Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I rec’d an email this week that floored me. Someone wanted to know the best diet and training program to get “buff.”
Now, “buff” is a word we don’t hear very often at Dino Headquarters. In fact, I’ve been known to say very unkind things about “Johnny Buffbody and his beach-boy bunny-blasting brethren.”
I guess by “buff” the writer actually meant being lean, hard and muscular – and there’s nothing in the world wrong with lean, hard and muscular. Especially if you add “strong” to the equation.
The way to get there is by working hard to build strength and power, using the heavy, compound movements and basic training programs that I write about in my books, courses and in the Dinosaur Files newsletter.
If you want to do some cardio as well, that’s fine, but the lifting is actually more important. If you look at the old-time muscle mags (from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s), there were guys with amazing muscular development --- guys who were so lean and muscular they looked like they had been carved from granite – and they got that way with barbell training, not with cardio.
Then you tighten up your diet.
1. Totally eliminate all sugar and all sweeteners. That includes high fructose corn syrup.
1a. This means no soft drinks, no cake, no cookies, no ice cream, no donuts, no twinkies, no honey, no syrup, no jam, no jelly, etc.
2. Drop the beer, wine and any other alcoholic beverages. (If you’re an older lifter and your doctor wants you to drink red wine for heart health, talk w/ your doctor about this one. He’s probably talking about one glass of red wine with dinner.)
3. As much as possible, eliminate processed foods. Try to prepare everything from scratch. It takes more time, but the health benefits are enormous. Processed foods are loaded with salt, cheap (and bad for you) fats, and crazy chemicals.
4. Focus on protein foods and green veggies – lots and lots of green veggies.
5. Control your carbs. Many times, it works best to have carbs at breakfast and lunch, but not at dinner.
6. No more fast food. If you don’t know why this one is on the list, watch “Super Size Me” immediately.
7. Many find that reducing or eliminating grains is an important step in their diet and weight loss program. Others find that some grains are okay, but not others – or they find that whole grain products prepared at home are the way to go.
So if you want to be “buff” – oops, I mean LEAN and HARD and MUSCULAR and STRONG – that’s the way to do it.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day – and a great weekend. If you train today, make it good one.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more about diet and exercise, see Gray Hair and Black Iron – it was written for older lifters, but the advice works for lifters of all ages.
P.S. 2. My new book, Strength, Muscle and Power, has dozens of great workouts and training secrets that will help you build plenty of strength and tons of lean, hard muscle.
You can grab both of the above books at The Dinosaur Training Bookstore! Visit the Dinosaur Training website at www.brookskubik.com for more information.
