Hail to the Dinosaurs!
It was a hot one last night.
Like much of the USA, we're in the middle of a
severe heat wave -- with the emphasis on severe.
And when I say "wave" it's really more like a
Tsunami.
The garage was hot and stifling. It felt like an
oven when I went inside.
I opened the back, trying to give the heat a way
to escape.
A hot breeze blew in to greet me.
I turned on a small fan to try to get a little more
air circulation. I was working on the “every little
bit helps” theory.
It merely circulated the hot air.
I turned on the CD player, popped in my workout music –
the soundtrack to Rocky Balboa – and began to warm-up.
I wanted to my loose and limber for the heavy lifting
to come.
In short order, the warm-up became a HEAT UP. I was
dripping after just a minute or two.
No matter -- it was time to train.
After 10 or 15 minutes of stretching and loosening and
light drilling, I started the serious stuff
I spent the entire workout training one exercise,
which works well for an older guy -- and especially
for an older guy training in an oven.
On Sunday (three days ago), I hit front squats. That
was a good one. Do a hard session of front squats and
you'll work the heck out of pretty much everything from
your toes to your eyeballs.
Last night, it was time for snatches. I did them split
style. You know -- the kind where you start with the bar
on the platform, pull high and hard, and split your legs
fore and aft, catching the bar overhead as you drop into a
deep split position. You recover, stand tall, and lower
the bar. That’s one rep.
It’s one of the most explosive, dynamic, breathtaking
movements in all of sport – and it’s tough to do. Hard
to learn. To get the knack of it, you need to drill it
over and over. Many lifts. Each one hard and fast,
working to get your timing absolutely perfect.
Precise footwork. And above all else -- speed!
They ran tests to determine the fastest athlete at the
Olympic games in 1936, 1948 and 1952. The tested the
speed of movement of sprinters, jumpers, hurdlers,
boxers, wrestlers, gymnasts, and throwers. Each time,
the fastest of all the athletes was a weightlifter –
performing a split style snatch.
All of which makes it an interesting movement to train
hard and heavy in an oven-hot garage.
I always take a steel water bottle out to the garage.
It’s a 20 oz. bottle. I usually go through the entire
bottle during a workout.
Last night I went through two bottles.
And I’m sure I’m not alone. I’m sure that all of you
reading this message are hitting your own hard, heavy
workouts – and given the hot weather we’ve been having,
I bet that many of you are making them double water
bottle workouts.
Building strength, muscle and power the old-fashioned is
never easy. In the summer time, it’s harder than ever.
But if it were easy, there wouldn’t be much point to it.
As always, thanks for reading – and if you train today,
make it a double water bottle workout!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more tips about effective strength training for
older lifters, grab a copy of GRAY HAIR AND BLACK IRON. It's
been one of our most popular books ever since it hit the
market in December 2009. It's mandatory reading for anyone
over the age of 35 -- and probably qualifies as mandatory
reading for those of you who are younger, as well:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2 If you enjoy the Dinosaur Training Blog, be sure to
scroll through the archives. You'll find a ton of great
information about sane, sensible, productive physical training.
