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| World and Olympic champion John Davis hits a heavy clean and jerk while training at Muscle Beach. Davis began his training career by doing bodyweight exercises at a local park, and later progressed to basic barbell and dumbbell workouts. It must have been a good way to get started, because Davis ended up winning the World Championship at age 17 - beating not one, but two former Olympic gold medal winners! |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I've been getting a number of questions
about training programs for beginners,
and it reminded me about my time in
a beginner's judo class.
This was more than 50 years ago, but
I recall parts of it very vividly. Read on,
and you'll see why.
It was a beginner's class for young boys.
Most of us were 9 or 10 years old.
The instructor was tall, strong and
athletic.
He was very good at judo, but he was
very bad at teaching it.
We started with basic break-falls, and
forward and backward rolls - which made
sense - and gradually we progressed to
some simple leg sweeps and hip throws.
At some point after we learned a few
basic throws, the instructor sparred
with each of us.
The other kids formed a circle, kneeling,
to watch the action.
The problem was, the instructor didn't
hold back.
Not even when he was sparring with a
9 year old kid who had just a few short
weeks of training under his belt.
When I sparred with him, he hit me
with a leg sweep that turned me com-
pletely upside down and shot me up
into the air like a rocket.
I went up so hard and so fast that my
right foot hit him in the jaw - just like
an upside down karate kick - and he
dropped me and went backwards one
way and I went flying the other way
far across the mat.
It's a good thing I managed a proper
break-fall or I probably would have
broken my neck. I was skinny as a
twig then, and my neck measured
almost nothing at all.
I think he thought I "kicked" him on
purpose. I don't recall sparring with
him a second time, which was probably
a good thing for both of us.
I do remember him sparring with one
of the other kids, though.
He threw the kid hard, and the kid
landed wrong, and he dislocated his
shoulder.
Then he lay on the mat, screaming in
pain for what seemed like an eternity
before the EMT guys arrived, put him
on a stretcher, and carried him out to
the ambulance.
He was still screaming as the doors
closed behind them.
That was my last judo class.
My parents wouldn't let me go back.
And honestly - I didn't want to go back.
Like I said, the instructor was good at
judo - but bad at teaching it.
And many people are the same when
it comes to strength training and
muscle-building.
They're good at doing it - but bad at
teaching it.
They give beginners training programs
that are too hard, too advanced and
way too demanding.
And the newbie ends up sore as heck,
and feeling like he got hit by a Mack
truck.
Usually, the newbie quits.
The RIGHT way to get started is
much different.
You begin with VERY EASY workouts,
and you slowly, gradually and pro-
gressively make them harder and
more difficult.
The beginner workouts in Chalk and
Sweat are perfect. There are 10 of
them - and they'll help any beginner
ease into training.
Because that's how you do it.
You EASE into training.
You start light and easy - and you work
up from there.
I expect that you learn judo the same
way - as opposed to the way I learned
judo - which didn't work very well.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Go here to grab your copy of Chalk
and Sweat:
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -
and links to all of my e-books on Kindle
- 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:
"You don't tackle a black belt
on day one in judo class - and
you don't train like a lifter with
10 year's experience on day
one of your strength training
program."
- Brooks Kubik
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