Develop Your Own Community to Become a Stronger and Better Lifter by Wade Stokes | December 23, 2025 There are many of us who do Starting Strength outside of a Starting Strength gym, on our own, or with a few companions who have also fallen into this maddening and addictive Program. In Europe, where I live, it is even harder than in the US to follow Starting Strength on your own. Europe holds one affiliated Starting Strength gym in Brussels Barbell, a gym in Belgium led by SSC Coach Steve Ross. The directory for coaches currently shows five coaches in Europe, including two in Belgium (Steve and Francesco de Caro), one in the UK (Byron Johnston), one in France (Carl Raghavan, the traveling coach who could be anywhere), and one in Portugal (Pedro Pereira). Since I started following Starting Strength three years ago while living in Tallinn, Estonia, the books and website and camps and online coaches have helped me learn and get stronger, but by far the biggest contributor to my success is the community of friends and fellow lifters that I have developed along the way. Allow me to explain how I have built up my community, and maybe those of you far from the nearest Starting Strength gym might be able to pick up some tips that will help you build your own community to get even stronger. Step One: Educate yourself To build a community, you first need to build up your own knowledge. I got started in lifting because at 57 years old, my lower back was giving me fits despite all the cardio and swimming I was doing. My friend Jason introduced me to squats and deadlifts and gave some initial coaching, and my lower back pain disappeared. Intrigued, I started prowling the web and found Starting Strength. Then, I went a little crazy in my deep dive into the Program. I bought the three main books, watched I think all the online videos, and listened to the back catalogue of podcasts. I went to a squat, press, and deadlift camp at Brussels Barbell led by Steve Ross, and he agreed to be my online coach after. I even combined a trip back to Dallas for a high-school reunion with a pilgrimage to Wichita Falls to attend the Seminar. I was hooked, and I became an evangelist for anyone who wanted to fix their lower back and get strong. Then, start with friends. Preferably those who lift Two of my closest friends in Tallinn are David and Jason. We have had a shared history in Estonia since the 1990s and have been to each other's weddings. Our ages are from 50 to 61. Jason has been powerlifting for over a decade, and he was the one who first introduced me to squats and deadlifts. David had never done barbell training before a couple of years ago, but problems with a hip and a knee had been ruining his sleep and keeping him from going all out in downhill skiing, his true passion. David started lifting because he saw how much better my quality of life was after I started. And, I think he just got tired of me praising squats and deadlifts and Starting Strength every chance I could get. So, he started with a little coaching from Jason and I, and he quickly realized that lifting could give him better sleep and enable him to ski faster than his teenage boys for at least another decade. Jason showed me the proper mood with which to approach your work set of deadlifts. Lure your friends deeper into Starting Strength What finally cemented our little Community was when we decided to take a guy’s trip to Brussels to attend a Squat, Press, and Deadlift camp at Brussels Barbell. A full day of lifting followed by a gourmet meal was enough to entice us all away from wives and children for a weekend. Jason even promised to learn conventional deadlifts at the event, having pulled “sumo” only for the previous decade. Before the trip, we had even gotten some swag to wear in Brussels. Inspired by the wild boars that roam Estonia’s forests, we named ourselves the “Wild Boar Barbell Club” and even bought T-shirts and hoodies with a logo designed and bought from the lowest bidder on a job tasks website. David wearing Wild Boar Barbell swag in Brussels while learning how to squat. Since that trip to Brussels, we have been lifting now together for around two years. We live in different parts of Tallinn, and most of the time we don’t even work out together. However, through a group chat and shared photos and videos, we provide each other support and advice. We post important sets, including PR attempts. And we support each other on our accomplishments. We encourage each other both to go bigger as well as hold each other back from doing stupid shit. Coaching and form checks work because we all went to the camp in Brussels and can speak the same language. A year ago, I had started developing a little knee slide, and David reminded me about the video on TUBOW. And a couple of us have needed Nick Delgadillo’s article on how to avoid elbow pain from squatting which I can attest works like a miracle. As middle-aged guys with families, life often intervenes in our lifting. We might have a week or two or three in the year without lifting. I have found that some of the best advice from my friends is the practical support around how to restart a “mini” Novice Linear Progression after a few weeks off. In addition, we also help each other out on transitions to new training plans, for example transitioning from three to two days a week, increasing weights every other week versus every week, or choosing among variants of a four-day split. We quote the books at each other in these discussions and arguments – unfortunately, in almost all cases, Rip is right and we are wrong. Or we have just misread the books. Most importantly, we call each other out on squat depth. Everybody’s form can deteriorate over time, and sometimes you need your friends to lay down the law and tell you that the five-rep PR you posted doesn’t count because the last two reps were too high. Your Community is only a Community if they call you out and keep you honest. Don’t be afraid to reach out wider for advice In one of his 61 articles on the website, Starting Strength Coach Carl Raghavan mentioned that he was in Tallinn, Estonia. I cold called him and ended up meeting him the next day for a beer and a few burgers. I learned so much from that conversation. Just talking with a Starting Strength coach in a social setting gets you invaluable great advice. I only hope my advice on my favorite spots in Tallinn made it worth his while. (Though I still think I owe him for the burgers – next time, Carl.) I was lucky enough to meet Starting Strength Coach Carl Raghavan on his travels in Tallinn. While I am currently lifting light while recovering from shoulder surgery, I have gotten the online help of Starting Strength Coach Pedro Pereira, who works out of a gym on the Algarve coast in Portugal. How did this connection happen? I met Pedro at Brussels Barbell, where he did his apprenticeship before earning his coaching certification in Wichita Falls. The connections in your Community will always increase if you just reach out. How to widen your Community Carl Raghavan’s favorite gym in Tallinn is Sparta, which is a real barbell mecca in the Baltics. However, I go to a gym near my flat called MyFitness that is more convenient for me. In some ways, though, I feel like I am spreading the Starting Strength gospel more by working out in a more conventional commercial gym. When Jason and David and I manage to work out together, and when we are all at a good point in our programming, we can wow normal gym-goers. Seeing three older guys repping 150kg (330lb) and over squats when the 25-year-olds can’t break 100kg (220lb) raises both eyebrows and furtive questions about how we are able to do that. Also, we wear the swag. From the Seminar, I brought back three green T-shirts emblazoned with Rip’s mug and the tagline “I am the science.” Even in the Baltics, gym-goers know Rip, and conversations start from that. At my local gym, I never pass up the opportunity to talk about Starting Strength, and some of these conversations have turned into longer-term gym relationships – even a little form checks or coaching here and there. Even at commercial gyms in Eastern Europe, people recognize who is on these T-shirts. Your Community will grow organically It’s worth calling out here a few of the key people in our little Community. From a conversation on the T-shirts, we met a German lifter at our gym in Tallinn. Dieter, a 2.05m (6’9”) amateur basketball player, had heard about Starting Strength and even visited Brussels Barbell once for a form check. To get ready for his masters league here in Tallinn, Dieter has been using Steve Ross as an online coach. With Dieter in the gym, it’s always fun to see a heavy squat unfolding from a body that size. Gargantuan. We also can rely on him for form checks and advice when we are working out together as we all speak the same language now. Again, you must call out squat depth on your mates – it’s the primary rule. Gary is another American in Tallinn who has so far resisted the call to join officially the Wild Boar Barbell Club. However, Gary has needed some additional strength for his masters hockey. While his bench was good for his body weight, Gary felt like he needed more strength in his hips and thighs to improve his skating. I have managed to get Gary into squats and deadlifts. One great thing about attending the Starting Strength seminar is you learn how to coach each lift and get practical experience in coaching on the platform, even if you are not going for the coaching certification. So, I felt comfortable enough to coach Gary on the basics of how to do the lifts. And, I meet up with him for workouts every so often so I can give form checks as best I can. In the three or four months since he started lifting, Gary has noticed a remarkable change in his skating and with his lower back pain. While Gary and Dieter are the auxiliary members in our little Community, a few of the younger guys at the gym have shown enough interest in what we are doing that I am positive that our Community will grow even wider. Don’t forget to inspire the next generation Both my kids played sports growing up. My daughter even started working out in gyms and running on her own near the end of high school. In her first two years at university, my daughter ran half-marathons and marathons. However, she had seen me lifting and saw the impact that had on my life. One of my proudest moments was when told me two years ago that she had joined her university’s Olympic lifting team, and that she was planning to compete at the Scottish University Games the following spring. My family has another lifter! Now I just need to lure my son into the “family business.” My daughter once gave me a little street cred on her Instagram feed. Your Community will become an important part of your life Over the past three years, I have been lucky enough to lift in different gyms around the world. While in Chicago to support my daughter running the marathon this year, I traded Starting Strength arcana with another follower in a hotel’s basement gym that surprisingly had a squat rack. Perhaps my craziest gym of late was an open-air gym above a bar in the Galápagos Islands, where the walk from the squat rack to the bar was maybe ten meters. David has told me stories about the old school gym in New Hampshire where he goes on his summer vacations where the Word of Rip is known. Even if there are no Starting Strength gyms near you, there will be a barbell gym with people who have heard of the Program. My green T-shirt is the most traveled item of clothing I have because Rip’s mug sparks conversations all over the globe. David, Jason, and I would be friends all the same even if we weren't lifting. But lifting has bonded us more than any other activity we have done together, and we are building a Community in Tallinn around it. In our middle age, we are staving off death together, one gym session at a time. Learn the method, lure your friends in, and build your own Starting Strength Community, no matter where you live or how far from a Starting Strength gym you are. Your strength and your lifting will only improve.
