Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Matt Furey once wrote an article about
a judo champion who trained almost
exclusively on one special exercise:
he sprinted up a steep hill over and
over.
It built enormous leg and hip power
and tremendous endurance. He was
unstoppable in competition.
One of my long-time readers was a
wrestler in college. He trained on
two exercises: power cleans and
pull-ups. He did 100 cleans every
day with his own bodyweight (not all
at once, but in sets) followed by
100 pull-ups.
He ended up placing third in the NCAA
championships -- which is pretty darn
good.
Another wrestling champion -- a USA
national champion in Greco Roman
wrestling -- did a different sort
of two-exercise workout. He did
dumbbell squats while holding a
pair of 100 pound dumbbells --
followed by pushing a blocking
sled all around the football
field.
On the mat, he'd lock up and drive
his opponent wherever he wanted.
He was too strong to stop.
A top bodybuilder of the 70's and
80's trained on four different
exercises: squats, stiff legged
deadlifts, bench presses and
pull-ups. He ended up being one
of the best built men in the world.
Back in the day, a man trained on
the clean and press, the snatch,
and the clean and jerk. His name
was John Grimek. You may have of
him. He did pretty darn well.
Another man trained on a program
limited to the heavy, high rep
breathing squat, very light
breathing pull-overs, bench
presses and barbell bent-over
rowing. he gained enormous
strength and something like 100
pounds of muscle in two years.
His name was Peary Rader.
Meanwhile, there are guys who do
every exercise under the sun. They
think that's what they have to do
to build strength and muscle. They
don't know any better. And they
usually end up gaining nothing
at all. No strength, no muscle,
no nothing.
I call the limited exercise approach
abbreviated training. I cover it in
all my different training books and
courses.
I also cover ultra-abbreviated training.
By that, I mean workouts where you do
one exercise -- but work it hard!
Abbreviated training and ultra-
abbreviated training will work
wonders.
If you already follow an abbreviated
program, you know what I'm talking
about. If you haven't tried an
abbreviated workout program, you
should do so. Life's too short to
keep on training without getting
any results.
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 learn more about Dino-style
abbreviated training programs in these
books:
a. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
b. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
c. Dinosaur Dumbbell Training
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
d. Chalk and Sweat
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
e. Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "It's not easy, but
it's not complicated." -- Brooks Kubik
