Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Every day I receive dozens of emails with “Will it work?” or “Can I do it?” or “What do you think about this?” training questions.
In most cases, the answer is “Try it and see.”
One of the really great things about strength training is that there’s no magic formula for getting bigger and stronger. There’s no absolutely certain “this will work for everyone” way to train. There’s no scientific research that says, “This is the correct number of sets, the correct number of reps and the correct exercises for maximum gains.”
And there never will be.
Successful strength training depends upon a wide variety of factors unique to YOU as an individual. That means that what works best for YOU may or may not be what works best for someone else.
These individual factors include:
1. Your age
2. Your training experience
3. Your training goals
4. What interests you, and what you enjoy doing
5. What you find to be challenging and rewarding
6. Any limitations from past injuries, age-related ginkiness or health problems of any kind
7. Your bone structure
8. Whether you are a hard gainer, an easier gainer or an average-speed gainer
9. What equipment is available to you
10. What sort of job you have, and how much time and energy your job and other obligations require
11. How fast you recover from a workout
12. How often you can train, and how long you can train
There are many others, but those are some of the big ones, and they serve to make the point.
There ARE, of course, some general guidelines. There are some things that work pretty well for almost everyone – and some things that don’t work very well for most people.
For example:
1. Heavy leg and back training builds strength and muscle for anyone.
2. Hard work and heavy weight works better for most people than light weights and pumping.
3. Abbreviated training works better for most trainees (especially older trainees) than longer, more frequent workouts.
4. As a general rule, most trainees do too much rather than too little.
5. As a general rule, most trainees don’t train hard enough for big gains.
6. As a general rule, most trainees do better with LESS training rather than MORE training.
7. Training with laser focus and pinpoint concentration improves your training – and your results – dramatically.
8. It’s better and cheaper to clean up your diet than to try to fix a bad diet by buying supplements.
9. No matter what anyone says, drugs are not necessary – and they’re not worth it.
10. One of the most critical parts of successful training is to stay positive, enthusiastic, motivated and happy.
11. Instead of jumping from program to program, stick to one program for a while and squeeze every last drop of benefit from it.
12. Strive to make each workout better than the one before it.
And again, I could go on and on – but those are some of the biggies.
So when you ask me, “Will it work?” or “Can I do it?” or “What do you think about this?” – this email is the answer to your question.
As always, thanks for reading, and if you train today, grab the bar, squeeze it, shake it, and make it scream for mercy!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. I file these books and courses under the “Yes, they work” category:
1. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
2. Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
3. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
4. Each and every issue of The Dinosaur Files newsletter
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html
5. History’s Strongest Men and How They Trained: No. 1 – Doug Hepburn
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
