Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Two quick notes and then we'll talk training.
1. Shirts, Hoodies and Sweatshirts
We are almost out of all sizes and are going
to discontinue them. If you want one, send
me an email and see if we have it in stock
before placing an order. But do it NOW --
it's first come, first served, with very
limited supplies.
2. The Dinosaur Training Strength Archive
You've been asking for this for a very long
time. If you missed the big announcement,
go here for details. It's a great opportiunity
to grab my LOST ARTICLES:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_archive.html
If you want the hard copy edition of the first
book in the series, reserve it now. The e-book
edition will be ready soon. I'll send a link as
soon as the e-book is available on Kindle.
3. The Head to Toe and Everything in-Between
Workout
In the Olympic Games, the winner of the
decathalon also gets the unofficial title of
World's Greatest Athlete.
That's because the decathalon consists of 10
different events.
To win it, you have to be good a sprinting,
jumping, distance running and throwing.
I once worked with a guy who was one of the
top-ranked decathaletes in the United States.
I guess that made him one of the best
athletes in the United States.
This was back in the mid to late 1970's. I
was a sophomore or junior in college. So
we're going back a long way.
Back then, weight training for athletes was in
its infancy. A lot of coaches were still dubious
about it. The Universal Gym machines and the
Exergenie devices were still big, and Nautilus
machines were the dominant force in the
industry.
The books and articles that covered weight
training for athletes tended to break any
athletic movement into a series of movements
and then assign an exercise that worked the
primary muscles involved in the movement.
Thus, a discus thrower might be told to do
dumbbell flies, and a shot putter was told
to do incline presses.
A high jumper was told to do one legged
raises with an iron boot on his lead foot.
A sprinter was told to do sprinting motions
with dumbbells in his hands.
A boxer was told to do punching movements
with dumbbells in his hands.
Swimmers used pulley weights and dumbbells
to mimic swimming motions.
And so on. The idea was to make your strength
training "sport specific".
Of course, my co-worker competed in 10
different events. So his coaches gave him
a bunch of different exercises designed to
work the major muscles involved in each
event.
He had hundreds of exercises to do -- as
well as 10 different events to practice.
It was the true head to toe and everything
in-between workout.
Here's the problem.
It wasn't that effective.
By training on so many different exercises, he
never became truly strong in any single
movement.
He would have done much better focusing on
a much smaller number of movements and
working them hard, heavy and progressively.
If his coaches had asked him to focus on power
cleans, power snatches, squats, front squats,
presses, push presses, and pull-ups (along with
some gut, grip and neck work), he would been
much stronger and more powerful.
In fact, he would have done better on nothing
but power cleans, push presses and squats or
front squats.
Of course, I did pretty much the same thing
that he did. I did too many different exercises.
We all did back then.
Today, there are more exercise options than ever
before. But there are still a small number of
truly productive exercises.
You can't do everything, and you shouldn't try.
Focus on the very best exercises. That's the
key to strength, muscle and might.
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. For more about effective, real world strength
training and muscle building, grab the book that
started the Dinosaur Revolution:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "To be the best,
focus on the best exercises." -- Brooks Kubik
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