Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I thought you’d enjoy starting the day with some feedback from one of our many hard-charging Dinos – along with a training question and my answer to it:
“Hi Brooks,
Firstly, I wanted to thank you for writing such inspirational material. I pretty much started training after stumbling across Dinosaur Training, and I have never looked back! My bodyweight has increased from 123 lbs to 165 lbs, and I can outdeadlift guys double my size at the gym!
My question is based on the deadlift, which remains my favorite exercise.
I made huge strength gains last year, increasing from 242 lbs up to 352 lbs but I seem to have hit a plateau. I was on the 5 x 5 for the majority of the year, but as the weight went up, I had to perform more warm-up sets and only one or two sets at my working weight. Would you recommend trying multiple sets of singles / doubles or would you suggest something else?
James Ralph
P.S. I LOVE the "Massifier” workout in Chalk and Sweat!”
Hi James – Thanks for your feedback, and congratulations on your training and your excellent progress over the past year. You’re doing really well. Gaining 42 pounds of muscle and upping your deadlift by over 100 pounds in one year is GREAT!
On your deadlifts, you did the right thing by adding more warm-up sets and dropping from 3 x5 work sets to 2 x 5 work sets and then 1 x 5 work set as you got stronger and added more weight to the bar. That’s exactly the way to do it: 3 work sets at first, then two work sets, and then one work set.
At your current level of development, try your choice of ONE of the following to keep the gains coming:
1. Work up to your top set for 5 reps, and then add weight and do 1 x 3, and then add weight and do a single.
2. Start doing Trap Bar deadlifts and alternate Trap Bar deads and regular deads in different workouts.
3. Work up to your top weight for 5 reps, and then do 3 x 5 or 3 x 3 deadlifts from the knees or Trap Bar deadlifts from the knees.
4. Work up to your top weight for 5 reps, then add weight and do 1 x 3, then add weight and do 3 x 2 or 3 x 1.
5. Drop back to a weight you can handle for 3 sets of 5 reps as your working weight, and go through the 3 x 5, then 2 x 5, and then 1 x 5 process all over again – using a 6 week cycle where you stay at each set/rep level for two weeks. The goal is to finish with a new PR for 1 x 5.
Also note that you may want to add an extra rest day (or two) to help recovery and recuperation.
Keep me posted on your training and your progress!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more information on how to build strength, muscle and power, head over to the Dinosaur Training bookstore:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
