Dinosaur Training: John Grimek's No. 1 Exercise

A rare photo of World and Olympic champion John Davis hitting a heavy military press back way in 1940 or 1941.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Two quick notes, and then we'll talk
training.

1. The Dinosaur Files.

Here's the link to the two most recent issues
of The Dinosaur Files in PDF:

July-August Dinosaur Files

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-julyaugust2018.html

May-June Dinosaur Files

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-mayjune2018.html

2. 25 and Counting!

Speaking of good reads, we offer 25 Kindle
books and courses. Here's the complete
list:

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

3. John Grimek's No. 1 Exercise!

And now, let's talk training.

For some reason, the most common question
on Internet strength training forums is this:

"If you could do just ONE exercise, what would
it be, and why?"

The most common answers are:

1. Squats -- because "they're the best exercise
for all-around strength and muscle mass."

2. Deadlifts -- because "they're even better than
squats and you can do them even if you don't
have squat stands or a power rack."

a. Or because: "It's a squat but you hold the bar
in your hands."

3. Trap Bar deadlifts -- because "they're a cross
between a deadlift and a squat."

4. The pec deck -- because -- sorry, just kidding,
no one actually says this.

a. Thank goodness.

b. Although some people probably think it.

5. The clean and press -- because "it works all
of the muscles."

6. Curls - because, you know - "curls for the
girls."

7. One-legged overhead squats on a stability ball
balanced on a wobble board - "Never done, them,
or seen them, but they sound cool."

Those are all good answers (other than no.
4, 6 and 7).

But what would John Grimek have said?

We actually KNOW what he would have said
because he once wrote an article about it.

In Grimek's opinion, if you could only do
one exercise, you should do the clean
and press.

He believed the clean and press would give
you a great total body workout.

Grimek followed his usual pattern of suggesting
that you start light, add weight from set to set,
and drop the reps as you added weight.

Thus, you might do something like this:

50 x 10 (light warm-up)

100 x 10

120 x 8

130 x 8

140 x 7

150 x 6

160 x 5

170 x 3

180 x 2

190 x 1

200 x 1 (if you're feeling strong that day)

If you want to focus more on strength and
power do lower reps -- something like
5/4/3/2/1 or 5 x 3 or 8 x 2 -- or singles.

Anyhow, that was John Grimek's answer --
and I tend to agree with him!

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 military press in The Dinosaur
Training Military Press and Shoulder Power
Course: