I appreciate that you acknowledge the role that CrossFit has played in the "anti-machine" fitness space in the 2000's. As an ex-CrossFitter, I am used to people scoffing at the brand/workout and writing it off as a niche cult. Really seems like the average person does not understand the magnitude of the brand at its peak, but as a person that has seen different fitness spaces in the last decade, it's not too difficult to see the direct throughline from Glassman/Crossfit to attitudes regarding the futility of machines, the intersecting Venn diagram circles of video gamification of LEO and fitness, and the continuation of the acceptance of extreme right wing ideas in fitness spaces. Well written.
I might actually be the perfect audience for this piece. I just started (well, restarted) Starting Strength a few weeks ago and it has been going well. I even read the book this time. It attracted me mostly out of its simplicity for my goal of mass building- I've bounced off other fitness plans in the past.
I haven't been taking Rippetoe's word as complete gospel (given the junk he spouts elsewhere) but I also haven't been invested in debunking what he has said about other forms of exercise. So thank you for this piece, it's very helpful and educational.
My local gym might be seeing me embarrass myself in a leg press machine -and- the squat rack soon.
A high school classmate of mine in the late 2000s would habitually quote and post Rippetoe's work on facebook while screaming at all of us that we were working out "the wrong way". He also used to stuff ham slices and almonds in his mouth and hold them in his cheeks like a squirrel because he thought he'd more effectively absorb their nutrients through his saliva.
Inspired by this post, I checked my own order history, and discovered that I ordered my first copy of Starting Strength in 2008, too. I was 24 at the time, extremely online, and intensely insecure. Some of that has changed in the intervening 16 years, and some of it hasn't. Reading this post, which I found because of your terrific Doomscroll interview, felt like a moment of quiet growing-up for me: a moment to finally get comfortable with a world that was slightly more complex than I was able to handle, emotionally, at the beginning.
Really great write-up YC, thanks for taking the time to put this up. Esp. loved the online history tracing. Hope there's more to come, loved the pod episode with Citarella. Need more Predator handshake meme between the modern left and fitness training communities.
This history is all terribly fascinating. I would be interested in reading more about your observations of the online fitness "community" as it has changed over the years.
Informative educational and inspiring
I appreciate that you acknowledge the role that CrossFit has played in the "anti-machine" fitness space in the 2000's. As an ex-CrossFitter, I am used to people scoffing at the brand/workout and writing it off as a niche cult. Really seems like the average person does not understand the magnitude of the brand at its peak, but as a person that has seen different fitness spaces in the last decade, it's not too difficult to see the direct throughline from Glassman/Crossfit to attitudes regarding the futility of machines, the intersecting Venn diagram circles of video gamification of LEO and fitness, and the continuation of the acceptance of extreme right wing ideas in fitness spaces. Well written.
Great read, great writing Mr YC
I might actually be the perfect audience for this piece. I just started (well, restarted) Starting Strength a few weeks ago and it has been going well. I even read the book this time. It attracted me mostly out of its simplicity for my goal of mass building- I've bounced off other fitness plans in the past.
I haven't been taking Rippetoe's word as complete gospel (given the junk he spouts elsewhere) but I also haven't been invested in debunking what he has said about other forms of exercise. So thank you for this piece, it's very helpful and educational.
My local gym might be seeing me embarrass myself in a leg press machine -and- the squat rack soon.
A high school classmate of mine in the late 2000s would habitually quote and post Rippetoe's work on facebook while screaming at all of us that we were working out "the wrong way". He also used to stuff ham slices and almonds in his mouth and hold them in his cheeks like a squirrel because he thought he'd more effectively absorb their nutrients through his saliva.
Inspired by this post, I checked my own order history, and discovered that I ordered my first copy of Starting Strength in 2008, too. I was 24 at the time, extremely online, and intensely insecure. Some of that has changed in the intervening 16 years, and some of it hasn't. Reading this post, which I found because of your terrific Doomscroll interview, felt like a moment of quiet growing-up for me: a moment to finally get comfortable with a world that was slightly more complex than I was able to handle, emotionally, at the beginning.
Really great write-up YC, thanks for taking the time to put this up. Esp. loved the online history tracing. Hope there's more to come, loved the pod episode with Citarella. Need more Predator handshake meme between the modern left and fitness training communities.
This history is all terribly fascinating. I would be interested in reading more about your observations of the online fitness "community" as it has changed over the years.