Mark Rippetoe is the author of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, Strong Enough?, numerous magazine and journal articles, and the co-author of Practical Programming for Strength Training. He has worked in the fitness industry since 1978, and has owned the Wichita Falls Athletic Club since 1984. He graduated from Midwestern State University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in geology and a minor in anthropology. He was in the first group certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as CSCS in 1985, and is a USA Weightlifting Senior Coach, CrossFit Coach, and USA Track and Field Level I Coach. He was a competitive powerlifter for ten years, and has coached many… lifters and athletes, and thousands of people interested in improving their strength and performance.
Professor Lon Kilgore graduated from Lincoln University with a B.Sc. in biology and he earned a Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. He has competed in weightlifting to the national level since 1972 and coached his first athletes from a garage gym to national championship event medals in 1974. He has also competed in powerlifting, the first CrossFit Total event, golf, wrestling and rowing. He has worked in the trenches, as a coach or scientific consultant, with athletes from rank novices to professionals and the Olympic elite, and was a collegiate strength coach. He was co-developer of the Basic Barbell Training and… Exercise Science specialty seminars for CrossFit (mid-2000s), a certifying instructor for USA Weightlifting for more than a decade, and a frequent lecturer at events at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He is a decorated military veteran (sergeant, U.S. Army). His illustration, authorship and co-authorship efforts include the best-selling books "Starting Strength" (first and second editions) and "Practical Programming for Strength Training" (first and second editions), recent releases "Anatomy without a Scalpel" and "FIT," magazine columns, textbook chapters, and numerous research journal publications. His professional goal is to provide the best quality, most practical, most accessible and highly affordable educational experiences to fitness professionals.