Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity

All four books in the Aasgaard ouevre (the others being Starting Strength, Practical Programming, Strong Enough?, in that order of priority) are required reading for srs lifters. Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity may be the most entertaining of all, slathered generously in Rippetoe's famously dry sense of humor. But it is no less informative, demonstrating the thought processes of a veteran coach as he analyzes dozens of unique training scenarios and demolishes fallacies both understandable (concern about excessive weight gain) and bizarre (concern that milk may cause baldness).One may not always agree with Rip -- for example, he seems to have an irrational aversion to bare feet -- but his decades of experience as a coach and lifter shine through in every punchy retort. And he never claims to be an omniscient authority, always aware of the limits of his own knowledge and encouraging his interlocutors to think for themselves.Finally, considering that people more often need reminding than instruction, you are likely to find things you already "know" packaged in a way that makes you consider them more thoughtfully. For example, it was only after reading this book that I finally started using a belt after five years of lifting. I am particularly dense but that alone made this book worth the read for me.

This book pulls a lot of information from questions asked on the starting strength board. Questions that most beginners will have.This is a useful companion book for anyone beginning the SS program. You can find quite a bit of info searching their website, but this is a convenient condensed version of the questions commonly asked. It's also an entertaining read for anyone who's been on/progressed past SS and hasn't spent much time on the Q&A forum.It's really too bad that this book is something that's easy to overlook. After all, you can find these questions on the website. However, most people have bad searching skills, and even I've only seen a handful of these exchanges after nearly a year of searching through the site to find answers to my (commonly) asked questions.I'm happy with this purchase. I laughed quite a few times, especially with some of the really dumb questions.

This book has taken content from Mark Rippetoe's forum and organized it around various subjects (injury, sports-specific training, etc.) If you have not read Rippetoe before, don't start with this book as it doesn't do him justice. Starting Strength and Practical Programming are excellent books if you are looking for specific training advice and information, and Strong Enough? is a wonderful collection of his essays on the topic of strength training. He is smart and articulate and funny - a combination rarely found in any author, much less one who writes on the subject of weight training.The problem with this book is that it is difficult to read for the same reasons it is difficult to read Internet forums - the writing is often poor (by those asking the questions) and the content is frequently redundant. This book could have been much, much better had it been written solely by Mr. Rippetoe. Still, if you are a fan (as I am) you will want to buy this book. It is frequently funny and very informative.

I make no secret of being a big believer in the methodologies that Coach Rippetoe teaches. He always provides a logical reason for his opinions, and I like that he doesn't try to sell you anything.Of the four books he has written, I would say that this books should be read 3rd. Starting Strength is where the journey begins and Practical Programming takes the program to the next level (teaching you in greater depth about numerous aspects of training). Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity is a great reference for answering all of the little questions that people have. Furthermore, this book showcases a lot more or Coach Rip's personality, which is a good thing. The book is informative and often very funny.If you buy one book about weight training, this isn't it, but it is a very good companion to the other two. Buy it. Read it. Learn from it. Enjoy it.

I was laughing out loud while reading this. It's not a workout plan, but there are some nuggets that will stick in your head. It's Rippetoe, you know it'll be funny, pointed, and usually right. After SS and PP, this is a great book to have. It got me through 2 plane rides with a two year old, and kept me stifling laughter almost the whole time.While this isn't a programming book per say, there is a great deal of clarification and simplification regarding information from Starting Strength, and Practical Programming. Buy those, and then this. Then get your butt to the gym. While nobody gets big IN the gym, you've got to put in hard enough work to necessitate recovery! Go pick up some barbells!

This book is no way a replacement for Starting Strength or Practical Programming for Strength Training, but is more like an FAQ for those books (it is actually a compilation of answers from the forums on his website). I like Rippetoe's sense of humor so I often found myself laughing out loud at some of his responses to the questions. Definitely worth the price, but if you are just getting started strength training, this is not the correct book to buy; look to Starting Strength instead. And read it. You will find this is one of Rippetoe's favorite answers to many of the questions he receives. All in all I would recommend this to anyone that has finished his other books.Especially if you have some questions that aren't covered in the other books.

Very enjoyable book, with humour and great content. Nothing earth shattering, but a great read, and helps to further understand Rippetoe’s material and perspectives.

Great book, answers all the questions one would have regarding Starting Strength.

Most of the text can be found in other forums. But the humour is something you can't find in other places.

Jokes apart this is a great read. One piece of advice Rip gives before posting to his forum is reading the 500+ pages of q&a. This is it conveniently collected in a single publication. Funny and concepts dense it's the cherry on top of the collection of his books.

Good fun