Rippetoe's Fundamental Flaw

tracieangeletti

In life and history there are lots of great scholars who were asshats in one way or another.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Unfortunately, this^^. Glean the positives from his messages and ignore the rest.

professorRAT

Perhaps the point is that he is NOT always right and the fact that he is an asshat makes it unnecessarily difficult to sort out valid knowledge from asshat opinions. I have seen brilliant people lose their jobs because they don't play well with others. Dealing with jerks is part of life, but so is losing respect of people who could help your cause for being a jerk. He may not care, but it isn't the best way to reach your desired audience. I get what OP is saying.

taunto

Are you're still on and on about how mean he sounds in his delivery? If you really dislike how he presents his knowledge then read somebody else. Like somebody said, Wendel has a good book out and he likes to coddle peoples feelings.

Though I do worry about you if as a grown up (using that term lightly) you feel so disturbed about somebody not being politically correct...

_noob_

IMO Rips fundamental flaw was associating himself with crossfit.

GetSoda

IMO Rips fundamental flaw was associating himself with crossfit.

Haha. What about his dietary advice?

jonnythan

IMO Rips fundamental flaw was associating himself with crossfit.

Haha. What about his dietary advice?

His dietary advice is fine.

Remember: his entire program is specifically designed to make newbies big and strong. That's it. It's not a plan for life, it's not a program to improve blood pressure, it's not a program to fight disease. His program is specifically a temporary plan to help you become as strong as possible in the quickest possible time.

BrainyBurro

i think Mr. Delicious has made some sagacious observations, and as a newbie, i applaud him for having the guts to express his views and tenacity to stick to them in the face of withering criticism. however, i think his point could have been more forcefully made with the addition of several relevant cat gifs.

CoderGal

Aww I was hoping for something a little more then this. There seems to be a lot of people against recommending anything Rippetoe and I don't know why when it comes to lifting (not the rest of the bs he gets on with).

But this still doesn't answer my biggest question:

Where do I find kawi green gloves? And a matching purse?

GiddyupTim

By all means, question his statements. I'm sure he doesn't care. Neither does GI3. We're not at a restaurant and we're not their employees.

If you want to criticize them for their attitude, fine. But the point is that it's largely as a result of this attitude that they have accomplished what they have accomplished.

Please clarify this assertion. I understand you to be saying that Rippetoe's derisive attitude toward women and gays is a large contributor to his accomplishments. I would like to understand this.

You are intentionally misunderstanding me.

It's the unrelenting attitude and tendency to be insultingly dismissive of what they perceive to be poor or wrong ideas that is a large contributor to their accomplishments.

^Oops. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It never follows that you have to be an a-hole to be successful.

jonnythan

By all means, question his statements. I'm sure he doesn't care. Neither does GI3. We're not at a restaurant and we're not their employees.

If you want to criticize them for their attitude, fine. But the point is that it's largely as a result of this attitude that they have accomplished what they have accomplished.

Please clarify this assertion. I understand you to be saying that Rippetoe's derisive attitude toward women and gays is a large contributor to his accomplishments. I would like to understand this.

You are intentionally misunderstanding me.

It's the unrelenting attitude and tendency to be insultingly dismissive of what they perceive to be poor or wrong ideas that is a large contributor to their accomplishments.

^Oops. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It never follows that you have to be an a-hole to be successful.

I made no such claim.

I said that these specific people are largely successful because of their unrelenting attitude and insultingly dismissal of things they think are dumb.

This does not preclude the obvious reality that many people are successful without such an attitude.

Different successful people are successful for different reasons. It is my contention that these two individuals are successful largely for the stated reason.

Azdak

i think Mr. Delicious has made some sagacious observations, and as a newbie, i applaud him for having the guts to express his views and tenacity to stick to them in the face of withering criticism. however, i think his point could have been more forcefully made with the addition of several relevant cat gifs.

I exist only to serve.

NikkiSixGuns

I didn't interpret the gloves statement as being a comment on how wearing them is effeminate. Rather, I read it as "The only time you should wear gloves is when you're NOT lifting."

As to the other comment, well, he can say whatever he likes. He has a right to say what he wants (as many MFP members have stated here on the forums about their own and others' comments) and you have a right to react to it.

jonnythan

I didn't interpret the gloves statement as being a comment on how wearing them is effeminate. Rather, I read it as "The only time you should wear gloves is when you're NOT lifting."

Oh I can guarantee you that he meant it's effeminate. Rip's style is that he tries to be as insulting as possible when putting down what he thinks is a bad idea.

He was basically saying "wearing gloves is gay."

DopeItUp

I'm trying my best to be offended. I will report my results later.

VorJoshigan

I was offended once. It was a long time ago, so I can't remember why.

I pride myself on my ability to learn from people I dislike and/or people who would probably dislike me in real life. In this way am I made better.

All you've done here is manage to give more attention to somebody you disrespect who couldn't care about your opinion if you paid him to do so. Congratulations.

CoderGal

Are you're still on and on about how mean he sounds in his delivery? If you really dislike how he presents his knowledge then read somebody else. Like somebody said, Wendel has a good book out and he likes to coddle peoples feelings.

Though I do worry about you if as a grown up (using that term lightly) you feel so disturbed about somebody not being politically correct...

I wouldn't say OP is getting his panties in a knot and getting all disturbed....I think he's just sharing and throwing thoughts out there for you to think about, not for people to try to insult him.

I know him, he can be all kinds of politically incorrect. There's a big difference between being politically correct and saying something completely false. Someone can say something and not be politically correct and people can take if offensively but it may be true. Where as someone else could say something in the same manner but be completely wrong. Someone could call someone a "Jew" who is a jew in a joke in bad taste. And people have stated the same "Jew" joke to people who are not Jewish. One if false, one is true. Sometimes it's said hoping everyone around them will take it in good humor knowing it's a bad joke, but as for the second one, how are you suppose to tell if they're telling the truth or not? There are both Jewish and non Jewish people who can take that joke and laugh and shake their heads and then think nothing of it if they think the person making that statement knows better then to think that. And then there's racists. For example, how are we suppose to know when Rippetoe isn't the lying racist and lying about the information of said topic because of opinions of being racist. In other words, how are we suppose to know when Rippetoe isn't lying about the information of said topic because of opinions when he knows better and that it's not fact or is basing it on preconceived notions that are not true?

dbmata

This robs his opinions of merit.

Nope.

Harden up, sorry his message is too coarse for you.

jhc7324

Rip says a lot of "offensive" things that are clearly meant as jokes, but don't seem to be coming up in here...

I don't recall the exact reference (I think it was to bench pressing with an open handed grip) but he recommended against using that grip and followed it up with something like "If you are going to do that, please have the courtesy to use the bench nearest the door of your gym so when the paramedics arrive to haul you out in an ambulance it doesn't disturb anyone else's workout."

Nobody is upset by the offensiveness of this post, when, in reality, if you've been injured while lifting and had to get medical assistance, the idea that your biggest concern should be to not disturb others is pretty offensive, but in this case we can all recognize it as a joke.

I see most of the statements that show up in this thread in the same light, his actual view, followed by something else meant as a joke.

My takeaway from the thread is that if you want to be offended, you'll find something to be offended by.

jonnythan

Rip says a lot of "offensive" things that are clearly meant as jokes, but don't seem to be coming up in here...

I don't recall the exact reference (I think it was to bench pressing with an open handed grip) but he recommended against using that grip and followed it up with something like "If you are going to do that, please have the courtesy to use the bench nearest the door of your gym so when the paramedics arrive to haul you out in an ambulance it doesn't disturb anyone else's workout."

Nobody is upset by the offensiveness of this post, when, in reality, if you've been injured while lifting and had to get medical assistance, the idea that your biggest concern should be to not disturb others is pretty offensive, but in this case we can all recognize it as a joke.

I see most of the statements that show up in this thread in the same light, his actual view, followed by something else meant as a joke.

My takeaway from the thread is that if you want to be offended, you'll find something to be offended by.

I think the problem isn't that he's humorously insulting. It's that he's blatantly sexist and homophobic when doing so. I realize he's an older guy, and an older Texan at that, but it's not really cool in today's culture.

Calling a guy a *kitten* or girl as an insult isn't really funny. It was funny 20 years ago, but it's not funny now. It's just offensive to anyone with a sense of dignity.

In other words, the problem isn't that Rip thinks anyone is actually gay for wearing gloves. The problem is that "gay" is Rip's idea of a funny insult.

CallMeCupcakeDammit

I like Wendler's book better. Just my 2 cents.

I strive try to stay North of Vag and very PC at the same time.

What page is that on? :bigsmile: