Answers to Your Training Questions


The Dinosaur Files Quarterly is a great resource for Dinosaurs. It's available in your choice of hard copy or Kindle e-book.  It comes out every three months.


Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I've been getting a ton of questions from
Dinos around the world, and thought I'd
share some of them with you -- along
with my answers.

1. You're a former bench press champion
and record holder. Why don't you write a
course about bench pressing?

A. I just wrote a long course on the bench
press. But I don't sell it. It's only available
at The Iron League, which is a terrific new
member's only strength training archive
developed by my good friend, John Wood.

I've also allowed John to upload five of my
original Dinosaur Training DVD's, as well 
as all seven of my Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training DVD's. They're not all available
yet, but several are. And in the meantime,
there's a ton of other great stuff at The
Iron League:

http://www.ironleague.com/

As you can tell, I'm a very big supporter
of what John is doing with the Iron League.
It's a terrific resource for serious strength
trainers and Iron Slingers.  One fellow
Dino has called it "The Library of
Congress of Strength."

2. When you outline a program where the
trainee does 5 x 5 with one heavy set, what
weight do you use on the warm-up sets? If
the top set is 100%, what are the percentages
for the warm-up sets?

A. Try 60/70/80/90/100 percent. If you are
doing an exercise like squats or deadlifts where
you need to start lighter and do more warm-up
sets, then try 30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100
percent.

3. I dropped off your email list. What happened?

A. I don't know. People sometimes drop off the
list and we don't know why. It's either something
to do with our email service or its something at
your end. One reader changed mobile devices
recently, and doesn't get the emails any more.

I send emails every day other than Sunday, so
if you miss an email, there's a glitch somewhere.

Go to my website and sign back up -- and check
your junk mail settings, because they change
sometimes and you may need to put us on
your white list.

As a back-up, I post every email I send at the
Dinosaur Training Blog. If you miss an email, go
to the Blog to catch up. You can access the Blog
from my website. Email me if you can't find the
link.

I'm also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at
"Brooks Kubik." I share links to my blog posts
on Facebook and Twitter, so those are great
ways to stay in contact. Look for #brookskubik
or #dinosaurtraining.

4. I'm a young woman. How should I get started
in strength training?

A. Women can and should train exactly the same
as men. See Chalk and Sweat, and Dinosaur
Training Secrets, Vol. 1 and 3 for training
programs for beginners.

5. Which is better for upper body muscle mass --
the bench press or the push press?

A. The bench press will build more mass, but
the push press will build more power and is a
better movement for athletes in most sports.
That said, don't do one or the other. Do BOTH!


6. What do you weigh now? Are you trying to
gain or lose weight? What do you eat?

About 210. I am trying to get down to 206 pounds
so I can compete in the 94 kilo class in Masters
Weightlifting.  At my age (58) it's important to
train for strength and power, but it's just as
important to keep your weight under control.

My diet is meat, eggs, fish and veggies, including
tons of fresh salads, and small amounts of fruit.
We try to use local, in-season food from our
favorite farmers market.

For details, see Knife, Fork, Muscle. For photos
of my meals, see my Facebook and Instagram
pages (at "Brooks Kubik" or #brookskubik or
#dinosaurtraining. You'll see a lot of fresh
green stuff in these photos.

7. Do you like body rows with rings?

A. Yes, and I cover them in Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training -- along with tons of other great exercises
with rings (and with ropes, as well). Many Dinos
like body rows better than any other rowing
exercise.

There have been about a hundred more
questions this week, but we'll have to leave it
at seven for now.

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.  Go here to grab Chalk and Sweat, Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training, Knife Fork Muscle and my
new Dinosaur Training Secrets courses:

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

P.S. 2. Remember to check out The Iron
League -- it's really good:

http://www.ironleague.com/

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "There's never one
RIGHT way to do something -- but there are plenty
of WRONG ways." -- Brooks Kubik

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