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| World and Olympic champion John Davis trained with multiple sets of low reps. He favored 8 x 2 and 5 x 5 for most of his exercises. In his prime, he was hailed as The Strongest Man in the World - at a bodyweight of just 225 to 235 pounds. |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Two quick notes, and then we'll talk iron.
1. Strength, Muscle and Power
We're getting near the end of the road
for this little monster - and because we're
moving soon, I'm not going to do a second
printing - so if you want a copy (and you
should), grab it now:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
2. Peary Rader's IronMan
I have plenty of old issues of Peary Rader's
IronMan magazine for sale - from the 50's
through the 80's. Shoot me an email if
you're interested.
IronMan was probably THE BEST of the
old-time magazines - and today, the
old issues from Peary Rader's era are
getting awfully hard to find.
I'm offering them to the Dinos because
I want YOU to have a chance to grab
and read them. They're something very
special.
3. The Magic Number
Over the past couple of weeks I sent
you a number of emails about Bradley
J. Steiner's advice on sets and reps for
strength and power training.
You may have noticed that the total
number of reps in any of his suggested
set/rep schemes was pretty low compared
to modern programs with super-high sets
and reps.
That's consistent with most old-school
training programs. The volume for any
one exercise - and for the total workout -
was pretty low compared to most modern
programs.
Bob Hoffman wrote an article once where
he noted that 15 reps in any exercises
was about the right number for most
trainees.
Of course, there were different ways to
get there.
You could do 1 x 15 - which was okay for
beginners, but it didn't let you use heavy
enough weights for real progress.
Hoffman thought 1 x 8 followed by 1 x 7
was better.
Same number of reps, but you were able
to train heavier.
Or, you could do 1 x 10, then add weight
to the bar and do a second set of 1 x 5.
Or you could do 3 x 5. (Or 5 x 5 with two
progressively heavier warm-up sets - for
a total of 15 reps on your three work
sets).
Or, to go even heavier, 5 x 3.
5/4/3/2/1 also was good - and look what
it added up to (15 reps).
You also could try 2 x 8 - which adds up
to 16, but that's close enough.
Anyhow, to Hoffman, the point was clear.
It doesn't take "a lot" of reps to get a
good workout.
It takes concentrated, focused effort for
about 15 total work reps on any one
exercise.
That was good advice back in the 40's
and 50's - and it's still good advice
today.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Here's the link again for Strength,
Muscle and Power:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
P.S. 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. 2. Thought for the Day
"Focused, ferocious effort and total,
complete concentration are the keys
to strength training success."
-Brooks Kubik
BEFORE YOU LEAVE . . .
We have more than 25 Dinosaur Training books and courses in the Kindle
bookstore - here are several of them - head on over and take a look at the others:
