I Get This Question All The Time!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. The January Dinosaur Files.

Is available right here in PDF format:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017.html

We're finishing up the Kindle edition,
and will release it soon.

As always, be sure to let me know how
you like the little monster.

2. I Get This Question All The Time!

On the training front, here's a very
common question. I get it all the time.

A reader wants to do a three-exercise
program:

1. Squat

2. Clean and press

3. Deadlift

He'd include some sandbag finishers, and that
would be it.

Note: I assume this is a divided workout program
with one exercise in each workout. It would be very
hard to do all three in one workout several times a
week. Also, if you did clean and press and one or
both of the other movements, the clean and press
should come first. Always do your explosive
movements (meaning the clean, in this case)
at the beginning of your workout.

Anyhow, his question is this:

"I feel a bit guilty for not incorporating direct chest
or bicep work. Can I get a good chest workout --
biceps, too -- from these three exercises without
doing a specific bench press or curl?"

Now, I get variations of this question all the time.
Readers want to know if their arms and chest will
shrink away to nothingness if they stop doing
bench presses and curls and focus instead on
heavy pushing, pulling and squatting.

So here's the answer.

1. If upper arm size is important to you, then do
curls or pull-ups once a week.

a. Pull-ups would have the added benefit of working
your lats, which would be good to do.

2. If chest size is important to you, then do bench
press, incline press or dumbbell variations of either
movement once a week -- or do some variation
of pushups.

3. If upper arm size and chest size is important to
you, then you need to train these muscles.

a. Otherwise, you'll fret and worry that you are
losing size, and that will just derail your entire
program.

b. Why make things harder for yourself?

4. If upper arm size and chest size is NOT that
important to you, then you can either do the
direct arm and chest work or skip it, as you
prefer.

5. Note that many old-timers never did any bench
pressing or curling -- and they did fine.

a. You also have many old-timers who never did
bench presses. John Grimek is a good example --
he never did bench presses, but he was the best
developed man of his generation -- and one of
the strongest.

6. Most Olympic lifters don't do bench presses or
direct arm work, and they do just fine.

7. In most cases, the guys who ask the question
should do some direct arm and chest work --
because the mere fact that they are asking
the question suggests that they will worry
that they are "getting smaller" if they don't
include those exercises -- even if they're
actually growing like weeds from the heavy
leg and back work.

a. Remember, 90% of the physical game is a
mental game.

b. See 3(a) and (b) above.

8. Some trainees (especially older trainees)
have shoulder issues that make bench pressing
difficult or impossible for them. If that's the
case, do incline bench work or pushups or
just stick to overhead presses.

9. Always remember that your current program
is not what you will be doing for the rest of your
life.

10. In other words, you can skip direct arm and
chest work for a couple of months, and then
work it back into your program. Problem
solved!

And that's the answer to a very common question.
I hope it helps. If anyone has additional thoughts,
send them on in.

And remember to grab the January issue of the
Dinosaur Files! It's a great issue.

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.If you're interested in some fun variations
of pull-ups and push-ups, grab Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training:

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

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and links
to my other PDF courses and Kindle e-books --
are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Focus on leg and
back work, and fill in the rest of your workout
as needed. You'll do fine." -- Brooks Kubik

***********************************************************************************

Dinosaur Arm Training

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I received an email several days ago from a
reader who wondered why I consider barbell
curls to be a basic, compound exercise.

He said they are an isolation exercise, and
seemed to think that they aren't worth
doing.

And you run into many people who think the
same thing.

For example, I spoke at a seminar several
years ago.  One of the attendees was a gym
owner who told me that if someone at his
gym does curls, he "throws them right out
 the door."

I both agree and disagree with that way of
thinking.

On the one hand, doing a workout that is two
hours of curls and nothing else is ridiculous --
but it's fairly common.

And bunny-style isolation curls are about as
useful an exercise as lifting a small bag of
marshmallows for 10 reps at 10/10/10
speed.

But heavy barbell curls are another kind of
animal.

A very big, very ferocious kind of animal.

My best in the STRICT barbell curl -- using an
industrial strength, heavy duty easy curl bar --
was 185 for five reps.

And let me repeat -- these were STRICT
curls.

Not cheat curls -- not swing curls -- not
reverse grip power cleans -- but strict
curls.

You better believe that this involved all of
the muscles in the entire body from head
to toe -- NOT because it was a cheat curl,
but because it was a strict curl with a heavy
barbell, and I had to lock the entire body
and hold everything in position while I
curled the bar.

When you do a heavy strict curl, you try to
lift the weight with a combination of arm,
shoulder and chest power -- even though
your forearms are the only part of your
body that is moving.

That makes heavy curls an important
assistance exercise for the bench press --
and a great exercise for football lineman,
wrestlers, and those who train in judo,
jujitsu or other grappling arts.

A football lineman doesn't make pancakes
on the griddle. He makes them with heavy
curls (along with heavy leg and back work).
Ditto for a wrestler, and trust me, I know
what I'm talking about here. I knocked
several opponents unconscious with hard
throws when I was in high school.

Anyhow, I hope that clears things up.

Bunny curls -- isolation exercise -- and
not worth doing.

Heavy, strict curls -- a basic, compound
exercise -- and well worth doing.

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. My Dinosaur Arm Training course will
teach you how to build some seriously
strong and powerful arms -- and it also
includes a complete, total body workout:

Hard Copy

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

PDF

See the links for our PDF courses at
our products page -- right here:

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

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to all of my Dinosaur Training e-books
on Kindle -- are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Thinking without
acting is as bad as acting without thinking."
-- Brooks Kubik

***********************************************************************************

A Training Tip from World Champion Doug Hepburn!

Fred Rollon shows amazing old-school muscular development.

 
Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. Dino Training on Instagram!

I'm on Instagram now, and I'm posting
fun photos and video. Be sure to follow
me at this link:

https://www.instagram.com/brooks_kubik/

This is a great supplement to my daily
email tips, and gives you a unique, up
close and personal look at Dino Head-
quarters. Check it out!

2. John Wood on Instagram!

My buddy John Wood is also on Instagram,
and he's publishing some really cool photos,
including some great photos of old-school
iron. The kettlebell photo is my favorite so
far -- with John's sledgehammer collection
right up there as no. 2:

https://www.instagram.com/oldtime.strongman/

3. The February Dino Files

Is almost finished, and will be ready soon.
It's another terrific issue, and you're definitely
going to want to grab the little monster. I'll
send an email when it's ready to go.

4. A Training Tip from Doug Hepburn

Doug Hepburn may have had the strongest
upper arms of all time. They also were pretty
darn big. In his prime, the 1953 World Weight-
lifting champion was one of the most massive
muscular giants in the entire world.

Hepburn built his arms with basic exercises:

1. For the triceps, he did plenty of heavy
military presses, push presses, dumbbell
presses and bench presses.

2. For the biceps, he did plenty of heavy
curls.

And here's the interesting thing. Doug Hepburn
is the only man in history who set World records
in:

1. The military press

2. The bench press,

and

3. The barbell curl

Think about that for a second.

All over the world, trainees are pumping away
with baby weights in their upper body exercises,
desperately trying to build "big guns." You see
it all the time. It's the most common thing in
any gym.

Some guys spend hours doing nothing but
endless sets of concentration curls and triceps
pumpers.

And they get nothing to show for it.

As in, nada. Zippo. Not a thing.

Those big guns aren't even BB guns.

Heck, they're not even BB's.

Meanwhile, there's Doug Hepburn -- quietly
loading the bar with massive weights for his
presses, bench presses and curls.

Did I say he set a World record in the curl?

He did. It was 260 pounds. Using an Olympic
barbell. And doing it perfectly strict. No swing,
no cheat, no leaning backwards. Just a strict
curl performed with superhuman arm power.

That was Doug Hepburn's secret. He trained
his arms the way he trained the rest of his
body: hard and heavy.

I cover the same kind of old-school arm
training in Dinosaur Arm Training. It gives
you a complete set of progressive workouts
that focus on building strength, power and
muscle throughout the entire body -- with
extra emphasis on the arms.

If you grab the course and follow the
programs, you may not end up as big and
strong as Doug Hepburn -- but you'll end
up plenty big and plenty strong.

The course is available in your choice
of hard copy or PDF with immediate
electronic delivery:

Hard copy

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

PDF version

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

Anyhow, that's the tip of the day -- and it
comes to you from one of the strongest men
who ever lived.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

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

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Hard and heavy
applies to curls just as much as squats and
deadlifts." -- Brooks Kubik

***********************************************************************************

Dinosaur Arm Training

Reg Park

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. The Dinosaur Files Quarterly, Issue No. 4

Is available in your choice of hard copy or
Kindle e-book edition -- and is getting great
reviews from readers. The Kindle edition has
made it into several different top 10 lists for
Kindle books, and was even ranked no. 1 in
Australia yesterday.

Go here to grab your copy:

Hard copy

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

Kindle e-book

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurquarterly_04_kindle.html

2. Hi-Proteen Memories

I received tons of emails in response to
yesterday's email about Hi-Proteen powder.

It sounds like every Dino age 50 and up used
the stuff back in the day -- for awhile -- and
it didn't help any of us.

Real food is better and cheaper!

See Knife, Fork, Muscle for real-world, no-
nonsense advice about diet and nutrition
for lifelong strength and health:

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

For links to the e-book series of Knife, Fork, Muscle
books, see our products page.

3. Dinosaur Arm Training

I received an email several days ago from a
reader who wondered why I consider barbell
curls to be a basic, compound exercise.

He said they were an isolation exercise, and
seemed to think that they weren't worth doing.

And you run into many people who think the
same thing.

For example, I spoke at a seminar several
years ago, and one of the attendees was a
gym owner who told me that if someone at
his gym does curls, he "throws them out the
door."

I both agree and disagree with that way of
thinking.

On the one hand, doing a workout that is 50
to 90 percent curls is ridiculous -- but it's
fairly common.

And bunny-style isolation curls are about as
useful an exercise as lifting a small bag of
marsmallows for 10 reps at 10/10/10
speed.

But heavy barbell curls are another kind of
animal.

My best in the STRICT barbell curl -- using an
industrial strength, heavy duty easy curl bar --
was 185 for five reps.

And let me repeat -- these were STRICT
curls.

You better believe that this involved all of
the muscles in the entire body from head
to toe -- NOT because it was a cheat curl,
but because it was a strict curl with a heavy
barbell, and I had to lock the entire body
and hold everything in position while I
curled the bar.

When you do a heavy strict curl, you try to
lift the weight with a combination of arm,
shoulder and chest power -- even though
your forearms are the only part of your
body that is moving.

That makes heavy curls an important
assistance exercise for the bench press --
and a great exercise for football lineman,
wrestlers, and those who train in judo,
jujitsu or other grappling arts.

A football lineman doesn't make pancakes
on the griddle. He makes them with heavy
curls (along with heavy leg and back work).

Ditto for a wrestler, and trust me, I know
what I'm talking about here. I knocked
several opponents unconscious with hard
throws when I was in high school.

Anyhow, I hope that clears things up.

Bunny curls -- isolation exercise.

Heavy, strict curls -- a basic, compound
exercise -- and well worth doing.

And one more thing.  Reg Park (pictured above)
included heavy barbell curls in his strength and
bulk course. Nuff said!

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. My Dinosaur Arm Training course will
teach you how to build some seriously
strong and powerful arms:

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

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to all of my Dinosaur Training e-books
on Kindle -- are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Thinking without
acting is as bad as acting without thinking."
-- Brooks Kubik

***********************************************************************************

I Get this Question All the Time!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We'll talk iron in just a second, but first let
me mention that we just launched issue no.
3 of the Dinosaur Files Quarterly.

It's available right here in your choice of
hardcopy or Kindle e-book:

Hardcopy

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

Kindle e-book

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurquarterly_03_kindle.html

If you want to combine a hardcopy version of
the course with any of our other hardcopy books
or courses (or a shirt or DVD), shoot me an email
and ask for a shipping quote. We can usually save
you some clams that way. For overseas Dinos, we
can usually save many clams by shipping several
items together.

On the training front, here's a question that a reader
sent in for my interview with Bill Hinbern. We weren't
able to get to it, but it's a very common question, so
I thought I'd answer it in an email.

The reader wants to do a three-exercise program:

1. Squat

2. Clean and press

3. Deadlift

He'd include some sandbag finishers, and that
would be it.

Note: I assume this is a divided workout program
with one exercise in each workout. It would be very
hard to do all three in one workout several times a
week. Also, if you did clean and press and one or
both of the other movements, the clean and press
should come first. Always do your explosive
movements (meaning the clean, in this case)
at the beginning of your workout.

Anyhow, his question is this:

"I feel a bit guilty for not incorporating direct chest
or bicep work. Can I get a good chest workout --
biceps, too -- from these three exercises without
doing a specific bench press or curl?"

Now, I get variations of this question all the time.
Readers want to know if their arms and chest will
shrink away to nothingness if they stop doing
bench presses and curls.

So here's the answer.

1. If upper arm size is important to you, then do
curls or pull-ups once a week.

a. Pull-ups would have the added benefit of working
your lats, which would be good to do.

2. If chest size is important to you, then do bench
press, incline press or dumbbell variations of either
movement once a week -- or do some variation
of pushups.

3. If upper arm size and chest size is important to
you, then you need to train these muscles.

a. Otherwise, you'll fret and worry that you are
losing size, and that will just derail your entire
program.

b. Why make things harder for yourself?

4. If upper arm size and chest size is NOT that
important to you, then you can either do the
direct arm and chest work or skip it, as you
prefer.

5. Note that many oldtimers never did any bench
pressing or curling -- and they did fine.

a. You also have many oldtimers who never did
bench presses. John Grimek is a good example --
he never did bench presses, but he was the best
developed man of his generation -- and one of
the strongest.

6. Most Olympic lifters don't do bench presses or
direct arm work, and they do fine, as well.

7. In most cases, the guys who ask the question
should do some direct arm and chest work --
because the mere fact that they are asking
the question suggests that they will worry
that they are "getting smaller" if they don't
include those exercises -- even if they're
actually growing like weeds from the heavy
leg and back work.

a. Remember, 90% of the physical game is a
mental game.

b. See 3(a) and (b) above.

8. Some trainees (especially older trainees)
have shoulder issues that make bench pressing
difficult or impossible for them. If that's the
case, do incline bench work or pushups or
just stick to overhead presses.

9. Always remember that your current program
is not what you will be doing for the rest of your
life.

10. In other words, you can skip direct arm and
chest work for a couple of months, and then
work it back into your program. Problem
solved!

And that's the answer to a very common question.
I hope it helps. If anyone has additional thoughts,
send them on in.

And remember to grab issue no. 3 of The Dinosaur
Files Quarterly! It's a great issue.

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. Here are the links again for issue no. 3 of
the Dinosaur Files Quarterly:

Hardcopy

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

Kindle e-book

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurquarterly_03_kindle.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and links
to my other Kindle e-books -- are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Focus on leg and back
work, and fill in the rest of your workout as needed.
You'll do fine." -- Brooks Kubik

***********************************************************************************

"Is It Okay to Do Curls?"

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I've had several readers ask about
arm training.

Usually, it's the same question.

"Is it okay to do curls?"

And the answer is -- of course it is. In
fact, it's a good idea. Curls are a good
upper body exercise, and they help you
maintain shoulder strength and stability.

So by all means, do curls. But don't do
them like a muscle pumper. Do them like
a Dinosaur.

Doug Hepburn was one of the strongest,
most massive men who ever lived. He was
also pretty darn good at heavy curls.

Hepburn could do a strict curl with 260
pounds.

And no, that's not a typo. That's two -
six -- zero.

Two hundred and sixty pounds.

Hepburn trained curls the same way he
trained everything else: hard and heavy.
Multiple sets of low reps. Heavy singles.

He was very precise about it. He liked to
use two heavy wooden boxes to position the
bar so he could walk up to it, grab it, and
start curling. That allowed him to flex his
lats so he could dig his elbows in and get
the best possible leverage. Try it and see.

Hepburn was a prodigy of might and muscle,
but he was hardly the only old school lifter
who could curl more weight than a gorilla.

There were quite a few old-time lifters who
could do a strict curl with weights approaching
(or in some cases, exceeding) their own
bodyweight.

John Davis could curl big weights. So could
Steve Stanko. And so could John Grimek.

So don't be afraid to do curls. Just train
them Dino style -- and be sure to include
plenty of leg and back training!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Here's a complete course on Dino style
arm training. It teaches you how to build
arms that are big AND strong -- and big AND
strong is what you want:

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

P.S. 2. For more about Doug Hepburn's life and lifting,
grab this great course:

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

P.S. 3. My other books and courses -- and my Dino
Training DVD's -- are available right here:

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

P.S. 4.  Thanks for visiting the Dinosaur Training Blog!
Please tell your friends about us!

I Get This Question All the Time!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Let's do questions and answers today! Here's
a common question from readers.

Q. Most of my lifts are going up, but I'm
stuck on curls and presses. I do 5 x 5 on
everything, and use a divided workout
schedule and abbreviated training. What
should I do?

A. It's very common for some lifts to improve
faster than others -- just as it is very common
for some bodyparts to improve faster than others.

If your squat and deadlift are going up, things
are good. You just need to fine-tune your curling
and pressing.

So try this for curls and presses:

1. Change your sets and reps. What works best for
you on one exercise may not work as well on other
movements.

1A. Note that what works best for you for curls may
not work as well for presses. I like 4 x 5 or 5 x 5
for curls, but I prefer singles on presses.

2. Switch to dumbbell curls (pronated or hammer
style).

3. Switch to dumbbell presses or Log Bar presses.

4. Switch to pull-ups and handstand pushups. (For
details, see Dinosaur Bodyweight Training.)

Note: A training program featuring squats or front
squats, deadlifts or Trap Bar deadlifts, Dino-style
pull-ups and handstand pushups would build some
very serious strength, muscle and power.

Further Note: My arms and shoulders were bigger and
thicker when doing a 100% bodyweight program at age
50 than when I was doing heavy curls (185 x 5), bench
presses (up to 430 from the bottom position with a
3" bar), the clean and press (up to 275 pounds), and
and a bottom position seated press on a bench set at
80 or 85 degrees (320 pounds). So do NOT minimize the
value of bodyweight training for your arms and
shoulders!

5. For your press, a specialized program of power
rack training may work wonders. (For details, see
Dinosaur Training or Strength, Muscle and Power --
or my Power Rack Training DVD.)

6. Chains and resistance bands work well on curls
and presses. Very, very well . . .

7. And finally, here's a very simple, very effective
tip. Drop the weight by 20 pounds on your curls and
presses and perform your reps in absolutely perfect
form. Build back up -- and keep using letter perfect
form.

I hope that helps anyone who is trying to figure out
what to do for a lagging bodypart or an exercise that
doesn't seem to be keeping pace with everything else.

Remember -- it's a COMMON problem -- happens to pretty
much everyone -- so DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED!

By the way -- John Grimek once got so discouraged that
he quit training! A week later his arms had grown by
half an inch. Turns out he had been overtraining . . .

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. As I mentioned, Dinosaur Bodyweight Training can help
you build some serious arms and shoulders -- as well as
the rest of your body. Grab a copy here:

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

P.S. 2. Dinosaur Arm Training is another great resource --
and it will help you build arms (and shoulders) that are
big, thick and packed with power:

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

P.S. 3. I cover specialization programs, rest pause training,
and power rack workouts (and tons of other topics) in Strength,
Muscle and Power:

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

P.S. 4. My other books and courses -- and Dinosaur Training
DVD's -- are right here:

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

P.S. 5. Thought for the day: "It's not enough to train. You
need to train with a purpose." -- Brooks Kubik