Questions About the Essential Exercises

 
Like all of the old-time champions, England's Reg Park trained hard and heavy on the basics.


Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We've been talking about the Essential
Exercises for the past couple of days,
and I've been getting lots of feedback
from the Dino Nation.

So let's cover some of the more common
questions.

Q. Why didn't Bradley J. Steiner
include deadlifts in the list of
Essential Exercises?

A. Steiner preferred stiff legged dead-
lifts. I think he liked them because John
Grimek liked them.

Also, note that the deadlift wasn't used
that much back in the 30's, 40's and
50's. Trainees focused on the squat,
instead.

Remember, that was before power-
lifting became an official sport.

Steiner liked the programs from
the 30's, 40's and 50's, so that
colored his exercise choices.

Personally, I prefer bent legged dead-
lifts. I think stiff legged deadlifts are
best done with a light weight, more
for stretching than anything else.

Q. Why didn't Steiner include Trap Bar
deadlifts in his list?

A. Because the Trap Bar hadn't been
invented then. If it had been available,
he might have urged readers to give
it a try. As you probably know, I'm a
huge fan of the Trap Bar. For more
information on the history of the Trap
Bar, and how to use it, grab John
Wood's new Trap Bar Training
Guide
:

http://www.brookskubik.com/trapbartraining.html

If the Trap Bar had been available
back in the day, it might have been
more popular than the squat for
gaining weight and muscle mass.

Think how that would have changed
the history of the Iron Game!

Q. What about dips? Shouldn't they
be on the list?

A. Steiner preferred the bench press
and the dumbbell incline press.
So do I. Dips can be hard on the
shoulders. If you MUST do them,
do them slow and strict in perfect
form - and do NOT go too low.

Stop when your upper arms are
parallel to the floor.

The push-up variations in Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training are safer than
dips, and build plenty of strength
and muscle:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html

Steiner liked push-ups a lot. He
thought they were better than bench
pressing for martial artists. (Steiner
was a martial arts teacher as well
as a weight training author.)

Q. Steiner's list of Essential Exercises
is pretty old school.

A. That's right - which is why I like it,
and why I shared it with you!

We have more questions, but I'll
save them for another email. In
the meantime, I hope you enjoyed
these.

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. I cover the best exercises for
older trainees in Gray Hair and
Black Iron:

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

2.  My other books and courses are
right here at Dino Headquarters:

Hard-copy and PDF

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

Kindle

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Treat
your barbell like it was made out
of gold - because it is!" - Brooks
Kubik


 
If you enjoyed this Blog post, you'll love my Dinosaur Training books and courses. You can get them in PDF and hard-copy editions at my website or in Kindle editions at Amazon. 


For a complete list of my Kindle books, go here: http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html