My journey into strength training
For many years I had an interest in exercise and transforming my body. I was an avid gym goer and in the past years had tried many other activities from martial arts, to jogging, rock climbing. I committed time, invested my money and trained several times a week and yet, I was no closer to the outcome I wanted!
I spent my 20s and early 30s chasing after an admirable physique and yet I never got anywhere close to it. And then, after nearly 10 years of effort in gyms I decided to switch my focus and just try one new thing that I hadn’t considered before.
I decided to step away from my past thinking of programmes from popular men’s health and fitness magazines, and do my own investigating. I came across a new type of fitness professional, not a Personal Trainer (I’d hired those before) but instead a strength coach.
I decided to hire a Starting Strength coach (SSC) and see how the results panned out. After all, I’d tried almost everything else and that had not gotten me the result I wanted, I felt I had nothing to lose.
“In six months of strength training with a proper coach guiding me, I made more progress than I had in the previous ten years”
Under the guidance of my coach I found myself reducing the number of workouts I did a week, and even reducing the number of exercises per workout I did. Intuitively this seemed exactly the wrong thing to do, and yet the results were the very opposite.
My before and after the starting strength process
In six months of strength training with an SSC guiding me, I made more progress than I had in the previous ten years.
The method he taught me was Starting Strength; to date it is the single most effective method I have ever known I continue to use this in my own personal training and with everyone I coach.
In February of 2022 I was honoured to conclude three years of rigorous studying and refinement of my skills and pass the final evaluations and become an SSC myself.
Contact
Tel: 07813 195 588 Email: Byron@StrengthRevolution.org
About
the starting strength method
The Starting Strength method is a way of selecting and performing strengthening exercises as well as a way of programming them for progress. It is widely known as the most effective method ever devised to make progress when beginning strength training.
The method is well documented across three detailed text books that have become known for establishing a scientifically proven model, with over 30 years of experience and data, they constitute an approach to strength training that works to transform the human body every single time it is applied.
“People want competent coaching, and they seek out SSCs because the credential is widely regarded as the highest valued in the industry”
The text books Starting Strength 3rd Edition and Practical Programming for Strength Training 3rd Edition are used as reference texts and recommended reading in today’s level 4 Strength & Conditioning courses and are frequently referenced in other trainer manuals. They have sold well over half a million copies and been translated into several languages.
Although the method is widely known in the fitness industry, the number of Starting Strength coaches in the UK and Europe are very few. At the time of writing there is only myself based in Surrey/London/Kent, Carl Raghavan (Europe) and Steve Ross (Belgium) that are SSCs to cover the UK and all of Europe. Worldwide SSCs number only around 130.
The reason for these low numbers of available SSCs is very straightforward. The Starting Strength coaching credential is famously difficult to pass. Many other fitness industry qualifications promote pass rates as high as 80%, whereas the Starting Strength Pass rate is only around 10-20%.
The standard is set extremely high and according to the creator of the method, Mark Rippetoe, there are no plans to lower the benchmarks to pass the SSC credential.
It was the impact that the method had made in my own training and life, as well as the high standard to pass that inspired me to dedicate myself to becoming an SSC.
You can read more about the SSC credential process with these articles:
https://startingstrength.com/article/the-starting-strength-coach-evaluation-oral-review-board
https://startingstrength.com/article/the_benefits_of_the_starting_strength_coach_credential
https://startingstrength.com/article/earning-the-ssc-certificate-from-abroad
About
strength training
“I didn’t realise how much you could change what you had in terms of strength. I’ve never been as strong as this. Never.”
Strength is the most important physical characteristic life, this is because all movement and positioning (posture) of your body requires you to produce enough force with your muscles to do so.
Physical strength extends to how easy or difficult a walk upstairs is, loading in shopping bags, moving furniture at home or any other objects that need to be lifted and moved around.
Important** if your life is largely seated and working at a computer.. the body has a tendency to lose muscle mass over time, especially when we are more sedentary and less active.
“Strength training plays a significant role in healthy ageing and makes day-to-day tasks much easier to perform and less fatiguing as you become stronger ”
Muscle loss is part of the ageing process, however the way to prevent unwanted physical decline is to pursue healthy ageing and maintaining vitality in life by training the body regularly in a way that preserves and stimulates your muscles to work.
Physical strength also governs your ability to train or display attributes such as speed, power and flexibility.
Developing strength leads to an improvement in healthy lean body mass and creates an athletic physique which is flatteringly proportional for men and women.
The Starting Strength Method is the most efficient approach in the world for developing strength and transforming your body.
