Hail to the Dinosaurs!
A little over 40 years ago, I was in a free-style
wrestling match in Ohio.
I took my opponent down with a single leg.
He rolled to his stomach, and then moved to
his hands and knees. I was behind him, working
a basic waist ride, looking for an opening to turn
him.
That's when he made a very bad mistake.
He tried to jump up to his feet to get away.
As he did, I stood up with him -- wrapped my
arms around his waist -- locked my hands --
and lifted him up and off the mat, using his
own upward momentum against him.
I threw him with a perfect back suplex --
finishing in a high bridge as I slammed him to
the mat over my head and behind me.
You don't see many of those back suplex throws,
and there was an audible gasp from the crowd as
they watched it. I actually heard them in
mid-throw.
And today, more than 40 years later, I still
remember that particular throw. It was one of
my best moves ever, out of hundreds of matches
and thousands of hours of practice matches.
But here's the important part of the story.
That was then. This is now.
I don't throw a back suplex any more. And if I
were in a wrestling match, I wouldn't try. I'd
stick to basic, simpler moves, such as arm drags,
duck-unders, leg picks or single legs.
That's the difference between age 17 and age
57.
And it's the same in my training.
There are many exercises I did when I was a
teenager or a twenty-something (or even a thirty-
something) that I don't -- and won't -- do today.
And I do some exercises differently -- and I
use different sets and reps, different warm-up
progressions, and different levels of intensity
than before.
I do many things differently because they work
better for me, and I should have been doing them
that way from day one. But I do some things
differently because they're easier on my
body -- and face it, your body at age 57 is
different than your body at age 17.
Harrison Ford has a great line in the first Indiana
Jones movie: "It's not the years, it's the miles."
I'm sure that's true for globe-trotting adventurers,
and I know darn well that it's true for Iron Slingers.
It's the same with diet and nutrition. Some things
work better when you are younger -- and sometimes
you need to change things up as you grow older. My
diet, like my training, has evolved over time. And
the same is probably true for most of us.
It actually makes training as an older Dino much
more interesting. You need to think things through,
and you need to train smart. And often, you need
to make adjustments in what you do.
After a certain age -- say, 45 or 50 -- what worked
for you 10 years ago probably won't work as well.
In fact, if you are over the age of 50, what worked
for you 3 or 4 years ago may not work as well as
it did -- and may need to be tweaked or modified.
So it's very interesting to be an older Dino.
Of course, the most important thing is to keep on
training. Don't focus on what you used to do -- or
how you trained many years ago -- or on what used
to work best for you. Focus on where you are today,
and on what works best for you to do NOW.
Yes, it was great to be able to throw a perfect back
suplex back in the day. But it's also great to go out
to the garage and hit the iron 3x a week.
I'm glad I used to be able to throw a perfect back
suplex -- but I'm just as glad I'm able to go out
and train -- and keep on training.
And that's something I plan to do for a very long
time.
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. I cover training for older Dinos in Gray Hair and
Black Iron and my Going Strong at 54 DVD -- and I
cover diet and nutrition for older trainees (and younger
trainees, as well) in Knife, Fork, Muscle:
a. Gray Hair and Black Iron:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
b. Going Strong at 54 (DVD):
http://brookskubik.com/goingstrong.html
c. Knife, Fork, Muscle:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
P.S. 2. We have some inspiring and informative material
on training for older Dinos in the first issue of the new
Dinosaur Files quarterly newsletter -- reserve your copy
now:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_quarterly.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "You can't go back, but
you can go forward." -- Brooks Kubik
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