Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I hope everyone is doing okay on this day of
storms and blizzards and snow throughout so
much of the United States and Canada. If the
storm has hit you, stay warm, stay dry and stay
safe.
The other storm that is going on is the storm
of orders for my new course, Dinosaur Training
Secrets, Vol. 1. A big THANK YOU to everyone
who placed an order, and if you haven't done
so yet, here's the link:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
You can have your choice of hard copy or e-book,
which is something we've not done before -- but
plenty of Dinos have asked for the e-book option,
so we went ahead and are giving it a try. If you
ordered the e-book, please post a review on the
Amazon Kindle site. The reviews really help.
On the training front, here's a question from a
reader. It's a variation of a question I get all the
time, so I thought I'd share it with the Dinos --
along with my answer:
Q. I have several of your books, including the
Doug Hepburn course. It has changed my life --
thank you so much for writing it.
I am having really good results starting with 5
singles and adding one rep per workout, and
working up to 5 x 3. I then add 5-10 pounds
and start over.
My question is this. I saw an article on-line about
adding 3 sets of 6 reps with 60% of your max,
and adding one rep per workout and working
up to 3 x 8. What do you think about this? Do
I need to do it?
A. You absolutely do NOT need to add 3 x 6 to
finish your workout. In fact, you don't need to
add anything -- and you shouldn't.
Here's why.
You say that you are getting really good results
from your single rep program and the slow,
sensible progression that you are using. That's
great. You're way ahead of the game -- and doing
far better than most people do.
As long as you continue to get good results, do
NOT add any additional exercises, sets or reps.
If your program is working, keep on doing
exactly what you are doing.
This is the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule
of strength training and muscle building -- and
it's an important rule to remember.
The time to make changes in your program is
when your gains slow down or you stop making
any progress. If what you are doing is working,
then stick with it.
And here's a related point. If and when your gains
slow down, it's usually because you are starting
to reach the point where your workouts are hard
enough and heavy enough that you can't quite
recover from them.
In that case, it's better to REDUCE your workload
rather than ADD to it.
For example -- try adding one rep every other
workout rather than every workout.
Or include some lighter days in the program to
aid recovery.
Or shorten your workouts.
Perhaps switch to ultra-abbreviated training for
a while.
But don't do that now. Only do it if and when
your gains slow down.
I should also note that I tried a program of heavy
singles followed by 3 x 6 "back in the day" -- and
I ended up severely over-trained in about two
weeks. If I were ever to try it again, I'd do singles
in week one and 3 x 6 in week 2. I would NOT do
them in the same workout. It's just too much to
recover from.
To everyone -- 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. Here's the link again for the new course:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
P.S. 2. My Doug Hepburn training course is right
here -- and it's a good one:
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "If you're rolling
along just fine, don't stop and replace one of
the wheels with a pumpkin." -- Brooks Kubik
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