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The Strongest Shall Survive
Forest Hill, Maryland: Fitness Consultants, Revised Edition, later printing, paperback, about 11 inches tall by 8.5 wide, 209 pages. Index. Includes several black and white photo illustrations and a few drawings.
62 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 2, 2021
Some of this might seem a bit outdated now but it still works. The 5x5 (or as I eventually went to, 3x5 followed by 3x3) heavy light medium routine is time tested and proven. It’s still around in different forms by different writers but if all you ever had was this book to guide you you’d get pretty damned strong.
March 13, 2020
This is an exuberant, rather funny book on the classic 5 x 5 strength building method. Following this scheme will make you strong. The focus here is on training for football, but any athlete would benefit from this good hard work.
Basically, if you have time for only three exercises, learn to back squat, power clean and bench press.
Cardio is just lifting weights faster. Bill Starr describes a gruelling training circuit that predates CrossFit by at least four decades.
I agree with most of his statements about nutrition, with one or two glaring exceptions.
It’s comprehensive. There’s some interesting stuff in here about getting quality sleep and doing breathing exercises and the power of positive visualization.
This is a boy’s book. One could read this and not realize that women make up half of the human race.
This book isn’t well edited. Quite a few typos, some of them real howlers. The illustrations and typesetting are amateur. Several points haven’t been updated from the original 70s material, even through several later editions. But the content makes up for it.
On the other hand, the photos are amazing. Split snatches, hippy sunglasses, headbands and big afros and old three-stripe adidas. Good times.
There’s a chapter on drugs, and Starr basically extols a “if you can’t beat em, join em” attitude that’s really quite amusing to read. He’s very cautiously non committal about the right-and-wrong of steroids. There are a few reasons for his not wanting to throw stones in a glass house. But I’m glad he’s not running WADA.
Basically, if you have time for only three exercises, learn to back squat, power clean and bench press.
Cardio is just lifting weights faster. Bill Starr describes a gruelling training circuit that predates CrossFit by at least four decades.
I agree with most of his statements about nutrition, with one or two glaring exceptions.
It’s comprehensive. There’s some interesting stuff in here about getting quality sleep and doing breathing exercises and the power of positive visualization.
This is a boy’s book. One could read this and not realize that women make up half of the human race.
This book isn’t well edited. Quite a few typos, some of them real howlers. The illustrations and typesetting are amateur. Several points haven’t been updated from the original 70s material, even through several later editions. But the content makes up for it.
On the other hand, the photos are amazing. Split snatches, hippy sunglasses, headbands and big afros and old three-stripe adidas. Good times.
There’s a chapter on drugs, and Starr basically extols a “if you can’t beat em, join em” attitude that’s really quite amusing to read. He’s very cautiously non committal about the right-and-wrong of steroids. There are a few reasons for his not wanting to throw stones in a glass house. But I’m glad he’s not running WADA.
November 7, 2019
I bought this book so as to add it to my Strength and Conditioning library. Bill Starr was a pioneer in the field of strength and conditioning. The book goes into quite a bit of detail on some of the basics of Kinesiology while also providing the reader with several references. Some of the information is anecdotal in nature but he also references several studies from that time.
As far as the programming goes it is generally simple yet if anyone familiar with Joe Kenn's Tier system you will see some distinct similarities. For example, in the advanced programming that Starr recommends you will find him mentioning a rotation of inter-session "heavy, medium and light" amongst the clean, squat and bench. One exercise has the priority emphasis for that as session. This is even similar to the Max Effort methodology found in the Westside/Conjugate method.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about older training methods that still have some value in the context of more well known and modern training methodologies. As well as anyone who is a strength and conditioning coach who wants to learn about this pioneer in our profession.
As far as the programming goes it is generally simple yet if anyone familiar with Joe Kenn's Tier system you will see some distinct similarities. For example, in the advanced programming that Starr recommends you will find him mentioning a rotation of inter-session "heavy, medium and light" amongst the clean, squat and bench. One exercise has the priority emphasis for that as session. This is even similar to the Max Effort methodology found in the Westside/Conjugate method.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about older training methods that still have some value in the context of more well known and modern training methodologies. As well as anyone who is a strength and conditioning coach who wants to learn about this pioneer in our profession.
March 17, 2021
Strength section is fantastic but the nutrition section is pure gold.
August 27, 2010
Written by Bill Starr, Johns Hopkins strength coach
Highly over-rated book that has reached "mythic" status because of the many "proprietary" versions of Bill Starr's 5x5 strength training programs on the internet. It is a great source if one wants to know how to do a one-off 5x5 logically designed but you don't really need the book for that. The book is full of assumptions and based solely on the "experience" of one coach. Since all trainees results or lack of results can be easily interpreted in light of "experience" these kinds of books, with little or no scientific or other reference are valued more than they should be. This is simply a program with a lot of explanation around it, most of which is completely out of date.
Highly over-rated book that has reached "mythic" status because of the many "proprietary" versions of Bill Starr's 5x5 strength training programs on the internet. It is a great source if one wants to know how to do a one-off 5x5 logically designed but you don't really need the book for that. The book is full of assumptions and based solely on the "experience" of one coach. Since all trainees results or lack of results can be easily interpreted in light of "experience" these kinds of books, with little or no scientific or other reference are valued more than they should be. This is simply a program with a lot of explanation around it, most of which is completely out of date.
August 23, 2015
A book that covers the basic principles of the 5x5 Strength Program. The in-depth explanation of the principle lifts and supplementary exercises will be good knowledge for any athlete looking to get strong and develop muscle mass. It also looks into nutrition the body for maximum results on the field and in the gym.
No deadlifting!!!??? This book is solely based on one man's experience in the gym over 35 years ago. There's no looking past that. First printed in 1976, and revised third printing released in 1979. Although this book is extremely outdated and strengths standards have been updated several times since the release. Probably better off spending your time reading something more up to date
No deadlifting!!!??? This book is solely based on one man's experience in the gym over 35 years ago. There's no looking past that. First printed in 1976, and revised third printing released in 1979. Although this book is extremely outdated and strengths standards have been updated several times since the release. Probably better off spending your time reading something more up to date
November 26, 2014
Easy to see that this was the inspiration for Stronglifts and Starting Strength. Better information than 90% of the strength training books out there. Slightly dated though. Both Starting Strength and Tactical Barbell are far better.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews