The first guy that got me into training seriously and intelligently was Stuart McRobert. Reading Brawn for the first time blew my mind. Any book that talks about lifting iron yet had no pictures has to have pretty damn awesome content and Stuart delivered on that.
I also worked with a former heptathlete who turned me onto the works of DeFranco and Poliquin. That’s how I found this place. That guy pretty much showed me the light with regards to training.
Nowadays I tend to let the writings of DeFranco, Tate, Wendler and Cosgrove influence my training.
Which strength coach to you consider to be your ‘guru’?
I’m a fan of Rippetoe and Dan John. I like their training philosophies, but both guys have a little more strength of character that goes a bit beyond just lifting weights.
I’m also guinea pigging a new Eric Cressey program now, and going through his programming and the how mobility/prehab/static stretching is integrated into a solid strength program is insightful as well. I’m doing some sprints and track work too that I haven’t done.
I like Rip in particular as he has pretty much torn his body apart doing all sorts of things and he still trains consistently and harder than most younger guys:
a guy called ashley jones, of the crusaders rugby team in new zealand. i’m a big fan of his approach to athletic conditioning. also a very humble, friendly guy.
