RIPPETOE QUOTES.
By
Coach Rippetoe - Probably wondering why Eric and I are so skinny and weak.
As many of you know, Eric and I spent the weekend with Coach Rippetoe and his amazing staff doing the CrossFit Barbell Certification. We learned a massive amount of information all of which was geared towards two goals – getting immensely stronger ourselves and how to coach you all on how to get immensely stronger. We’re going to have a lot of posts on what we learned over the next few weeks, but for now, we’d like to spread some of Rip’s personality. For those of you that don’t already know, Coach Rippetoe is a very unique individual to say the least, and his delivery is world class. Here’s Eric with a list of some his favorite Rip quotes from the weekend.
Start to finish, I was both entertained and enlightened from this weekend’s seminar. I took diligent notes and upon review, have selected my favorite quotes from the weekend. Please enjoy…
- “You guys are acting like a bunch of Canadians. F$%*ing Canadians.”
- “Demons are afraid of me. There’s no need to bless me when I sneeze.”
- “The heavier the object, the more the earth loves it.”
- “We’re completely devoted to your learning…up to and including killing a baby.”
- “Gravity’s causing all this $hit.”
- “Its mythology…like saying the government can fix the economy.”
- “Why aren’t powerlifting meets riddled with corpses? Exactly.”
- “It’s an overreaction to all the bench press masturbation done at Gold’s Gym”
- “I’ve got big giant balls…and a tiny little pea-sized brain”
- “Here we’ve got our typical, average 5’9”, 135lbs CrossFitter who’s more concerned with how many chin-ups he can do.”
- “What do pediatricians know about kids? $HIT.”
- “Shut the f^*# up.”
Today’s Workout:
“Daniel”
50 Pull ups
400 M Run
21 Thrusters (95#/65#)
800 M Run
21 Thrusters (95#/65#)
400 M Run
50 Pull ups
22 Comments
September 29th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hahaha! Awesome.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Soooooooo…
There are two workouts posted?
September 29th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Technical error Migs. It looks like it auto-posted 2 days worth. The management is looking into it.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Excellent customer service. I will be returning to your facility.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am
The two of you look super excited and nervous in this pic. Kind of like when you get your picture taken with Mickey Mouse for the first time. Except Mickey doesn’t question your manhood, make fun of your weaknesses, or have the ability to crush your skull with his bare hands.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:53 am
You’re 100% right Migs, I wasn’t sure what his reaction to us asking for a picture was going to be, considering that most questions asked that weekend were answered with the entire spectrum of answers – ranging from a disappointed shake of Rip’s head to him screaming obsenities!
September 29th, 2009 at 11:04 am
rip may be my long lost father
September 29th, 2009 at 11:15 am
You’re not worthy of his love, weakling.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:23 am
you guys should start your own twitter account: “Shit Rippetoe Says”
September 29th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Lisa, it’s already been done: http://www.ripquoteoftheday.blogspot.com/
The Claw
September 29th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
question for the management regarding the new squat form: do you know why this form is not the standard for Crossfit air squats if it’s the proper way to squat? As Eric was saying yesterday in class we all thought we knew and were performing the proper “Crossfit squat”, but if that form isn’t correct I’m wondering why it hasn’t been corrected in demos/videos etc. on the main site?
September 29th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Great question Su! I believe that the squat that is taught at the Level 1 Cert is geared more towards speed and repetition than it is geared towards handling a large amount of weight, since it is performed mostly for maximum reps in a short time period.
The squat form that we were taught this weekend is for performing a low back squat – under a very HEAVY load.
This is just my opinion, but shifting the emphasis ever so slightly onto the quads and away from the hamstrings and glutes while focusing on keeping the chest and torso more upright lends itself better to the “piston like” motion of the air squat. Since someone performing an air squat doesn’t have any load on their backs, there’s also no reason for their back angle to be anything but upright.
Also, for the majority of the squat movements that we do in CF – the front squat, the thruster, the front squat coming out of a clean or out of a snatch, the back has to stay more upright than on the heavy back squat. For that reason I believe that they emphasize a more upright posture.
Hope this helped.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Su- I think Traver summarized that well. I think he would agree that one thing that was hammered into our pea sized brains was HIP DRIVE HIP DRIVE HIP DRIVE. This is the cornerstone of moving load in the LOW BACK SQUAT and the progressions we learned are the simplified steps to do it. Depending on where the bar is racked, there’s going to be varying back angles on the squat. While what we learned at the cert is eye opening, I don’t see our day-to-day squat form changing dramatically.
I do expect to see a ton of PR’s next time we go heavy on back squats though.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
“I do expect to see a ton of PR’s next time we go heavy on back squats though.”
Mine will be one. Jamming the bar into my scapula, keeping my back flat and my eyes down, and leading with my hips gave me a tremendous feeling of power, even practicing with just the bar. I see a big PR in my future.
The Claw
September 29th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
ok, got it. I thought we were going to be air squatting in that position, but I was obviously just confused. must have been that workout yesterday, fried my brain.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Su – I actually thought the same, so I’m glad you asked the big question!
September 29th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I’m so jealous of you two that I am photo-shopping my face over Eric’s right now for my Christmas card.
“Merry Christmas, now get a Vas Job.” – From Gerard and Rip.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Su,
Here is Rip’s explanation, comparison, and contrast on the weighted squatting leverages
http://journal.crossfit.com/2008/05/lowbar-vs-highbar-squats-by-ma.tpl
Here is Coach Glassmans explanation, discussion, and demo of the unweighted air squat
http://journal.crossfit.com/2008/10/early-seminars—the-squat-4-15-05.tpl
Both are advantageous for their respective purposes, and I don’t see one ‘eating’ the other as far as prescription. Unless, Traver and Eric, I am totally off base…
September 29th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I was fortunate enough to be with Traver and Eric at the cert. Rip called me “a fool” when I asked a question about why people with long arms have an easier time on the deadlift, and told me, “Valerie, you must get your goddamn femurs out of the way” on my back squat.
He also hates cyclists, orthopedists, and crabs (which are expensive and hard to eat.)
Another quote that was particularly relevant was, “You’re just simple CrossFitters. You don’t know what strong is.”
I think I’m in love.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I’m glad you clarified which kind of crabs, Val!!
September 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
My favorite quote “Shut the f*** up.”
I tell my students that all of the time.
Y’all look scared in your picture. But quite cute nonetheless.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
um…just joking