Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I wanted to follow up on yesterday's
message about training to build
both your strength AND your health.
Weight training came into prominence
in the United States back in the 1920's
and 1930's.
Back then, a man had to work for a
living, and that often meant he worked
a manual labor job.
A man had to support his family.
There was no health insurance, no Medicare,
no Medicaid, no disability, no worker's
compensation, and no Social Security.
You HAD to be healthy to make a living and
to provide for your family.
Case in point -- my grandfather.
He was an immigrant from Slovakia. He came
the the United States when he was 16 years
old, and he ended up working in steel mills.
Hard, hot, heavy, sweaty, back-breaking
work.
He wasn't a big man by modern standards.
He weighed around 165 pounds. But he was
strong as an ox.
One day, a huge steel beam was hanging
overhead from a heavy chain. Without any
warning, the chain snapped. The beam came
smashing down on the workers below.
Somehow, they managed to get out of the
way.
All but one.
My grandfather.
The beam hit him on the side of the face,
broke his jaw, smashed his nose, crushed
his eye socket, knocked his eye out of his
head, and shattered his teeth.
There was no doctor or nursing station at
the steel plant. No ambulance. Not even a
stretcher.
His coworkers placed my grandfather on a
wooden board and carried him to a doctor's
office a couple of miles away.
The doctor said there was nothing he could
do.
So the men carried him home -- on the same
wooden board. They figured that's where he
would want to be when he died.
My dad was a kid then. He was playing ball
in the street with his friends when he
saw them carry his father home. He still
remembers it.
So it looked like my grandfather would
die, and what would happen to the family
was anybody's guess. Without the
breadwinner, things would be tough.
But then a miracle happened. At least, it
seemed like a miracle.
My grandfather lived.
He carried the scars of that accident for
the rest of his life -- but he lived. And
he even managed to go back to work at the
steel mill.
That's how it was back then.
That's why weight training in America was
always about training for strength AND health.
You had to be strong AND healthy. There was
no other way.
The desire to be healthy and strong led
tens of thousands of boys and men to physical
training. It's what put weightlifting on the
map in this country.
Health and strength. It was a good reason to
train back then -- and it's a good reason to
train today!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. My books and courses (and my Dinosaur
Training DVD's) are available right here at
Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. The Legacy of Iron books cover the
history of the Iron Game in the United States.
If you're interested in learning more about
weight training and weightlifting "back in
the day," grab them:
http://www.brookskubik.com/legacy_of_iron.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/clouds_of_war.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/1000pound_total.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/legacy_of_iron4.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/barbells_pacific.html
P.S. 3. Black Iron: The John Davis Story covers
the career of one of America's greatest lifters
and gives you a detailed, behind the scenes look
at lifting in the 1930's, 40's and 50's:
http://www.brookskubik.com/blackiron_johndavis.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "The more you move,
the more you work, the more exercise your
internal works receive." -- Bob Hoffman
