The Heinz Ketchup of Barbell Training

by Carl Raghavan, SSC | March 10, 2026

You know what Heinz Ketchup is, right? Ubiquitous. Recognizable. The gold standard. You can try to copy it, but it never tastes quite the same. That’s Starting Strength. It’s the Heinz Ketchup of barbell training - often imitated, never duplicated.

Now, let’s talk condiments. Hot Sauce? That’s CrossFit. Flashy. Trendy. Everyone and their mum thinks they can make a hot sauce brand – or open a CrossFit box. True story: I worked in a box in North London where not just other coaches, but other clients were launching CrossFit gyms. No experience, just a CF-Level 1 weekend certification and you’re off. That’s the flavour-of-the-month crowd. Tastes good, burns out quick.

Mustard? That’s bodybuilding. Low-cal, punchy, and almost universally liked – perhaps in secret. If you don’t like mustard, you’re the weirdo, right? Bodybuilding’s got its quirks – it’s basically a homoerotic beauty pageant – but it’s been around forever and isn’t going anywhere.

Mayonnaise? Group classes. Goes down easy with the general public, blends into any gym setting, and pleases the crowd. No one’s writing home about it, but it’s always there.

But Starting Strength? It’s ketchup. The original. The backbone of the fridge door. You don’t need to use it every day, but when it’s missing, something feels off.

Why am I making condiment analogies? Because every method out there is fighting for shelf space. Constant reinventions, rebrands, fads dressed up as revolutions. The latest being Hyrox, that’s looking to take CrossFit’s crown. But Starting Strength isn’t fighting for relevance – it is relevant. It’s foundational. It outlives the trends because it’s built on logic, coaching, and results.

Heinz will be in your fridge long after that rogue ghost pepper sauce gets binned. And Starting Strength will still be teaching people how to get strong when all the gimmicks have dried up.