Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I've been getting quite a few questions
asking about gut, grip and neck training.
I suppoose that's only natural, since I so
often note that you should finish your
workout with gut, grip and neck work.
So let's talk about gut, grip and neck
training. We'll cover gut work today,
and grip and neck work later in the week.
DINO STYLE GUT TRAINING
If you're training hard and heavy on the
basic compound exercises (squats, deadlifts,
presses, etc.), you're already working the
muscles of your midsection pretty hard.
If you do Olympic lifting exercises, you're
working them VERY hard with front squats,
overhead squats, snatches, and jerks.
If you're doing one arm overhead exercises,
such as DB or KB presses or swings, you're
working your midsection VERY hard.
Which means, you don't need to do very much
in the way of specialized gut work to build
or maintain strong abs and obliques.
All you need are two or three sets of 8 to
15 reps at the end of your workout.
Your best exercises are:
1. Bent-legged sit-ups, preferably on a sit-up
board. As you get stronger, hold a barbell plate
on your forehead when you do them.
2. Leg raises, which can range from lying leg
raises to leg raises while lying with your head
at the high end of an incline board to hanging
leg raises.
3. Side bends holding a dumbbell in one hand.
My personal favorite is the leg raise and the
hanging leg raise. Sometimes I do the hanging
leg raise with a side to side motion or a
rotation ("window-washers").
To make them more challenging, try wearing
iron boots. If you don't have iron boots, you
can wrap some heavy log chain around each leg
(at the ankle) and secure it with a clip. Be
sure it's tight so it doesn't fall off.
Many years ago I took a length of rope and ran
through a 25 lb. Iron Grip plate and knotted it
over and over so it was extra-secure, and did lying
leg raises with the plate attached to my feet. As
I got stronger, I moved up to a 35 lb. plate.
It worked great.
If you try it, though, be sure you use a strong
rope and make it very secure. Use Boy Scout knots
or sailor knots. If you don't know Boy Scout knots,
find someone who does. You don't want the thing
falling apart on you.
As I mentioned, do a couple of sets of 8 to 15 reps.
The midsection muscles are like any other muscles. You
don't need to train them with endless sets and endless
reps.
If you need to lose some excess weight from the
midsection, follow the diet in Gray Hair and Black Iron.
It's simple, easy and effective.
Gray Hair and Black Iron also has some good ideas for
cardio training for lifters, and if you need to trim a
few pounds, the cardio work outlined in the book will work
well for you --- without affecting your strength training.
So there it is -- Dino Style Gut Training.
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. Go here to grab a copy of Gray Hair and Black Iron. And
yes, I wrote it for older lifters, but the diet, the cardio
work and the training programs will work for any lifter of
any age:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
