Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of the ways to kick your training
into maximum overdrive is to try something
new.
And one of the best things to try is a
Dino-style power rack training program.
If you use it the right way, the power
rack is a growing machine!
I should know -- because power rack training
made me grow like nothing I'd ever tried.
In my late 20's, I weighed 180 pounds,
and was able to do a touch and go bench
press with 355 pounds any day of the week.
My best in competition (at a local meet
where they let us do a touch and go rather
than a paused lift), I did 365. That was
my best back then.
I did 315 x 5 in the squat. I don't recall
if I ever did singles in the squat back then.
I don't think. If I did, my top squat was about
the same as my bench press.
Try as I might, I could not increase any of
my lifts. The bench stayed the same for years --
and so did the squat -- and so did my bodyweight.
At about that point in time, the owner of the gym
asked a retired steel worker named Carl Flannigan
to build an extra big, extra heavy duty power rack
for the gym.
Carl, by the way, was nicknamed "Big Carl," and he
deserved the nickname. He was a mountain of a man,
and even in his late 60's he was handling huge
weights in partial movements on the leg press
machine and in quarter squats. And when he shook
hands with you, it felt like you were shaking hands
with a gorilla.
Anyhow, Carl built a MONSTER power rack -- and it
stood there unused by anyone other than Carl for
a very long long time.
And then one day i read an article about power rack
training, and decided to give it a try -- and so
I started to experiment with different ways of using
the power rack.
I soon discovered that much of what was written about
power rack training didn't work very well. But I also
discovered some unique twists on rack training that
worked GREAT.
And suddenly, I started to grow bigger and stronger.
My weight climbed up to 188 -- and then 193 -- and
then 198 -- 202 -- 207 -- 210 -- 220 and up to 225.
My bench shot up to a 400 pound touch and go lift --
and then a paused bench in competition with 396 --
which I later increased to 407 (in competition).
I started doing bottom position bench presses (starting
from a dead stop with the bar positioned on pins set
so it was just brushing my chest when I wedged myself
underneath it -- and worked up to 435 pounds using a
3" thick barbell.
And my squat increased way more than my bench press.
It went all the way up to 605 pounds for a single.
And it was all the result of heavy rack work -- or
rather, the result of heavy DINO-STYLE rack work.
I detail my favorite systems of power rack training
in two books:
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
If strength and power is your thing -- or if you're
looking to build some serious muscle mass in 2012 --
then give Dino-style power rack training a try. You
may find (as I did), that it works better than anything
else you've ever tried!
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. My other books, courses, DVD's -- and sweatshirts
and hoodies (which are great for cold weather training --
are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "There's a reason why they
call it the power rack." -- Brooks Kubik
