Kangaroo Jumps, Log Presses, the Apollon Wheels, Pull-ups and Much More!

World and Olympic champion John Davis hits a heavy split-style snatch. Head on over to my Instagram page (link below) for a great video of John Davis lifting the Apollon Wheels.

Hail to the Dinosasurs!

If you're not already following me
on Instagram, I'd like to invite you
to do so.

My Instagram account has a ton of
fun stuff - and I'm adding more all
the time.

Right now, you can sprint on over
and see:

The special benefits of assisted
pull-ups.

Trudi's Kangaroo Boots - and how
she uses them for leg, hip, core
and balance training - as well as
some fun cardio - and why she
stops traffic when she uses
them.

The Bronze Man photo - one of
Trudi's favorites - showing the
result of several years of an
all-bodyweight training program
(the kind I write about in my
book, Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training).

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

The perils of un-balanced uni-
lateral leg training.

Real world log presses - with a
very serious log.

John Davis lifting the Apollon
Wheels.

One of my all-time favorite
wrestling throws - a sure pin -
and why I believe so strongly
in serious neck training.

John Steed - from the original
Avengers - a classic memory
for many of us.

Tons of Dino breakfasts, lunches
and dinners - so you can see what
I've been eating lately - and yes,
I'm following a whole food, plant-
based diet for just under a year
now - and it's been working
great.

And much more.

Go here to take a peek:

https://www.instagram.com/brooks_kubik/?hl=en

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Hit the LIKE button as much
as you like - and feel free to ask
questions and leave comments.

An Update on the 30 Day Challenge

A delicious stir-fry with garlic and red pepper sauce - it made a terrific dinner, and we used the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Back in August, Trudi decided she
wanted to try as many new and
different recipes and meals as
possible.

So she challenged me to a 30
Day program of nothing but
vegetarian meals.

Being a Dinosaur, I had to accept
the challenge - so we began the
30 day program at the very next
meal.

I even helped by looking up a
recipe for dinner - and then
helping out with the prep and
the cooking - and I even did
the dinner dishes (all of which
was probably part of Trudi's
plan).

We followed a vegetarian diet for
several days - meaning that we
included eggs, butter and cheese.

No milk - I haven't used milk for
35 years. Around age 25 or so I
found that I couldn't digest it.

But I was curious to see how I
would do on a 100 percent plant
based diet, so I dropped the
eggs, butter and cheese.

Meanwhile, we started to explore
all sorts of fun meals:

Mexican dishes. (We're even
making our own tortillas, which
is lots of fun.)

Yellow corn polenta topped with black beans, salsa, sliced tomatoes and sliced avocado.

Thick soups and vegetable stews,
using recipes from around the
world - and my own homemade
veggie broth.

Roasted and oven-baked veggies.
Middle eastern dishes.


Lots of fun pasta dishes.

Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms sauted with garlic and onions.

Buddha bowls (meaning a
big bowl of all sorts of
good stuff).

Power plates (a Buddha
bowl on a plate).

A power plate consisting of raw celery; sauted onions, peppers and mushrooms; raw carrots; steamed chard; kimchi; brown rice, and baked tofu.

Homemade panini sandwiches
with veggies, black beans,
hummus, and much goodness.
(I flatten them with one of
Trudi's dumbbells or kettle-
bells.)

Oatmeal with cinnamon, nuts,
sunflower seeds, pumpkin
seeds, cherries and sliced
banana.

It worked great, and we had lots
of terrific meals - so after 30 days,
we continued to do it.

We went to Dayton one day and
had lunch with my brother, who
took us to a great little Korean
restaurant - which we loved -
so we decided to add Korean
food to the menu.

That led us to a local Asian
store - where we got all kinds
of fun ingredients for new and
different meals - including some
awesome garlic and red pepper
sauce and some killer kimchi.

Broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, onion, garlic, kimchi, and tofu in garlic and red pepper sauce.

I even found a recipe for easy
no-knead whole wheat bread -
and baked some bread one
day.

We're about 90 days into the
new diet, and I feel great - and
I plan to continue with it - and
see what happens.

It would be fun to be stronger at
age 61 (my age next year) than I
was at age 50 - and to do it on a
plant-based diet. So we'll see what
happens over the coming year.

I've been posting photos of our
meals on Facebook and Insta-
gram - go check them out and
see some of the fun:

https://www.instagram.com/brooks_kubik/?hl=en

Some of you have less than
zero interest in the new diet,
and that's fine - but others are
VERY interested in it. So I'll
go ahead and write up a more
detailed report, including
some of our favorite recipes.

Anyhow, that's the update for
now. If you have comments or
questions, send them in.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. We're starting to get near
the end of our current printing
of Strength, Muscle and Power -
and I'm not going to reprint it
for awhile - so if you want a
copy, grab it now:

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

"Train for strength, eat for
health, be strong and live
long."

-- 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

Just be You!

Hitting it hard at the outdoor training area here at Dino Headquarters. Yes, I'm doing front squats - with towels to hold the bar. You can try them if you like, but you don't have to do them. Your job, as always, is to find what works best for YOU.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I got a couple of emails from guys
who were hopping mad that I've
been following a vegetarian diet for
the past month or so.

"What do you want me to do?" one
asked. "Stop eating meat?"

No, not at all.

I want you to be YOU.

You don't have to do something
just because I'm doing it.

The vegetarian diet started when
Trudi asked me if I would join her
in a 30 Day Vegetarian Challenge.

She wanted to try new foods, new
meals, and new recipes - and she
thought that a 30 Day Vegetarian
Challenge would force us to try
new things.

She was right. We've cooked more
new meals in the past 30 days than
we've done over the past three
years before it. And we're enjoying
the new meals enormously.

So from that perspective, it's been
a big success.

But what about strength and health?

It's worked very well in that regard,
as well.

We both feel healthy and strong,
and we both have plenty of energy.

And my lifting has been going fine.

But now I'm curious.

I want to see what will happen to
my strength and my lifting if I
continue the plant-based diet
into 2018.

So I'm going to do that - as an
experiment - and then I'm going
to report on the results.

If I end up stronger at age 61 - on
 a plant-based diet - than I was at
age 60 eating lots of meat and eggs,
that's good information to have.

If it doesn't work - that's good
information, too.

It's the same as trying new work-
outs or new exercises. If something
works, it's good to know - and good
to share with you. If it doesn't work,
that's also good to know - and good
to share.

Meanwhile, if you enjoy eating
meat, keep on doing it.

This is an experiment, and you
should feel free to do what YOU
want to do - and feel free to be
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. Dinosaur Dumbbell Training
and Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
both started out as experiments.

"How will they work?" I wondered.

Turned out they worked pretty darn
well - as many other Dinos have
learned.

You can grab either or both of the
little monsters right here - and see
for yourself:

Dinosaur Dumbbell Training began as an experiment - and ended up working pretty darn well.

Dinosaur Dumbbell Training

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

 

Dinosaur Bodyweight Training was another experiment - and it, too, worked pretty well.

Dinosaur Bodyweight Training

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day

"Study and learn from others -
but above all else, learn what
works best for YOU!"

- 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

Did Hi-Proteen Kill Bob Hoffman?

If you're my age or older, you probably remember Hoffman's Hi-Proteen powder and Hi-Proteen tablets. (Not a typo, that's how it was spelled.) You were supposed to gain one pound of muscle for every dollar you spent on Hi-Proteen - but that never happened for me.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Back in the early 1950's, everyone started
selling protein powder.

A guy in Chicago named Irving Johnson
started the craze. He later moved to
Beverly Hills and changed his name to
Rheo H. Blair.

He made so much money selling protein
powder that everyone who published a
weight training magazine decided they
needed to do the same thing.

Bob Hoffman did it - Joe Weider did it -
and even Peary Rader did it (for a short
period of time - and then he - thankfully -
stopped).

Hoffman called his protein powder Hi-
Proteen. (Not a typo - that's how they
spelled it).

The stuff was made out of soybeans,
which were being hailed as a super food -
even though, prior to that time, soybeans
had been used almost exclusively for
animal feed here in the USA.

But the bodybuilding world began using
them for humans - as a food supplement -
and before you knew it, pretty much every-
one who lifted weights had tried the stuff
at least once.

There was a relentless advertising campaign
for all the protein powders. We were bom-
barded with articles telling us we needed
to eat more and more protein.

Three square meals a day weren't enough.

You needed six high-protein meals a day.

You needed to take protein powder at
every meal.

If you were extremely underweight and
skinny (as most beginners were), you
needed to guzzle a gallon of milk loaded
with protein powder every day.

For good measure, you were supposed
to take a thermos of high protein shake
to the gym and glug it in-between sets.

And just to be on the safe side, you were
supposed to carry high protein tablets in
your pocket and eat them like candy all
day long - just to be sure you didn't go
a single minute without an adequate
supply of protein. You didn't want to
start shrinking and lose all your gains!

I remember trying all of the different
protein powders when I was a kid.

MAN, DID THEY TASTE BAD!

A pair of dirty soaks boiled in swamp
mud would have tasted better.

If you ever tried them, you know what
I mean.

Bob Hoffman always said he ate
more Hi-Proteen than any man
who ever lived.

I don't know if that's true or not, but
if he did, it probably killed him.

That's also why - to this day - I steer
clear of any protein supplements. Been
there, done that - and don't want to do
it again.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. I cover diet and nutrition for strength
training and muscle building in Knife,
Fork, Muscle. Go here to grab a copy:

Hard-copy

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

We're also releasing Knife, Fork, Muscle in
a series of Kindle e-books. The first three
books in the e-book series are right here;
book 4 in the e-book series is coming soon:

Knife, Fork, Muscle, Kindle e-book 1

(covers protein for strength training -- how
much, the best sources of high-quality
protein, etc.)

http://www.brookskubik.com/knifeforkmuscle01_kindle.html

Knife, Fork, Muscle, Kindle e-book 2

(covers healthy and unhealthy carbs,
vegetables, starchy vegetables, grain
and gluten issues, organic foods, and
gardening)

http://www.brookskubik.com/knifeforkmuscle02_kindle.html 

 Knife, Fork, Muscle, Book 3
(covers healthy and unhealthy fats,
food and chemical allergies, and the
importance of allergy-free diets)

http://www.brookskubik.com/knifeforkmuscle03_kindle.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: 

"Heavy iron and real food works
pretty darn well."
 
- 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

The No Tofurky Diet

 

Hitting it hard in the Dino Dungeon, and earning my dinner. That's important, because we've been having some great meals here at Dino Headquarters.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Ever since I updated you on Trudi's
30 Day Diet Challenge - where she
challenged me to join her in 30 days
of nothing but home cooked vege-
tarian meals for 30 days - I've been
getting a lot of emails.

Some of you have been thinking
about doing the same thing, and
wanted to know how it was
working and what we are
eating.

Others asked if I was dead yet -
working on the assumption that a
meat-free diet would kill me. (So
far, that hasn't been the case. In
fact, I feel really good.)

There were many common questions
and concerns.

A lot of you asked if we were eating
Tofurky or other faux meats.

The answer to that question is a
great big "No, double no and triple
NO!"

The whole purpose of the 30 Day
Challenge was to try new meals,
new menus and new foods. Trudi
thought that going meat-free would
force us to do that - and she was
right. It made us think outside the
box.

We don't eat any faux meats, and
we eat no refined, packaged or pre-
pared meals. That would defeat the
whole purpose.

Instead, we scour cookbooks and
the web for interesting meals - and
then we prepare them from scratch.

If we like them, we may try them
again, perhaps using a slightly
different recipe. If we don't like
them, we find and try something
else. There are tons of wonderful
dishes to try, and life is too short
to eat food you don't enjoy 100
percent.

We eat lots of fresh vegetables,
including plenty of leafy green
vegetables. We add kale, spinach,
beet greens or collard greens to
almost everything we cook. And
all or almost all of it is fresh and
locally grown. We have some great
farmer's markets here, and we
make the most of them.

Trudi served this terrific fruit and veggie plate the other day. To round out the meal, we had toasted Ezekiel bread with hummus.

We eat lots of fresh fruit - and
try to keep it as varied as
possible.

We both love mushrooms, and
we've been having fun with sauted
or stir fried mushrooms over whole
grain pasta, brown rice or (Trudi's
favorite) barley.

Stir-fried mushrooms with onions and garlic, served over barley. This is one of Trudi's favorite meals. We often add kale or spinach for extra fun.

We also grill portabella mushrooms
and serve them like burgers. Those
are pretty tasty. Of course, we use
lots of onion and garlic with any of
mushroom dishes, and that's pretty
hard to beat.

Homemade veggie burgers with hummus, avocado and tomato.

We've found some great recipes for
homemade veggie burgers made from
beans, grains, garlic, onion, and various
spices. They're surprisingly good, and
high in protein (14 to 17 grams for
one burger).

One day, I added some acorn squash
to the veggie burgers, and didn't like
them as much - so for dinner I took
the same mix (I had lots of it left-
over) and made a veggie meatloaf
that we baked in the oven and topped
with tomato sauce for the last 10 min-
utes of baking. That was delicious.

Veggie meatloaf with oven-baked potato wedges. This was simple and delicious.

We get our protein from a variety of
beans and legumes. We also have
lentil dishes, and we'll try some split
pea  dishes soon.

Today's breakfast - oatmeal with cherries, topped with a ton of nuts and seeds.

We eat nuts and seeds, which have
fats and extra protein.  Our breakfast
today was oatmeal with cinnamon,
three kinds of cherries, hemp seeds,
sun-flower seeds, pumpkin seeds,
flax seeds, walnuts and almonds.

Trudi found a great-tasting pasta made
from brown rice and chickpeas. It has
11 grams of protein per serving. We
like it a lot, and it's a good way to
add some extra protein.


We also use Ezekiel bread for sand-
wiches. It's made from sprouted grains
and legumes, and has six grams of
protein per slice.

We have lots of hummus with our meals.
It's made from chickpeas, and is high
in protein. I use it as an all-purpose
sandwich spread.

We eat a variety of fresh-cooked whole
grains: brown, red and black rice; quinoa;
barley; couscous; wild rice (which is
actually a grass seed rather than a grain);
buckwheat (also a grass seed) and whole
corn meal.

Peasant food that's fit for a King - minestrone soup with white beans and barley. Very filling, and a nutritional powerhouse.

All in all, we're getting plenty of protein,
and tons of vitamins and minerals. The
only nutrient we're not getting is vitamin
B12 (which is only available in animal
foods), we take a supplement for that.
(By the way, no matter what you eat,
all Dinos over age 50 should take a
vitamin B12 supplement. That's be-
cause we lose the ability to absorb
it as we grow older.)

Our meals are fun, we're having a good
time planning our meals and prepping
and cooking them together, and we
are definitely achieving Trudi's goal
of trying new and different meals.

So it's been working pretty well so
far.

And yes, we're 100 percent Tofurky-
free.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. For more about diet and nutrition
for strength and muscle building, grab
KNIFE, FORK, MUSCLE. It has great
ideas for carnivores and non-
carnivores alike:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: 

"Always train for real, and always
eat real food."

- 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