Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Eighteen or nineteen years ago, I did
something new and unusual.
I hired a video company to come over
to my original Dinosaur Dungeon --
the basement gym in my old house --
and film a series of 2 hour "how to do
it" training videos.
This was before cell-phones, before You-
Tube, and before DVD's so it was high-
tech stuff for its time -- even though
the technology is pretty ancient by
now.
We covered old-school dumbbell training,
heavy awkward objects, power rack
training, Olympic lifting basics, and
strength training basics.
I later remastered the videos to DVD,
and we've been selling them at the
Dinosaur Training site for years --
and they've always been very
popular.
The power rack DVD included a special
program that took my push press from
275 pounds to 300 pounds in just
two weeks -- which is pretty good.
I even made a new PR at the end of
the video. And it was such a fun looking
lift that we also included it at the end of
the video on Olympic lifting basics.
It was 302 pounds -- and I made it with
a Christmas Tree Barbell.
No, it wasn't a real Christmas Tree --
but that's the best name for it.
The ceiling in the basement was a little
too low to do overhead lifts with an
Olympic barbell loaded with 45 pound
plates, so I had to use 25's, 10's, and
5's. These were iron plates, not bumper
plates, so the lighter plates were smaller
in diameter. I could use them without
hitting the ceiling.
But I didn't have enough smaller plates
to get me up to 300 pounds.
I ended up adding some one pound
and 1/2 pound plates (the kind used for
micro-loading), and some short lengths
of chain rolled into a loop and then
wrapped with duct tape to keep them
from unrolling.
If memory serves correctly, I had to
tape the small plates and the chains to
the bar to keep them from sliding off.
So the barbell looked like a Christmas
Tree covered with odd-shaped and
mismatched ornaments.
A 302 pound Christmas tree.
It made for a heck of a lift -- and you can
see it right here at The Iron League:
http://www.ironleague.com/
In fact, you can see all five of my old
Dinosaur Training videos at The Iron
League. That's roughly 10 hours of
"how to do it" instruction -- and some
very heavy lifting.
The Iron League is John Wood's new
members only site, and serves as
an on-line archive of terrific strength
training stuff -- and boxing, wrestling
and martial arts stuff -- including many
books, courses and magazines that
are virtually impossible to find any-
where else.
I have a pretty complete library of old
strength training books, magazines and
courses -- but John has things I never
saw before -- and some things I never
even knew existed.
He also has original material from Kim
Wood, Dennis Rogers and others -- and
a special bench press course that I
write for him. It's an Iron League
exclusive.
One of my friends and fellow Iron
Slingers called The Iron League the
"Library of Congress of Strength."
That's a pretty good name for it.
Anyhow, take a look at the video
clip and see what you think about
the Christmas Tree Barbell!
http://www.ironleague.com/
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Thought for the Day: "The more you
know, the more you can do." -- Brooks
Kubik
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