Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of the maddening aspects of modern strength
training is the idea that you can't build strength and
muscle without modern supplements, roidskies, or
whatever else someone is trying to sell you.
There was a time when things were different.
Much different.
Back in the day, a young man bought a barbell
set, read the instruction booklet that came with it,
and started training.
He followed a basic training program built around
exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses, curls,
rowing, shrugs, etc.
He probably followed the double progression
system, where he started with a light weight
and an easy number of reps, gradually upped
the reps, then added weight and dropped back
to the original rep count -- and repeated the
process over and over. It was a very simple
formula.
It was also very effective.
Just how effective?
Well, consider this.
There's a letter to the editor published in the
Success Stories section of the April 1943 issue
of Strength and Health.
It's from a young man named Byron Green, of
Glendale, California.
He started training with a 100 pound barbell set
and an 80 pound dumbbell set. After training for
a month or so, he found the 100 pound barbell
set was too light, so he machined down a pair of
flywheels to fit the barbell. That added 125 pounds
to the bar.
After five months of training, he had doubled all
of the weights used in his different exercises. He
had added ten pounds of muscle, and weighed 175
pounds -- and he could clean and jerk 200 pounds.
Now, I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty
good progress for a young man who has been training
for just five months. I sure as heck couldn't clean and
jerk 200 pounds after my first five months of training.
Neither could most modern trainees.
And as Byron explained in his letter, it was all very simple
and very basic. He trained five days per week: 1 heavy
barbell day, 2 light barbell days, and 2 DB days. The
classic York program.
It was old-school all the way -- and it was very, very
effective.
And that's what we teach here at Dino Headquarters.
Old school training. It's not fancy, but it works.
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. 1. Here's a great course that covers one of the
most popular exercises among old-school lifters --
the military press:
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_course.html
P.S. 2. Hard training requires top quality nutrition.
I cover diet and nutrition for Dinos in Knife, Fork,
Muscle:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Never under estimate
the power of old-school training." -- Brooks Kubik
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