starting strength 2nd ed, worth it?

**rordogs** · Posted On: 2/20/2009 5:19am

hi, i found an old copy of starting strength and loved it, completely changed the way i work out.
but now i find out there is a 2nd edition, is it worth it to purchase this one? i mean is there much difference between the two?

thanks.

**qirin** · Posted On: 2/25/2009 1:28pm

I am surprised no one has answered this question yet.

the short answer, I think, is probably "no."

I am not sure how much change, if any, has been made to the main section of the book, i.e. the instructions for the five lifts. in some cases the pronouns have been changed, but looking at the two editions side to side it's hard to see much difference. the writing has been changed from saying "notice if the trainee ..." to "notice if you ..." but otherwise I think the text is the same.

the bulk of the new material is an a section called "assistance exercises." here we are given instructions for a bunch of other movements like partials, front squats, the incline press, the romanian deadlift, the good morning, the push press, pull-ups and chins, upright row, dips, ham raise, hyperextension, roman chair sit-ups, skull crushers and biceps curls.

I think the programming section has also been beefed up a little, but not in a significant way.

so the second edition is definitely an improvement over the first, and if you really want instructions in all the assistance exercises then it might be worth it. but if you are mostly concerned with the core lifts, then I would save your money.

**Bugeisha** · Posted On: 2/25/2009 4:25pm

I understand why you wouldn't want the second edition if you already have the first, but I disagree. I'm not looking at them side by side, but I think the 2nd edition assumes less knowledge of the lifts. Where that struck me was with the section on Power Cleans. The first book assumes you've already got some experience with the lift, and focuses on details and corrections. The second edition starts from a much more basic approach; teaching the lift from the ground up (or the top down, as the case may be with power cleans). For me, it was definitely worth buying the second edition.