Hail to the Dinosaurs!
27-year old Lee Hayward from England sent in the following question:
Dear Brooks,
My name is Lee Hayward, 27 from England. I recently emailed you regarding my training for my judo training.
My training has always been 3 big exercises followed with grip and gut work. Squat, Bench, Row, Farmers Walk, Sit-ups, etc.
Recently I dropped my weight training days to just 2 days a week, Weds and Sat only. Because with training in Judo my body does feel a bit beat up a lot of the time. Thus I find it difficult when training 3 times a week to have a really good workout and get those all-important poundage increases.
My question is this -- When training heavy only 2 times a week what are my realistic goals? I mean, is this 2 days of weights really enough training to make the really big strength gains I need and want for my Judo fighting. I would always try to increase my poundages and always try to have the best workout I could every time I train.
I read recently in your daily emails that you said Tommy Kono only trained 3 times a week and some other famous strength trainers only did 2 times a week. So I am interested to hear your view on my 2 days week training. But most important how it compares to 3 days of training or even 4 full body days when it comes to your expected size and strength goals
I have read all of your books, and to be honest I only read your books now because I want real life training that works. I’ve found your no-nonsense approach to strength training to be the best there is. I really look forward to your daily emails on training tips and I hope you will not mind answering my question
Lee Hayward”
Hi Lee,
Make no mistake about it – you can get very strong on two workouts per week. In fact, you can make great gains on ONE workout per week.
Case in point – I was working on the February issue of The Dinosaur Files newsletter over the weekend. We have a letter and photo from a 61-year old retired police officer and former Marine with scoliosis, three pinched nerves (neck, middle and lower back). But he still trains – TWO times per week – and he is doing a 522 pound Trap Bar deadlift in the photo he sent.
Then there’s an article about a guy who made great gains training 3x per week but hitting each exercise only ONCE per week. He gained over 40 pounds of muscle and tons of strength doing this – and then he started to write books about that sort of training. (Hint: his last name is Kubik.)
After that, we have an article by a man who read Dinosaur training way back in 1996 – and has been training ONCE per week ever since – and does 400 x14, 450 x 9, and 487 x 4 in the Trap bar deadlift – with no belt or straps – at a bodyweight of 170 pounds.
Next, an article by a 63 year old college professor who trains ONCE per week, and can squat 505 pounds and perform a partial trap Bar deadlift with – get this – 1,160 pounds.
So, back to your question – can you make good gains by training twice per week?
You sure can!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more information about how to make great gains with abbreviated training and short, infrequent workouts, grab these books: (1) Dinosaur Training, (2) Strength, Muscle and Power, (3) Gray Hair and Black Iron, (4) Chalk and Sweat, and (5) my Doug Hepburn training course. And be sure to subscribe to The Dinosaur Files newsletter, as well. You can find them right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
