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.
If you have trouble signing back up for the
emails, shoot me an email.
2. Holiday Orders
Get them in as soon as you can so we can
get them out in the mail to you. We want
to be sure they get there in time.
If you place a Holiday order and you want
me to autograph it to someone, please ask
for the autograph in the special instructions
section of the on-line order form -- and let
me know who to sign it to (e.g., James or
Jim).
From now until the end of the year I'm
signing all hardcopy books and courses,
but I'll personalize the autograph if you
ask -- but you have to ask.
There's no charge for an autograph. It's
a special service for the Dino Nation --
and someday, that autographed book or
course might be a collector's item!
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 the coming year!
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 will give you
everything you need to master old-school
dumbbell training:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
And remember -- if you want a personalized
autograph, ask for it in the special instructions
section of the on-line order form!
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to my Kindle e-books and the monthly
Dinosaur Files newsletter in PDF -- 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
***********************************************************************************
Dinosaur Arm Training
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I received an email several days ago from a
reader who wondered why I consider barbell
curls to be a basic, compound exercise.
He said they are an isolation exercise, and
seemed to think that they aren't worth
doing.
And you run into many people who think the
same thing.
For example, I spoke at a seminar several
years ago. One of the attendees was a gym
owner who told me that if someone at his
gym does curls, he "throws them right out
the door."
I both agree and disagree with that way of
thinking.
On the one hand, doing a workout that is two
hours of curls and nothing else is ridiculous --
but it's fairly common.
And bunny-style isolation curls are about as
useful an exercise as lifting a small bag of
marshmallows for 10 reps at 10/10/10
speed.
But heavy barbell curls are another kind of
animal.
A very big, very ferocious kind of animal.
My best in the STRICT barbell curl -- using an
industrial strength, heavy duty easy curl bar --
was 185 for five reps.
And let me repeat -- these were STRICT
curls.
Not cheat curls -- not swing curls -- not
reverse grip power cleans -- but strict
curls.
You better believe that this involved all of
the muscles in the entire body from head
to toe -- NOT because it was a cheat curl,
but because it was a strict curl with a heavy
barbell, and I had to lock the entire body
and hold everything in position while I
curled the bar.
When you do a heavy strict curl, you try to
lift the weight with a combination of arm,
shoulder and chest power -- even though
your forearms are the only part of your
body that is moving.
That makes heavy curls an important
assistance exercise for the bench press --
and a great exercise for football lineman,
wrestlers, and those who train in judo,
jujitsu or other grappling arts.
A football lineman doesn't make pancakes
on the griddle. He makes them with heavy
curls (along with heavy leg and back work).
Ditto for a wrestler, and trust me, I know
what I'm talking about here. I knocked
several opponents unconscious with hard
throws when I was in high school.
Anyhow, I hope that clears things up.
Bunny curls -- isolation exercise -- and
not worth doing.
Heavy, strict curls -- a basic, compound
exercise -- and well worth doing.
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. My Dinosaur Arm Training course will
teach you how to build some seriously
strong and powerful arms -- and it also
includes a complete, total body workout:
Hard Copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_armtraining.html
PDF
See the links for our PDF courses at
our products page -- right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to all of my Dinosaur Training e-books
on Kindle -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Thinking without
acting is as bad as acting without thinking."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
I received an email several days ago from a
reader who wondered why I consider barbell
curls to be a basic, compound exercise.
He said they are an isolation exercise, and
seemed to think that they aren't worth
doing.
And you run into many people who think the
same thing.
For example, I spoke at a seminar several
years ago. One of the attendees was a gym
owner who told me that if someone at his
gym does curls, he "throws them right out
the door."
I both agree and disagree with that way of
thinking.
On the one hand, doing a workout that is two
hours of curls and nothing else is ridiculous --
but it's fairly common.
And bunny-style isolation curls are about as
useful an exercise as lifting a small bag of
marshmallows for 10 reps at 10/10/10
speed.
But heavy barbell curls are another kind of
animal.
A very big, very ferocious kind of animal.
My best in the STRICT barbell curl -- using an
industrial strength, heavy duty easy curl bar --
was 185 for five reps.
And let me repeat -- these were STRICT
curls.
Not cheat curls -- not swing curls -- not
reverse grip power cleans -- but strict
curls.
You better believe that this involved all of
the muscles in the entire body from head
to toe -- NOT because it was a cheat curl,
but because it was a strict curl with a heavy
barbell, and I had to lock the entire body
and hold everything in position while I
curled the bar.
When you do a heavy strict curl, you try to
lift the weight with a combination of arm,
shoulder and chest power -- even though
your forearms are the only part of your
body that is moving.
That makes heavy curls an important
assistance exercise for the bench press --
and a great exercise for football lineman,
wrestlers, and those who train in judo,
jujitsu or other grappling arts.
A football lineman doesn't make pancakes
on the griddle. He makes them with heavy
curls (along with heavy leg and back work).
Ditto for a wrestler, and trust me, I know
what I'm talking about here. I knocked
several opponents unconscious with hard
throws when I was in high school.
Anyhow, I hope that clears things up.
Bunny curls -- isolation exercise -- and
not worth doing.
Heavy, strict curls -- a basic, compound
exercise -- and well worth doing.
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. My Dinosaur Arm Training course will
teach you how to build some seriously
strong and powerful arms -- and it also
includes a complete, total body workout:
Hard Copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_armtraining.html
See the links for our PDF courses at
our products page -- right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to all of my Dinosaur Training e-books
on Kindle -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Thinking without
acting is as bad as acting without thinking."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The Lost Articles
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I have something very exciting for you.
It's old gold.
Beginning almost 20 years ago, way back
in 1997, I published a terrific monthly
newsletter called The Dinosaur Files.
It ran for five years -- a total of 61 big issues.
And it contained some of the best articles ever
written about real world, effective, no nonsense
strength training and muscle building.
I know they were effective because readers
used them -- and reported great gains. Some
Dinos made the best gains of their entire lives
on those workouts.
I used them, too. And I made some of my all-
time best lifts on them.
But here's the problem . . .
Those wonderful articles have never appeared
anywhere else.
I never reprinted them in a collection or an
anthology. They're not available at the Dinosaur
Training Blog, and I've never used them in my
daily emails.
If you missed them the first time around, you
missed them. Period. They've been lost. I think
of them as my lost articles.
Over the years, I've had literally hundreds of
requests to reprint the best of my articles from
the original Dinosaur Files.
And now, that's what we're doing.
We're going to release the best of my articles
from the original Dinosaur Files in a special
series of books. Each book will feature 8 to
10 different articles.
I've revised, expanded, updated and supplemented
the articles, and I've included a special introduction
for each of them.
The title of the new series tells the story:
The Dinosaur Training Strength Archive.
And that's not all.
In book 1 in the series, I've also included a brand
new, never before published chapter featuring a
terrific power rack training program to build
muscle, bone, tendon and ligament strength
as fast as possible. It's ALL NEW and it's very,
very effective. It will move you from "strong"
to "super strong" faster than you can buy
more plates for your barbell.
The books will be available in 8.5 x 11 hard
copy format (similar to my Dinosaur Training
courses) and in Kindle e-book editions.
Here's the link to the hard copy edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_archive.html
And here's the link for the Kindle edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtrainingarchive_kindle01.html
The lost articles have been found -- and you're
going to love them!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Thought for the Day: "Old gold and old
iron are hard to beat." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
I have something very exciting for you.
It's old gold.
Beginning almost 20 years ago, way back
in 1997, I published a terrific monthly
newsletter called The Dinosaur Files.
It ran for five years -- a total of 61 big issues.
And it contained some of the best articles ever
written about real world, effective, no nonsense
strength training and muscle building.
I know they were effective because readers
used them -- and reported great gains. Some
Dinos made the best gains of their entire lives
on those workouts.
I used them, too. And I made some of my all-
time best lifts on them.
But here's the problem . . .
Those wonderful articles have never appeared
anywhere else.
I never reprinted them in a collection or an
anthology. They're not available at the Dinosaur
Training Blog, and I've never used them in my
daily emails.
If you missed them the first time around, you
missed them. Period. They've been lost. I think
of them as my lost articles.
Over the years, I've had literally hundreds of
requests to reprint the best of my articles from
the original Dinosaur Files.
And now, that's what we're doing.
We're going to release the best of my articles
from the original Dinosaur Files in a special
series of books. Each book will feature 8 to
10 different articles.
I've revised, expanded, updated and supplemented
the articles, and I've included a special introduction
for each of them.
The title of the new series tells the story:
The Dinosaur Training Strength Archive.
And that's not all.
In book 1 in the series, I've also included a brand
new, never before published chapter featuring a
terrific power rack training program to build
muscle, bone, tendon and ligament strength
as fast as possible. It's ALL NEW and it's very,
very effective. It will move you from "strong"
to "super strong" faster than you can buy
more plates for your barbell.
The books will be available in 8.5 x 11 hard
copy format (similar to my Dinosaur Training
courses) and in Kindle e-book editions.
Here's the link to the hard copy edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_archive.html
And here's the link for the Kindle edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtrainingarchive_kindle01.html
The lost articles have been found -- and you're
going to love them!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Thought for the Day: "Old gold and old
iron are hard to beat." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
10 Things I Learned in the Iron Mines
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We'll talk iron in just a minute, but I need
to give you a quick Dino Files update.
We're doing a combined issue for November
and December -- and the little monster
should be ready to release very soon.
I'll send an email when it's ready.
In the meantime, be sure to grab the
October issue -- and an earlier issues
you may have missed.
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
The Dinosaur Files is a very special and
unique publication. You won't find anything
like it anywhere -- and you certainly won't
find anything that delivers the kind of real
world, no-nonsense training advice that we
pack into each and every issue.
10 Things I learned in the Iron Mines
It's 33 days from January 1, and on
that day I'll be age 60 in weightlifting
years (meaning that my 60th birthday is
later in the year).
And turning 60 is a big deal.
If you're a weightlifter, it means you have
many years of iron slinging under your
belt.
That gets you thinking -- and I thought:
"Eveything worth knowing in life I learned
from a barbell."
Or at least it seems that way.
So here are 10 lessons I learned in the
iron mines. See if you learned the same
lessons:
1. It's best to start young, but the important
thing is to start -- whatever your age.
2. If you fall off your bicycle, get right back
on it and start pedaling.
3. The hardest exercises are the most
productive ones.
4. It's not easy, and that's okay. In fact,
it's a good thing.
5. Make a plan and stick to it. Don't second
guess yourself into inertia.
6. Life is movement -- and the better the
movement, the better the life.
7. You build strength and muscle by what you
do, not by what you think about doing.
8. You can't buy strength and health. You
can only earn them.
9. The barbell doesn't lift itself.
10. If you enjoy art, practice the art of strength
training. If you enjoy science, practice the science
of strength training. The important thing is to
practice strength training.
And, for a special bonus, two more:
11. Squats are zen.
12. So are deadlifts, presses, pulls, and every
other exercise you do.
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. My LOST ARTICLES are back. Go here to
grab them:
HARD COPY
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_archive.html
KINDLE
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtrainingarchive_kindle01.html
P.S. My other books and courses -- and links
to our e-books on Kindle -- and our Dinosaur
Training courses in PDF format -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "When the iron
speaks, a wise man listens." - Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
We'll talk iron in just a minute, but I need
to give you a quick Dino Files update.
We're doing a combined issue for November
and December -- and the little monster
should be ready to release very soon.
I'll send an email when it's ready.
In the meantime, be sure to grab the
October issue -- and an earlier issues
you may have missed.
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
The Dinosaur Files is a very special and
unique publication. You won't find anything
like it anywhere -- and you certainly won't
find anything that delivers the kind of real
world, no-nonsense training advice that we
pack into each and every issue.
10 Things I learned in the Iron Mines
It's 33 days from January 1, and on
that day I'll be age 60 in weightlifting
years (meaning that my 60th birthday is
later in the year).
And turning 60 is a big deal.
If you're a weightlifter, it means you have
many years of iron slinging under your
belt.
That gets you thinking -- and I thought:
"Eveything worth knowing in life I learned
from a barbell."
Or at least it seems that way.
So here are 10 lessons I learned in the
iron mines. See if you learned the same
lessons:
1. It's best to start young, but the important
thing is to start -- whatever your age.
2. If you fall off your bicycle, get right back
on it and start pedaling.
3. The hardest exercises are the most
productive ones.
4. It's not easy, and that's okay. In fact,
it's a good thing.
5. Make a plan and stick to it. Don't second
guess yourself into inertia.
6. Life is movement -- and the better the
movement, the better the life.
7. You build strength and muscle by what you
do, not by what you think about doing.
8. You can't buy strength and health. You
can only earn them.
9. The barbell doesn't lift itself.
10. If you enjoy art, practice the art of strength
training. If you enjoy science, practice the science
of strength training. The important thing is to
practice strength training.
And, for a special bonus, two more:
11. Squats are zen.
12. So are deadlifts, presses, pulls, and every
other exercise you do.
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. My LOST ARTICLES are back. Go here to
grab them:
HARD COPY
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_archive.html
KINDLE
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurtrainingarchive_kindle01.html
P.S. My other books and courses -- and links
to our e-books on Kindle -- and our Dinosaur
Training courses in PDF format -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "When the iron
speaks, a wise man listens." - Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The Gotta Do It All Guy
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Not long ago, I wrote about the Program
Hopper. The Program Hopper jumps from
workout to workout and never sticks to
anything long enough to get good results.
The Program Hopper is first cousin to the
Gotta Do It All Guy.
The Gotta Do It All Guy is always worried
that's he's missing out on something
important. So he tries to include everything
under the sun in his workouts -- just to be
sure he does everything he needs to do.
In the old days, the muscle mags catered
to the Gotta Do It All Guy by teaching us
that we needed to bomb, blast and blitz
our muscles from every possible angle in
order to build maximum strength and
muscle mass.
That's why you had guys training their
chest (for example) with bench presses,
incline presses, flat bench flies, incline
flies, decline flies, cable cross-overs,
dumbbell pullovers, dips, one-arm
cable cross-overs, and who knows
what else.
You needed to work upper pec, lower
pec, inner pec, the outer pec line, the
lower pec line, the pec-delt tie in, the
deep fibers, the fast-twitch fibers, the
slow-twitch fibers, the rib cage, the
intercostals, the serratus, and Lord
knows what else.
if you didn't hit everything exactly right,
your chest would fall off, or explode, or
the judges at the Mr. America contest
would laugh at you, or you'd "lose your
girl on the beach to a guy who did
pec pumps" (which someone actually
warned us about in an article I read
when I was a kid).
The problem is this: if you try to do
everything, you end up not doing
anything very well.
The guys who tried the "every exercise
under the sun" workouts never got very
much in the way of results.
The guys who built the most muscle --
and the most strength and power -- were
the guys who worked hard on a limited
number of productive and effective
exercises.
And that's one of the secrets of strength
training and muscle building.
Don't spread yourself thin by training to
do everything.
Instead, focus on a small number of
exercises. Hit them hard. Train with
deep concentration and total focus.
Make every rep count.
Don't be the "Gotta Do It All Guy."
Be the "Gotta Do It Right Guy."
And the "Gotta Do the BEST Exercises
Guy."
Which will make you the "Got Some
Great Results Guy."
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 Training Secrets, Vol. 1, 2
and 3, will get you started on the road to
sane, sensible, productive and effective
strength training and muscle-building:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.html
If you prefer Kindle e-books, all three courses
are available at the Amazon Kindle store. Follow
the links on our products page to get there:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
We also offer all three courses in PDF format
with immediate electronic delivery. To grab the
PDF's, go to our products page and look for the
special section at the bottom for our PDF courses:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Simple is best
because simple is hardest." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Not long ago, I wrote about the Program
Hopper. The Program Hopper jumps from
workout to workout and never sticks to
anything long enough to get good results.
The Program Hopper is first cousin to the
Gotta Do It All Guy.
The Gotta Do It All Guy is always worried
that's he's missing out on something
important. So he tries to include everything
under the sun in his workouts -- just to be
sure he does everything he needs to do.
In the old days, the muscle mags catered
to the Gotta Do It All Guy by teaching us
that we needed to bomb, blast and blitz
our muscles from every possible angle in
order to build maximum strength and
muscle mass.
That's why you had guys training their
chest (for example) with bench presses,
incline presses, flat bench flies, incline
flies, decline flies, cable cross-overs,
dumbbell pullovers, dips, one-arm
cable cross-overs, and who knows
what else.
You needed to work upper pec, lower
pec, inner pec, the outer pec line, the
lower pec line, the pec-delt tie in, the
deep fibers, the fast-twitch fibers, the
slow-twitch fibers, the rib cage, the
intercostals, the serratus, and Lord
knows what else.
if you didn't hit everything exactly right,
your chest would fall off, or explode, or
the judges at the Mr. America contest
would laugh at you, or you'd "lose your
girl on the beach to a guy who did
pec pumps" (which someone actually
warned us about in an article I read
when I was a kid).
The problem is this: if you try to do
everything, you end up not doing
anything very well.
The guys who tried the "every exercise
under the sun" workouts never got very
much in the way of results.
The guys who built the most muscle --
and the most strength and power -- were
the guys who worked hard on a limited
number of productive and effective
exercises.
And that's one of the secrets of strength
training and muscle building.
Don't spread yourself thin by training to
do everything.
Instead, focus on a small number of
exercises. Hit them hard. Train with
deep concentration and total focus.
Make every rep count.
Don't be the "Gotta Do It All Guy."
Be the "Gotta Do It Right Guy."
And the "Gotta Do the BEST Exercises
Guy."
Which will make you the "Got Some
Great Results Guy."
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 Training Secrets, Vol. 1, 2
and 3, will get you started on the road to
sane, sensible, productive and effective
strength training and muscle-building:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.html
If you prefer Kindle e-books, all three courses
are available at the Amazon Kindle store. Follow
the links on our products page to get there:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
We also offer all three courses in PDF format
with immediate electronic delivery. To grab the
PDF's, go to our products page and look for the
special section at the bottom for our PDF courses:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Simple is best
because simple is hardest." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The Forgotten Man
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Peary Rader, the founder and (for 50
years) editor of the original IronMan
magazine had a special term for older
trainees.
"The forgotten man."
Why did he use that term?
Because back then, if you were over the
age of 40, the muscle magazines, books
and courses -- and everyone who wrote,
edited or published them -- forgot
about you.
It was as if you didn't exist after age 40.
That's still the case today. In fact, it's
probably more true than ever.
And it's not just that they forget about
you.
It's actually worse now. They give you bad
advice.
Case in point.
A gym owner recently suggested that a
60 year old Dino should start training
three hours a day, six days a week, to
"take it to the next level."
Really?
How long do you think THAT program is
going to last?
And how long before our 60 year old ends
up with massive overtraining -- or a bad
injury?
Not to mention that he won't be able to
work his job, live a normal life, and stay
married if he starts to spend 20 hours
a week in the gym.
Older Dinos understand what I'm talking
about. As you get older, you need to
change what you do.
That doesn't mean you have to stop training.
Far from it. As you get older, training becomes
more and more important. But you need to do
it as effectively and as efficiently as possible.
I know. That's because I'm one of you.
I, too, am one of the Forgotten. I'm 59 now,
and that means I do things differently than
when I was 20 or 30 -- or even when I was
40. But I still train. And to tell the truth, my
training is more fun than ever before. And
I'm going to keep on doing it for a very
long time.
But still -- it gripes my goat to see the
nonsense that older trainees have to
contend with.
So I've done several things to try to even the
score for the Forgotten Man (or Woman).
I wrote Gray Hair and Black Iron -- a book
that covers effective training for older Dinos
in detail -- and gives you over 50 different
workouts for older trainees:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
I covered my own workouts in a DVD called
"Going Strong at 54" -- which was a ton of
work to do, but it's a great DVD:
http://brookskubik.com/goingstrong.html
I wrote a terrific mini-course for older
Dinos -- with a brand new workout -- and
it's even available in PDF format with
immediate electronic delivery:
http://www.brookskubik.com/minicourse_01.html
And last but not least -- each issue of the
Dinosaur Files newsletter covers effective
training for older Dinos -- and gives you
real life, real world workouts used by your
fellow Dinos. It's the stuff no one else ever
covers -- but it's standard fare for the Dino
Files.
Of course, the Dino Files also contains great
info for younger trainees, as well -- but most
of our readers are older Dinos, so it has plenty
of advice for them.
You can grab the Oct 2016 issue of the Dinosaur
Files right here -- and like the mini-course, it
comes to you in PDF format with immediate
electronic delivery -- or in Kindle format,
whichever you prefer:
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Older trainees may be forgotten everywhere
else. But they're not forgotten here -- and
they never will be!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
************************************************************************************
Peary Rader, the founder and (for 50
years) editor of the original IronMan
magazine had a special term for older
trainees.
"The forgotten man."
Why did he use that term?
Because back then, if you were over the
age of 40, the muscle magazines, books
and courses -- and everyone who wrote,
edited or published them -- forgot
about you.
It was as if you didn't exist after age 40.
That's still the case today. In fact, it's
probably more true than ever.
And it's not just that they forget about
you.
It's actually worse now. They give you bad
advice.
Case in point.
A gym owner recently suggested that a
60 year old Dino should start training
three hours a day, six days a week, to
"take it to the next level."
Really?
How long do you think THAT program is
going to last?
And how long before our 60 year old ends
up with massive overtraining -- or a bad
injury?
Not to mention that he won't be able to
work his job, live a normal life, and stay
married if he starts to spend 20 hours
a week in the gym.
Older Dinos understand what I'm talking
about. As you get older, you need to
change what you do.
That doesn't mean you have to stop training.
Far from it. As you get older, training becomes
more and more important. But you need to do
it as effectively and as efficiently as possible.
I know. That's because I'm one of you.
I, too, am one of the Forgotten. I'm 59 now,
and that means I do things differently than
when I was 20 or 30 -- or even when I was
40. But I still train. And to tell the truth, my
training is more fun than ever before. And
I'm going to keep on doing it for a very
long time.
But still -- it gripes my goat to see the
nonsense that older trainees have to
contend with.
So I've done several things to try to even the
score for the Forgotten Man (or Woman).
I wrote Gray Hair and Black Iron -- a book
that covers effective training for older Dinos
in detail -- and gives you over 50 different
workouts for older trainees:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
I covered my own workouts in a DVD called
"Going Strong at 54" -- which was a ton of
work to do, but it's a great DVD:
http://brookskubik.com/goingstrong.html
I wrote a terrific mini-course for older
Dinos -- with a brand new workout -- and
it's even available in PDF format with
immediate electronic delivery:
http://www.brookskubik.com/minicourse_01.html
And last but not least -- each issue of the
Dinosaur Files newsletter covers effective
training for older Dinos -- and gives you
real life, real world workouts used by your
fellow Dinos. It's the stuff no one else ever
covers -- but it's standard fare for the Dino
Files.
Of course, the Dino Files also contains great
info for younger trainees, as well -- but most
of our readers are older Dinos, so it has plenty
of advice for them.
You can grab the Oct 2016 issue of the Dinosaur
Files right here -- and like the mini-course, it
comes to you in PDF format with immediate
electronic delivery -- or in Kindle format,
whichever you prefer:
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Older trainees may be forgotten everywhere
else. But they're not forgotten here -- and
they never will be!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
************************************************************************************
The No. 1 Regret of Older Dinos
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We've been getting tons of great
feedback in response to the question,
"If you were able to start all over again
in the Iron Game, what would you do
differently?"
We've also been getting a lot of emails
from older Dinos revealing their no. 1
regret.
The two topics seem to be related.
For example, read the following from
Gordon Blake:
Unfortunately, I never saw anything
about abbreviated training back in
the 1970's.
The only information I had was about
the complicated, bodybuilding routines
where you trained four to six days a
week for a minimum of two hours per
workout.
My gains have been through the roof
ever since I started abbreviated
training -- three workouts per week,
less than an hour per workout --
doing basic Olympic lifting and power
lifting movements, supplemented with
strongman training and bodyweight
movements with resistance.
I'm 59 now, and I've been doing
Dinosaur training for about 10 years
now.
My major regret is that I didn't have
this info when I was 14.
Gordon
Thanks for sharing that, Gordon. You're
in pretty good company -- I've received
similar emails from hundreds if not
thousands of older Dinos over the
years.
They all say the same thing:
I wish I had known about sane, sensible,
result-producing, effective training back
when I was a kid.
I wish I had known about the benefits
of abbreviated workouts.
I wish I had stuck to the basic, compound
exercises.
I wish I had stayed away from the isolation
exercises, the bodybuilding programs, the
pumping workouts, and everything else in
the muscle magazines.
I wish I had focused on building strength
and power.
I know how everyone feels, because I made
the same mistakes. We all did.
One of the reasons I keep on banging the
drum about effective strength training is
to help younger trainees avoid making
those same mistakes.
It often seems to be an uphill battle --
but it's something we have to keep on
doing.
The Iron Game is far too important to
leave to the tender mercies of the
mainstream muscle media -- and
barbells deserve better than living
in a world where no one knows how
to use them.
And new trainees are entitled to
something better than the silly
stuff.
Anyhow, 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 real results, try the training
programs in these great books:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.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: "It's never
too late to start doing it right." -- Brooks
Kubik
***********************************************************************************
We've been getting tons of great
feedback in response to the question,
"If you were able to start all over again
in the Iron Game, what would you do
differently?"
We've also been getting a lot of emails
from older Dinos revealing their no. 1
regret.
The two topics seem to be related.
For example, read the following from
Gordon Blake:
Unfortunately, I never saw anything
about abbreviated training back in
the 1970's.
The only information I had was about
the complicated, bodybuilding routines
where you trained four to six days a
week for a minimum of two hours per
workout.
My gains have been through the roof
ever since I started abbreviated
training -- three workouts per week,
less than an hour per workout --
doing basic Olympic lifting and power
lifting movements, supplemented with
strongman training and bodyweight
movements with resistance.
I'm 59 now, and I've been doing
Dinosaur training for about 10 years
now.
My major regret is that I didn't have
this info when I was 14.
Gordon
Thanks for sharing that, Gordon. You're
in pretty good company -- I've received
similar emails from hundreds if not
thousands of older Dinos over the
years.
They all say the same thing:
I wish I had known about sane, sensible,
result-producing, effective training back
when I was a kid.
I wish I had known about the benefits
of abbreviated workouts.
I wish I had stuck to the basic, compound
exercises.
I wish I had stayed away from the isolation
exercises, the bodybuilding programs, the
pumping workouts, and everything else in
the muscle magazines.
I wish I had focused on building strength
and power.
I know how everyone feels, because I made
the same mistakes. We all did.
One of the reasons I keep on banging the
drum about effective strength training is
to help younger trainees avoid making
those same mistakes.
It often seems to be an uphill battle --
but it's something we have to keep on
doing.
The Iron Game is far too important to
leave to the tender mercies of the
mainstream muscle media -- and
barbells deserve better than living
in a world where no one knows how
to use them.
And new trainees are entitled to
something better than the silly
stuff.
Anyhow, 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 real results, try the training
programs in these great books:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.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: "It's never
too late to start doing it right." -- Brooks
Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Happy Thanksgiving to the Dinosaurs!
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We'll talk training in just a
minute, but first I have a
very important message
for all Dinosaurs, all around
the world:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I hope that everyone has a terrific
holiday -- and that everyone has
tons and tons of turkey with all the
trimmings -- and that everyone
who trains today makes it a good
one!
That goes double for all of our
Dinos in the military -- and triple
for military Dinos who are stationed
overseas.
And remember -- if you hit your
squats, pulls and pushes extra hard,
you get an extra slice of pumpkin
pie today!
Talking About Training . . .
On the training front, here's more
feedback in response to the question:
If you were starting all over again in
the Iron Game, knowing what you
know now, what would you do
differently?
Andy Hollis wrote:
Yesterday's email was good and
interesting.
Like this Dino, I would also do pretty
much what I am doing now (at age
51).
I train twice a week on a divided
workout schedule.
If I were training a younger person
from scratch I would have him do:
1 or 2 pressing movements
1 or 2 pulling movements
A squat variation and a deadlift
variation -- or maybe just one or
the other.
I would have them stick with that
handful of exercises for several years,
always focusing on building strength.
After a few years of this, our young
novice would be very near his full
potential for strength and muscle
mass.
The problem is trying to get a young
novice to listen to advice like this --
but it's exactly what they need, and
exactly what I need -- and what most
of us need.
Thanks for sharing that, Andy -- it's
very good advice -- and you're right,
it's exactly what most of us need to
do to build strength and size.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here are three of the best books
ever written about building serious
strength and muscle with abbreviated
workouts and real world training
programs:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Our other books and courses
are right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Squat heavy,
pull hard, press strong and enjoy that turkey
dinner -- you earned it!" -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
We'll talk training in just a
minute, but first I have a
very important message
for all Dinosaurs, all around
the world:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I hope that everyone has a terrific
holiday -- and that everyone has
tons and tons of turkey with all the
trimmings -- and that everyone
who trains today makes it a good
one!
That goes double for all of our
Dinos in the military -- and triple
for military Dinos who are stationed
overseas.
And remember -- if you hit your
squats, pulls and pushes extra hard,
you get an extra slice of pumpkin
pie today!
Talking About Training . . .
On the training front, here's more
feedback in response to the question:
If you were starting all over again in
the Iron Game, knowing what you
know now, what would you do
differently?
Andy Hollis wrote:
Yesterday's email was good and
interesting.
Like this Dino, I would also do pretty
much what I am doing now (at age
51).
I train twice a week on a divided
workout schedule.
If I were training a younger person
from scratch I would have him do:
1 or 2 pressing movements
1 or 2 pulling movements
A squat variation and a deadlift
variation -- or maybe just one or
the other.
I would have them stick with that
handful of exercises for several years,
always focusing on building strength.
After a few years of this, our young
novice would be very near his full
potential for strength and muscle
mass.
The problem is trying to get a young
novice to listen to advice like this --
but it's exactly what they need, and
exactly what I need -- and what most
of us need.
Thanks for sharing that, Andy -- it's
very good advice -- and you're right,
it's exactly what most of us need to
do to build strength and size.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here are three of the best books
ever written about building serious
strength and muscle with abbreviated
workouts and real world training
programs:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Our other books and courses
are right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Squat heavy,
pull hard, press strong and enjoy that turkey
dinner -- you earned it!" -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Strength and Power in 100 Words or Less -- No. 5
Hail to the Dionosaurs!
Quick note:Be sure to grab the
October issue of The Dinosaur
Files journal:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
On the training front . . .
Here's an effective workout:
1. Warm-up
2.Power snatch 5 x 3
3. Military press 5 x 5
or
Push press 5 x 3
4. Power clean 5 x 3
5. Squats or front squats 5 x 5
6. Gut, grip or neck work (do
one of the three to end each
workout)
So here's the question . . .
If that's an effective workout, than
why does "everyone" do something
worlds removed from it?
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's a great source of hard-hitting,
effective workouts for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1, is
another great resource for serious trainees
of all ages:
Hard-copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
Kindle e-book
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
PDF course
See the list of PDF courses on our products
page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses -- including
links to my hard copy, Kindle and PDF books and
courses -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Keep it simple,
but work like heck." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Quick note:Be sure to grab the
October issue of The Dinosaur
Files journal:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
On the training front . . .
Here's an effective workout:
1. Warm-up
2.Power snatch 5 x 3
3. Military press 5 x 5
or
Push press 5 x 3
4. Power clean 5 x 3
5. Squats or front squats 5 x 5
6. Gut, grip or neck work (do
one of the three to end each
workout)
So here's the question . . .
If that's an effective workout, than
why does "everyone" do something
worlds removed from it?
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's a great source of hard-hitting,
effective workouts for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1, is
another great resource for serious trainees
of all ages:
Hard-copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
Kindle e-book
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
PDF course
See the list of PDF courses on our products
page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses -- including
links to my hard copy, Kindle and PDF books and
courses -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Keep it simple,
but work like heck." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
What Would You Do Differently?
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
In response to yesterday's email, I
received a detailed response from
Ruiseart Alcorn, one of our many
Scottish Dinosaurs.
Here's what he had to say:
Hey Brooks, good questions. Here
are my answers.
1. "What would you do differently?"
I would have stuck with the three day
a week, fully body routine that I started
with in my teens, for as long as it still
worked, instead of switching to a body-
building split routine.
I feel that I wasted about ten years
switching to the body-building style
split routines.
2. "What would you DO?"
I would ignore the muscle comics that
got me off track when I was younger.
I would keep on a three day, full-body,
abbreviated routine, using basic
compound exercises, until it started
to go stale.
At that point, I would change to a
divided three day routine and stick
with it, making slight changes to the
exercises every three months or so.
Eventually, maybe years later, I would
change to a twice weekly, divided and
abbreviated routine, which at 58 years
of age is what I'm doing now. (Note:
I occasionally change to a three day
ultra abbreviated routine for a few
weeks and then return to my two
day per week schedule).
This is basically how I have been
training for the last twenty years
or so, but had I been wiser, I'd
have been doing it like this since
day one. It works!
3. "What would you not do?"
I would not do long and pointless,
unproductive routines. I would not
do high rep isolation exercises. (in
fact, I would avoid all isolation
exercises).
I would not use machines.
I would not go to loud, noisy
gyms, filled with "experts"
who are terrified of training
hard on basics.
In response to yesterday's email, I
received a detailed response from
Ruiseart Alcorn, one of our many
Scottish Dinosaurs.
Here's what he had to say:
Hey Brooks, good questions. Here
are my answers.
1. "What would you do differently?"
I would have stuck with the three day
a week, fully body routine that I started
with in my teens, for as long as it still
worked, instead of switching to a body-
building split routine.
I feel that I wasted about ten years
switching to the body-building style
split routines.
2. "What would you DO?"
I would ignore the muscle comics that
got me off track when I was younger.
I would keep on a three day, full-body,
abbreviated routine, using basic
compound exercises, until it started
to go stale.
At that point, I would change to a
divided three day routine and stick
with it, making slight changes to the
exercises every three months or so.
Eventually, maybe years later, I would
change to a twice weekly, divided and
abbreviated routine, which at 58 years
of age is what I'm doing now. (Note:
I occasionally change to a three day
ultra abbreviated routine for a few
weeks and then return to my two
day per week schedule).
This is basically how I have been
training for the last twenty years
or so, but had I been wiser, I'd
have been doing it like this since
day one. It works!
3. "What would you not do?"
I would not do long and pointless,
unproductive routines. I would not
do high rep isolation exercises. (in
fact, I would avoid all isolation
exercises).
I would not use machines.
I would not go to loud, noisy
gyms, filled with "experts"
who are terrified of training
hard on basics.
4. "What have you learned over
the past 10 or more years?"
the past 10 or more years?"
I have learned that less is more.
I have learned that short, HARD
workouts are FAR more productive
than million set, bodybuilding split
workouts are FAR more productive
than million set, bodybuilding split
routines.
I have learned that simple basic
compound exercises work the
best because that is what our
bodies were designed to do.
compound exercises work the
best because that is what our
bodies were designed to do.
I have learned that training for
practical, real world strength
makes sense.
practical, real world strength
makes sense.
And, VERY important, I have
learned that a routine is only
as good as your ability to
recover from it.
learned that a routine is only
as good as your ability to
recover from it.
I don't know about you, but I think
those are pretty good answers --
and some pretty good training advice!
those are pretty good answers --
and some pretty good training advice!
How about YOU?
What would YOU do differently if
you were able to start your Iron
Game career all over again?
you were able to start your Iron
Game career all over again?
Shoot me an email and let me
know!
know!
In the meantime, and as always --
thanks for reading, and have a great
day. If you train today, make it a
good one!
thanks for reading, and have a great
day. If you train today, make it a
good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Chalk and Sweat has 50 terrific
workouts for real world, productive
and effective strength training and
muscle building:
workouts for real world, productive
and effective strength training and
muscle building:
P.S. 2. My other books and courses
are right here at Dino Headquarters:
are right here at Dino Headquarters:
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Don't
expect to do it right at the beginning.
We all make mistakes. But do your
best to learn from them." -- Brooks
Kubik
expect to do it right at the beginning.
We all make mistakes. But do your
best to learn from them." -- Brooks
Kubik
***********************************************************************************
A Great Little Gym
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of the best gyms I ever trained in was my
parents’ garage back when I was 18 or 19. I
lived at home while I was going to college.
You’d have laughed if you’d seen it. It was
a unique collection of things cobbled
together from a variety of sources.
I had an exercise bench we bought from a local
equipment company that some guy ran out of his
garage. I saved my pennies forever to buy it.
The thing was a combination flat bench and
adjustable incline bench, and the first time
I tried an incline press on it (with 150 or
so pounds), it collapsed. After that, all I
could use it for was a flat bench.
My squat stands were wooden things made out
of 4 x 4’s, using a design in an old course
written by Bruno Sammartino, the wrestling
champion. I’m not much of a carpenter, and
they probably would have earned me a C–
minus in Shop class, but they did the job.
My dad had an old exercise style barbell with
a one-inch bar and 110 pounds of exercise
plates. He bought it in 1965 or 66. It was
still in good shape 10 or 12 years later
when I used it as part of my garage gym.
I had two “big” plates. These were black iron
25’s, which dad bought for his barbell. They
let me load the bar up to 160 pounds.
That wasn’t enough weight for squats, benches
or deadlifts, so I had to think of something
else. Barbell plates were expensive, and I
was a poor college kid, working a variety
of part-time jobs to try to pay for school.
First I got another bar. This was a seven-foot
length of one-inch iron rod that lay rusting
in the corner at one of the local YMCA’s. The
athletic director let me have it for nothing.
An issue of Iron Man came out, and Peary Rader
ran an article on how to make barbell plates
out of concrete. This was amazing, because
Peary sold his own barbells and barbell plates,
so the article was strictly against his own
business interests. He admitted this, but
said it was okay because he was doing it
as a sort of public service for lifters.
Which goes to show you the kind of man
he was.
Anyhow, I decided to make some concrete
plates.
I followed the instructions carefully.
You made a mold out of sheet metal formed in a
circle.
That was easy enough, although it took a lot of
work to get the thing to form a perfect circle.
You mixed the concrete.
That was easy.
You poured the concrete into the mold, added
some small pieces of chain and wire to help
hold it all together, and then you put in a
piece of plastic pipe to form the center hole.
That was all pretty easy, except for getting
the center hole exactly right. I cast four
plates and only got it right on three of them.
The other one was a little bit slanted.
After casting the plates, I waited a few days
so they would have time to dry out and season.
If memory serves correctly, you had to sprinkle
water on them every day or two, which seems like
a strange way to help the drying out process –
but I think that’s what you were supposed to do.
Mind you, this was more than 40 years ago, so I
may be getting some of the details wrong.
When they were finished, the plates were enormous.
They were huge slabs of rock, several inches thick,
and weighed about 75 pounds apiece.
They were so big and cumbersome that you got a
good workout just loading the bar.
But they worked fine. I used my old iron bar from
the YMCA and the concrete plates for all of my
squats, benches and deadlifts, and although it
may have looked funny, it built plenty of muscle.
My first 300 pound squat was with that homemade
barbell – and later, my first 300 pound bench
press.
That’s the way strength training used to be – a
guy and a garage (or a basement) and a barbell –
and not much else. But that was all it took.
That’s all it ever takes.
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. Those old concrete barbell plates weren’t
pretty, but they WORKED! So do the training
programs, the advice and the ideas in these
books and courses, and in the Dinosaur Files
strength training journal:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
The Dinosaur Files (October issue)
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- including
my new e-books - are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "The less you have,
the more you focus on what's important."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
One of the best gyms I ever trained in was my
parents’ garage back when I was 18 or 19. I
lived at home while I was going to college.
You’d have laughed if you’d seen it. It was
a unique collection of things cobbled
together from a variety of sources.
I had an exercise bench we bought from a local
equipment company that some guy ran out of his
garage. I saved my pennies forever to buy it.
The thing was a combination flat bench and
adjustable incline bench, and the first time
I tried an incline press on it (with 150 or
so pounds), it collapsed. After that, all I
could use it for was a flat bench.
My squat stands were wooden things made out
of 4 x 4’s, using a design in an old course
written by Bruno Sammartino, the wrestling
champion. I’m not much of a carpenter, and
they probably would have earned me a C–
minus in Shop class, but they did the job.
My dad had an old exercise style barbell with
a one-inch bar and 110 pounds of exercise
plates. He bought it in 1965 or 66. It was
still in good shape 10 or 12 years later
when I used it as part of my garage gym.
I had two “big” plates. These were black iron
25’s, which dad bought for his barbell. They
let me load the bar up to 160 pounds.
That wasn’t enough weight for squats, benches
or deadlifts, so I had to think of something
else. Barbell plates were expensive, and I
was a poor college kid, working a variety
of part-time jobs to try to pay for school.
First I got another bar. This was a seven-foot
length of one-inch iron rod that lay rusting
in the corner at one of the local YMCA’s. The
athletic director let me have it for nothing.
An issue of Iron Man came out, and Peary Rader
ran an article on how to make barbell plates
out of concrete. This was amazing, because
Peary sold his own barbells and barbell plates,
so the article was strictly against his own
business interests. He admitted this, but
said it was okay because he was doing it
as a sort of public service for lifters.
Which goes to show you the kind of man
he was.
Anyhow, I decided to make some concrete
plates.
I followed the instructions carefully.
You made a mold out of sheet metal formed in a
circle.
That was easy enough, although it took a lot of
work to get the thing to form a perfect circle.
You mixed the concrete.
That was easy.
You poured the concrete into the mold, added
some small pieces of chain and wire to help
hold it all together, and then you put in a
piece of plastic pipe to form the center hole.
That was all pretty easy, except for getting
the center hole exactly right. I cast four
plates and only got it right on three of them.
The other one was a little bit slanted.
After casting the plates, I waited a few days
so they would have time to dry out and season.
If memory serves correctly, you had to sprinkle
water on them every day or two, which seems like
a strange way to help the drying out process –
but I think that’s what you were supposed to do.
Mind you, this was more than 40 years ago, so I
may be getting some of the details wrong.
When they were finished, the plates were enormous.
They were huge slabs of rock, several inches thick,
and weighed about 75 pounds apiece.
They were so big and cumbersome that you got a
good workout just loading the bar.
But they worked fine. I used my old iron bar from
the YMCA and the concrete plates for all of my
squats, benches and deadlifts, and although it
may have looked funny, it built plenty of muscle.
My first 300 pound squat was with that homemade
barbell – and later, my first 300 pound bench
press.
That’s the way strength training used to be – a
guy and a garage (or a basement) and a barbell –
and not much else. But that was all it took.
That’s all it ever takes.
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. Those old concrete barbell plates weren’t
pretty, but they WORKED! So do the training
programs, the advice and the ideas in these
books and courses, and in the Dinosaur Files
strength training journal:
Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
The Dinosaur Files (October issue)
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- including
my new e-books - are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "The less you have,
the more you focus on what's important."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Strength and Power in 100 Words or Less -- Part 4
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
So here's a question for everyone who's been
training for 10 years or more:
If you were starting over, what advice would you
give yourself?
What would you do differently?
What would you DO?
What would you NOT do?
What have you learned over the past 10 or
more years?
Take a second and think about it.
The answer should tell you some very
important things about effective training.
About what works -- and what doesn't.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Gray Hair and Black Iron is the best book
ever written about serious training for older
Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My Doug Hepburn training course gives
you the training secrets of one of the Iron Game's
greatest champions:
Hard-copy course
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
Kindle e-book
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
PDF
See the list of PDF courses at our products
page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If you don't learn
from your mistakes, then what's the point of
making them? " -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
So here's a question for everyone who's been
training for 10 years or more:
If you were starting over, what advice would you
give yourself?
What would you do differently?
What would you DO?
What would you NOT do?
What have you learned over the past 10 or
more years?
Take a second and think about it.
The answer should tell you some very
important things about effective training.
About what works -- and what doesn't.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Gray Hair and Black Iron is the best book
ever written about serious training for older
Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My Doug Hepburn training course gives
you the training secrets of one of the Iron Game's
greatest champions:
Hard-copy course
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
Kindle e-book
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
See the list of PDF courses at our products
page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If you don't learn
from your mistakes, then what's the point of
making them? " -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
10 Great Exercises for Dinosaurs!
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Here are ten great exercises for Dinos.
They're not new, but I bet many of you
have never done them -- or have not done
them for awhile.
1. The Farmer's walk
Train these heavy, and you'll hit everything
from your toes to your eyeballs. And it's one
of the best grip builders there is.
2. The One Arm Military Press
Do these with a dumbbell, not a barbell, and
do them strict. The one arm military press will
build cannonball delts on a no. 2 pencil. (A line
I borrowed from Bradley J. Steiner.)
See Dinosaur Dumbbell Training for tips
on how to perform the exercise.
3. Pinch grip deadlifts
Use a homemade pinch grip block made out
of a 2 x 8 inch board. This is one of the best
exercises for your thumbs.
4. Weighted leg raises
A terrific gut-blaster. Start light, but plan to work
up to 25 or more pounds. I've done them with 35
pounds extra weight, which is a bear.
5. Handstand pushups
This was one of the secret weapons of many
old-time strongmen and weightlifters. They
used it to build their amazing strength in the
military press.
6. Crush style Grippers
I'm talking about heavy duty grippers, of
course. Train them hard and you'll build
hand and grip strength that is downright
scary.
7. One arm dumbbell shrugs
Train these heavy, and your traps will start
growing like oak trees.
8. One arm dumbbell bench presses
Work up to heavy weights on these and you'll
build some serious upper body strength -- with
muscular development to match!
9. Double Towel Pull-Ups
I cover these and other great pull-up variations
in Dinosaur Bodyweight Training. They're one of
the toughest and most effective upper body
exercises.
10. Front squat partials
Many dinos like heavy quarter squats to build
bone, tendon and ligament strength -- but did
you ever try 1/4 squats with the bar in the front
squat position? It's a bear . . . Of course, you
need to do them in a power rack with the pins
set to catch the bar.
So there you have it -- 10 great exercises for
Dinos! Give them a try, and let me know how
you like them.
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 Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training have many unusual and
highly effective exercises:
Dinosaur Dumbbell Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and links
to all of my Kindle e-books -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train hard
and heavy, and have fun." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Here are ten great exercises for Dinos.
They're not new, but I bet many of you
have never done them -- or have not done
them for awhile.
1. The Farmer's walk
Train these heavy, and you'll hit everything
from your toes to your eyeballs. And it's one
of the best grip builders there is.
2. The One Arm Military Press
Do these with a dumbbell, not a barbell, and
do them strict. The one arm military press will
build cannonball delts on a no. 2 pencil. (A line
I borrowed from Bradley J. Steiner.)
See Dinosaur Dumbbell Training for tips
on how to perform the exercise.
3. Pinch grip deadlifts
Use a homemade pinch grip block made out
of a 2 x 8 inch board. This is one of the best
exercises for your thumbs.
4. Weighted leg raises
A terrific gut-blaster. Start light, but plan to work
up to 25 or more pounds. I've done them with 35
pounds extra weight, which is a bear.
5. Handstand pushups
This was one of the secret weapons of many
old-time strongmen and weightlifters. They
used it to build their amazing strength in the
military press.
6. Crush style Grippers
I'm talking about heavy duty grippers, of
course. Train them hard and you'll build
hand and grip strength that is downright
scary.
7. One arm dumbbell shrugs
Train these heavy, and your traps will start
growing like oak trees.
8. One arm dumbbell bench presses
Work up to heavy weights on these and you'll
build some serious upper body strength -- with
muscular development to match!
9. Double Towel Pull-Ups
I cover these and other great pull-up variations
in Dinosaur Bodyweight Training. They're one of
the toughest and most effective upper body
exercises.
10. Front squat partials
Many dinos like heavy quarter squats to build
bone, tendon and ligament strength -- but did
you ever try 1/4 squats with the bar in the front
squat position? It's a bear . . . Of course, you
need to do them in a power rack with the pins
set to catch the bar.
So there you have it -- 10 great exercises for
Dinos! Give them a try, and let me know how
you like them.
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 Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training have many unusual and
highly effective exercises:
Dinosaur Dumbbell Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and links
to all of my Kindle e-books -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train hard
and heavy, and have fun." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Strength and Power in 100 Words or Less -- No. 3
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I trained the other night.
Snatches and snatch grip high
pulls.
It wasn't fancy, it wasn't high
tech, and it wasn't anything that
any of the internet experts and
whiz kids would do.
It was just me and the barbell.
And it was lots of fun.
Lots of sweat, too.
And the best part is -- it works.
I'm getting stronger -- and I'm
lifting more -- and I'm having a
great time in every workout.
And at close to age 60, that's
not bad.
But don't tell that to "the
Authorities."
They wouldn't approve.
They never approve of anything.
Especially anything that works.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. You want real -- and effective?
Try Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1:
Hard-copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
Kindle e-book
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
PDF
See our PDF courses at our Products page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.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: "Simple,
basic and effective is hard to beat.
Maybe impossible to beat." -- Brooks
Kubik
***********************************************************************************
I trained the other night.
Snatches and snatch grip high
pulls.
It wasn't fancy, it wasn't high
tech, and it wasn't anything that
any of the internet experts and
whiz kids would do.
It was just me and the barbell.
And it was lots of fun.
Lots of sweat, too.
And the best part is -- it works.
I'm getting stronger -- and I'm
lifting more -- and I'm having a
great time in every workout.
And at close to age 60, that's
not bad.
But don't tell that to "the
Authorities."
They wouldn't approve.
They never approve of anything.
Especially anything that works.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. You want real -- and effective?
Try Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1:
Hard-copy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
Kindle e-book
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
See our PDF courses at our Products page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.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: "Simple,
basic and effective is hard to beat.
Maybe impossible to beat." -- Brooks
Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Strength and Power in 100 Words or Less -- No. 2
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
So here's a question.
Guy named Steve Stanko could clean and
press 310 pounds back in 1940.
He weighed 225 pounds -- and it was solid
muscle.
He gained something like 70 or 80 pounds
of muscle in his first two years of training.
All he had were barbells and dumbbells.
No drugs.
No roidskies.
Not even any supplements.
Just iron.
So tell me -- exactly why do you think that
modern training methods are so much better?
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's someone else who did pretty darn
good training old-school style:
http://www.brookskubik.com/blackiron_johndavis.html
P.S. 2. And here's someone else who did pretty
darn good with old school training:
Hard-copy course:
http://www.brookskubik.com/johngrimek_course.html
Kindle e-book:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If old-school works, then
why bother with anything else?" -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
So here's a question.
Guy named Steve Stanko could clean and
press 310 pounds back in 1940.
He weighed 225 pounds -- and it was solid
muscle.
He gained something like 70 or 80 pounds
of muscle in his first two years of training.
All he had were barbells and dumbbells.
No drugs.
No roidskies.
Not even any supplements.
Just iron.
So tell me -- exactly why do you think that
modern training methods are so much better?
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's someone else who did pretty darn
good training old-school style:
http://www.brookskubik.com/blackiron_johndavis.html
P.S. 2. And here's someone else who did pretty
darn good with old school training:
Hard-copy course:
http://www.brookskubik.com/johngrimek_course.html
Kindle e-book:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If old-school works, then
why bother with anything else?" -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Strength and Power in 100 Words or Less (No. 1)
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I'm absolutely buried this week, so
let's try something a little different.
The next 5 emails will be short ones.
100 words or less.
Here's the first one:
Guy walked into a bar.
Bartender said, "What will you have?"
Guy said, "Squats."
Bartender said, "Good choice."
And he was right.
Deadlifts would have been a good
choice, as well.
So would the clean and press.
Or the clean and push press.
Or the clean and jerk.
Or snatches.
The point is, go for the stuff that
delivers.
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. Here's something that delivers:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
P.S.2. This also delivers:
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
P.S. 3.. Thought for the Day: "Short and sweet
is longer and stronger than you'd imagine."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
I'm absolutely buried this week, so
let's try something a little different.
The next 5 emails will be short ones.
100 words or less.
Here's the first one:
Guy walked into a bar.
Bartender said, "What will you have?"
Guy said, "Squats."
Bartender said, "Good choice."
And he was right.
Deadlifts would have been a good
choice, as well.
So would the clean and press.
Or the clean and push press.
Or the clean and jerk.
Or snatches.
The point is, go for the stuff that
delivers.
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. Here's something that delivers:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
P.S.2. This also delivers:
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
P.S. 3.. Thought for the Day: "Short and sweet
is longer and stronger than you'd imagine."
-- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The Secret of the Old Wooden Shed
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
No one knew what it was.
No one knew what was inside.
Or what happened inside.
They probably never even gave it a
second look.
But it was one of the most remarkable
places in the world -- and it was the
training quarters of one of the world's
greatest athletes.
It was a gym. And a very special one.
When you stepped inside, you saw a
dirt floor topped by wooden planks.
Piled against the rough boards making up
the walls were dozens of thick black iron
plates. At least a ton of heavy iron.
Possibly more.
In the center of the shed there was a
giant – a massive man with dark hair
and a dark mustache.
He was wearing thick blue sweat pants
and a heavy cotton-t-shirt. The man,
the shirt, and the sweat pants were
covered in chalk.
Sweat poured down his face. His hair
was matted.
His shirt was soaked.
A set of sturdy squat stands stood at
the back of the lifting platform.
On the squat stands was an Olympic
barbell. It was loaded with FOUR 45
pound plates on each side – plus two
35 pound plates – plus two 5’s and
a pair of 2 ½’s.
490 pounds.
The dark haired giant tightened his
belt, chalked his hands, approached
the bar, took it from the squat stands
and stepped back.
He stood motionless with the massive
barbell pressing down on his chest and
shoulders.
He took a deep breath, his massive
chest rising high.
He dipped his legs and drove upward –
and the bar shot from his shoulders as
if it had been fired from a cannon.
He drove the bar hard and fast – and
finished the lift with his arms locked
and the bar held over his head.
His enormous arms and huge shoulders
quivered under the incredible load.
He held the bar for a count of two,
lowered it to his shoulders, stepped
forward, and racked the bar.
He stepped back, breathing deeply.
The sweat poured faster than ever.
He had just lifted overhead more
weight than any man in history.
His name was Doug Hepburn – and
he was one of the very strongest
men who ever lived.
That’s how Doug Hepburn trained –
and where he trained – and the
type of weight he lifted – way
back in the 1950’s.
Today, some 60 years later, Doug
Hepburn is a lifting legend – and
Doug Hepburn’s training methods
continue to be followed – with
great results – by lifters around the
world.
That’s why I’ve prepared a special
training course that outlines Doug
Hepburn’s training philosophy – his
exercises, sets, reps, and workouts.
It’s all there – and it makes great
reading for anyone interested in
training to reach their absolute
maximum in strength, muscle
and power.
Reading and writing about Doug
Hepburn and his heavy training
has got me all fired up. I’m out
there slinging the iron in the
garage and having some GREAT
workouts.
In fact, my barbells are threatening
to go on strike if I keep it up!
And I’m sure you’ll be doing the
same – and so will your barbells –
after you read the course.
The course is available in your
choice of hard-copy, Kindle e-book
or PDF with immediate electronic
delivery:
Hard-copy:
http://brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
Kindle e-book
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
PDF
See the special section for PDF courses at
our products page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
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. We have a number of other great books
and courses available in your choice of hard-copy,
Kindle e-book, or PDF. For the complete list,
go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. These are some of our most popular
Kindle e-books:
a. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
b. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
c. The Training Secrets of John Grimek
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
d. The Dinosaur Military Press and Shoulder
Power Course
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_kindle.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "All it takes is a man
and a dream." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
No one knew what it was.
No one knew what was inside.
Or what happened inside.
They probably never even gave it a
second look.
But it was one of the most remarkable
places in the world -- and it was the
training quarters of one of the world's
greatest athletes.
It was a gym. And a very special one.
When you stepped inside, you saw a
dirt floor topped by wooden planks.
Piled against the rough boards making up
the walls were dozens of thick black iron
plates. At least a ton of heavy iron.
Possibly more.
In the center of the shed there was a
giant – a massive man with dark hair
and a dark mustache.
He was wearing thick blue sweat pants
and a heavy cotton-t-shirt. The man,
the shirt, and the sweat pants were
covered in chalk.
Sweat poured down his face. His hair
was matted.
His shirt was soaked.
A set of sturdy squat stands stood at
the back of the lifting platform.
On the squat stands was an Olympic
barbell. It was loaded with FOUR 45
pound plates on each side – plus two
35 pound plates – plus two 5’s and
a pair of 2 ½’s.
490 pounds.
The dark haired giant tightened his
belt, chalked his hands, approached
the bar, took it from the squat stands
and stepped back.
He stood motionless with the massive
barbell pressing down on his chest and
shoulders.
He took a deep breath, his massive
chest rising high.
He dipped his legs and drove upward –
and the bar shot from his shoulders as
if it had been fired from a cannon.
He drove the bar hard and fast – and
finished the lift with his arms locked
and the bar held over his head.
His enormous arms and huge shoulders
quivered under the incredible load.
He held the bar for a count of two,
lowered it to his shoulders, stepped
forward, and racked the bar.
He stepped back, breathing deeply.
The sweat poured faster than ever.
He had just lifted overhead more
weight than any man in history.
His name was Doug Hepburn – and
he was one of the very strongest
men who ever lived.
That’s how Doug Hepburn trained –
and where he trained – and the
type of weight he lifted – way
back in the 1950’s.
Today, some 60 years later, Doug
Hepburn is a lifting legend – and
Doug Hepburn’s training methods
continue to be followed – with
great results – by lifters around the
world.
That’s why I’ve prepared a special
training course that outlines Doug
Hepburn’s training philosophy – his
exercises, sets, reps, and workouts.
It’s all there – and it makes great
reading for anyone interested in
training to reach their absolute
maximum in strength, muscle
and power.
Reading and writing about Doug
Hepburn and his heavy training
has got me all fired up. I’m out
there slinging the iron in the
garage and having some GREAT
workouts.
In fact, my barbells are threatening
to go on strike if I keep it up!
And I’m sure you’ll be doing the
same – and so will your barbells –
after you read the course.
The course is available in your
choice of hard-copy, Kindle e-book
or PDF with immediate electronic
delivery:
Hard-copy:
http://brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
Kindle e-book
http://www.brookskubik.com/hepburn_kindle.html
See the special section for PDF courses at
our products page:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
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. We have a number of other great books
and courses available in your choice of hard-copy,
Kindle e-book, or PDF. For the complete list,
go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. These are some of our most popular
Kindle e-books:
a. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
b. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
c. The Training Secrets of John Grimek
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
d. The Dinosaur Military Press and Shoulder
Power Course
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_kindle.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "All it takes is a man
and a dream." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Do You Read the Dinosaur Training Blog?
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
A longtime reader said he missed
yesterday's email from Dino Head-
quarters.
That happens from time to time,
and we never know why.
Readers drop off of our email list
for unknown reasons - or they miss
one or two emails and then get the
new emails without any problem.
It's probably the work of nefarious
Cyber Gremlins of one one sort or
another - but I can't prove it.
Anyhow, we do several things to
try to keep our emails coming
through to you:
1.The Dinosaur Training Blog
I post every email on The
Dinosaur Training Blog.
You can access The Dinosaur
Training Blog by going to our
website and looking for link
button that says "BLOG."
Once there, you can read any
of our more than 1,000 Blog
posts.
For example:
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/goerner-mighty.html
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/do-mounties-lift-sandbags.html
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-secret-of-knockout-throws.html
2. Facebook
I post the link to every post on the
Dinosaur Training Blog on Facebook -
so friend me on Facebook and check
the new posts every day.
This is a backup in case you miss an
email for some reason.
3. Twitter
I share the link to every Blog post on
Twitter - so follow me on Twitter.
This is another backup.
4. My Amazon Author's Page
I link all of my Blog posts on my
Amazon Author's Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Brooks-D.-Kubik/e/B00J8UL2PU
This is our third backup to help
keep you up to date.
5. If all else fails . . .
Send me an email. If you fell off the
email list, we'll put you back on.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Did you grab the October issue
of the Dinosaur Files? If not, here are
the links:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
It's a great issue, and I know
you'll like it!
***********************************************************************************
A longtime reader said he missed
yesterday's email from Dino Head-
quarters.
That happens from time to time,
and we never know why.
Readers drop off of our email list
for unknown reasons - or they miss
one or two emails and then get the
new emails without any problem.
It's probably the work of nefarious
Cyber Gremlins of one one sort or
another - but I can't prove it.
Anyhow, we do several things to
try to keep our emails coming
through to you:
1.The Dinosaur Training Blog
I post every email on The
Dinosaur Training Blog.
You can access The Dinosaur
Training Blog by going to our
website and looking for link
button that says "BLOG."
Once there, you can read any
of our more than 1,000 Blog
posts.
For example:
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/goerner-mighty.html
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/do-mounties-lift-sandbags.html
http://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-secret-of-knockout-throws.html
2. Facebook
I post the link to every post on the
Dinosaur Training Blog on Facebook -
so friend me on Facebook and check
the new posts every day.
This is a backup in case you miss an
email for some reason.
3. Twitter
I share the link to every Blog post on
Twitter - so follow me on Twitter.
This is another backup.
4. My Amazon Author's Page
I link all of my Blog posts on my
Amazon Author's Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Brooks-D.-Kubik/e/B00J8UL2PU
This is our third backup to help
keep you up to date.
5. If all else fails . . .
Send me an email. If you fell off the
email list, we'll put you back on.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Did you grab the October issue
of the Dinosaur Files? If not, here are
the links:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
It's a great issue, and I know
you'll like it!
***********************************************************************************
How to Train for Speed and Power
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Yesterday I gave you eight tips for building
speed and power -- and promised to give
you another one today.
It's the most important one. And pay
attention, because this could help rocket
you to some big gains.
Here it is:
Practice moving heavy weights in perfect
form as fast as you can -- with ever
increasing speed from start to finish.
For example . . .
In the military press, you clean the bar
to your shoulders, pause, get set -- and
then drive the bar up as hard and as fast
as possible -- in perfect form.
Put all your strength and power behind
the press.
Give it 100% focus and total concentration.
Focus and concentration help link the mind
and the muscles -- and activate the nerve
impulses that tell the muscle fibers to
contract hard and fast.
Maintain that focus from start to finish.
When you hit the sticking point, drive
harder than ever before. Try to blast
right through it.
You may not move super fast at the sticking
point, but by trying to do so, you'll activate
an enormous number of muscle fibers.
You'll also strengthen the mind-muscle
link -- and your nervous system --
enormously.
And that's how you build speed and power.
Now, please note . . .
When you train this way, it is VERY
IMPORTANT to use perfect form.
If you train fast with sloppy form, you
don't do yourself much good and you
create a real risk of injury.
So let me be very clear.
You're NOT training fast and doing a
series of herky-jerky, "anything goes"
reps.
It's not a Texas Death Match between
you and the barbell.
You're not doing drop and bounce reps.
When you do presses, you do them strict.
No backbend -- because backbend takes
the pressure off the muscles, and you are
TRYING to train with as much pressure as
possible -- because that's what triggers
the involvement of more muscle fibers.
If you do bench press, you lower the
bar under control -- and then you blast
it back up. No arching. No cheating.
If you do squats or front squats, you
lower the bar under control -- and then
drive back up. And you fight to stay in
the groove the whole way down and
the whole way up.
If you do snatches, cleans or high pulls,
you start slow, accelerate throughout the
movement, and pop your hips to rocket
the bar upward.
This kind of lifting requires perfect form
and tremendous muscular control. It's as
fast as possible, but it's also as controlled
as possible. Speed and control are NOT, as
some believe, mutually exclusive.
For me, this kind of training is critical for
developing maximum speed and power.
Give it a try, and see how it works for YOU.
This is also a very important part of healthy
aging -- because you are developing the
strongest possible mind-muscle link -- and
that helps keep your brain functioning at
a high level as you grow older. (Which is
something will cover in greater detail in
future emails.)
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 old-school strength training
and muscle-building secrets, grab the book
that started the Dinosaur Training Revolution:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters - including links
to our hard-copy books and courses, our
PDF courses, and our Kindle e-books:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "It's not just
sets and reps, it's how you perform your
reps that counts." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Yesterday I gave you eight tips for building
speed and power -- and promised to give
you another one today.
It's the most important one. And pay
attention, because this could help rocket
you to some big gains.
Here it is:
Practice moving heavy weights in perfect
form as fast as you can -- with ever
increasing speed from start to finish.
For example . . .
In the military press, you clean the bar
to your shoulders, pause, get set -- and
then drive the bar up as hard and as fast
as possible -- in perfect form.
Put all your strength and power behind
the press.
Give it 100% focus and total concentration.
Focus and concentration help link the mind
and the muscles -- and activate the nerve
impulses that tell the muscle fibers to
contract hard and fast.
Maintain that focus from start to finish.
When you hit the sticking point, drive
harder than ever before. Try to blast
right through it.
You may not move super fast at the sticking
point, but by trying to do so, you'll activate
an enormous number of muscle fibers.
You'll also strengthen the mind-muscle
link -- and your nervous system --
enormously.
And that's how you build speed and power.
Now, please note . . .
When you train this way, it is VERY
IMPORTANT to use perfect form.
If you train fast with sloppy form, you
don't do yourself much good and you
create a real risk of injury.
So let me be very clear.
You're NOT training fast and doing a
series of herky-jerky, "anything goes"
reps.
It's not a Texas Death Match between
you and the barbell.
You're not doing drop and bounce reps.
When you do presses, you do them strict.
No backbend -- because backbend takes
the pressure off the muscles, and you are
TRYING to train with as much pressure as
possible -- because that's what triggers
the involvement of more muscle fibers.
If you do bench press, you lower the
bar under control -- and then you blast
it back up. No arching. No cheating.
If you do squats or front squats, you
lower the bar under control -- and then
drive back up. And you fight to stay in
the groove the whole way down and
the whole way up.
If you do snatches, cleans or high pulls,
you start slow, accelerate throughout the
movement, and pop your hips to rocket
the bar upward.
This kind of lifting requires perfect form
and tremendous muscular control. It's as
fast as possible, but it's also as controlled
as possible. Speed and control are NOT, as
some believe, mutually exclusive.
For me, this kind of training is critical for
developing maximum speed and power.
Give it a try, and see how it works for YOU.
This is also a very important part of healthy
aging -- because you are developing the
strongest possible mind-muscle link -- and
that helps keep your brain functioning at
a high level as you grow older. (Which is
something will cover in greater detail in
future emails.)
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 old-school strength training
and muscle-building secrets, grab the book
that started the Dinosaur Training Revolution:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters - including links
to our hard-copy books and courses, our
PDF courses, and our Kindle e-books:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "It's not just
sets and reps, it's how you perform your
reps that counts." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Three Quick Notes for Dinosaurs!
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I have three quick notes for you.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
The October issue of The Dinosaur
Files is available in your choice of
Kindle or PDF:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
The little monster has been getting
great reviews, so let me know how
you like this issue!
2. Stand on Your Feet Training
We talked about the importance
of stand on your feet training in an
earlier email today.
Here's a great course that covers
stand on your feet strength and
how to build it:
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_course.html
It's also available in Kindle and PDF
editions. See our products page for
the Kindle and PDF links:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
3. John Wood's Iron League
Have you seen the latest updates and
additions at John Wood's Iron League
membership site?
Go here to check it out:
http://www.ironleague.com/
One of our longtime Dinos calls The
Iron League "the Library of Congress
of Strength" - and that sums it up
pretty darn well.
More tomorrow - we have an important
tip on speed development for you.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
I have three quick notes for you.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
The October issue of The Dinosaur
Files is available in your choice of
Kindle or PDF:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
The little monster has been getting
great reviews, so let me know how
you like this issue!
2. Stand on Your Feet Training
We talked about the importance
of stand on your feet training in an
earlier email today.
Here's a great course that covers
stand on your feet strength and
how to build it:
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_course.html
It's also available in Kindle and PDF
editions. See our products page for
the Kindle and PDF links:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
3. John Wood's Iron League
Have you seen the latest updates and
additions at John Wood's Iron League
membership site?
Go here to check it out:
http://www.ironleague.com/
One of our longtime Dinos calls The
Iron League "the Library of Congress
of Strength" - and that sums it up
pretty darn well.
More tomorrow - we have an important
tip on speed development for you.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Gray Hair and Fast Feet
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Yesterday we talked about about speed, and
about a question I received from an older
Dino who said that he lost his speed -- not
his strength, but his speed -- sometime
around age 60.
He asked me if I had noticed the same thing.
The answer is -- not yet -- and I'm working
really hard to keep it that way.
In fact, my workouts focus as much on speed
as on strength development now -- although
many of the things that build one also
build the other.
Here are seven things I do in my workouts
that help keep me moving FAST. They'll do
the same for you.
1. Stand on Your Feet Training
with Barbells and Dumbbells
You build balance, coordination, strength,
power and speed by using good, old-
fashioned, stand on your feet training.
Standing presses.
Squats.
Front squats.
Deadlifts.
Trap Bar deadlifts.
Dumbbell cleans and swings. (Note - see
Dinosaur Dumbbell Training for details on
how to perform them safely and effectively.)
Power cleans and power snatches (or
high pulls) if you know how to do them.
Stay away from lying and seated exercises,
and skip the machines. They do nothing for
your speed.
2. Perfect form.
Do all of your exercises in perfect form.
Perfect form promotes well-balanced
development -- and that helps your
speed of movement as you grow older.
It's also safer -- and avoiding injuries
is one of the most important things for
an older trainee to do. (See point 5,
below.)
3. No slow movements.
I don't do any slow, grinding movements in
my workouts.
Slow movements make you slow. You don't
need that.
That's not to say you use light weights and
fast, bouncy movements. Far from it. I train
heavy, and I do almost nothing but singles.
But there's a big difference between a slow,
grinding rep that takes forever to finish,
and a rep that's a little lighter but moves
twice as fast.
4. Keep your weight under control.
You can't move fast if you're carrying 20 or
more pounds of blubber. It's like running a
hundred yard dash while carrying a heavy
sandbag on your back. The sandbag just
slows you down -- and so do the Lard
Lumps.
5. Don't get hurt.
This one is easier to say than to do. Older
bodies are easier to injure.
But do everything you can to avoid injuries.
The dings and dents really slow you down.
They tighten you up, reduce your range of
motion, and make you stiff.
Train smart, and keep your ego in check.
Don't baby yourself, but don't be stupid.
Find the balance between aggressive training
and reckless training.
6. Under-train.
I almost said "don't over-train," but for an
older trainee, over-training is so easy that
it's better to say: "Under-train."
If you make it a point to do a little bit less
than you feel like you could do, both in
terms of weight, effort and volume, you
may end up doing just about the right
intensity and amount of work.
Always leave something in the gas tank.
It helps your recovery enormously.
As an older trainee, you've paid your dues.
Right now, consistent, regular training is
what you want. There's no need to smash
yourself into a pulp every time you train --
and every reason NOT to do so.
7. Follow a healthy, anti-inflammatory
diet.
Inflammation is an older trainee's worst
enemy. It makes you stiff and sore and
inflexible -- tightens your muscles -- and
slows you down.
You don't need that.
You need a body that doesn't suffer from
extreme inflammation.
You get there by under-training (see point
no. 6) -- and by following the right kind of
diet and nutrition plan.
The diet and nutrition program in Knife,
Fork, Muscle will work great. It's an anti-
inflammatory diet as well as a strength
and muscle-building diet -- and it will
help keep the excess pounds off, as
well.
Go here to grab the little monster:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
8. A Bonus Tip
Bonus tip. I said we'd have seven, but
here's one more. Work on stretching and
flexibility -- or as they now call it, mobility.
You want freedom of movement in all your
major joints.
Freedom of movement helps your speed
enormously. Stiff and tight joints slow you
down.
So work on staying loose and flexible and
supple.
There's one more tip -- and it's a big one.
We'll cover it tomorrow. But those seven --
sorry, EIGHT -- tips will really help. They
work great for me.
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. Here's the number one book about
effective training for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. I mentioned Dinosaur Dumbbell
Training. Go here to grab the little monster:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are
available right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Stay strong, stay
lean, stay loose, stay fast." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Yesterday we talked about about speed, and
about a question I received from an older
Dino who said that he lost his speed -- not
his strength, but his speed -- sometime
around age 60.
He asked me if I had noticed the same thing.
The answer is -- not yet -- and I'm working
really hard to keep it that way.
In fact, my workouts focus as much on speed
as on strength development now -- although
many of the things that build one also
build the other.
Here are seven things I do in my workouts
that help keep me moving FAST. They'll do
the same for you.
1. Stand on Your Feet Training
with Barbells and Dumbbells
You build balance, coordination, strength,
power and speed by using good, old-
fashioned, stand on your feet training.
Standing presses.
Squats.
Front squats.
Deadlifts.
Trap Bar deadlifts.
Dumbbell cleans and swings. (Note - see
Dinosaur Dumbbell Training for details on
how to perform them safely and effectively.)
Power cleans and power snatches (or
high pulls) if you know how to do them.
Stay away from lying and seated exercises,
and skip the machines. They do nothing for
your speed.
2. Perfect form.
Do all of your exercises in perfect form.
Perfect form promotes well-balanced
development -- and that helps your
speed of movement as you grow older.
It's also safer -- and avoiding injuries
is one of the most important things for
an older trainee to do. (See point 5,
below.)
3. No slow movements.
I don't do any slow, grinding movements in
my workouts.
Slow movements make you slow. You don't
need that.
That's not to say you use light weights and
fast, bouncy movements. Far from it. I train
heavy, and I do almost nothing but singles.
But there's a big difference between a slow,
grinding rep that takes forever to finish,
and a rep that's a little lighter but moves
twice as fast.
4. Keep your weight under control.
You can't move fast if you're carrying 20 or
more pounds of blubber. It's like running a
hundred yard dash while carrying a heavy
sandbag on your back. The sandbag just
slows you down -- and so do the Lard
Lumps.
5. Don't get hurt.
This one is easier to say than to do. Older
bodies are easier to injure.
But do everything you can to avoid injuries.
The dings and dents really slow you down.
They tighten you up, reduce your range of
motion, and make you stiff.
Train smart, and keep your ego in check.
Don't baby yourself, but don't be stupid.
Find the balance between aggressive training
and reckless training.
6. Under-train.
I almost said "don't over-train," but for an
older trainee, over-training is so easy that
it's better to say: "Under-train."
If you make it a point to do a little bit less
than you feel like you could do, both in
terms of weight, effort and volume, you
may end up doing just about the right
intensity and amount of work.
Always leave something in the gas tank.
It helps your recovery enormously.
As an older trainee, you've paid your dues.
Right now, consistent, regular training is
what you want. There's no need to smash
yourself into a pulp every time you train --
and every reason NOT to do so.
7. Follow a healthy, anti-inflammatory
diet.
Inflammation is an older trainee's worst
enemy. It makes you stiff and sore and
inflexible -- tightens your muscles -- and
slows you down.
You don't need that.
You need a body that doesn't suffer from
extreme inflammation.
You get there by under-training (see point
no. 6) -- and by following the right kind of
diet and nutrition plan.
The diet and nutrition program in Knife,
Fork, Muscle will work great. It's an anti-
inflammatory diet as well as a strength
and muscle-building diet -- and it will
help keep the excess pounds off, as
well.
Go here to grab the little monster:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html
8. A Bonus Tip
Bonus tip. I said we'd have seven, but
here's one more. Work on stretching and
flexibility -- or as they now call it, mobility.
You want freedom of movement in all your
major joints.
Freedom of movement helps your speed
enormously. Stiff and tight joints slow you
down.
So work on staying loose and flexible and
supple.
There's one more tip -- and it's a big one.
We'll cover it tomorrow. But those seven --
sorry, EIGHT -- tips will really help. They
work great for me.
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. Here's the number one book about
effective training for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. I mentioned Dinosaur Dumbbell
Training. Go here to grab the little monster:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are
available right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Stay strong, stay
lean, stay loose, stay fast." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Speed Training for Older Dinos
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of our older (age 60-plus) Dinos
replied to Friday's email by saying
(and I paraphrase):
1. I used to do split style lifting all the
time. (Meaning the split style snatch and
split style clean.)
2. I really enjoyed it.
3. But at age 60 or so, I started to lose
my speed -- so I stopped doing the split
lifts.
4. Question: You're close to age 60. Are
you losing your speed?
While, that's an interesting question, isn't
it?
You know, when I was younger, I was a state
champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
I won the title by throwing two guys so hard
and so fast I knocked them out.
Each throw took something like half a second
or less.
We locked up -- I pushed into them -- they pushed
back -- and WHAM, I threw them.
Threw them hard, too.
Another time, I won a wrestling match with a
pin in exactly six seconds.
That's six seconds from ref says go to ref
slaps the mat and calls the pin.
And that's about as fast as you can win a
wrestling match.
So I was pretty darn fast when I was younger.
Twenty years later, I was judging a powerlifting
meet. (This was about 25 years ago.)
A 242 pound lifter opened with 550 in the squat.
He made the lift, but as he stood up, something
happened.
From the referee's chair in front of the lifting
platform I saw his eyes roll back -- and I knew
he was about to pass out.
The problem was, the two spotters were on
either side -- and they didn't see his eyes --
and they didn't know that 242 pounds of
lifter and 550 pounds of iron were about to
come crashing down.
I was seated in a chair, 10 or 12 feet away.
I dove forward, racing towards him.
I remember seeing his knees buckle and his
body start to crumple and drop forward.
I remember thinking, "What do I do?"
I remember stepping in front of him, and
hitting him hard and fast with a forearm
shiver across the chest.
I wanted to push him back and stand him up.
I did.
He rolled back to upright-- and then he started
to crumple again, his knees bending and the
heavy bar forcing him down.
I stepped forward, caught him in a bear hug,
and held him up -- and the barbell, too.
And after a second or two -- a very long second
or two -- the spotters realized what was up and
grabbed the bar.
And it's a good thing they did -- because I was
holding 242 pounds of semi-conscious lifter and
550 pounds of iron.
Later, when I thought about it, I realized that it
was NOT possible to move that fast -- to go
from a seated position 10 or 12 feet away to
the forearm shiver to reversing position and
catching the lifter and the bar before he fell.
And all before anyone else knew what was
happening.
But I did it.
So I was FAST when I was younger.
Am I fast now?
I don't know.
I sort of wish that I had timed myself very
carefully back in the day on different lifts --
so I could compare them to where I am
now speedwise.
I'm sure I was faster then -- but I'm not too
bad now, at close to age 60.
There's a reason for that.
Or rather, a couple of them.
And we'll cover them tomorrow -- so be sure to
be looking for tomorrow's email. In the meantime,
grab this little monster if you're interested in
sensible and effective training for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
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. We have a ton of great books and courses
available in hard copy, PDF or Kindle editions,
including these little monsters:
1. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
3. The Training Secrets of John Grimek
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
4. The Dinosaur Military Press and Shoulder
Power Course
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_kindle.html
P.S. 2. If you prefer hard-copy, all four courses
are available right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Strong is good,
but strong and fast is better." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
One of our older (age 60-plus) Dinos
replied to Friday's email by saying
(and I paraphrase):
1. I used to do split style lifting all the
time. (Meaning the split style snatch and
split style clean.)
2. I really enjoyed it.
3. But at age 60 or so, I started to lose
my speed -- so I stopped doing the split
lifts.
4. Question: You're close to age 60. Are
you losing your speed?
While, that's an interesting question, isn't
it?
You know, when I was younger, I was a state
champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
I won the title by throwing two guys so hard
and so fast I knocked them out.
Each throw took something like half a second
or less.
We locked up -- I pushed into them -- they pushed
back -- and WHAM, I threw them.
Threw them hard, too.
Another time, I won a wrestling match with a
pin in exactly six seconds.
That's six seconds from ref says go to ref
slaps the mat and calls the pin.
And that's about as fast as you can win a
wrestling match.
So I was pretty darn fast when I was younger.
Twenty years later, I was judging a powerlifting
meet. (This was about 25 years ago.)
A 242 pound lifter opened with 550 in the squat.
He made the lift, but as he stood up, something
happened.
From the referee's chair in front of the lifting
platform I saw his eyes roll back -- and I knew
he was about to pass out.
The problem was, the two spotters were on
either side -- and they didn't see his eyes --
and they didn't know that 242 pounds of
lifter and 550 pounds of iron were about to
come crashing down.
I was seated in a chair, 10 or 12 feet away.
I dove forward, racing towards him.
I remember seeing his knees buckle and his
body start to crumple and drop forward.
I remember thinking, "What do I do?"
I remember stepping in front of him, and
hitting him hard and fast with a forearm
shiver across the chest.
I wanted to push him back and stand him up.
I did.
He rolled back to upright-- and then he started
to crumple again, his knees bending and the
heavy bar forcing him down.
I stepped forward, caught him in a bear hug,
and held him up -- and the barbell, too.
And after a second or two -- a very long second
or two -- the spotters realized what was up and
grabbed the bar.
And it's a good thing they did -- because I was
holding 242 pounds of semi-conscious lifter and
550 pounds of iron.
Later, when I thought about it, I realized that it
was NOT possible to move that fast -- to go
from a seated position 10 or 12 feet away to
the forearm shiver to reversing position and
catching the lifter and the bar before he fell.
And all before anyone else knew what was
happening.
But I did it.
So I was FAST when I was younger.
Am I fast now?
I don't know.
I sort of wish that I had timed myself very
carefully back in the day on different lifts --
so I could compare them to where I am
now speedwise.
I'm sure I was faster then -- but I'm not too
bad now, at close to age 60.
There's a reason for that.
Or rather, a couple of them.
And we'll cover them tomorrow -- so be sure to
be looking for tomorrow's email. In the meantime,
grab this little monster if you're interested in
sensible and effective training for older Dinos:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
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. We have a ton of great books and courses
available in hard copy, PDF or Kindle editions,
including these little monsters:
1. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
3. The Training Secrets of John Grimek
http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.html
4. The Dinosaur Military Press and Shoulder
Power Course
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_kindle.html
P.S. 2. If you prefer hard-copy, all four courses
are available right here at Dino Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Strong is good,
but strong and fast is better." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The Simplest Weightlifting Workout Ever!
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Three quick notes, and then we'll talk
training.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
Is available in your choice of Kindle
or PDF format. Go here to grab the
little monster:
Kindle edition
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
2. We're on Twitter!
We're on twitter. Follow us.
We're also on Facebook. Friend us.
And on Instagram. Instagram us.
3. Help Push Us to No. 1!
We're trying to get the October issue of
The Dinosaur Files into the no. 1 spot in
its category at the Kindle bookstore.
You can help us get to the no. 1 spot
by grabbing the little monster, posting a
review on our Kindle page, spreading the
word via social media or good old fashioned
word of mouth (i.e., tell your training partners
about it), or even -- and this is very simple --
going to our Kindle page and reading the
reviews. You also can rank the reviews.
Every time you browse one of our Kindle
pages, it helps. So be a regular Dino
browser. It makes a big difference.
4. The Simplest Weightlifting Workout in
the World!
For the past couple of weeks, I've been
following the simplest weightliftng workout
in the world -- and having lots of fun with it --
and getting stronger and faster all the time.
It's a workout that Mike Burgener recommends
for Master's weightlifters -- which is me, at
close to 60 years of age. (Close meaning just
50 days away in weightlifting years.)
You can use it with power style lifts, split
style lifts or squat style lifts.
I switched back to split style lifts last month,
so that's what I've been using.
I begin with 10 minutes of stretching and
loosening up. That always includes some work
with Indian clubs. They're great for your upper
back and shoulders. Get them from John Wood:
http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/products/classic-wooden-indian-clubs
Next, I do 6 to 8 progressively heavier singles
in the snatch. I work up to a weight that is
heavy but not my absolute max. If you
like to use percentages, maybe 92 to 95
percent of my true max.
I'm obsessive about doing these in good form.
I video tape my lifts, and I watch the video
after every lift. I always try for better and
smoother form. The goal is to make every
lift perfect.
Next, I do 6 to 8 progressively heavier singles
in the clean and jerk. Once again, I work up
to a weight that is heavy but not my actual
max. And I focus on perfect form on every
lift.
So that makes a total of 12 to 16 lifts.
And that's it.
After the clean and jerk, I call in the dogs,
put out the fire, unload the bar, put away
the plates and grab some some serious,
Dino style post-workout nutrition -- a/k/a
meat and veggies.
The entire workout takes about 45 to 60
minutes from start to finish.
It's a good program, and a fun one. Give
it a try!
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. We have some terrific training courses
available in your choice of hard-copy, PDF
or Kindle editions. I'll give you the Kindle
and hard-copy links below - for the PDF
editions, go to our products page and look
for the section of PDF courses.
1. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
Kindle edition:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
Kindle edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html
c. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 3,
"How to Use Old-School Progression
Methods for Fast and Steady Gains in
Strength, Muscle and Power"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets3_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.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: "Keep it simple,
work hard, and have fun." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
Three quick notes, and then we'll talk
training.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
Is available in your choice of Kindle
or PDF format. Go here to grab the
little monster:
Kindle edition
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
2. We're on Twitter!
We're on twitter. Follow us.
We're also on Facebook. Friend us.
And on Instagram. Instagram us.
3. Help Push Us to No. 1!
We're trying to get the October issue of
The Dinosaur Files into the no. 1 spot in
its category at the Kindle bookstore.
You can help us get to the no. 1 spot
by grabbing the little monster, posting a
review on our Kindle page, spreading the
word via social media or good old fashioned
word of mouth (i.e., tell your training partners
about it), or even -- and this is very simple --
going to our Kindle page and reading the
reviews. You also can rank the reviews.
Every time you browse one of our Kindle
pages, it helps. So be a regular Dino
browser. It makes a big difference.
4. The Simplest Weightlifting Workout in
the World!
For the past couple of weeks, I've been
following the simplest weightliftng workout
in the world -- and having lots of fun with it --
and getting stronger and faster all the time.
It's a workout that Mike Burgener recommends
for Master's weightlifters -- which is me, at
close to 60 years of age. (Close meaning just
50 days away in weightlifting years.)
You can use it with power style lifts, split
style lifts or squat style lifts.
I switched back to split style lifts last month,
so that's what I've been using.
I begin with 10 minutes of stretching and
loosening up. That always includes some work
with Indian clubs. They're great for your upper
back and shoulders. Get them from John Wood:
http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/products/classic-wooden-indian-clubs
Next, I do 6 to 8 progressively heavier singles
in the snatch. I work up to a weight that is
heavy but not my absolute max. If you
like to use percentages, maybe 92 to 95
percent of my true max.
I'm obsessive about doing these in good form.
I video tape my lifts, and I watch the video
after every lift. I always try for better and
smoother form. The goal is to make every
lift perfect.
Next, I do 6 to 8 progressively heavier singles
in the clean and jerk. Once again, I work up
to a weight that is heavy but not my actual
max. And I focus on perfect form on every
lift.
So that makes a total of 12 to 16 lifts.
And that's it.
After the clean and jerk, I call in the dogs,
put out the fire, unload the bar, put away
the plates and grab some some serious,
Dino style post-workout nutrition -- a/k/a
meat and veggies.
The entire workout takes about 45 to 60
minutes from start to finish.
It's a good program, and a fun one. Give
it a try!
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. We have some terrific training courses
available in your choice of hard-copy, PDF
or Kindle editions. I'll give you the Kindle
and hard-copy links below - for the PDF
editions, go to our products page and look
for the section of PDF courses.
1. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
Kindle edition:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html
2. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
Kindle edition:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html
c. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 3,
"How to Use Old-School Progression
Methods for Fast and Steady Gains in
Strength, Muscle and Power"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets3_kindle.html
Hard-copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.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: "Keep it simple,
work hard, and have fun." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
The October Dinosaur Files on Kindle!
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
As promised, here's the link to
the October issue of the Dinosaur
Files on Kindle:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
The last issue of the Dinosaur Files
on Kindle shot right up to No. 1 in
its category. Let's make that happen
for this issue, as well.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. If you prefer PDF format, here
it is:
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
***********************************************************************************
As promised, here's the link to
the October issue of the Dinosaur
Files on Kindle:
Oct Dino Files on Kindle
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016-kindle.html
The last issue of the Dinosaur Files
on Kindle shot right up to No. 1 in
its category. Let's make that happen
for this issue, as well.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. If you prefer PDF format, here
it is:
Oct Dino Files in PDF format
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
***********************************************************************************
To Squat or Not to Squat? (Part 3)
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One quick note, and then we'll talk
training.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
Here's the link for the October issue of
the Dinosaur Files in PDF format:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
If you're a Kindle fan, I have some great
news for you. We finished the Kindle edition
of the October Dino Files and we're loading
it onto our Amazon Kindle page right now.
It should be available very soon. I'll send a
link as soon as I have one.
The last issue of the Dinosaur Files raced
up to No. 1 in its category on Kindle, and
I'd love to see that happen with the
October issue.
2. To Squat or Not to Squat (Part 3)
Meanwhile, we have tons more feedback from
Dinos. Remember, this is in response to a
question from a Dino who has unusual
challenges in doing squats, including a
stiff shoulder and lumbar rotoscoliosis.
Trap Bar deadlifts work well for him, but
he wants to squat because he knows
it's a great exercise. The question is,
is it worth the risk in his case?
Or, to put it bluntly, is the squat a "must
do" exercise for everyone?
Here's what your fellow Dinos think:
1. Train Without Pain!
I think it makes good sense to do what
works without causing unnecessary pain.
Obviously, squats will cause pain, but
there is good pain and bad pain. Good
pain results in growth and bad pain
results in injuries.
If he does well with Trap Bar and some
kind of leg press, it isn't worth risking
not being able to walk just to say, "I
still squat!"
Dustin Jones
2. Stick to Front Squats!
I would say I had the perfect build/
body structure for squatting and did a
ton of it and benefited from it.
However, long term and with regard to
over-all effectiveness, I believe I would
have been better off and MILES AHEAD
if I had switched EXCLUSIVELY to front
squats and cleans once I mastered the
over-all movement of basic squatting.
I think over-all and long-term safety
and productivity favor front squatting.
Paul Murray
3. Focus On Pain-free Training
"I think he should stick with Trap Bar
deadlift and some leg presses. He has
earned the right to train pain-free and
have some fun.
At 50, after four knee surgeries,
spondylitis, and limited ROM in my
hips, I keep trying to squat and I pay
dearly for it each time for several days
afterward.
For me, a squat is a squat, as I have
tried Top Squat, Hip Belt Squat, dumbbell
squat, machine squat, bodyweight squat,
band squats -- all with basically the same
result to varying degrees: PAIN.
But I can do Trap Bar deadlifts without
debilitation, and that's what I'm sticking
to, as should he.
Dan Pekrul
4. A Hip Belt Note
Many readers suggested that our Dino use
the hip belt. That's a good choice for many
Dinos who need a squat alternative, but it's
a bad choice for THIS Dino due to his roto-
scoliosis. He tells me that the hip belt squat
twists his hips -- which twists his lower back --
which is a real problem for him.
He goes to the chiro, gets an adjustment, and
everything is fine -- and then he does the hip
belt squat and BOOM -- he needs another
adjustment.
That's another good example that what works
well for one Dino may not work as well for
another.
5. The Trap Bar
Hands down, the majority of Dinos said to stick
to the Trap Bar deadlift as the primary lower
body movement -- and I think that's excellent
advice for this Dino (and for many older Dinos).
It's perfect for him because it doesn't put any
torque on his shoulders or hips -- and it actually
helps him keep square to the bar as he does his
reps.
John Wood sells the original Gerard Trap Bar --
made in the USA. If you're looking for a Trap
Bar, go with the original:
http://www.trapbartraining.com/
We have more feedback from the Dino
Nation about the question of squats, dings,
dents and work-arounds. We'll cover this in
future emails. It's an important topic - and
one you don't often see covered.
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. Productive, effective and pain-free training
gets much more difficult as you grow older --
but Gray Hair and Black Iron will help you
sort things out:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My Dinosaur Training e-books are
a big hit with Dinos around the world,
including these little monsters:
a. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
b. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
c. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 3,
"How to Use Old-School Progression
Methods for Fast and Steady Gains in
Strength, Muscle and Power"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets3_kindle.html
All of these courses are also available
in hard copy editions and in PDF format
with immediate electronic delivery. Go
here to grab them:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train to be
strong, fit, and healthy at age 50, 60, 70,
80 and beyond." -- Brooks Kubik
***********************************************************************************
One quick note, and then we'll talk
training.
1. The October Dinosaur Files
Here's the link for the October issue of
the Dinosaur Files in PDF format:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_october2016.html
If you're a Kindle fan, I have some great
news for you. We finished the Kindle edition
of the October Dino Files and we're loading
it onto our Amazon Kindle page right now.
It should be available very soon. I'll send a
link as soon as I have one.
The last issue of the Dinosaur Files raced
up to No. 1 in its category on Kindle, and
I'd love to see that happen with the
October issue.
2. To Squat or Not to Squat (Part 3)
Meanwhile, we have tons more feedback from
Dinos. Remember, this is in response to a
question from a Dino who has unusual
challenges in doing squats, including a
stiff shoulder and lumbar rotoscoliosis.
Trap Bar deadlifts work well for him, but
he wants to squat because he knows
it's a great exercise. The question is,
is it worth the risk in his case?
Or, to put it bluntly, is the squat a "must
do" exercise for everyone?
Here's what your fellow Dinos think:
1. Train Without Pain!
I think it makes good sense to do what
works without causing unnecessary pain.
Obviously, squats will cause pain, but
there is good pain and bad pain. Good
pain results in growth and bad pain
results in injuries.
If he does well with Trap Bar and some
kind of leg press, it isn't worth risking
not being able to walk just to say, "I
still squat!"
Dustin Jones
2. Stick to Front Squats!
I would say I had the perfect build/
body structure for squatting and did a
ton of it and benefited from it.
However, long term and with regard to
over-all effectiveness, I believe I would
have been better off and MILES AHEAD
if I had switched EXCLUSIVELY to front
squats and cleans once I mastered the
over-all movement of basic squatting.
I think over-all and long-term safety
and productivity favor front squatting.
Paul Murray
3. Focus On Pain-free Training
"I think he should stick with Trap Bar
deadlift and some leg presses. He has
earned the right to train pain-free and
have some fun.
At 50, after four knee surgeries,
spondylitis, and limited ROM in my
hips, I keep trying to squat and I pay
dearly for it each time for several days
afterward.
For me, a squat is a squat, as I have
tried Top Squat, Hip Belt Squat, dumbbell
squat, machine squat, bodyweight squat,
band squats -- all with basically the same
result to varying degrees: PAIN.
But I can do Trap Bar deadlifts without
debilitation, and that's what I'm sticking
to, as should he.
Dan Pekrul
4. A Hip Belt Note
Many readers suggested that our Dino use
the hip belt. That's a good choice for many
Dinos who need a squat alternative, but it's
a bad choice for THIS Dino due to his roto-
scoliosis. He tells me that the hip belt squat
twists his hips -- which twists his lower back --
which is a real problem for him.
He goes to the chiro, gets an adjustment, and
everything is fine -- and then he does the hip
belt squat and BOOM -- he needs another
adjustment.
That's another good example that what works
well for one Dino may not work as well for
another.
5. The Trap Bar
Hands down, the majority of Dinos said to stick
to the Trap Bar deadlift as the primary lower
body movement -- and I think that's excellent
advice for this Dino (and for many older Dinos).
It's perfect for him because it doesn't put any
torque on his shoulders or hips -- and it actually
helps him keep square to the bar as he does his
reps.
John Wood sells the original Gerard Trap Bar --
made in the USA. If you're looking for a Trap
Bar, go with the original:
http://www.trapbartraining.com/
We have more feedback from the Dino
Nation about the question of squats, dings,
dents and work-arounds. We'll cover this in
future emails. It's an important topic - and
one you don't often see covered.
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. Productive, effective and pain-free training
gets much more difficult as you grow older --
but Gray Hair and Black Iron will help you
sort things out:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My Dinosaur Training e-books are
a big hit with Dinos around the world,
including these little monsters:
a. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1.
"Exercises, Workouts and Training
Programs"
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html
b. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 2,
"How Strong Are You?"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html
c. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 3,
"How to Use Old-School Progression
Methods for Fast and Steady Gains in
Strength, Muscle and Power"
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets3_kindle.html
All of these courses are also available
in hard copy editions and in PDF format
with immediate electronic delivery. Go
here to grab them:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train to be
strong, fit, and healthy at age 50, 60, 70,
80 and beyond." -- Brooks Kubik
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