A Question from an Older Lifter (Part 2)

 

I work hard on my front squats, but I don't do eye-balls popping out of the head death sets. At age 60, that's not necessary - and it's usually counter-productive. Older trainees should always leave some gas in the tank.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Last week i shared an email from
an older Dino.

He has a 67-year old friend who's
a longtime (50 years) trainee.

He likes doing sets of 10 to 20 reps
in the squat and he wants some
ideas on what would be a good
poundage goal for him - for 20
reps.

I replied with an email where I
asked some follow-up questions:

What does he weigh?

How tall is he?

How lean is he?

Does he do any kind of cardio
work?

What is he doing right now in
his squats (sets, reps, weight)?

Is he doing parallel or full
squats?

Is he currently doing 20-rep
squats? If not, how long has
it been since he did them?

What did he do in his 20 rep
squats when he was younger?

What does he handle in his
other big exercises?

It's hard to suggest poundage
goals in a vacuum - so I've
asked for more information.

I should also note that MANY
older Dinos have written in
to suggest that lower reps
are much easier on your
body when you're an Iron
Game veteran.

I agree with that. I know it's
true in my case.

Getting set for lift-off. I do singles in all my cleans and snatches because I want to do each rep in letter-perfect form.

Plus, when you perform lower
reps you can do every rep in
perfect form. With higher reps,
trainees tend to get tired, lose
form and start cheating.

So rather than 1 x 20 for your
working sets, I'd suggest doing
1 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps.

These should NOT be slow,
grinding, eyeballs popping
out of your head sets.

They should be challenging,
and you should need to focus
and concentrate on them, but
you should be 100% capable
of doing every rep of every set
in perfect form.

I cover this in detail in Gray
Hair and Black Iron. Pull your
copy off the bookshelf and
reread it. If you don't have a
copy, grab one today:

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

Anyhow, I'll keep you posted
when I get a response to my
questions.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Here's the link again for
Gray Hair and Black Iron:

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

2.  My other books and courses are
right here at Dino Headquarters:

Hard-copy and PDF

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

Kindle

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

3. Thought for the Day: "Whatever
your age, strength training is the
very best thing you can do for
yourself." -- Brooks Kubik

We have more than 25 Dinosaur Training books and courses in the Kindle bookstore - here are a couple of them - head on over and take a look at the others:

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

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

Rest Pause Training for Strength, Muscle and Power!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!


Everything old is new again -- and everything new is
something old.

At least, that's the way it is in strength training.

One of the new things in Olympic lifting is to do a
special kind of hypertrophy training to increase the
size and strength of the exact fast twitch muscle
fibers used in the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Here's how it works.

A lifter will train the snatch by warming up, working
up to a heavy weight, and then doing 10 - 20 heavy
snatches.

The lifter will do triples, doubles and singles.

The lifter may do wave training where he works up,
drops back down, works back up, drops back down
and works back up.

The lifter trains at a fast pace. The entire sequence
of heavy snatches may take 15 or 20 minutes.

The lifter does the same thing with the clean and
jerk, and the front squat.

Those may be the only exercises in the program.

Remember, as I said, it's a special kind of program
that targets the fast twitch fibers used in lifting.

And that's the state of the art stuff for the best
in the world in 2014.

Amazingly, lifters were doing the same sort of thing
back in the 1950's -- and the 1940's -- and the 1930's.

There were even bodybuilders who trained this way,
although they used different exercises.

And plenty of garage gorillas and cellar-dwellers did
this kind of program back in the day.

They called it Rest Pause Training -- and it built
tons of real world strength and muscle.

Nowadays, everybody does 8 x 8, 10 x 10, 12 x 12
and 20 x 20 to build muscle mass. Heck, someone
is probably teaching 50 x 50. Volume training rules.

But back in the day, men built muscle mass the old-
fashioned way -- one rep at a time.

I cover Rest Pause Training in detail in Strength,
Muscle and Power -- and the program could be the
key to the best gains of your entire life:

http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.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. For maximum gains in strength, muscle and power,
you need to support your training with the right kind
of diet and nutrition -- which is exactly what you'll
find in Knife, Fork, Muscle:

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_nutrition.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Train old-school style
with rest-pause reps -- and build real world strength
and muscle." -- Brooks Kubik

********************************************

Strength Training Research -- Is It Helpful?

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I was flipping through an issue of
Strength and Health from back in the
1960's, and I spotted an article that
summarized the then-current research
on building strength and muscle.

It was written by Dr. Richard A. Berger
of Texas Technological College, so if you
disagree with any of his conclusions,
complain to him, not to me!

Anyhow, Dr. Berger made the following
conclusions based on the state of the
research in 1965:

1. Two sub-maximal workouts per week
and one maximal training session per
week work just as well as three maximal
sessions per week.

(Note: In other words, the old Light,
Medium and Heavy system works.)

(Second note: These were total body
workouts, not divided workout programs.)

(Third note: These were based on studies
of previously untrained college students,
and in most cases the studies lasted no
longer than 12 weeks.)

2. Training with sub-maximal loads of
two-thirds max for one set, three times
per week will NOT increase strength.

(Note: Some of you will disagree with
this.)

(Second note: I thought ANYTHING worked
for previously untrained college students!)

3. The increase in strength that results from
two sub-maximal workouts per week (training
with two-thirds of your one rep max) and
one heavy workout (a single with your one
rep max) is the result of the workout where
you perform the one rep max.

(Note: In other words, if you use the Light,
Medium and Heavy system, it's the Heavy day
that builds strength.)

4. Sets of between three and ten reps are best
for building strength.

(Note: Not sure how this squares with point
no. 3.)

5. Six sets of two reps with your two rep
max is as effective as three sets of six reps
with your six rep max.

(Note: Is that a surprise?)

6. Three sets of six reps is more effective
than three sets of two reps or three sets of
ten reps.

(Note: Pair this with number five and it means
that six sets of two reps is better than three
sets of two reps.)

7. Training once per week for one set of
one rep with your one rep max will increase
strength significantly for at least six
weeks.

(Note: That one's interesting.)

(Note: I hope they were doing warm-up sets
before hitting a one rep max.)

8. Training two times per week for three sets
of ten reps is as effective as doing three
sets of ten reps three times per week.

(Note: In other words, two workouts per week
work as well as three workouts per week.)

(Second Note: Didn't I just write an email
about that?)

Put it all together and what do you get?

I'm not sure -- and that's one of the
problems with research studies based on
previously untrained college students. It
seems like everything works for them --
at least for awhile.

But here's a thought.

John Grimek started training at age 18 and
three years later he was one of the strongest
and best built men in the world. (And later he
grew enormously stronger and more muscular.)

Steve Stanko started training at age 17 or so,
and a few years later he was the strongest man
in the world -- and 80 pounds of muscle heavier
than when he started.

John Davis started training at age 15 or so,
and two years later he was the World weight-
lifting champion.

I don't know about you, but I want to train the
way Grimek, Stanko and Davis trained -- which
happens to be the Dino way: old-school, basic,
hard and heavy!

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 new John Grimek training course covers John
Grimek's life, lifting and training in detail:

http://brookskubik.com/johngrimek_course.html

P.S. 2. Black Iron: The John Davis Story is a
detailed biography of the greatest weightlifter
of his generation -- and it gives you his actual
training program from 1940 -- week by week,
exercise by exercise, set by set and rep by
rep:

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

P.S. 3. My other books and courses -- including
Dinosaur Training, Chalk and Sweat, Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training and Strength, Muscle and
Power -- are right here:

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

P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "Theory is great,
but nothing beats experience." -- Brooks Kubik

Do Five Rep Sets Build Muscle Mass?

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

A quick update, and then we're going to
talk training.

The printer finished the John Grimek course
on Friday, and it looks GREAT! I'm really
happy with how well it turned out.

We've been working like crazy ever since to
get them packed and ready to mail out to
everyone who reserved a copy.

And I've autographed so many of them that
my hand is about ready to all off. (But
that's okay -- it's for the Dinos, and that
means it's all for a good cause.)

Anyhow -- if you ordered the Grimek course,
be looking for it very, very soon!

On the training front, I've been getting a
ton of emails asking if 5 rep sets build
"hypertrophy" (which we used to call "muscle
mass" or "size" or even "bulk" when I was a
kid).

Apparently, the internet training ninjas are
saying that five rep sets build strength but
not mass. Why else would so many readers be
asking about this?

So let's clear things up.

Back in the 1920's, 30's and 40's, there were
a ton of guys who trained for Olympic
weightlifting competition rather than for
bodybuilding. They did low reps. Fives, threes,
doubles and singles. They all built plenty of
impressive muscle mass. Some men, such as Steve
Stanko gained well over 50 pounds of muscle on
a low rep weightlifting program. (Stanko went
from 140 and change to more than 220 pounds,
which is close to 80 pounds of muscle if my
math is right.)

I guess someone forgot to tell them that low
reps don't build mass.

One such man was John Davis, who favored 8 sets
of 2 reps for some of his exercises, and 5 x 5
for others. He ended up weighing 225 to 235
pounds of solid muscle, and won six World
Championships and two Olympic gold medals in
weightlifting.

It's a shame that no one ever told Davis to
do higher reps to build muscle mass.

In the 1950's, a man named Reg Park did lots
and lots of low rep training. He preferred to
do 5 x 5 on most of his exercises. On bench
presses, he did 5 x 2 ( five sets of two reps).
He ended up being the biggest, most muscular
bodybuilder of his generation -- and a three
time winner of the Mr. Universe title.

I feel sorry for Reg Park because no one told
him that he was wasting his time trying to
build muscle on 5 rep sets.

I also feel sorry for Doug Hepburn. He built
himself into 280 pounds of human gorilla by
using low reps (mainly fives, triples, doubles
and singles). And he was strong, too. He set
World records in the press and won the World
Weightlifting championship in 1953.

It's too bad poor Hepburn never knew that he
was wasting his time on all those low rep sets.

And then there was poor Paul Anderson, another
man that got old-fashioned training advice and
did lots of low rep training -- and ended up
becoming the biggest, most massive athlete
in the entire world -- and a World record
holder and World and Olympic champion.

Anderson is yet another man who never learned
that he was wasting his time doing low reps.

And there were many others who used multiple
sets of low reps to build lots and lots of
strength and mass. in fact, that was pretty
much the way they did things "back in the day."

By the time I started training -- back in the
late 1960's -- it was well-accepted that the
best programs for building muscle mass were
5 x 5, 5 x 6 and 6 x 6 programs.

Higher reps -- ten and up -- were for "cutting
down" and gaining definition.

That information came from Peary Rader's old
Iron Man magazine --- which was widely regarded
as featuring the best and most useful (and
the most honest) training advice of any magazine
of the era.

And many top writers agreed. Men like John
McCallum and Bradely J. Steiner often pushed
5 x 5 for gains in muscle mass.

Even the Russians agreed. The Russians have done
a HUGE amount of research on weight training and
weightlifting -- and they concluded that the
optimal number of reps for building muscle mass
was (get this) 4 to 6 reps!

With the advent of powerlifting, we saw plenty
of men do low rep work on squats, benches and
deadlifts (and a few assistance exercises). They
all got strong -- and most of them got pretty
thick and pretty massive. Many low rep power-
lifters carried more muscle than the top
bodybuilders of the era.

So, I'm sorry if I continue to promote 5 x 5
and similar set/rep systems for building a good
combination of strength and mass. I grew up
seeing plenty of proof of its effectiveness.

I also learned first hand that low rep training
builds mass. I went from 180 pounds to 225
pounds by doing sets of 5 reps in some of my
exercises -- and by doing singles in the others.

Low reps work because they require you to recruit
as many muscle fibers as possible to move a
heavy weight. The result is TREMENDOUS growth
stimulation.

And yes, I KNOW it's old-fashioned -- and I KNOW
the internet honchos say "it's only good for
building strength" -- but I also know the history
of the Iron Game -- and I know that multiple sets
of low to medium reps have been working for a very
long time. And they're going to continue working
for a very long time.

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. You can learn more about old-school training
for strength and muscle in the following books
and courses:

1. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and
Development

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

2. Strength, Muscle and Power

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

3. Black Iron: The John Davis Story

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

4. Chalk and Sweat

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

5. The Doug Hepburn Training Course

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "You can grill a steak and
eat dinner, or you can make things so complicated that
you starve to death. It's your choice." -- Brooks Kubik

"Bologna Sandwich!" He Said.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

In response to yesterday's email (where
I talked about gaining strength and muscular
bulk through multiple sets of low to medium
reps), I received a thoughtful and well-
written reply (with only three or four
misspelled words) from a dubious reader.

"Bolgogna Sandwich!" he said. "You need to
use high reps to build muscle."

Except he didn't say "Bologna Sandwich." He
said something else, but you can figure it
out.

So let's talk a bit about high reps and low
reps.

If anyone says that low reps do NOT build
strength AND muscular bulk, ask them this:

1. How did Reg Park become the biggest, most
massive and most powerful bodybuilder of his
era -- and the strongest -- by doing five sets
of five reps?

2. How did John Grimek become the top bodybuilder
of HIS era on a program that consisted primarily
of low rep heavy Olympic weightlifting?

3. Why are powerlifters so big and thick and
massive -- and why do they typically grow into a
higher weight class over the course of their
lifting careers?

4. Why do Olympic weightlifters grow larger,
heavier and more muscular over the course of their
lifting careers? (Cases in point: Tommy Kono started
lifting in the 148 pound class, and ended up setting
World records in the 148, 165., 181 and 198 pound
classes. John Davis grew from 180 to 230 pounds.
Norb Schemansky grew from 195 or so to 270 or 275
pounds.)

5. Why did Peary Rader (who kind of knew what he was
talking about when it came to weight training) once
note that modern powerlifting programs were equal to
or superior to bodybuilding programs when it came to
building muscle mass?

6. How did the Canadian Hercules, Doug Hepburn, build
himself into a 300 pound Weightlifting champion by
doing low reps and heavy singles on a handful of basic,
compound exercises?

Now, don't get confused. Many men have had great results
by training on 20 rep breathing squats or doing sets of
15 to 20 reps in the deadlift. But they train HARD and
HEAVY on those movements.

And please note -- I cover high rep leg and back training
in detail in Dinosaur Training, in Chalk and Sweat, and
in Strength, Muscle and Power -- as well as in Gray Hair
and Black Iron. So I'm not "agin it" IF you do it the
right way.)

I have a feeling that Mr. Bologna Sandwich was talking
about high rep sets of curls, lateral raises, French
presses, pec dec butterflies, and similar movements with
weights so light you'd have to weight them twice to get
them to register.

That kind of stuff may build some muscle and it may be
great for "cuts" -- but it doesn't build the kind of
thick, powerful, Herculean physique that heavy work on
the basic exercises will build.

So do low reps with heavy weight on the basic exercises
build muscle?

I think they do. More than that, I KNOW they do. And for
nearly 20 years I've been getting letters and feedback from
readers who say the very same thing -- because they tried
it, and it worked for 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. You can find all of the books and courses mentioned in
this email right here at Dinosaur Headquarters. Don't order
any of them if you're worried about growing out of your clothes
or needing to buy more iron for your home gym:

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