Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Three quick notes, and then we'll talk training
for today -- and we have something very
important to cover.
1. Knife, Fork, Muscle
Is in stock and ready to ship -- and readers are
loving the little monster and telling us it's the
best book on diet and nutrition for strength
training and muscle building that they ever
read. Grab your copy here:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
2. The new quarterly Dinosaur Files
Is also in stock and ready to ship -- and readers
love it. Go here to grab a copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_quarterly.html
If you want to order multiple products to
save on s&h, shoot me an email and ask
for a shipping quote. We can usually save
you some serious clams.
3. I'll be on Carl Lanore's SuperHuman
Radio on Tues at 12:00 -- to talk about
Knife, Fork, Muscle. Be sure to catch the
live broadcast -- or listen to the podcast
later at your convenience. I always have
great fun on Carl's show, and they're
always full of great info.
On the training front, let's talk about one
of the strange and bizarre aspects of strength
training and muscle building.
I call it the Middle of the Ocean Syndrome.
Here 's what it is.
If you wanted to learn to swim, you probably
wouldn't start by jumping into the middle of
the ocean to see how you did.
Nor would you try swimming five or six miles of
laps in an Olympic-size training pool.
Or doing four hours a day of swimming practice
on your very first day of swimming.
Or printing out the training program of the top
swimmer at the Olympic Games and trying to
match it lap for lap in the pool.
If you had never swum before, or if you had
never trained as a competitive swimmer, it
would be foolish -- and impossible -- to try
to follow the program of a Gold Medal winner
who had been swimming competitively for
the past 10 or 15 years.
I don't think anyone would be foolish enough
to even try.
And the same is true of most other sports.
Not too many men who have never played
basketball think they can play in the NBA --
or that they could practice with a pro
basketball team.
The same is true of professional football,
boxing, and just about any other sport.
But somehow, strength training is different.
Somehow, everyone, even a beginner, thinks
that he can jump into the middle of the ocean
on his very first day of training.
And many coaches, trainers, gym owners and
folks who write about training seem to think
the middle of the ocean is the best place to
start your strength training.
Or that it's a good idea to follow the exact
program used by this year's Mr. Everything
winner -- or this year's top powerlifting
champion, or top weightlifter or strongman.
And it doesn't have to be a beginner who
falls into the Middle of the Ocean Syndrome.
There are plenty of intermediate trainees who
read about So and So's Bomb, Blast and Blitz
Arm Training Program -- and jump into an
ultra-intense, super-advanced workout that
does nothing but leave them sore, stiff, tired,
and exhaused.
Or So and So's Super Leg Training Workout --
and they can't walk normally for days.
Or an advanced weightlifting program that
grinds them up and spits them out into the
old burn-out pile in just a couple of weeks --
or a couple of workouts.
It seems that trainees have an almost infinite
capacity to over-estimate the amount of
exercise they can handle -- or the intensity
that is appropriate to their current level of
development.
And they go from program to program, first
burning out on this, and then burning out on
that -- and never going anywhere in terms of
building strength and muscle.
So here's the solution -- and it's very simple.
If you're a beginner, or if you're getting started
again after a long lay-off, start light and easy
and make very gradual, slow, steady progress.
Don't try to rush things.
If you want to specialize, or try a new exercise
or a new workout, start slow and easy and build
up gradually and progressively. You don't have to
kill yourself in the very first workout.
The whole idea of progression is to start light and
easy and gradually work up to hard and heavy.
If you start hard and heavy there's no progression.
How could there be?
In short . . .
Leave the middle of the ocean thing for the other
guys.
It may be hard at first, but it's one of the keys to
making real progress.
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. Older trainees need to be particularly careful
to train with the correct volume, intensity and
workload. I cover these topics in detail in Gray
Hair and Black Iron:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters -- along with the
Dinosaur Files, Dinosaur DVD's, and other Dino
goodies:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "The best training
programs are simple, focused and progressive.
The over-the-top stuff sounds great but doesn't
do anything for you." -- Brooks Kubik
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