Strongest Shall Survive: Review by Steve Holman, IRONMAN May '96

Bill Starr, one of IRONMAN’s most popular authors and a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University, has resurrected his classic book The Strongest Shall Survive—and it’s about time. This is one of the all-time-great books on strength training, and although the subtitle is “Strength Training for Football,” you don’t have to be a gridiron participant to benefit from the information in its pages.

You learn how muscles work, the all-or-none law, types of muscular contractions, how and why muscles fatigue, the overload principle and how muscles relate to bony levers—and that’s just in Chapter 1. Next, Starr gives you a complete anatomy and kinesiology lesson, complete with detailed drawings of all the muscles. Everything from the infraspinatus to the sacrospinalis is covered to give you a better understanding of which exercises work which muscles—valuable knowledge you’ll take into the weight room for better workouts.

Further into the book you find photos showing how to perform the suggested exercises, including Starr’s famous big three, along with plenty of programs centered around the mass movements for building size and strength. There are also detailed sections on nutrition and rehabilitation for sprains, strains and dislocations, and once again, all the important movements are fully illustrated.

If you’re a football coach or player—from junior high to the pros—this book should be in your reference library. If you’re neither of those things but into size and strength, you should read the book anyway. I guarantee you’ll learn a lot and add a number of effective tools to your strength-training arsenal.

Pros: Lots of pertinent information and complete training routines for everyone interested in upping his or her size and strength—and the caricatures of the long-haired Starr in sunglasses keep things humorous.

Cons: Hey, Bill, get a haircut.