Hi Jordan,
Thanks for all the good info you provide us! This question isn’t necessarily nutrition related but I was wondering why very few people associated with Starting Strength (Coaches) look jacked despite being so strong. Is it just because they only focus on intensity and rarely do enough volume? Is it nutrition related? Is it because they rarely do assistance exercises?
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for the post here and I hope your well. This is an interesting question with many potential answers that could be self serving. However, I think it will be fun to try and answer this with some caveats.
To start*,* I’m not sure I’d agree that the incidence of “being jacked” of SSC’s is any different than a similar athletic demographic, e.g. well trained gym goers, other coaching groups, etc. If we consider jackitude levels across a population to be represented by a bell curve then there will be a few who lie towards the jacked end of the spectrum, a few on the not-jacked-at-all side, and most are somewhere in the middle.
The Gaussian distribution is likely true for a representative sample of the general public, whereas strength enthusiasts, coaches, and athletes distribution is shifted to the jacked side with a normal distribution.
If you accept that, then I think the SS coaching cadre do not represent a markedly different incidence of jackedness compared to controls. However, there is some nuance here…
Looking at the median data for strength, i.e. 450 squat, 309 bench, 511 deadlift at 37 years old, likely represent a significant mismatch between the strength and jackitude bell curves. In other words, this population likely lies further towards the high side of the spectrum when it comes to strength than they do for hypertrophy. That said, absent of any anthropometric data on the organization or similar cohorts- it’s not possible to really say this with any confidence at this time. We’d need to get some data on it and compare, but for now…it’s interesting to think about.
Now on to some less science-y stuff…
The coaches of SS are, in general, a good group of very smart, dedicated, folks. Many of these folks I would have previously considered somewhat close friends, however with recent developments that would seem to be a stretch in some cases. That said, I still have respect for those who have at any point held the SS credential. It is a tough one to obtain for sure.
That said, the demographic data on SS coaches may lend some insight into this potential discrepancy- if it exists. Based on strength levels, we know that the majority of SS coaches are not high level strength sport athletes. Furthermore, the data collected by Dr. Racculia reported that nearly 40% of the coaches have a Master’s degree or higher and about the same amount only do coaching as a side gig. To me, this looks like the there have been training compromises made in order to further one’s education and career given that the median income for full time personal trainers is ~55k and those with a Master’s degree (but not a doctorate) make 20-40k more per year on average.
So, compromised training with a decent strength program in a genetically normal population (or at least not a bunch of genetic freaks) seems to produce average hypertrophy results with above average strength results. I don’t see this as being a strong argument against the SS methodology, though I do think most of the coaches’ programming could use some more volume.
Thank you for your response. I’ve been wondering that for awhile because I do value their (SS Coaches) opinions but I think you and Austin have wayyyy more muscle mass than them and greater strength gains as well!
Are the female SS coaches included in this data set? If not, do their strength numbers mimic the males? I would guess the females are on the high end of the bell curve for general population women but what about female athletes and those who strength train?
That was an interesting question and a fun read. Thank you.
There is a separate female strength data set and they likely represent a similar position on the strength continuum, but I couldn’t say anything intelligent about their muscle mass relative to the normal population.