Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Nowadays, everyone knows what a barbell is,
and everyone knows how to perform the basic
exercises: curls, presses, bench presses and
so on.
It's hard to imagine a time when things were
different. But not too long ago most people
had never seen a barbell -- and almost no one
had any idea what to do with one.
The first plate-loading barbells were sold in
the United States beginning about 100 years
ago. Not very many were made, and not very many
were sold -- and all through the 1920's, 30's
and 40's, barbells remained pretty rare, pretty
unusual and pretty mysterious.
And that raised an interesting issue for the
barbell manufacturers.
When they shipped the barbell, it was usually
going to someone who had absolutely no idea
what to do with it.
So when they shipped the barbell, they had to
include a course that told you (1) how to
perform the basic exercises, and (2) how to
put them together into a training program.
That's exactly what the Milo Barbell Company
did -- and later, it was what the York Barbell
Company did.
And amazingly, the men and boys (and the
occasional woman or girl) who ordered a barbell
were able to follow the course well enough to
get some pretty good results.
Take Harry Paschall, for example. Farm kid from
North Central Ohio -- orders a Milo barbell back
around 1914 or 1915 -- and gains 25 pounds of
muscle in one year. Goes on to become a lifting
champion -- and later, to write his own books
and courses about barbell training.
And there were many other similar cases. Young
men and boys who ordered a barbell, followed the
little training course that came with it -- and
gained 20, 30, 40, 50 or more pounds of muscle
and tons of strength.
In fact, the average results from barbell training
"back in the day" were little short of amazing --
and they were (get this) BETTER than the average
results achieved by modern trainees -- most of whom
never gain much of anything at all, give up in
disgust, and tell people "I tried that barbell
stuff, but it doesn't work."
I write about the old-school training methods in all
of my books and courses. There's a reason for that.
They have a long history of success. They've been
building strength, muscle and power for well over
100 years.
If you're tired of the modern stuff that just doesn't
seem to work, give old-school methods a try. You
won't regret it for a second.
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. CHALK AND SWEAT contains over 50 detailed training
programs -- 10 for beginners, 10 for intermediates, 10
for advanced men -- and 20 different programs for building
maximum strength and muscle mass. All of them old-school,
and all of them very, very effective:
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
P.S. 2 My other books and courses are available right
here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3 If you'd like to learn more about the old York courses -- or grab them, in a deluxe, modern reprint edition -- go here:
http://www.superstrengthtraining.com/bob_hoffman.html
