Book Review: The Barbell Prescription

A commonality in many books and online articles on the topic of weight training is that the literature in the mass market medium is almost always geared toward an audience of 18-30 year old males.  So when I saw the book “The Barbell Prescription:  Strength Training for Life After Forty” I was immediately intrigued.  Upon further research I realized that it was published by the Aasgaard Company (who published Starting Strength), and one of the co-authors is Andy Baker, who also co-wrote Practical Programming with Mark Rippetoe of Starting Strength fame.  Rippetoe has often touted the benefits of barbell training for older populations, so it seemed only logical that this book would be from the Starting Strength tree.  

The book is written by the aforementioned Andy Baker and Jonathan Sullivan MD, PhD, SSC.  Both authors are certified Starting Strength Coaches (SSC).  Baker is a former powerlifter and currently owns Kingwood Strength and Conditioning.  Sullivan owns Greysteel Strength and Conditioning, which is a gym that specializes in barbell training and caters to older populations in their 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.  He is also an MD that practices in the trauma center of a local hospital.  

The authors suggest that exercise should be administered as medicine the same way a doctor would administer prescription medicine to a patient.  The book begins by describing the opposite lifestyles of two fictional twin brothers, Will and Phil.  Phil leads a sedentary life and makes bad food choices, while Will leads an active life and makes good food choices.  The point of telling the story is to illustrate the vast difference in quality of life between the two individuals.  While describing this fictional scenario the authors discuss the sick aging phenotype, metabolic syndrome, and the many chronic maladies that plague our modern society.  The authors do a great job of going into detail about many of these chronic conditions while keeping the reader's attention with a more casual writing style than what one would typically see in a boring textbook.  The conclusion the authors arrive at to help remedy these problems, not surprisingly, is exercise.  More precisely their prescription for the sick aging phenotype is strength training using a barbell along with a reasonable diet.  The authors go on to do a great job describing different types of training and their effectiveness.  

The book goes on to discuss everything from selecting a proper gym and required gym equipment to effective strength training programming.  For those readers that are already familiar with barbell training, in particular Starting Strength, this will be review material.  However, if you are a novice lifter and/or new to barbell training this information can be really invaluable.  As the book continues the authors provide justification for barbell weight training, in particular utilizing the Starting Strength method.  The authors even borrow some of the illustrations from the book Starting Strength.  It should be noted the authors do provide how to perform the recommended exercises, but not in the same level of detail as Starting Strength, which famously has a 100 page explanation of the squat.  However, the explanations are sufficient to get a basic understanding of how to perform the exercises in the gym, which not surprisingly are the squat, deadlift, overhead press, and bench press.  In addition, they speak to the benefits of these exercises for the aging population.  For example, they discuss the therapeutic benefits of barbell exercises in regards to the sick aging phenotype and mobility.  

The authors also provide regression movements for the exercises for those trainees with mobility issues or injuries that prevent them from performing the exercise using the standard form.  And, the authors recommend various assistance exercises and provide regression movements for these as well.  I think this alone makes the book invaluable to those who are in that aging demographic and would like to begin barbell training.  I’d also argue it would be a great read for personal trainers and strength coaches who are training some of these aging populations. 

In the last part of the book the authors discuss programming for an aging athlete.  It is in this portion of the book that the “prescription” of weight training is specified.  As described by the authors, barbell training is the medicine and programming is the dosage and frequency.  There is also a lot of information here about adaptation, diet, and sleep.  The authors then lay out the basics of programming in a version of the Starting Strength method modified for older athletes.  

Starting Strength and their coaches are often criticized by others in the strength training community for being dogmatic in their beliefs, however I found that most strength coaches are guilty of the same.  I would argue for a novice lifter the Starting Strength Method is a great introduction to barbell training, and probably is all most lifters would ever need.  I also like the concept of this book since it introduces barbell training, and all of its benefits, to an older audience that might otherwise be intimidated by this type of weight training.  We need more strength training books such as this one that cater to a demographic other than 20 something males.  If one decides to begin barbell training after reading this book I’d still recommend buying the Starting Strength book and doing some research using Starting Strength online media.  I’d also argue that in particular with an older population it’s probably best they receive in person coaching from a qualified strength coach to properly learn the exercises since they would have a higher propensity for injury.  

Overall, I really like this book.  It is chock full of knowledge, easy to read, and entertaining.  So who’s this book for?  Those individuals that fall in this older demographic and want to start barbell training, or just start to get into shape, I think this book is a great start and a great read.  For folks out there that have already read Starting Strength and Practical Programming for Strength Training a lot of this book will review material other than the remedial exercises, which are great.  If you’ve only read Starting Strength then this book will provide more detail on programming for 5x5, Texas Method, and so on.  I also think that this book can also be a great resource for personal trainers and strength coaches that incorporate barbell training and deal with an older clientele.  And of course, those folks out there that are not fans of Starting Strength will not want to read it.  So in short the Barbell Prescription has loads of information and is a great read.  And maybe its most important message is that it’s never too late to start weight training with a barbell. 

Thanks for reading.