Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Today’s email comes from the world-famous Dinosaur Research Clinic, a/k/a, your garage, basement, backyard or gym. Because when it comes right down to it, the Dinosaur Research Clinic is wherever someone is training Dino-style – hard, heavy and serious.
Anyhow, we’ve been talking about once per week workouts. Some of you have sent emails saying, “That’s not for me.”
Others have sent emails saying, “That’s exactly what I do, and it works GREAT for me!”
And still more have said, “That’s interesting – I’m going to try it and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, from the other end of the spectrum, here’s an email from yet another of our far-flung correspondents and research directors. His name is Greg Lytton, and he’s following a different spin on abbreviated training and Dinosaur workouts:
“G'day Brooks,
I was hoping you could take a look at my training program and give me your opinion.
I have been working out 3 times a week, 4 exercises per session but need to change due to lifting partner’s new job so I thought this might be OK.
WEEK 1
All exercises 5 x 5 warm-up and 5 x 3 work sets
Mon: Squats
Tues: Dumbbell Incline Press
Wed: Dumbbell Rows
Thurs: Deadlift
Fri: Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Plus gut and neck work on alternating days
WEEK 2
All exercises 5 x 5 warm-up and 5 x 1 work sets
Mon: Bottom Position Squats
Tues: Bottom Position Bench Press
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Power Clean & Press (love 'em)
Fri: Pull Ups with weight
Plus gut and neck work on alternating days
What do you think?
Regards,
Greg Lytton”
Hi Greg!
G’day right back to you – and the same to everyone who is reading this.
I like your program, and I think it would work well for you. It is similar to some of the Doug Hepburn programs detailed in my Doug Hepburn training course. It’s also similar to some of the workouts in Gray Hair and Black Iron.
You’re doing some interesting things:
1. Training four and five days per week, but using one primary exercise per workout.
2. Multiple sets of low reps.
3. Using different set/rep systems in week 1 and week 2.
4. Using different exercise in week 1 and week 2.
5. Combining regular style exercises with bottom position movements (a really good way to train, as detailed in Dinosaur training and in Strength, Muscle and Power).
6. Training five days in week one and four days in week two. Note that you could also do a three-day per week program in week three, so you would go from five days to four days to three days and then repeat the cycle.
7. Using a good mixture of different movements – all of them heavy compound exercises.
Keep in touch, and let me know how you do! And thanks for sharing your program with your fellow Dinosaurs!
To everyone out there – thanks for reading today’s email message, and as always – if you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more information on getting the most out of your strength and power training, try the following resources from the Dinosaur Bookstore:
1. The Dinosaur Files newsletter
2. Strength, Muscle and Power
3. Gray Hair and Black Iron: Secrets of Successful Strength Training for Older Lifters
4. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development
5. History’s Strongest Men and How They Trained: No. 1 – Doug Hepburn
