen in a month or 5. Ultimately the goal is always to come off the medication when possible. Cheers!
Would you agree that rehabilitation practices are ruined with liability and light weight and repetitions are prescribed so nothing happens rather than something effective like heavey barbell training? Thoughts...
@@gustolehmann7164 I wouldn't be surprised. But again unfortunately we are not really involved in the details of what occurs during PT and their methods. That's why there are doctors of PT who specialize in this. But from my personal journey I do understand the immense benefit of training well and working up to heavier and heavier weights. cheers.
If you don't train for strength you'll have a shitty immune system and joint health. However if you also never do any conditioning you'll have a shitty heart. Best of both worlds. If you can do 385lb squat you should be able to do 50 reps of an empty barbell and if you can't maybe start doing something about it
As a former triathlete and ultramarathon runner I agree. Did it for 30 years. F--d up my hormones, couldn’t dl 185lb. 5/8 150 at 51. Now dl 405 Sq 340 Ohp 195 Bench 255 At 175 lbs Walk my dog and do faves 3xwk.
“Ultramarathon runner” That’s taking running to an extreme. While I’m not disagreeing with your comments, they aren’t that relevant to this video. RIP is trying to appeal to the lazy who’d rather do some curls than run for a few miles
If you train hard with the compound exercises, you should be breathing heavy and your heart rate shouod increase when your doing your workout. So this type of workout should also help improve cardiovascular fitness well above a sedentary person. Weight training isnt just isolated to effects on the muscles but also effects the heart and lungs. If one wants to train more for cardiovascular fitness, you could also lighten the load and do 20 rep squats a couple of times a week.
Confusing general conditioning with hyper-specialized endurance training and then critiquing how that alone isn’t the best for health is wild to me. Lift weights, get stronger, and do some cardio, almost like it’s good to be fit in a variety of contexts (and they probably compliment each other)
A strong man who can run 2 or 3 miles without having to talk to his Jeyzus mid-way in, is going to be happier than the same strong man who coughs his lungs up at the very idea of climbing a flight of stairs.
Yea lol I mean I love Rippetoe but, big strong guys seem to get heart attacks at age 45 just as often as you can say a frail man dies of pneumonia so.....
Rip is 64yo with a gut that hangs several inches over his belt and he can barely walk. He is also drowning in TRT and now looks bloated and red. The picture of health.
@News Is Retarded Beer Is Gay cool story, life isn't a beer commercial cringetard. Rip is red from the steroids and obesity and alcoholism. Cope harder.
You can do both at a quite high level. I can run a sub 01:30 half-marathon any day of the week, I usually run between 60 and 100km a week and can still do 440lbs deadlift, 375lbs squat, 285 lbs bench and 165 lbs OHP. I can also do around 40-45 pull ups on a good day in one set. I think I could try harder and achieve better strength with the same volume of training, but I just maintain my strength.
I tore my piriformis muscle and irritate my sciatic nerve last november. My doc said literally: "stop doing sports!" "don't lift heavy!" "deadlift max. 100lbs!" i laughed at that, i press 120+ overhead!. Needed a treatment in hospital after all and the prof in the hospital (i life in germany and went to a univerity hospital) said: "Man, your invertebral discs... they look like you are 20 years old!" i am not! i am 50+! But hey, getting old is nothing for cowards! :) Sometimes i wonder, if they (the docs) come out of university and quit learning...
I just watched a vid the other day about how research has shown that strength and Vo2 max are the primary indicators of longevity, with strength being foremost. I immediately thought of Rip, his position is vindicated
@@ibraheemkhan6660 To be fair they do state often that they only care about strength, nothing else. I´ve found doing a jogging routine has helped my ability to recover from strength workouts. Recovery both in between sets and between sessions. Theres a synergistic effect between a little cardio and strength gains
@Sydney Masey it is misleading when we compare strength trainers to cardio trainers. The right way is to say if you do strength training than it is good, if you do cardio training than it is good I think the video comes from a beef between them and runners, which is not necessary at all
Note what Rippetoe is NOT saying here. He is not saying to not do any cardio exercise whatsoever. He is comparing the "runner" and the "lifter." A runner (based on his earlier essays) is someone who runs something like 60-80 mph.
Correct. A runner is not, for example, someone who lifts and runs for a sport like football, but is someone who just runs and does very little else. That said, those who make purely running their sport will benefit from taking time out from their usual pursuit to focus on strength.
Cardio is important too, guy at my gym in his 40s super strong trained daily, but didn't do cardio. Had a heart attack and almost died. I've come to believe you should do both, but an excess of both is unhealthy.
Strength first, yes, but some "cardio" is important though. FWIW - the best book that is sort of in the Starting Strength "portfolio" to consider this is The Barbell Prescription. Don't run, necessarily, but push a heavy sled to work your heart. It won't interfere with your lifts too much and it will jack up your heart like crazy. Also, Rip will hate this, but heavy kettlebell swings are a great "strength-cardio" movement also. They *will* interfere with lifting, but swap them in for pulling occasionally and it will help your conditioning and may even help your deadlift a bit.
Been a fan of you for a long time Rip, this is the only advice you've given that has left me unsure. Being strong feels amazing but having super fit heart and lungs feels essential. I've been out of breath after walking up a long stairway and I've also felt like I could go in forever, being in the latter contrition makes me feel in control. Surely we can be runners and heavy lifters with a bit of compromise?
Yeah a balance is key, I'm subscribed to Nick Bare who is a 89kg lifter who's done some amateur body building successfully but also runs everyday and can run for miles at a very good pace in his 40s. Him and David Goggins are great examples of being very fit and having strength at the same time.
@@timothydamoulis2574 that's the kind of person I'm aiming to be. I'm still confused about this though, since Rip isn't an idiot there must be logic to what he said.
@@antonioedwards1309 yeah same here, I think he's trying to argue that it's better to just lift and be strong than be a runner , and do no weight training and be skinny and that having muscle mass and strength is good for your health. It's true but it smacks of being catered to meat heads and powerlifters who just lift and want to be big , swole and massive without thinking about anything else and being too lazy to do cardio or thinking it will kill gains and is not important. If you just lift you also won't be that fit and healthy compared to what you could be if you do a decent amount of aerobic exercise . Personally I think it takes more discipline and mental toughness to be fit than to gain strength, I went through more of anl struggle trying to get fitter than stronger where you get breaks between excersises and sets all the time.
@@timothydamoulis2574 sounds about right, I get it. I think I'll do cardio but just not over do the running. Maybe there's a point of diminishing returns.
the strangest thing is that you can do both, no one seems to realise this then they pick sides and have petty little arguements. lift big weights, run long distance, have a healthy happy body.
You won’t be in great shape if you don’t run (or do similar cardio). You may not like to hear it, but 3 sets of fahv just ain’t enough. It’s just not enough movement; you won’t be able to jump off the couch and go on a hike or play basket ball or whatever. I feel better lifting and running than lifting alone. Running 3 miles a few times a week won’t wreck the gainz
The reason why RIP is against the idea of cardio is because cardio is generally associated with being in a caloric deficit. I think he also believes that if it ever came to it, a strong person would be able to damn near sprint a quarter mile or jog a decent mile, with no specialized training at all. Yeah they would be practically running on fumes at the end of it, but hey, they’re strong enough to pull it off and recover relatively fast. This is where I disagree with RIP. I think a little bit of specialized cardiovascular training is necessary for improving overall health. I don’t have any scientific research, I can just base it off my own experience that the benefits being able to develop the grit and endurance to run medium to long distance while incorporating hills with good form and then being able to walk it off as you cool down, does something for your confidence man. The psychological impact is underrated.
I'm guessing Ripp is against running/cardio for the simple reason that he isn't very good at it. People tend to gravitate the things they do well and avoid the things they suck at. I agree, in general, with Ripp that people should focus on quality strength training. But I also believe that people should develop and maintain a minimal level of cardiovascular fitness. One does not have to be a marathon runner, but at least be in decent enough condition where you can walk up 20 flights of stairs without puking your guts out.
I think the comments on Doctors citing studies is a little wrong. It gets to epistemology. How does the doctor, or anyone, know something? I think a peer reviewed (let’s just say for the sake of argument) study is better than opinion of one person, even a professional. Now, they can layer on their experiences to give context to a more reliable form of knowing (a well done study, for example). But as always, the plural of anecdote isn’t “data”.
Before I begin, I want to say I have been part of the SS cult for 6 years , and let's not kid ourselves here boys and girls, it's a cult.. But as Patton said about Rommel I will say about Rip and Sully -- you magnificent bastards, I read your books!!! The method works, though at 71 I ain't what I used to be. I am never going to deadlift 500lbs or squat 300. But I can deadlift 325 and squat 225. I can't do 3x a week NLP anymore to get wildly past those numbers because it just I need recovery time. You know, volume sensitive, intensity dependent. But compared to your average 70+ year old, I am way way WAY ahead of the game. Moreover, as you note, frailty is the enemy. You sneer at medical studies -- along with a lot of other stuff you guys sneer at -- but "studies show" that if you fracture your hip or femur when you are over 65, your odds of dying in the next 12 months approach 30%. Sorry to disappoint you knuckleheads, but it's been studied. Speaking of knuckleheads, it is really tiresome to see you guys erect your silly strawmen you arrogantly and smugly attempt to knock over. There are a lot of doctors out there who actually agree with you that training with weights to get strong is something everyone should do. Get off your sorry Wichita Falls behinds and go watch some Peter Attia podcasts with Layne Norton or Andy Galpin. You may sneer at their methods, because sneering is definitely a skill you guys have worked on year after year, but bottom line they are all in on maintaining strength and muscle mass. And really, this constant, interminable, endlessly annoying pooh poohing of pharmaceuticals and statins in particular Do you guys know what your apoB count is? Do you even know what a high apoB count is and what it even means? I would bet you haven't even bothered to know. Do yourselves a favor and quit bitchin' like a pre-pubescent trans and learn some real lipidology. Finally back to the science, OK, you are right about one thing. Running, or aerobic exercise ALONE is insufficient. Hmm...were you aware that sun rises in the East? Of course while strength training BY ITSELF is certainly better than aerobic training BY ITSELF. aerobic training to increase your VO2 max has huge benefits. It's been studied, doncha know. To ignore that is to miss an opportunity to become even healthier by being both fit AND strong. Oh, happy to be in the cult. Fortunately I own the books, and practice the lifts with a coach certified in the method, so you can't kick me out. Sorry.
running is a different discipline with different benefits, the comparison shoud be between a runner and a couch potato. But nothing substitutes for strength training because nothing else builds strength. As far as doctors go, my father used to love to say that they bury their mistakes. And I never saw one with a physique which I wanted to emulate.
Being someone who lifts weights and runs, I always take offense to this type of misinformation. While strength training is definitely good for your health, to think that it’s “healthier” than running is just plain ignorance. The extra fat you carry (like him) will kill you way before having too small of biceps will. And I’m pretty sure a very strong heart and lungs will help fight off death better than strong quads will. I mean WTF A lot lot of his stuff is good. Unfortunately RIP also spews bullshit (probably believes what he’s saying) quite often. Just another strength guy who doesn’t have the mental strength to run a lot… appealing to the conservative masses. Hitting the weights damn sure takes less motivation for me than my runs do. Just my two cents
@@JH-dr6do The title reads "Strong people are Healthier Than Runners" which is simply not true. On average, runners are going to outlive powerlifters. Now obviously, having both strength and good cardiovascular fitness is best. But, if you could only choose one, good cardiovascular health is best.
@@jaredhemingway6078 both of which can be attained through basic strength training. Wether an elite powerlifter or olympic marathoner is “healthier” or lives longer is a different discussion.
Completely agree. When I was in my early twenties I was lean as hell at 170lbs and 6ft. Boxing training and running 5 days a week. Eating very little. Always sick and run down. Now at 39 years old and strength training since I was 25 and no running or cardio work apart from walking my dog an hour a day I am 17 stone and not fat and never get sick. My deadlift has gone from 60kg to 300kg in those years and squats are around 250Kg. Bench press is 180kg for a double as from last night. I work as a plumber and my days are long. I just fucking eat as much as I can focusing on meat and watch the fatty sweets and treats and that’s about it. Blood work is great and testosterone level was 28nmol/L a month ago.
If you can only do 1, lift weights and be strong. If you arent farting around it provides plenty of conditioning. If you want to run or bike in addition, go ahead. You dont really need to train to go for a 3 mile run, if youre in half decent shape you can just do it in about 20 minutes. I will say, i see the same people, year after year, running, they dont look any different after years of running.
Not many people who don't run can go out a run a sub 7 minute mile for 3 miles. However you're right most people in half decent shape can go out and complete a 3 mile jog. Probably more in the 24-30 minute range.
@@shadowsocks7472 yeah I wouldn't expect them to run a sub 7 min but certainly 24 or 25 minutes. I actually just went for my 1st jog since last summer. I did 3 miles in 28 minutes, pushing a BOB with my 20 month old kid and had several street crossing stops, snack refill stops, stop to watch the sprinklers at the golf course (which she giggles and laughs uncontrollably at), and several uphill sections, etc. 5'9" 205 I'm no lightweight but I'm strong and train hard and I'm sure solo could cut that time into the low 20s.
You can also do some serious cycling or running, them you can also just fart around with some dumbells or something You dont really need to train to lift some dumbells or a barbell for a bit See. when you reverse your advice, it doesn't make sense either Do both with a good load of vigor and serious effort
@@MikeBarbarossa weight training will provide conditioning and strength increases. Running/cycling is not going to provide strength increases. The point is if you can only do 1.
Man, not just runners but most younger generation teens in the gym. At least 95% of the teen guys I see in the gym are these scrawny kids lifting light weights, doing mostly cable isolation exercises, or weak bench. But hey they have abs. Man, when I was 17 and in the gym I was 140lbs benching 225 and squatting 365, most of the high school kids I see in my gym are lucky to bench 135 once and don't go near the squat rack.
What diet fueled your growth? I weigh around 140lbs as an adult. The heaviest my 5'6 body can be, is probably around 160 to 170lbs. Any more size would certainly be 'enhanced', and it's so hard to maintain that weight during a calorie deficit.
@@blu3fire243 Part of it is genetics. I am only 5'3" but weigh 180 and am relaitvely lean, but muscular without supplementation (except creatine which you cannot get enough of in diet and is 100% safe), benching 275 at 55 yo. Diet, I track my macros, 30% protein (about 1g per lb body weight), 30% fat, 40% carbs. Eat a lot of white meat chicken, greek yogurt, protein shakes (whey and plant), oatmeal daily, berries fruits and veggies. Gotta find your base metabolic rate which you will learn if you track long enough, and exceed it by 25% or so to gain.
Nah man, I think that you should be strong and have good cardiovasular health. I remember your first chapter of starting strength was talking about how humans are meant to be strong, and I completely agree. We were also evolved to run long distances so why not implement training that supports our evolution? Pulling, pushing, running, etc.
Ive heard you say in the full length video with that PhD guy about people with degrees teaching strength training who have limited experience actually lifting weights. Here you both are talking trash about medicine and cardiovascular exercise without any experience or knowledge in either. Why should anyone listen to you? Not a good look. Neither is surrounding yourself by yes men.
I'm eating ground beef, eggs, rice, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, a gallon of water, kefir, and enjoying hearing Mark rip on the medical sissies. Stronger people are harder to kill.
Rip - you are the man. I’ll always remember when you pointed out that not every runner can squat - but every person who squats can certainly run! End of discussion!
Good doctor's opinions are formed by evidence. This is why they often reference studies (performed by people who are much more invested in finding answers to questions you're asking). The comment written by the 23 y/o who had testicular cancer was saved by evidence-backed science, not squats. Strength training is wonderful and I'll continue to do so as long as I can, but it's not the answer to everything.
That skinny 145 lbs old frail man dies. His strong friend was dead 20 years ago. There aren’t a bunch of strong 90 year olds to justify your claims. I like being strong, but it isn’t for longevity.
Rip, you and your 'running vs. lifting' First, you claim " you can get strong lifting, and still run. If you run you can't get stronger" The first trick you did there is use "strong" and "running" to compare. 'Lifting' and ' running' are the activities, and you get ' strong' and 'fast' ( desired outcome) Now let's reverse your fallacy. " you can get fast running and still be able to lift. If you lift, you can't get faster" You compared the desired result (strong) with the activity (running) THEN you had different qualifying goals. You made 'strong' the success goal (successful lifting). and made 'running' the success goal ( just be able to run that's enough) . I explained your flaw here, but you'll be too bull-headed to understand
