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| Bosco demonstrates heavy dumbbell presses -- one of the secret weapons of the oldtime strongmen! |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Two quick notes, and then we'll talk training.
1. Our Daily Emails
I send emails every day, with the occasional
exception of Sundays. If you don't get an
email from me, you may have dropped off
out email list. People drop off from time to
time, and we don't know why or how. But
it does happen.
If you think you have dropped off the email
list, go back to the Dinosaur Training website
and sign back up.
I post all of my emails at the Dinosaur Training
Blog, so you can go there and read any that
you may have missed. Access the Blog from
the drop-down menu at the website.
2. The New MONTHLY Dinosaur Files
The Dinosaur Files newsletter is now a
monthly, with immediate digital delivery.
Go here to grab the December and January
issues:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_december2015.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_januaryr2016.html
3. Sig Klein's Dumbbell Challenge
The legendary Sig Klein had one of the best
gyms in the entire world, featuring a stunning
collection of old-time barbells, dumbbells and
kettlebells.
Klein used all of these tools in his own training,
along with some serious bodyweight work (he
was a master of herculean hand-balancing and
was great at strict-style handstand push-ups
and tiger bends). But dumbbells may have been
Klein's favorite tool.
Klein wrote a number of articles about old-school
dumbbell training. He believed that one particular
dumbbell exercise was the secret of the super
strength and remarkable lifting ability of the
old-time European weightlifting champions.
What was the exercise?
It was the two dumbbell clean and press --
performed for reps. One clean and one press
on every rep. The first clean from the floor,
and the the rest of them from the hang.
In one of his earliest articles, way back in
the 1930s, Klein issued a challenge to all
weightlifters and bodybuilders in the USA.
The challenge was to perform 12 continuous
reps in the two dumbbell clean and press with
a pair of 75-pound dumbbells.
Klein was able to do this himself -- at a weight
of about 150 to 155 pounds -- so in his case,
he was using a pair of dumbbells equal to his
own bodyweight -- for TWELVE non-stop reps.
That's a remarkable performance -- but Sig
Klein was a remarkable strongman.
Even today, almost 100 years later, Klein's
challenge is hard to meet -- and his own
performance, on a pound for pound basis,
is almost impossible to match.
Of course, if you rolled out the dumbbells
and started to work toward Klein's challenge,
some very good things would happen:
1. You'd get really strong.
2. You'd build tremendous conditioning.
3. You'd add some serious muscle to your
entire upper body -- especially your upper
back, shoulder girdle and arms.
4. You'd become a pressing machine.
5. You'd be able to toy with dumbbells that
most trainees can't even lift off the floor.
Hey, I sound like I just issued a challenge
for 2016!
If I did, it's a good one. Just ask Sig Klein!
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. Dinosaur Dumbbell Training and my Lost
Art of Dumbbell Training DVD will give you
everything you need to master old-school
dumbbell training:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dvds.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to my Kindle e-books and the monthly
Dinosaur Files newsletter -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If you want a
real challenge, try heavy dumbbells!" -- Brooks
Kubik
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