This is the second part of a two-part interview with the always enlightening and entertaining Mark Rippetoe, who you’ve probably heard of if you take fitness seriously.

In case you don’t know who Mark is, though, he was a competitive powerlifter for a decade and is the author of several books, including two classics that everyone that’s into weightlifting should read–Starting Strength and Practical Programming for Strength.

Mark has also coached thousands of people all over the country on proper barbell training through his seminars, which you can learn more about at www.startingstrength.com.

He’s also just a fun guy to chat with because he’s colorful and just shares his thoughts and openly and isn’t one for euphemisms or minced words, which I think is refreshing, really.

So, in this interview Mark and I talk about training for sports and why a lot of what goes on in the upper echelons of sports training is nonsensical and even counterproductive and what athletes should be focusing on instead.

I’ve run into a fair amount of this just working with people because I’ve heard from quite a few high-level college athletes and some professionals as well that were a bit perplexed by the types of things their strength trainers were having them do (as well as the things the trainers would leave out).

I helped many of them simplify their routines and straighten things out and, one for one, they were amazed at how much of a difference in made in their respective sports.

So, if you have any desire to be a better athlete, I think you’ll like the interview. Here it is…

TIME STAMPS

YouTube:

2:00 – How athletes should tailor their training for their profession and what they do wrong.

8:23 – Do top athletes perform well because of their training programs, or in spite of them?

18:48 – How trainers who only deal with high-level athletes can get away with not knowing their profession.

30:05 – Why any training will give results to an un-trained individual vs. optimized training.

Audio:

5:30 – How athletes should tailor their training for their profession and what they do wrong.

11:47 – Do top athletes perform well because of their training programs, or in spite of them?

22:10 – How trainers who only deal with high-level athletes can get away with not knowing their profession.

33:28 – Why any training will give results to an un-trained individual vs. optimized training.

Starting Strength

Practical Progress

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What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!