In an HN thread commenting on a scientific study, our top comment is an N=1 report, followed immediately by the commenter peddling the book of a self-described fitness expert who praises "ultra-high calorie diets", followed downthread by the same commenter peddling some "supplement" called "Pre-Exercise CNS-Carnosine-ATP Augmentor".
As someone who made best progress following the ideas described in Starting Strength after trying numerous approaches that didn't really work, I'd say you can safely assume N=2 now.
Really, this book teaches a very "old-school" approach to fitness but as a matter of fact, it does work and it did indeed work for thousands and thousands of people already. I know we like to get all scientific on everything these days, and I think this is a good thing, but there's something about fitness and especially building muscle that makes intuitive sense without any science whatsoever: If you want to be strong, start lifting heavy things. Do that in a controlled fashion, with a simple workout plan, and you'll eventually succeed.
Original commenter here, looks like your post is going to be near the top I wanted to reply so people don't get confused and instead understand why my post is at the top.
-Mark Rippetoe is not a self-described fitness expert, he is THE expert on building strength. If you want results, you listen to Rippetoe. Such a claim is widely-supported, rarely disputed.
-If you want to get stronger you'll need a caloric excess. Repairing muscle requires chemical energy in the form of protein and glucose. Look into Leangains for a method to do so while avoiding fat gain
-Jack3d - the supplement you're referring to - is a powder that has a stimulant in it called DMAA that's very effective as a pre-workout energy drink. I'm a biochemistry major so I know that "Pre-Exercise CNS-Carnosine-ATP Augmentor" is probably meaningless mumbo-jumbo (common in the entire supplement industry) but the drink works and is safe when used as directed. Tastes great too.
As much as your simplification sounds reasonable, if you dive down into the details, it falls apart.
Mark Rippetoe is a well respected strength coach in fitness circles. He may not be delivering Olympic-level athletes, but certainly good at delivering strength knowledge for the lay person.
"Ultra-high calorie diets" is a suggestion that needs to be taken in context. His focus is strength, not diet. Excess calories are required to gain muscle and strength, and for one of his target demographics, young skinny teens who lack muscle altogether, ultra-high calorie diets are exactly what they need. Obviously for heavily obese people this advice would not necessarily apply if their goals were to lose weight.
Regarding the supplement, don't judge things by the marketing fluff, but rather by what it actually does and its ingredients. DMAA is a well-known stimulant that does what a pre-workout supplement should do.
And also fight this article as if it were advertising a paid strongman programme, not an openly available paper describing a routine that only needs a chair (maybe it's sponsored by IKEA?) and the purpose of which is to get some slobs heart attack risk down a couple of notches. Which means they probably didn't even read this.
In an HN thread commenting on a scientific study, our top comment is an N=1 report, followed immediately by the commenter peddling the book of a self-described fitness expert who praises "ultra-high calorie diets", followed downthread by the same commenter peddling some "supplement" called "Pre-Exercise CNS-Carnosine-ATP Augmentor".
Really, HN?