Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We'll talk training in a minute,
but first, I am asking a favor on
behalf of a fellow Dinosaur:
Please send a card or letter to
Carrie Clark!
If you missed yesterday's email, please
read it on The Dinosaur Training Blog --
it will give you the full story:
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2012/09/attention-dinos-fellow-dino-needs-your.html
You also can go to my Facebook page and
photos of Carrie with top strongmen and
in training for her competition.
In a nutshell, Carrie Clark is a 21
year old Dino training to compete in
the North Carolina Special Olympics
in powerlifting -- and she just had
a big medical set-back, and she really
needs some cards, notes and letters
of support. The blog post gives you
her mailing address.
That's all we're asking for -- just a
card or note with a brief word of
encouragement.
I know that many Dinos have already
sent Carrie a card or note -- so
THANK YOU to everyone who has done
so!
And now, on the training front -- I
get a lot of questions from Dinos
who have painstakingly put together
a new training program, and want to
know if it will work.
There are several answers to the "Will
it work?" question.
1. First of all, is your current program
working for you?
If it is, don't switch. Stay with what's
working. When it stops working, THEN you
can try something new.
2. Have you tried something like this in
the past, and if so, how did it work? The
odds are good that if something didn't
work the last time you tried it, it's
not going to work this time.
3. What are your goals? Your training
program has to be related to your goals.
You don't win the 100 yard dash by
training to run marathons, and you
don't win the shot put by pole
vaulting.
4. What's your current strength level
and how experienced are you? Two of the
most common mistakes are (a) using
advanced strength training methods
(like heavy singles) before you have
built a solid foundation, and
(b) using an advanced you're
ready for it.
See Chalk and Sweat for 50 different
workouts that are suited to trainees
with different strength levels and
different degrees of training
experience.
5. How old are you? The older you are,
the more important it is to use low
volume training programs a/k/a
Quality Training, or Abbreviated
Training.
It's also important for an older
trainee to cycle the weights he uses,
and to cycle his intensity. You need
to train hard, and then back off and
train not so hard.
See Gray Hair and Black Iron for
specific advice for older trainees.
6. It probably won't work because it's
too long and there are too many exercises.
I sometimes see proposed workouts that
are too short, but that's rare. They're
usually too long!
7. Try it and see. There's nothing wrong
with seeing if something works for you.
If it does, great -- if not, find something
that does.
7A. Note: of course, no. 1 and no. 6 trump
number 7.
And that's the answer -- or rather, the
answers -- to the "Will it work?" question.
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. You can find all of my books and courses,
including Chalk and Sweat, Gray Hair and Black
Iron and Dinosaur Dumbbell Training right here
at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Every good
deed leads to a new PR. It's the law of
karma applied to strength training."
-- Brooks Kubik
