“I read this entire thing. Like 350 pages. And when I say I read it, I donât mean like you read a cookbook, skim it, try some of the recipes. I mean I read every word, including the captions on pictures and diagrams.
This is easily the most comprehensive, scientific text about strength training Iâve ever come across. This is not like that Supple Leopard stuff with the flowery prose, and itâs not like a listing of different exercises that get cobbled together to make a book. This is 350-page book that is meant to teach these things:
How to squat
How to press
How to bench press
How to power clean
How to deadlift
How to âprogramâ the lifts so you have a plan thatâs easy to follow
Itâs a special kind of person whoâs willing to read 80 pages on squat technique. Iâm a little undecided on whether thatâs âspecial/stupidâ or âspecial/smart.â
One of the funniest and most interesting topics that comes up only briefly in the book but is talked about widely online: GOMAD, the Starting Strength recommended method of gaining weight that involves drinking a Gallon Of Milk A Day.
I donât know if people are stupid or intentionally misinterpreting things, but Starting Strength doesnât advocate that every person put on 40 pounds by drinking a gallon of milk a day. This is a suggestion mostly for underweight young people who can put on a good deal of weight pretty quickly, and if theyâre engaging in a strength training program, this will be a positive thing.
Milk is suggested because itâs cheap, portable, prep-less, and it has a pretty good fat/protein ratio.
Now, this is a lot of milk. Itâs about an 8 ounce glass every hour, so I guess the amount of water people seem to feel you need (this myth has been debunked, see the book Good to Go for more, but basically youâre not going to be healthier because you pound gallons of water).
As a youngster, I did try the gallon of milk challenge where you try to consume an entire gallon in an hour. I vomited several times, though the entire gallon did go down my gullet by the end of my battle with the gallon. Those gallon jugs hold a surprising amount of liquid.
I also think itâs interesting to see the âbody hackingâ people are doing. Which in this case is a much cooler way for talking about doing the sorts of stuff Homer Simpson did to put on enough weight to go on disability.
Iâve read many a post about adding olive oil to basically everything, GOMAD of course, and probably my favorite, someone did a replacement for GOMAD: Sheet Pan of Cake A Day or SPOCAD. The original post was hilarious. The guy chronicled baking a sheet pan of cake every morning and eating it in the car on the way to work, with his hands. He claimed it worked great for him. I suppose thereâs an individual out there so underweight that they can handle that kind of input, but good lord.
The other misunderstanding is that GOMAD is what youâre supposed to do for the rest of your life. No. If itâs right for you, you do it for a period, then you stop and eat a more reasonable collection of foods.
Anyway, I think the gallon of milk thing is taken out of context. This is a 350-page goddamn brick of a book, and to take two sentences out of it and blow âem up seems weird. But hey, itâs just how shit goes sometimes.
If you’re interested in learning about barbell training that’s a little boring, destroys your ego in the weight room, and especially, if you’re a woman who is tired of these moronic Instgram Influencer workouts that involve shit like a thousand air squats twice a day, pick this one up. Hell, it’s heavy enough you’ll probably get a little stronger just carrying it around.”