Everyday Carry

Starting Strength

The barbell coaching manual. Buy the print copy; this is the rare book where the format is not a preference.

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Mike ManningBy Mike Manning
Marine veteran, gym owner, dad
Recon Report: full review pendingPhotos: Mark RippetoeUpdated 2026-10-04
More from Mark Rippetoe

Product Information, Not A Review

Specs, pricing and buying notes taken from the manufacturer so you can compare this against whatever else you are looking at. I have not had this one in my hands. When it goes through real use it gets rewritten as a full review, with a rating and my own photos.

Starting Strength

Quick Specs

CategoryEveryday Carry
BrandAmazon
ReviewedOct 4, 2026
AuthorMark Rippetoe
CategoryStrength training
FormatsAudible and print

What Stands Out

  • The most detailed written coaching of the squat, press, deadlift and bench that exists
  • Explains the why behind every cue, which is what lets you self-correct
  • Still the reference twenty years on

What To Check

  • Dense and technical; it is a textbook, not a read
  • The audiobook is close to useless for a book built on diagrams and positions
  • Rippetoe's tone is famously uncompromising

What it is

The barbell coaching manual. Buy the print copy; this is the rare book where the format is not a preference.

Audiobook or print

Both links are below, and for some books on this shelf that choice genuinely matters. Narrative and memoir usually win on audio. Anything you will want to flip back through — frameworks, diagrams, protocols — is better in print, and I say so on the pages where that applies rather than pretending every book works both ways.

Who should skip it

The cons above are the honest version. If two or more of them describe you, this is not your book, and there are forty-four others on this shelf.

The Short Version

Print only. A book this dependent on diagrams does not work on audio, and I will not pretend otherwise.

Mike Manning

MIKE MANNING

Founder, Every Dad Carry

Dad | Coach | Marine Corps Veteran

Ready to buy?

Starting Strength

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