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| Reg Park |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
If you're a regular reader, you know
about Reg Park.
Famous old-school bodybuilder from
England. Three time Mr. Universe.
Two hundred and thirty-five pounds
of massive muscle. Played Hercules
in the movies -- and looked more like
Hercules than Hercules did.
Strong, too. Park squatted 600 pounds
back when the top heavyweight lifters
didn't handle much more than that --
used 300 pounds in the press behind
neck (some say for reps!) -- set a
British record in the two dumbbell
clean and press -- and was the second
man in history (behind Doug Hepburn)
to bench press 500 pounds.
So I ask the question:
Did Reg Park do cardio?
And like many things in life, the answer
is "Yes!" -- and -- "No!"
If you're talking about endless hours on
a treadmill, jogging 20 or 30 miles a week,
daily spinning classes, power aerobics,
jazzercize, jumpercize or cardio theater,
the answer is "No, he did not!"
In fact, none of the champions from
Park's era did any kind of what we now
call "cardio."
But if you count hard, heavy workouts
where you train fast and furious with
heavy weights, then the answer is,
"Yes, he did!"
A gym owner named Ray Beck watched
Park train back in the 1950's. He wrote
about it in Peary Rader's old Iron Man
magazine. He said, "Nobody, but nobody,
works out as fast and furiously . . . as
Reg Park."
Of course, that does NOT mean that Park
trained fast and sloppy or that he never
rested -- or that he handled light wights
in his workouts.
He trained on the basics, using low and
medium reps, and piled on the iron. He
trained with intense concentration and
ferocious determination. He performed
all of his reps in perfect form. He was a
stickler for details, and he squeezed
everything possible out of every set.
But he also trained fast -- meaning
that he kept his rest between sets to
a minimum, and he didn't waste any
time.
In other words, he was not "racing the
clock" -- but he was working as fast as
he could, while still paying full justice to
each and every set.
And when you're training hard and heavy
on the basic exercises, that kind of fast
and furious pace will give your heart and
lungs a terrific workout. It also will kick
your metabolism into high gear and help
you stay lean, hard and muscular.
You do NOT need to do conventional
"cardio" to be strong, muscular and well
conditioned. You can do it with the iron.
You just need to train the right way. You
need to train like Reg Park: hard, heavy,
fast and furious.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. I cover strength training and muscle
building workouts that double as great
conditioning workouts in many of my
books and courses, including:
a. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
b. Chalk and Sweat
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
c. Dinosaur Dumbbell Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
d. Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
e. Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
f. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Squats are
cardio for guys and gals who like to move
heavy iron." -- Brooks Kubik
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