The "What Would Happen?" Question

John Davis was the youngest man in history to win the World Championship in Weightlifting - and went on to win a total of six World Championships and two Olympic Gold medals.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

One quick note, and then we'll talk
training.

1. The March Dinosaur Files

The March Dinosaur Files is out, and
the little monster is getting great reviews.

Go here to grab your copy:

March 2019 Dinosaur Files
(PDF)

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-march2019.html

If you missed the January and
February issues, do not despair -
you can grab them here:

Feb 2019 Dinosaur Files (PDF)

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-feb2019.html

Jan 2019 Dinosaur Files (PDF)

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-jan2019.html

As always - pls shoot me an email
and let me know how you like this
issue - and what you'd like us to
cover in future issues.

2. The "What Would Happen?"
Question

On the training front, here's an interesting
question I received a while back from one
of our longtime Dinos. It's a question I get
fairly often.

This time it came from Chris Califano. He
wrote:

"Here is an interesting question: What would
the result/benefits be if a younger trainee
followed the exact same advice that older
trainees should employ regarding "making
every rep count" and "every exercise and
every set count"?

The mere fact that a younger dedicated lifter
can put more hours into his or her training
should not be a "license to waste energy."

Just that we COULD do it when we were
younger does not mean that we SHOULD
have.

In fact, I am sure that if I had applied the
same methods for Progression with
Recuperation when I was in my teens,
twenties and thirties, I would have
gotten further faster. And with less
if any injuries, nagging or small!

And I would have had more balanced
development, plus better health and
more free time, to boot!

Chris"

Chris -- Thanks for your email. The question
you pose is a good one. Most trainees follow
the over-the-top high volume workouts when
they are young -- and they end up wasting
what should have been the very best years
of their training careers.

It's a crying shame -- especially when it leads
them to quit training -- or to turn to steroids
and other drugs.

If everyone started training the right way from
Day 1 of their career, we'd see many more
trainees achieve great success -- and we'd
see many more trainees stick to their program
for their entire lives.

In terms of concrete results, let's look at
some real-life examples of young men who
started out training the right way from Day
One:

John Davis started training at age 15 -- and
won the World weightlifting championship --
beating not one but two former Olympic gold
medal winners -- at age 17.

John Grimek went from 120 lbs. to 178 lbs.
in his his first three years of training -- and
went from a clean and jerk of 95 lbs. to a
clean and jerk with 247 1/2 lbs.

Steve Stanko gained 80 pounds of muscle in
his first 2 years of training -- and won his first
United States Senior National title later in the
same year.

Frank Spellman worked up to a 240 lb.
military press at a bodyweight of 156 lbs
after just 1 1/2 years of training. He went
on to win an Olympic gold medal in 1948.

Tommy Kono entered his first weightlifting
contest in 1948. He improved his 3-lift total
(press, snatch and clean and jerk) by 195
lbs. over the next 2 years. He won his first
Olympic gold medal in 1952.

Obviously, not everyone is going to become
a World or Olympic Champion, or a Mr.
America.

But if more young guys trained the way
that Davis, Grimek, Stanko, Spellman
and Kono trained, they'd make much
greater progress than they're making
on the modern-day super programs
and typical bomb, blast and blitz
workouts.

That's why I continue to bang the drum.
It's an important message -- and so
many guys and gals need to hear it!

As always, thanks for reading and have
a great day. If you train today (as I will),
make it a good one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Be sure to grab the March issue of
The Dinosaur Files - it's a good one!

March 2019 Dinosaur Files
(PDF)

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-march2019.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are
right here at Dino Headquarters - including
links to my PDF courses and my Kindle
books:

Hard-copy and PDF

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

Kindle

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day:

"If you don't like the old-fashioned
stuff, try building a house without a
hammer and nails."

-- Brooks Kubik

Before You Go . . . . Take a Look at These:

Brooks Kubik's Kindle Books

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

We have over 25 books and courses in the Kindle store - including these little monsters:

 

For even more Kindle books by Brooks Kubik, visit:

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

Spartan Is Best

World and Olympic champion John Davis spent much of his career training alone in the basement of a neighborhood church in Brooklyn - but he became one of the greatest lifters of all time!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. Old Strength Magazines for
Sale

I'm selling tons of old strength magazines,
including the vintage magazines on these
two lists:

Strength and Health Mags

https://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2018/12/brooks-kubiks-iron-game-collection-list.html

Lifting News

https://dinosaurtraining.blogspot.com/2018/12/brooks-kubiks-strength-training.html

These are great mags, with tons of photos
of old-time champions - and articles on how
they trained. Good stuff, and darn near
impossible to find anywhere else.

2. The November Dino Files

Is available right here in PDF format:

Nov. Dino Files

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-nov2018.html

It's a great issue - with an excellent
article by one of our long time Dinos,
detailing a new workout he used to
gain (get this) 25 pounds of muscle
in just a couple of months.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the
December issue - and it's looking
like another good one! Be looking
for it soon.

3. Spartan Is Best!

On the training front, let's talk about true
Spartan training -- and I don't mean the
so-called "300 workout" they did for the
movie.

There's a great book by Daniel Coyle called
"The Little Book of Talent." It contains 52
rules for improving your performance in
sports, business, job, school, or anything
else.

Coyle studied top performers in a wide
range of disciplines, and found a number
of similarities between the top performers.

They tended to do certain things in the
same ways.

One thing he noted about many highly
skilled, top performers was that they
trained in spartan quarters -- particularly
when they were climbing the ladder.

For example, a top tennis school might
have the future stars of the sport playing
on courts with cracks in them and grass
or weeds pushing up here and there.

A top ski school might look like a 1950s era
scout camp, with the future greats living in
very simple, almost primitive log cabins.

A top high school might have the smartest
kids on the planet studying in what looks
more or less like an old army barracks.

And I'm not making these up. They're real
life examples from Coyle's book.

In contrast, many "fancy" facilities didn't
have a very good track record when it
came to creating successful performers.

The parallel to effective strength training is
obvious. The so-called "fitness" industry
pushes high-tech training in opulent "gyms"
featuring lots of chrome, mirrors, fancy lighting,
air conditioning, aromatherapy, piped in music,
cardio theater, big screen plasma tv's, espresso
bars, donuts, pizza delivery, and row after row
of plushly padded machines.

Soft and gentle is the mantra of the day.

Spartan it is not.

It's the furthest thing in the world from
Spartan.

And that's one of the big reasons why the
Chrome and Fern Pleasure Palace Gyms
don't deliver.

They're too fancy. Too nice. Too pretty.

And fancy, nice and pretty don't work in the
Iron Game.

They never have - and they never will.

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. Dinosaur Training started a back to
basics, strength training revolution when
I published it back in 1996 - and it's
been going strong ever since:

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

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: 

"The best leaders live simple lives. So
do the best lifters." 

-- Brooks Kubik

Before You Leave - Check These Out! 

Brooks Kubik's Kindle Books

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

We have over 25 books and courses in the Kindle store - including these little monsters:

 
For even more Kindle books by Brooks Kubik, visit:

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

Stuff That Works

John Grimek performing one of his tried and true, favorite exercises - a good example of stuff that works.

 
Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We're back in the saddle again after a
long Memorial Day Weekend here in the
States.

So let's going with two quick updates -
and then talk about stuff that works.

The July-August Dinosaur Files
The July-August issue of The Dinosaur
Files has landed - and readers are
loving it. Go here to grab your copy:

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

It includes some great articles - but
my favorite is the one I wrote about
two lifters who took their barbell set
to a south Pacific island - way back in
the 1930's - and built a hut, planted
a garden, and lived on the island -
and trained hard and heavy - and
made some really incredible gains.

It's a true story, and it tells us quite
a lot about what really works when it
comes to building strength and muscle.

George F. Jowett's Progressive
Barbell Training Course

This little gem dates back to the 1920's
or 30's - but I've issued it again in a
modern reprint edition. We have a very
limited number of copies, so if you want
one, act fast.

We don't have a special sales page, so
we'll have to do a simple work-around.
To order the Jowett course:

Order a copy of my Dinosaur Training
book - but include a note (or send me
an email) saying that you actually want
the Jowett course.

Be sure to include the note or send
the email so we know what you
actually want!!!

Progressive Barbell Training is a
great old-school course - with plenty
of line drawings that show you how
to  how to perform all of the barbell
and dumbbell exercises in it.

Good stuff - stuff that works - and a
very nice link to the past.

Stuff that Works

Speaking of stuff that works . . . .

Here's a thought I had the other day:

If John Grimek were alive today, and he
was doing the very same workouts he did
back in 1939 and 1940 - right before he
won his first Mr. America title - when he
trained with Steve Stanko - and someone
filmed the workouts and posted them on
social media - no one would watch them.

Or perhaps they'd watch one or two and
then stop.

That's because Grimek and Stanko did
very basic workouts - using a very small
number of exercises - and doing pretty
much the same thing every time they
trained.

I mean, ask yourself this:

How many times can you watch someone
do squats, presses, cleans and snatches?

Even if it were Grimek and Stanko?

Even if they finished up with some dumb-
bell presses, it wouldn't be media-worthy
in the modern world - because it wouldn't
be new and different all the time - or novel
and exciting - or eye-catching and
attention-grabbing.

But it would be effective - and it WAS
effective.

It was stuff that worked.

Not stuff that gets likes and looks on
social media.

Of course, social media has it's place. I'm
on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and
YouTube - and I also run the Dinosaur
Training - Brooks Kubik Facebook Group -
and I'm an admin at John Wood's Strength
Secrets Facebook Group.

But I still have reservations about the
role of social media in strength training.

That's because the stuff that works just
isn't very exciting.

It's pretty much the same thing, week in
and week out, over and over - performed
with concentration, focus, and serious
intentions.

I don't know how you capture that for
Instagram.

Is there a filter to highlight the level of
concentration you bring to a workout?

Or a way to capture the consistency it
takes to build serious strength and
power?

The ability to stick to your program long
enough to make it work?.

And how do we show the other parts of
what it takes to get truly excellent results?

The healthy meals.

Avoiding junk food.

Getting enough rest and sleep.

Staying home and letting your body get
the rest it needs instead of going out and
partying until the wee hours of the
morning.

Maintaining a tranquil mind.

Cultivating a positive, optimistic, success-
oriented mindset.

Keeping a training journal.

Sticking to your program instead of always
trying something new and different.

As I said earlier - it's hard to capture
that in a video clip.

Anyhow, that's my thought on social media.
You may or may not agree - and you may
even disagree violently - and that's fine.

But it's food for thought - so I thought I
should share it with you.

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. For more about result-producing and effective
workouts, grab a copy of the book that started the
Dinosaur Revolution:

Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength
and Development

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.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. 3. Thought for the Day:

"There's a big difference between getting
likes and looks and building serious
strength and power." 

- 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:

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

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