SS Weekly Report September 7, 2015

The Starting Strength Weekly Report 2015-09-07: Topics from the Forums: “USA Weightlifting Coach Cert vs Starting Strength Cert vs CrossFit Weightlifting Cert” and “Prerequisites for the Olympic Lifts.” This week Under the Bar: Strength Month, week 1. View report in browser View report archive var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true}; News AnnouncementsThe Starting Strength App will be released Wednesday the 9th. Launch site and waiting list Starting Strength App forum Submit your images to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Articles Rip takes on Government Exercise Recommendations at PJ Media. A reminder from the archives: Who Wants to Be a Novice? You Do. September = Strength Month Rip challenged everyone to get someone to start barbell training for Strength Month, our 4th designated month this year. Jordan Feigenbaum expanded that call to action on Barbell Medicine. Michael Wolf brings us Strength Matters: Why Solace Strong isn’t just for Powerlifters, a detailed essay on the importance of strength and how developing it has improved the performance of trainees at CrossFit Solace. Under the Bar After school Barbell Club at the Focus Personal Training Institute. [photo courtesy of Brent J Carter] Kim, age 52, finishes her third set of 5 on the bench. She decided to finally roll up her yoga mat and get strong under the bar at Fivex3 Training. [photo courtesy of Emily Socolinsky] After a year off training, Jeremy Davis ended his first 16 weeks back into training with his first USAPL meet. He made a 1354 total with 490 (+60 PR) squat, 330 bench, and 534 deadlift (+30 PR). [photo courtesy of Jeremy Davis] Click images to view slideshow.Submit your images to report@startingstrength.com Submission guidelines to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Best of the Week USA Weightlifting Coach Cert vs Starting Strength Cert vs CrossFit Weightlifting Cert DJK I’d like to know if anyone has taken Rip’s Starting Strength course and perhaps either the USA Weightlifting Coach certification or the CrossFit Weightlifting cert. How do they differ? How are they similar? What did you like or dislike about any of them? How are each recognized in the fitness industry? Ultimately, I would like to be a CrossFit coach but I would like to go above and beyond what the CrossFit courses offer to be a better coach. Thanks! David Abdemoulaie I have and maintain both my USAW L1 Sports Performance Coach and Starting Strength Coach certifications. The USAW seminar was 14 hrs over 2 days. The student:instructor ratio was like 20:1. I don’t know what their guidelines are for this, but there were 40+ students and 2 instructors. During the entire 9 hours of platform instruction I had about 10-15 minutes of total time with an instructor. The 5 hour lecture portion was pretty meh. I don’t remember specifics. The seminar ended with a multiple choice test which took me about 10 minutes to complete. Disturbingly, there were people in my class who took an hour or more to finish. I maintain my USAW L1-SP by paying like $20 a year and taking a 10 question multiple choice test which you would have to be brain dead to fail. I was the 65,000th USAW-L1; you will be the 300,000th. (Numbers are completely made up; but seriously like 40 people a week are becoming USAW-L1) The Starting Strength Seminar on the other hand was 25 hours over 3 days. The lecture portion is incredibly detailed and explains every single detail of lifting with science. The ratio is like 4 or 5:1. You get an instructor watching and providing feedback on every single rep of every single lift. To become a Starting Strength Coach, you actually have to have demonstrated your ability to perform and coach the lifts during the platform portion of the seminar. Most attendees are not invited to take the test. The test itself is ~7 essay questions which will require you to write 30-50 pages to answer effectively. To maintain my certification I have to pass a test at least once every 3 years, document 150+ hours of coaching yearly, optionally publish an article on the SS website, as well as attend a SS seminar every 3 years. In short, my heartbeat alone is insufficient to maintain my credential. Last I heard (Oct. 2014) there were