Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Several days ago I sent you an email where I mentioned the four books on weight lifting and weight training – the ONLY four books – in the local public library when I was a kid.
They were:
1. Weight Training for Athletes, by Bob Hoffman.
2. Weight Training in Athletics, by James A. Murray and Dr. Peter Karpovich
3. Bodybuilding and Self-Defense, by Myles McCallum (no relation to John McCallum, who wrote the “Keys to progress” series for Strength and Health magazine)
4. The Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, by John Jesse (A great book that is still available from my buddy Bill Hinbern at the Superstrength Books website.)
In response, one of our readers – who happens to be almost exactly my age – sent in the following message:
“OMG! Guess what tattered, scotch taped treasures are on my bookshelf. Numbers 1,2,3! Along with two paperbacks from I wanna say ARCO books, Weight Training and Weight Lifting by George Kirksey, and the other on basic bodybuilding.
I got bit by the bug at 15 in 1972 when I got tired of being 135 pounds at 5 -11. I was able to find these materials in the public library and then ordered copies in the mail and STILL have 'em.
The Henry Wittenberg routine in Murray and Karpovich and their basic plan for football is what I started with, along with the little booklet that came with my Montgomery Ward vinyl and cement 110 pound barbell!
[Note – I had the same barbell set, and the same booklet – or close to. Mine came from Sears. We all did. Brooks]
Wound up a modest athletic success within a year despite the disapproval of the coaches who preached the dreaded condition of being "muscle bound." One coach drove the point home by telling us to observe the locked biceps/forearms in "greasers" (you know, Fonzie types) who acquired the malady from the isometric effect of prying off hubcaps they were stealing!
Anyway these old books are like the Rosetta Stone of training
Worked then, works now!
Glenn P.
Glenn – Thanks for your feedback. I can just picture the coach warning his athletes about the dreaded “greaser” biceps and forearms. I guess he never figured all that grip strength would ever come in handy on the football field or the wrestling mat!
The Henry Wittenberg program was a good one – after all, he was an Olympic Gold medal winner and possibly the greatest wrestler of his generation. Whittenberg trained with the USA weightlifting team at the Olympics, and the lifters were amazed at how strong he was. 3 x 10 in the military press with 180 isn’t half bad for a 191 pound wrestler! I’ll send it out to everyone in a separate email a little later in the day, so be looking for it.
As Glenn put it so very well: WORKED THEN -- WORKS NOW!
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day. If you train today, make it a good one – and work on building those dreaded greaser biceps and forearms!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. I really wish I had the following when I was a kid -- they would have given me a goldmine of training information:
1. Chalk and Sweat: Dinosaur Training Workouts for Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced Lifters – the brand new book from Dino Headquarters, and already a huge hit with Dinos around the world:
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
2. The Dinosaur Files newsletter – 20 pages, hard copy, mailed to you monthly, with great photos and full of terrific training articles. Sub now, and ask me to start your subscription as of May 2010 so that you don’t miss an issue of this great newsletter:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html
3. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development – the book that started the Dinosaur Revolution – the book they call “the bible of strength training”:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
4. Strength, Muscle and Power – a great new book from Dinosaur Headquarters – it’s an encyclopedia of strength training and muscle building secrets – with dozens of hard-hitting, no nonsense training programs for cellar-dwellers and garage gorillas of all ages:
http://brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
5. Gray Hair and Black Iron: Secrets of Successful Strength Training for Older Lifters – the first book ever written about serious strength training for older lifters – featuring more than 50 workouts specially designed for older lifters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
6. History’s Strongest Men and How They trained – Vol 1: Doug Hepburn. A big 32 page training course covering the life and lifting – and the training programs – of the Canadian Hercules, Doug Hepburn:
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
