Texas Strength Systems teaming up with Mark Rippetoe

[KyleAaron]

You forgot the SS barbell, mate.

A point I don't think anyone's mentioned: other racks such as the Rogue won't bash your barbell down to smooth near the sleeve.

If you want to do the quick lifts and bought the SS stuff, you'd have to buy two barbells.

[Mech6]

I'm glad you guys agree with me. I don't feel like I'm crazy. The amount of people out there who blindly follow his arguments is, for lack of a better term, a sheepish mentality that needs to be challenged.

No, I'm just salty because he never reviewed my stuff

[daniel327]

..... apparently you can blue collar that **** yourself and it's "customizable".

The best way to customize it would be to purchase alternative equipments

[MGM711]

I kinda get it - if he is tough on things and says a lot of negatives, he won't get stuff for free to review. But he should be making enough money to buy some things to review.

Then again, he opened a gym on his own recently, didn't he? I wonder how much of the stuff was paid for and how much was previously given to him.

Coop doesn't need to blast anyone or be overly hard, he just has to represent the facts and provide context and comparison in his reviews of equipment. He could've compared how the SS bench ranked among other benches in that price point and the differences in materials and build quality. By doing this, he's just presenting factual comparison and not even necessarily giving his opinion and he lets the viewer make their own decision. But instead, he goes out of his way to try and find something positive about a bench made with inferior parts at a more expensive price point over benches he's given very positive reviews made with better parts and at a cheaper price point. I feel like he could've just said how the bench is made and why Rip wanted it that way, left it that, and just said if you are a fan of Rip or SS and you want SS branded equipment, this is the bench for you.

[Cleveland33]

Coop doesn't need to blast anyone or be overly hard, he just has to represent the facts and provide context and comparison in his reviews of equipment. He could've compared how the SS bench ranked among other benches in that price point and the differences in materials and build quality. By doing this, he's just presenting factual comparison and not even necessarily giving his opinion and he lets the viewer make their own decision. But instead, he goes out of his way to try and find something positive about a bench made with inferior parts at a more expensive price point over benches he's given very positive reviews made with better parts and at a cheaper price point. I feel like he could've just said how the bench is made and why Rip wanted it that way, left it that, and just said if you are a fan of Rip or SS and you want SS branded equipment, this is the bench for you.

I get it - but I think he is erring on the careful side to continue to have things sent to him.

[MGM711]

Rip is hoping his new franchise will open 100 locations in 5 years. Initially, I wanted to be an investor for one of his Houston locations. I sent an email to one of his people responsible for the franchises. After hearing Rip was going to limit his equipment to bare steel racks and benches to be manufactured purely by a **** company, my interest level dropped to 0. I get that he's narrowcasting, but honestly, wouldn't people be more motivated to lift in your gym and attend your starting strength coaching sessions if your gyms had good environment? Like not having rusted bare steel bars, racks, and benches. You don't even need to apply expensive powder coating, just some kind of protection for the bare steel, even rust oleum spray paint would be better than nothing.

What's more ridiculous is the folks on his forum saying uncoated, unsanded, and unprotected wood/steel is better because apparently you can blue collar that **** yourself and it's "customizable". So I get to overpay for your **** bench, then I also need to finish building the thing for you? As much as I respect his programming and coaching knowledge, this entire SS equipment line is exposing the unhealthy cult like organization SS has become.

This whole concept of SS Gyms is insane to me. CF boxes are already running SS programs and CF as a brand and as a marketing tool has a much greater appeal than SS will ever have. Can't see how anyone will pay $300+ a month for a gym with inferior equipment when you can go to a CF box with more than likely Rogue equipment and roughly half the price or less than what SS gym will cost.

[MGM711]

I get it - but I think he is erring on the careful side to continue to have things sent to him.

Right, but in doing so, he's compromising his own reputation as a reviewer. At some point, being positive about a bad product makes you look comprised as a reviewer and I could see this deterring companies sending him equipment in the future.

[weisgarb]

Right, but in doing so, he's compromising his own reputation as a reviewer. At some point, being positive about a bad product makes you look comprised as a reviewer and I could see this deterring companies sending him equipment in the future.

I disagree--being compromised makes you more desirable to companies, because they know you're going to give them a positive review. In the games industry, these people are called "influencers" and their entire reason for existence (whether they realize it or not) is to become part of publishers' PR plans. Some influencers genuinely like a particular company, others suck up to everyone to get free stuff, while the more successful ones have rate cards. I don't think people like Coop target an informed audience.

[sera310]

Wait, what? This is a real product? I quit looking at this thread long ago because I thought everyone was missing the point, the wooden bench with bare steel for $240+ had to be a joke, & you guys just weren't getting it. But I saw all the activity in the thread so I checked it out and I see that it's really for sale--I guess the joke's on me....

[HeavyIron8]

This whole concept of SS Gyms is insane to me. CF boxes are already running SS programs and CF as a brand and as a marketing tool has a much greater appeal than SS will ever have. Can't see how anyone will pay $300+ a month for a gym with inferior equipment when you can go to a CF box with more than likely Rogue equipment and roughly half the price or less than what SS gym will cost.

SS appeals more to 50 year old house wives and overweight balding middle aged guys. The simplicity of SS appeals more to these population groups than CF.

[McBrody]

I hope so. The bench in their Instagram promo shots is already rusty.

Another safety concern is, just how flammable is this wooden bench?!?

[cwcmac]

Getting a splinter from your bench is just ridiculous.

You're clearly not man enough to ever work out at a Starting Strength gym,

[cwcmac]

SS appeals more to 50 year old house wives and overweight balding middle aged guys. The simplicity of SS appeals more to these population groups than CF.

Which makes it even more weird. I can see trying to mimic a basic, old school powerlifting gym with super basic equipment. I can see the novelty and possibly enjoyment of that but more for pure powerlifters. Selling this to the SS crowd isn't going to work in my opinion.

[HeavyIron8]

Which makes it even more weird. I can see trying to mimic a basic, old school powerlifting gym with super basic equipment. I can see the novelty and possibly enjoyment of that but more for pure powerlifters. Selling this to the SS crowd isn't going to work in my opinion.

I was saying that because the vast majority of the folks that frequent Rip's forums are in that population group. And if you look at videos of his seminars this holds true as well.

[lsi1]

You're clearly not man enough to ever work out at a Starting Strength gym,

I question whether I'm man enough and my gym was 22 degrees this morning and will be just below 0 on Thursday.

[Bench905]

one Thought I had with Coop's review where he was struggling for nice things to say he said that a wood bench would mold to you over time. I must have heard that wrong?

I think that's probably correct...if your time horizon is thousands or tens of thousands of years.

[cwcmac]

I was saying that because the vast majority of the folks that frequent Rip's forums are in that population group. And if you look at videos of his seminars this holds true as well.

I agree with you that it seems to be the target audience which doesn't scream of people that want an 'old school' feel.

[KyleAaron]

I agree with you that it seems to be the target audience which doesn't scream of people that want an 'old school' feel.

No, those people tend to want their comforts. However, the SS demographic is broader than the mouthy guys on forums.

The typical powerlifter is a total princess about equipment, but won't pay for instruction, and doesn't care if you clean the toilet. They're not the target audience, nobody builds a business by targeting fussy cheaparses.

The sort of people who are willing and able to pay $315 a month don't know anything about equipment, they want instruction and community, and you have to clean the toilet. The selling point is thus the high standards required to become an SSC (you can argue this, but I'm talking about how they're presenting themselves) and that there'll be 100 people, which is big enough to be able to ignore anyone who annoys you but small enough to spend time with the good people and get to know them.

I know this because I run a garage gym business. In almost five years I've had maybe 3 people who knew anything at all about different equipment, and they all left to start their own home gym. The rest neither know nor care. The sort of people who'll go to an SS gym won't know anything about or notice the equipment, that's strictly an owner's vanity stuff. They'll just notice if it's clean. Don't let that fcking bench or barbell rust, you better be in there weekly wiping it down with WD-40. "It's not rust, it's a patina," is not going to convince the person paying $315 a month.

The equipment will not make or break the SS franchise gym, so long as the owner keeps it clean.

[Mech6]

The typical powerlifter is a total princess about equipment, but won't pay for instruction, and doesn't care if you clean the toilet.

Sounds about right. That's also the typical welder from where I stand.

[MGM711]

SS appeals more to 50 year old house wives and overweight balding middle aged guys. The simplicity of SS appeals more to these population groups than CF.

There's so many CF boxes out west, the smaller of the boxes are the exact same target market as SS. In fact, I know of several CF boxes who are actually running SS programming with those specific groups. This is more of my point, CF is a bigger brand and they have a much broader reach than SS ever will. Even my godmother belongs to CF box in Colorado and she does modified functional fitness. I notice that the smaller CF boxes that care to put out athletes for games competitions are doing more SS type of training than true CF, this was my point, and they will do it at half the price of SS gyms.

[cwcmac]

No, those people tend to want their comforts. However, the SS demographic is broader than the mouthy guys on forums.

The typical powerlifter is a total princess about equipment, but won't pay for instruction, and doesn't care if you clean the toilet. They're not the target audience, nobody builds a business by targeting fussy cheaparses.

The sort of people who are willing and able to pay $315 a month don't know anything about equipment, they want instruction and community, and you have to clean the toilet. The selling point is thus the high standards required to become an SSC (you can argue this, but I'm talking about how they're presenting themselves) and that there'll be 100 people, which is big enough to be able to ignore anyone who annoys you but small enough to spend time with the good people and get to know them.

I know this because I run a garage gym business. In almost five years I've had maybe 3 people who knew anything at all about different equipment, and they all left to start their own home gym. The rest neither know nor care. The sort of people who'll go to an SS gym won't know anything about or notice the equipment, that's strictly an owner's vanity stuff. They'll just notice if it's clean. Don't let that fcking bench or barbell rust, you better be in there weekly wiping it down with WD-40. "It's not rust, it's a patina," is not going to convince the person paying $315 a month.

The equipment will not make or break the SS franchise gym, so long as the owner keeps it clean.

All good points. I appreciate the insight and about crapped myself that SS gyms are charging $315/month if that is true. That doesn't seem sustainable but my knowledge of running a gym is limited to a one person gym in my garage.

[MGM711]

I disagree--being compromised makes you more desirable to companies, because they know you're going to give them a positive review. In the games industry, these people are called "influencers" and their entire reason for existence (whether they realize it or not) is to become part of publishers' PR plans. Some influencers genuinely like a particular company, others suck up to everyone to get free stuff, while the more successful ones have rate cards. I don't think people like Coop target an informed audience.

You make some good points...I never really thought about Coop really isn't trying to target an informed audience, which in that case, getting a positive review is good marketing for whoever is sending him gear.

[cwcmac]

You make some good points...I never really thought about Coop really isn't trying to target an informed audience, which in that case, getting a positive review is good marketing for whoever is sending him gear.

Especially if his site either has enough traffic or is promoted enough to show up at the top for searches. Having a positive review come up as a top search hit is worth the cost of one bar/piece of equipment.

[Murser]

They will have to be near professional upper-middle neighborhoods to stand a chance. They are trying to market themselves as premium one on one gyms and will have to act as such. The Rippetoe attitude of calling people p....ys for gym faux pas and political crap will put them under quick.

[Cleveland33]

You make some good points...I never really thought about Coop really isn't trying to target an informed audience, which in that case, getting a positive review is good marketing for whoever is sending him gear.

it's pretty obvious he isn't targeting an informed audience, he's not that well informed himself.

[MGM711]

it's pretty obvious he isn't targeting an informed audience, he's not that well informed himself.

He doesn't admit to that though...he definitely thinks of himself as an "expert."

[Jason2459]

You make some good points...I never really thought about Coop really isn't trying to target an informed audience, which in that case, getting a positive review is good marketing for whoever is sending him gear.

Not sure myself. Coop gave a stupidly subpar review on the Rep Fitness power speed bar. Maybe he doesn't get enough free stuff from them.

But otherwise I think any "professional" reviewer or influencer is going to give a biased review from companies that constantly give them free stuff.

And that includes from some that I like.

[Cleveland33]

He doesn't admit to that though...he definitely thinks of himself as an "expert."

I don't think he is aware of it either

[litljay]

All good points. I appreciate the insight and about crapped myself that SS gyms are charging $315/month if that is true. That doesn't seem sustainable but my knowledge of running a gym is limited to a one person gym in my garage.

I would think Rip would be targeting the parents of Jr High / High School athletes. I've always thought that was Rip's target audience all along.

[Za78]

He's a shill. I've never liked the guy. He simply can't say a negative thing about a product. Yes, he's discussed Cons, but the's unfairly compromising in his reviews of everything. There's no point in listening to him. Everything is great, at all price points, for every reason you can imagine. I've never considered the guy to be a reputable reviewer of equipment. Almost everyone here could make a youtube channel/website about products & have far better insights in not just equipment, but training.

I know a guy who trains at a gym furnished entirely by TSS. He said the owner has had every single piece rewedded as the structural integrity of the pieces was becoming prominent. Hilarious that Rip would go with this company.

In fairness to Coop, he did end with, I wouldn't buy it and I don't suggest you do. There are forces pulling him in both directions obviously, but I think the ultimate message got through to the viewer.