Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Back in the 1950's, the top bodybuilder
in the world was a man named Reg Park --
who weighed 230 pounds of muscle, bench
pressed 500 pounds, squatted 600 pounds,
and handled 300 pounds in the press behind
neck (by some accounts, for REPS!).
When he was training to increase his
strength and muscular size, his workouts
took about one hour. John McCallum watched
him train once, and timed him. The workout
took exactly one hour and five minutes.
And he trained just three times per week.
Park's short, hard, heavy training worked
pretty well for him. He won three Mr.
Universe titles back when the Mr. Universe
title was the ultimate crown in bodybuilding.
At the same time, the top Olympic weight-
lifter in the world, Tommy Kono, was
training three times per week, for about
one hour to 90 minutes per workout. On
that schedule, he won two Olympic gold
medals and six world championships --
and set 26 World records.
Now, if people had been paying attention,
they might have noticed something. The top
bodybuilder in the world and the top weight-
lifter in the world were training just three
times per week -- for something like 60 to 90
minutes per workout -- and they were getting
GREAT results. Literally, the best results of
anyone in the world in their respective
disciplines.
Meanwhile, other bodybuilders were spending
all day training -- and other lifters were
lifting all day -- and they were doing it
day after day -- and their results were
nowhere near the results achieved by Park
and Kono, with far less weekly training.
I'm no different than anyone else. I once
did way too much training, and for a very
long time I made no gains at all. But then
I cut back (because of an unusually busy
schedule at work) -- and all of a sudden
I started to get bigger and stronger.
I cut back even more -- and made even more
progress.
I made tremendous progress on a program
where I trained three times per week, and
did just two exercises per workout -- for
just four or five sets per exercise. And I
hit each exercise only once per week.
That doesn't sound like much, but I gained
over 40 pounds of muscle on that program --
added over 200 pounds to my squat -- and pushed
my bench press to the point where I was able
to win five national championships in drug-
free competition, lifting in the sub-master's
division.
And my experience is hardly unique. I've been
writing about abbreviated training and divided
workouts for close to 20 years now -- and for
that entire period, I've been getting reports
from readers who literally can't believe how
much they gain (or how fast they gain) when
they shorten their workouts, cut out everything
but a handful of the most important exercises,
and reduce their weekly training sessions.
You can read more about abbreviated training
and divided workouts in:
1. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
2. Strength, Muscle and Power
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
3. Gray Hair and Black Iron
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
4. Chalk and Sweat
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
5. Dinosaur Bodyweight Training (which applies the
same principles to bodyweight workouts)
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
6. Dinosaur Arm Training
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_armtraining.html
Remember, if it worked for Reg Park and Tommy Kono, it
will work for YOU!
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day --
and a great weekend. If you train today, make it a good
one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's someone else who did okay with Dino-style
workouts back in the 1950's:
http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Grab the bar and squeeze
it. Show it you mean business." -- Brooks Kubik
