It's Friday, it's sunny, and I'm looking forward to a great workout in the outdoor training area here at Dino Headquarters! |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I've been getting a ton of questions from
Dinos around the world, and thought I'd
share some of them with you -- along
with my answers.
1. You're a former bench press champion
and record holder. Why don't you write a
course about bench pressing?
A. I just wrote a long course on the bench
press. But I don't sell it. It's only available
at The Iron League, which is a wonderful
member's only strength training archive
developed by my good friend, John Wood.
I've also allowed John to upload five of my
original Dinosaur Training DVD's, as well
as all seven of my Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training DVD's. They're not all available
yet, but several are. And in the meantime,
there's a ton of other great stuff at The
Iron League:
http://www.ironleague.com/
2. When you outline a program where the
trainee does 5 x 5 with one heavy set, what
weight do you use on the warm-up sets? If
the top set is 100%, what are the percentages
for the warm-up sets?
A. Try 60/70/80/90/100 percent. If you are
doing an exercise like squats or deadlifts where
you need to start lighter and do more warm-up
sets, then try 30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100
percent. I know that's 8 x 5, but the extra
warm-up sets are just that - warm-up sets -
and they won't tire you out or cut into your
recovery.
3. I dropped off your email list. What happened?
A. I don't know. People sometimes drop off the
list and we don't know why. It's either something
to do with our email service or its something at
your end. One reader changed mobile devices
recently, and doesn't get the emails any more.
I send emails every day other than Sunday, so
if you miss an email, there's a glitch somewhere.
Go to my website and sign back up -- and check
your junk mail settings, because they change
sometimes and you may need to put us on
your white list.
As a back-up, I post every email I send at the
Dinosaur Training Blog. If you miss an email, go
to the Blog to catch up. You can access the Blog
from my website. Email me if you can't find the
link.
I'm also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at
"Brooks Kubik." I share links to my blog posts
on Facebook and Twitter, so those are great
ways to stay in contact. Look for #brookskubik
or #dinosaurtraining.
Also . . . join the new Strength Secrets Face-
book group - I post links to my Blog posts and
daily emails there:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/strengthsecrets/
4. I'm a young woman. How should I get started
in strength training?
A. Women can and should train exactly the same
as men. See Chalk and Sweat, and Dinosaur
Training Secrets, Vols. 1 and 3 for training
programs for beginners.
5. Which is better for upper body muscle mass --
the bench press or the push press?
A. The bench press will build more mass, but
the push press will build more power and is a
better movement for athletes in most sports.
That said, don't do one or the other. Do BOTH!
6. I recall that Trudi challenged you to try a
vegetarian diet for 30 days - back in August
of last year. How did that go?
It worked very well. We learned to cook and
prepare tons of delicious new (to us) dishes.
So we stayed on the new diet.
We both lost weight - and we both feel great.
In fact, my goal for 2018 is to be stronger
at age 61 than I was in my early 50's - while
weighing less - and doing it on a whole food,
plant-based diet - just to prove that I can do
it.
For me, eye health is a priority because I
have glaucoma - and after as few months
on the diet, I had an eye exam and got the
best results in the past 15 or so years. One
of my primary tests came back as essentially
normal - which is a huge improvement. And
I think the new diet was responsible.
I'll be doing a more detailed report on the
experiment. I know many of you are very
interested in seeing what happened and
how we have been doing things.
In the meantime, check out my Facebook
and Instagram pages for photos of my
meals.
You'll see tons of delicious vegetarian
dishes.
7. Do you like body rows with rings?
A. Yes, and I cover them in Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training -- along with tons of other great exercises
with rings (and with ropes, as well). Many Dinos
like body rows better than any other rowing
exercise.
There have been about a zillion other questions
this week, but we'll have to leave it at seven for
now.
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. Go here to grab Chalk and Sweat, Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training, Knife Fork Muscle and my
new Dinosaur Training Secrets courses:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 2. Remember to check out The Iron
League -- it's really good:
http://www.ironleague.com/
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day:
"There's never one RIGHT way to do
something -- but there are plenty
of WRONG ways."
- Brooks Kubik
BEFORE YOU LEAVE . . .
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