Hail to the Dinosaurs!
It was well over 40 years ago when a
skinny little kid with thick glasses
found a magic book on the shelves of
the public library in the town where
he lived.
It was written by a man named Myles
Callum. (No relation to John McCallum,
who wrote the popular "Keys to Progress"
series in Strength and Health.)
The title of the book was BODY-BUILDING
AND SELF-DEFENSE.
It was written in 1962 and published by
Barnes and Noble. It must have been pretty
popular, because it went through least 8
printings.
Now, if you haven't already guessed, that
little kid was me. And you're reading this
email message because that little book got
me going in the Iron Game.
I recently found a copy of that little book,
and went back and re-read it. Even though
it was written in 1962, it has some pretty
good advice.
For example, the weight training section of
the book featured THE BASIC SIX.These were
the six best exercises -- the ones that did
the most good for you, and the ones that would
give you a complete total body workout. As
Callum noted, there were hundreds of different
exercises that you could do, but these were the
ones you should concentrate on.
What were they?
Here's the list, exactly the way that Callum
presented it:
1. The bench press is the best single exercise
for chest development. Specifically, it builds
up the pectoral muscles, frontal deltoids and
triceps.
2. The regular press develops the arms (triceps)
and shoulders.
3. Squats are the best-known leg developers -- a
popular exercise in paratrooper training units.
Squats are excellent for building up the thighs,
lungs and rib cage.
4. The rowing motion builds a strong back by
developing the latissimus dorsi muscles, trapezius,
and rear deltoids.
5. Curls are the famous biceps-builders, essential
for strong arms.
6. Deadlifts take care of the all-important lower
back muscles, or spinal erectors.
So here we are today -- almost 50 years after the
publication of Callum's book -- and THE BASIC SIX
is still a pretty darn good list of exercises. In
fact, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better
list!
As always, thanks for reading, and if you know anyone
who wants to get started on a weight training program,
be sure to tell them about the basic six.
Have a great day -- and if you train today, make it a
good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik.
P.S. If I had been able to read Dinosaur Training,
Chalk and Sweat, and the Legacy of Iron series when
I was a kid -- wow! There would have been no stopping
me. Consider yourself lucky -- you can grab any of them
right now:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
