Any time a gun-owner makes that important decision to become responsible for their own safety and starts training and carrying a gun for self-defense, it’s usually the type of decision that’s not taken lightly.
Beyond the basic expenditure into the gun, its holster and assorted training / defensive ammunition, there’s also the additional [and wise] investment in proper training. Preferably, the type of training that involves life-fire under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor.
Even when sticking to a reasonable budget, the true cost of taking on the responsibility for one’s own security and well-being tallies up fairly quickly. It’s something I can personally attest to from my own experiences. Training around self-defense can also be time-consuming.
Buying the gun or the just the live-fire training portion is only one small part of the defensive equation. To be a well-rounded self-defense practitioner, one also needs to understand the concepts of combatives, pepper spray, trauma care, the legal principles of self-defense among other topics.
Realistically, most of us likely don’t have the time or resources to deep-dive into these topics–we’d otherwise all be Special Operations personnel. In other words, all of these activities are a lot of work, require serious time commitments and aren’t cheap. Are they generally worthwhile? I certainly think so.
Why Strength Training?
If there’s one thing pertaining to peace, security and well-being that shouldn’t be overlooked, its physical fitness, specifically in the form of lifting for strength. After all, self-defense boils down to physically interacting with one’s body, tools, weapons and the immediate physical environment. Even before factoring “knowing how to fight” into the defensive equation, having any level of strength and physical capability is an indispensable asset in service of one’s personal safety.
I don’t want to contradict what I wrote above and imply that lifting doesn’t require some time and effort, because it certainly does. However, unlike some of the other self-defense topics that can require specialized classes and instructorship, cultivating a decent amount of strength is something anyone can actually do on their own [coaching helps here too]. The time and monetary commitment to starting strength training is arguably significantly lower than other defense-related courses.
Beyond using strength training to literally become stronger and more resilient and support one’s ability to defend themselves, this training activity also helps improve other areas of one’s life. And in the end, isn’t the point of being proficient with guns or other self-defense topics to allow us to go about our lives peacefully and without fear? Bolstering one’s physical health also adds to quality of life.
Getting Strong With Starting Strength
In the same way it would be counterproductive for a new shooter to take a handgun to the range and start wantonly sending rounds downrange, it would similarly be pointless to start lugging barbells off the ground with no plan. Fortunately, there are several easy-to-follow training programs designed to not only get brand new lifters on track, but can also be tailored to suit participants of all ages.
The brainchild of Mark Ripptoe, Starting Strength is such a program. Starting Strength is a beginner’s strength-training program with a proven track-record. It’s the program I’ve been following on my own for the past few weeks.
I’d like to emphasize that I’m a complete beginner in the weightroom; I’ve never been particularly athletic, so my thoughts on lifting and strength training are thus written from the perspective of a complete beginner with only a month of lifting under his belt. As I write these words, I’ve been following this very script for a little over a month and the first saplings of results are beginning to sprout.
Note: There’s probably several dozen beginner strength programs. I just happened to pick Starting Strength. Ultimately, as a beginner, it’s arguably more important to pick something and get after it. It’s no different than telling someone to just buy a Glock 19 as their first gun and learn about shooting. Although I decided to follow Starting Strength independently, I’ve also had a few coaching sessions and some topic discussions with the Starting Strength Austin staff in preparation for this article.
Gist Of Starting Strength
Starting Strength strongly emphasizes the weightroom’s primal compound lifts including the squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead shoulder press and the clean. Besides the barbell and plates, the unifying element that these different exercises have in common is their recruitment of major muscle groups to push, pull and stabilize weight simultaneously.
In simple terms, this list of strength training exercises involve the entirety of the body and thus increase overall strength. That the bench press, deadlift and squat are also at the core of powerlifting is not a coincidence either.
After learning the mechanics of the different exercises and calibrating them to an individual’s age and physical ability, one simply needs to add an extra five pounds to their working sets as they traverse through this beginner’s program. It stems from a training concept called natural linear progression, and these increases are typically lifted in three sets of five reps during each training session.
The work is brief but immensely intensive and challenging–and effective. The natural liner progression blueprint of Starting Strength isn’t a secret, and in fact its YouTube channel has plenty of detailed and informative videos that are free to watch. In a nutshell, the program requires people to lift every other day, always squats, either [shoulder] press or bench press, and then deadlift or power clean.
Primal Compound Lifts
Rippetoe already wrote an entire book about training these lifts, so there’s no need to break into extreme detail. Here is a summary:
- The Squat: A full range-of-motion exercise that requires the core and upper back to stabilize the loaded barbell over the lower shoulder area. The squat enlists all lower-body joints and musculature to lower and raise the weight through its complete path.
- The Overhead Press: A standing upper body exercise that involves raising the barbell above the head at full extension. Not only is the overhead press one of the oldest exercises in barbell training, but it cannot be done without a person’s legs, hips, trunk and back to stabilize the body like a pillar in order to allow the body to push and return the barbell.
- The Deadlift: An exercise that begins with the loaded barbell sitting on the floor and dispatches the body’s posterior chain to pick up the weight and pull it to the same height as one’s fully-extended arms, around crotch height. From the listed exercises, the deadlift tends to involve the most amount of weight and is done to close out each training session due to its intensity.
- The Bench Press: This upper body exercise primarily recruits the chest, shoulder and arm muscles to carry out, but lifters need the body’s trunk and back muscle strength in order to buttress the barbell and lift the weight effectively.
- The Power Clean: This exercise slightly differs from the other four in the list because it requires explosive force to initiate. However, the power clear is still composed of compound lift movements that call on the entire musculoskeletal system to carry out. Since both technique and finesse are required, Starting Strength trainees do not start this lift until later in this program.
Strength Training Results To Date
As a relatively new trainee, I cannot possibly brag about being able to lift crazy amounts of weight. However I can’t deny that I am getting stronger and although the numbers on the scale have increased, the waistband of my pants and the manner in which my shirts tell a different story. Stressing all of my posterior chain muscles from squatting and deadlifting has helped me tweak my posture for the better in only a few weeks.
Unscientifically, I can sense that my full ½ gallon metal water bottle just feels lighter. And when I’m shooting, the grip pressure I exert on handguns feels effortless yet the guns seem less snappy during recoil. This is especially true when shooting lighter weight polymer-framed pistols, which have a tendency to feel snappier due to their polymer frames.
As a shooter, I’ve also enjoyed the parallels of mind-body connection in lifting that I’ve experienced in shooting. When I’m inside the power rack with the empty bar going through the motion of the exercise, I find that I feel the same way I do when I dry-fire or train on the range. It’s also why traversing through the motions of an exercise reminds of working and drilling drawstokes. But instead of that timer, the pressure comes from having to move that heavy weight correctly.
Strength Training Motivation
What ultimately motivated me to start lifting had nothing to do with turning into he-man or chasing the exaggerated physique of a bodybuilder. (Not to mention, I’m too interested in shooting to spend that much time at the gym).
Rather it was noticing those around me who were already regular lifters. Besides their strength, I’ve noticed that this crowd just seems to be better at avoiding injuries. And in the event they do become injured, this group tends to be the ones with an easier time recovering that return to their lives sooner.
Writing a comprehensive list of all the benefits of strength training would rate writing an entire book, but from my interest and perspective in self-defense it’s quite clear to me that lifting for strength is a cheat code that boosts one’s individual capabilities across the board. The way I see it, getting stronger is no different than adding a red-dot sight to a handgun to make it more capable. Who doesn’t want to be more capable?
And like they say, stronger people are also harder to kill.
“Our strength, more than any other thing we possess, still determines the quality and the quantity of our time here in these bodies.” – Mark Rippetoe
Special thanks To Starting Strength and Starting Strength Austin for their feedback, insights and coaching in support of this piece of writing.
