It was a humble wooden box.
Just some boards nailed together.
Six feet long -- one foot wide -- one foot
deep.
It was wrapped with a long chain, and the
chain was pulled tight and pad-locked.
A young man worked the late shift. He went
to work at 4:00 in the afternoon and worked
until 12:00 midnight.
After he finished working, he walked home
in the dark night.
He reached his house, went to his room,
and changed into sweat clothes.
By now, it was almost 1:00 in the morning.
The night was silent.
The moon cast a golden glow over the
town, the house, and the yard.
He went outside, walked into the rickety
old garage, lit a match, lit an old lantern,
put it over in the corner, and turned to
the wooden box.
He reached under the seventh brick back
by the wall, and pulled out a key.
It was the key to the padlock.
He opened the lock, loosened the chain,
and opened the box.
He reached inside, and pulled out a long
iron bar.
It was a barbell.
He pulled out a series of iron plates.
Dumbbell bars.
Kettlebell bars.
In just a few minutes, he had almost 300
pounds of iron lying on the dirt floor of
the old garage.
And that's when he began his workout.
He started with a basic warm-up exercise --
a sort of power snatch performed with straight
legs -- and moved on to curls.
After the curls, he did presses.
He loaded the bar and did rowing, shrugs, stiff
legged deadlifts, clean and press, straddle lifts,
snatches, clean and jerk, rowing, squats, bent
legged deadlifts and more.
He worked in dumbbell exercises, kettlebell
exercises, pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, handstand
pushups, leg raises, side bends, grip work,
and the wrestler's bridge.
He trained for almost two hours under the
light of the moon and the flickering lantern.
He finished his workout, wiped away the
sweat, unloaded his barbell, and put the
barbell, the dumbbells, the kettlebells and
the weights back in the box.
He wrapped the chain around the box, pulled
it tight, and locked it up again.
He put the key to the padlock back under the
same old brick.
Brick no. 7.
The lucky brick.
He walked outside, shut the garage door, and
went back into the house.
His name was John Grimek -- and he went on
to become the greatest all-natural bodybuilder
in the history of the world.
And it all started with that wooden box.
It was the best gym in the world.
The very best gym -- in the entire world.
As always, thanks for reading and have a great
day. If you train today, remember that wooden
box -- and make it a good one.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Back in 2012 I wrote a terrific course about
John Grimek's life and training. You can grab it
in your choice of hard-copy of Kindle e-book:
a. For the Kindle e-book, go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
b. For the hard-copy course, go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/johngrimek_course.html
2. My other books and courses are right here at
Dinosaur Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
3. Thought for the Day: "If you bring sweat, enthusiasm
amd hard work, it doesn't take much more." -- Brooks
Kubik
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