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| A high-quality Olympic barbell is a gem of a tool. But what was it like to train with old time barbells and dumbbells? |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Two quick notes and then we'll talk iron -
as in, what we can learn from old time
barbells.
Notice that I didn't say "old time strong-
men."
I said "old time barbells."
Yes, they can tell us things - sometimes,
very important things.
1. Going Fast!
We're near the end of the run for Strength,
Muscle and Power - and I'm not going to
print any more for awhile - maybe not
ever - so now's the time to grab a copy:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
It's a great book, but we're planning to
move out West - as in, to the Pacific
Northwest, and I can't print another
couple of thousand copies and bring
them with us. So, I repeat - if you
want a copy, grab it now!
2. The January Dinosaur Files
Go here to grab the January issue of
The Dinosaur Files. You also can grab
the Oct, Nov and Dec issues:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html
In the meantime, I'm pounding the key-
board to finish the Feb issue. So if you
have any comments or feedback - or an
update on your training - send it on it!
3. What We Can Learn from Old Time
Barbells
Back in the old days - as in, 120 to 150
years ago, there were no mass-market
barbells.
Back then, if you wanted a barbell, you
had to have it made at a local iron foundry.
And the barbells they made were very
basic.
Instead of plates, they had globes at the
end.
Hence the term "globe barbells."
Sometimes the barbell and the globes were
one solid piece of iron.
Other times, the globes could be screwed
onto the bars. That gave you the ability to
adjust the weight on the bar by changing
from one globe to another.
Of course, you never had too many globes,
so you could only make a couple of weight
adjustments - with big jumps from one
weight to another.
The globes came in different sizes. Most of
them were round spheres - but some were
egg-shaped.
Some were made of iron. Others were made
of other metals.
And some globes were empty - so you could
add weight by filling them with sand or lead
shot.
But that was a time-consuming and cumber-
some process.
So the bottom line was this - your barbells
were pretty much fixed weight barbells.
If you had a couple of them, you might have,
for instance, a 60 pound barbell, a 100 pound
barbell, and a 150 pound barbell.
Or you might have a 100, 150 and 200 pound
barbell.
Or a 42 pound barbell, a 96 1/4 pound barbell,
and a 116 1/2 pound barbell.
Remember, these were essentially one of a
kind items - so there's no reason to believe
they weighed an exact amount.
And here's something else to consider.
There were no uniform specifications for the
size, thickness and length of a barbell.
So you might have barbells that were of
different lengths - and different thicknesses.
Your 80 pound barbell might be one inch
thick and four feet long.
But your 117 pound barbell might be 1 1/2
inches thick and six feet long.
In other words, every barbell was different
from every other barbell.
And sometimes, they were VERY different.
The same was true of dumbbells.
And your dumbbells might or might not come
in pairs.
Ditto for kettlebells and ring-weights.
And if you DID have pairs, they might not
be an exact match.
In short, all your weights were more or less
unique.
And adding more weight was difficult or even
impossible.
If that were the case, what would you do with
them?
How would you train?
Think about it - and send me a short email if
you have any ideas about it.
I'll share your feedback tomorrow - and
also share what I think the answer is.
In fact, I'll share what the answer MUST have
been - and explain why it was a GOOD thing
to train with such challenging equipment.
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. Remember to grab a copy of Strength
Muscle and Power while the little monster
is still here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
And remember to grab the Jan issue of
The Dinosaur Files:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses --
including 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/oldschool_01-kindle.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day
"Study old time barbells and dumbbells
closely and carefully. They can teach you
a lot."
- 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:
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