Hail to the Dinosaurs!
The light changed, and a tall, broad-shouldered
man with dark hair stepped into the street and
began to cross it.
He was exactly half-way across when a dark car
came speeding through the intersection.
He barely saw it -- and could do nothing more
than roll with the impact as best he could.
The car knocked him high into the air, twisting
and turning and spinning.
He crashed back onto the sidewalk, landing on
his head and shoulders.
It knocked him cold.
But when he came to, he was fine.
Nothing broken.
And especially -- no broken neck.
The thick muscles of his neck, traps and shoulders
had cushioned the impact of the landing, acting as
shock absorbers that protected the fragile bones.
That's a true story. It happened to one of your
fellow Dinosaurs.
In fact, I know of about a dozen Dinosaurs who
are alive today -- healthy and whole -- because
they had similar neck, trap and shoulder
development. They all survived potentially fatal
or crippling accidents or falls. Which just
goes to show you -- accidents can happen to
anyone, at any time. You need to be ready.
And that's why I always urge readers to finish
their workouts with some neck work.
It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I like to
do back neck extensions with a heavy-duty
head-strap. Two or three sets of 10 to 15 reps
will do the trick. Start light and build up
slowly and sensibly.
For the front of the neck, lie on a bench, place
a folded towel on your forehead, and hold a
barbell plate on the towel. Move your head up
and down with neck power alone. Same sets and
reps, and again, start LIGHT!
For your traps, do deadlifts, heavy partial
deadlifts and shrugs.If you enjoy power cleans,
power snatches, high pulls, and similar movements,
then do those.
The Hise shrug is another good one for trap
development. So are one arm deadlifts.
For your shoulders, do military presses, push
presses, dumbbell presses, one arm dumbbell
presses, and see-saw presses.
For more detail about how to put it all together
into a complete workout, grab the following
resources:
1. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
2. Chalk and Sweat: Dinosaur Training Workouts for
Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced Lifters
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
3. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
Remember, the life you save by building a strong,
thick, powerful neck will be your own!
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. All of the above goes double for athletes, martial
artists, servicemen, law enforcement personnel and fire-
fighters. We've covered neck work and training programs
for those who fall into these groups in back issues of
the Dinosaur Files newsletter. If you missed them, you
can grab the complete 12 issue set for 2010 to 2011
right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html
