Hail to the Dinosaurs!
It was a pleasant day in Louisville. Somewhere
between mild and springlike (on the one hand)
and warm (on the other hand).
Good lifting weather. Not too hot -- and not too
cold.
About 6:15 in the evening, I dressed for battle.
Black sweats, blue t-shirt, Tommy Kono knee
bands (a must for older lifters), and lifting
shoes.
Grabbed the workout journal I had logged in the
exercises, wts., sets and reps for the workout
half an hour earlier, so I knew exactly what I
was going to do.
Filled the water bottle with filtered tap water
from the kitchen sink, gave Trudi a kiss as I
passed her in the kitchen, and headed outside.
She had already finished her workout. A long
bicycle ride and a weight workout at the gym,
followed by a second bicycle ride. The girl
trains hard.
I went out to the garage, put on my workout
music -- the Rocky Balboa CD -- and started
to do my warm-ups.
From there, I moved to standard stuff.
Power cleans for progressively heavier sets
of 2 reps.
It felt pretty good. the bar moved fast, and
I put lots of snap into each rep.
From there, I moved to power snatches. This
was my big movement of the day. I started with
triples, and worked up to doubles -- and then
finished with singles.
These felt REALLY good. Lots of pop. I worked
hard to snap the weight up on each rep.
After the power snatches, I did snatch grip
high pulls for triples. On each rep, I worked
for perfect form with a slow start and gradual
acceleration -- finishing with full extension.
Most guys perform a sort of deadlift and heave
when they perform high pulls. They make it a
two part or two stage movement. It's not that
at all. It's a smooth movement that gets faster
and faster from start to finish.
I finished with front squats for fives, fours
and threes.
Some gut, grip and neck work, and I was done for
the day.
The whole thing took about an hour and 20 minutes.
It was a good, hard workout, and when it was over,
I was one tired Dinosaur. I felt great -- but I
was tired.
I know that I was not alone yesterday. I know that
there are Dinos around the world who hit it hard
and heavy yesterday (or the day before) -- or who
are going to hit it hard and heavy today.
The details may change from Dino to Dino. Someone
else may favor a powerlifitng type workout. Another
lifter might prefer kettlebells. A third might enjoy
bodyweight work. A third lifter may do more of an
old-school bodybuilding workout. Yet another may
concentrate on grip work. And still another may do
some heavy partials followed by Dino-style
finishers.
Some lifters may hit those 20 rep breathing squats,
some might train their squats 5 x 5 style, and
others might use lower reps.
There's no right or wrong way to build strength,
muscle and power. There's no one way to be a
Dinosaur.
As long as you're training hard and heavy -- on
abbreviated programs -- and emphasizing the big,
compound movements -- you're doing what you need
to be doing.
So start the week by giving yourself a pat on
the back. You're doing the right thing -- and
you're doing a great job!
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great
day. If you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. As I noted, there are many effective ways to
train for strength, muscle and power. You can find
them in my books and courses -- in the Dinosaur Files
newsletter -- and in the Legacy of Iron books:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
