Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of the most important keys to success for
any lifter, of any age, is to find the right
balance between training too much.
When you train, you tear down muscle fibers
and impose tremendous stress on your nervous
system, your tendons and ligaments, your heart
and lungs and internal organs.
In the 48 to 72 hour period after your workout,
your body goes into overdrive to repair the
damage done during your workout -- and to add
a little bit of extra cushion so it won't be so
hard and so demanding the next time you do it.
Arthur Jones called the body's ability to repair
the damage done during a hard workout "recovery
ability" - and that's as good a term as any, so
let's use it.
Now, here's the important thing. Pay attention,
because this is one of the secrets of building
serious strength and muscle.
It's also one of the things that most trainees
get completely wrong.
Most people believe that the more they train,
and the more often they train, the faster they'll
build strength and muscle.
That's not true.
In fact, most people do best on what I call
"abbreviated training programs" -- programs where
you train two or three days per week, dividing
your workouts so you hit one to three exercises
per workout, and do a total of three to nine
exercises over the course of the week.
Here's an example:
Mon
1. Squats or front squats
2. Curls
Wed
1. Bench press or incline press (BB or DB)
2. Pull-downs to the chest, pull-ups or bent-over
rowing
Fri
1. Military press or standing two DB press
2.Deadlifts or Trap Bar deadlifts
3. (Optional) The farmer's walk
Start each workout with a 10 minute warm-up. Finish
each workout with some gut, grip and neck work
(2- 3 sets of each)
Now, you may think, "That's not enough exercise to
work" -- or you may think, "That's a beginner's
program."
Well, I won't argue the point -- but I will note
that it's almost exactly the program I followed when
I was training for powerlifting and bench press
competitions. I gained over 40 pounds of muscle on
it, and got so strong that I won five National
championships in the Bench Press in drug-tested
competitions.
The exact program, sets, reps, exercises, the works,
is detailed in STRENGTH, MUSCLE AND POWER.
The program works because it allows you to maximize
your recovery ability.
You train ENOUGH -- but not TOO MUCH.
Your body recovers easily from each heavy training
session -- and there's always a little something left
over for muscular growth and strength and power
increases.
That, in a nutshell, is one of the secrets of getting
bigger and stronger.
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 grab a copy of STRENGTH, MUSCLE AND POWER
right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
P.S. 2 Save many clams and much wampum on shipping and
handling by ordering two or more books or courses
together. We have a ton of them -- and they're all very,
very good:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Simple works." -- Brooks
Kubik
