Hail to the Dinosaurs!
About ten years ago, I was on vacation in
Victoria, British Columbia -- an absolutely
beautiful city -- and I visited the Royal BC
Museum.
They have all kinds of great exhibitions,
including many devoted to the First Nations --
the tribes that settled BC long before the
arrival of the Europeans.
Halfway through the First Nations gallery,
I spotted a buckskin shirt with long sleeves
and intricate bead-work. The note on the
display described it as a war-shirt or
ceremonial shirt belonging to a chief or
the son of achief. (Bear with me -- this
was ten years ago, and I'm a bit foggy on
the details.)
There was something about the shirt that
stopped me in my tracks.
Before I tell you what it was, let me explain
that shirts and Brooks have had a long and
difficult relationship. I haven't fit into
off the rack shirts and "normal" sizes for
a long, long time. They don't make them for
a man who carries a lot of muscle mass in the
chest and shoulder girdle.
Even the so-called "athletic cut" stuff doesn't
work. It's designed for guys with wide shoulders
and small waists. That's fine as far as it goes,
but ti doesn't take thickness into account. If
you have big, bulging traps, thick lats, thick
shoulders and thick pecs, the wide cut clothing
won't work worth a darn. And if you go up in
sizes, the shirt fits your shoulders but looks
like a circus tent around your waist.
So it gets tough -- and expensive.
When I worked as a lawyer, I had to buy tailor
made shirts and suits. Pricey as heck, and a
real pain. Unfair, too. Instead of making off
the rack stuff for fat guys and skinny guys,
they should make off the rack stuff for Dinos
(i.e., thick and muscular) and let the fat
guys and the skinny guys pay for the special
order stuff.
But I digress. Back to the war shirt at the
First Nations exhibit.
It would have fit me perfectly.
It was tailor-made for a man with a weightlifter's
physique. You could see that the man who it had
huge, sloping traps -- enormous shoulders -- thick
lats, thick pecs -- and thick, muscular arms. And
it tapered to a trim, squared off midsection. Not
a bodybuilder style "wasp-waist" but a functional
midsection that would support some serious physical
efforts.
It was a body designed for battle -- for hunting --
for long hours of paddling a canoe -- for swinging an
ax -- for swimming -- for wrestling -- for running --
for throwing things -- for dragging, pulling, lifting
and carrying things.
In short, it was a Dinosaur's body.
How did that long-dead warrior develop his body?
I doubt that it was through any form of systematic
exercise -- although it certainly might have been.
Other ancient cultures have practiced various forms
of progressive physical training.
I think it was largely the result of the warrior's
lifestyle -- of his day to day activities. Hunting,
fishing, paddling, swimming, running, wrestling,
swinging an ax, lifting and carrying things.
I also think it was a result of his diet. What did
the First Nations eat?
They ate strength and power foods -- muscle building
foods -- foods that promoted gains in muscle mass
while limiting gains in bodyfat:
1. Wild salmon and other wild fish
2. Fish oil (google "oolichan grease")
3. Wild game
4. Wild shell-fish
5. Small amounts of seasonal vegetables and fruits
(berries)
There was NO sugar, NO alcohol, NO wheat, and NO
potatoes. NO high carb foods of any sort (other than
occasional wild honey of you could get to it before
the bears did). NO super supplements. NO protein
powder. NO metabolic optimizers.
And it worked pretty well. Witness the warrior's
buckskin shirt in the museum.
There's a very interesting documentary about an
entire village of First Nations people at the
northern tip of Vancouver Island, and how they
returned to their ancestral diet for an entire
year -- and the remarkable effect the diet had
on their health and physical condition. You
can read more about it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/grease.html
Very interesting stuff -- and definitely, food for
thought.
As always, thanks for reading and have a great
day. If you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. The top sellers this month are DINOSAUR
BODYWEIGHT TRAINING, CHALK AND SWEAT, DINOSAUR
ARM TRAINING, and THE DINOSAUR TRAINING MILITARY
PRESS AND SHOULDER POWER COURSE. You can find
them right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. If anyone lives in Victoria -- or visits
Victoria -- go to the Royal BC Museum and find
the shirt in the First nations exhibit -- and
make a note of the info and send it to me.
Thanks!
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Whatever you do, give
it everything you have." -- Brooks Kubik
