The Slow Lifts, by Mark Rippetoe - Mar 06 CFJ

The “slow lifts”—the squat, the press, the deadlift, and the bench press—form the basis of any effective program to improve strength. And strength is very important. It is the difference between a very successful varsity athlete and a bench warmer, an independent older person and a nursing home resident, a correctly chosen gym membership and a waste of money.

When I was a little boy, my daddy took me to work with him at his café. He worked long hours and would never have gotten to see me if I hadn’t gone back to work with him in the afternoons, after his well-deserved and often interrupted nap. One of my favorite people to see at the café was the shoeshine guy from the barber shop on the corner. Roosevelt Pope was in his fifties at the time, and, had social conditions differed in the early 1930s when he was young, he would have been an amazing athlete. As I remember, he was about 5’10” at probably 190 lbs., with an athletic bearing and a broad sense of humor. Roosevelt had really nice arms, but I don’t know if he trained them. At the time I didn’t think to ask.

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