The Top 10 Ways to Tell You're in a Great Gym!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I thought you'd enjoy another top
10 list. This one is The Top 10 Ways
to Tell You're in a Great Gym:

10. It's not an earthquake -- it's
heavy deadlifts.

9. And heavy olympic lifting.

8. They can't find Jimmy Hoffa, and
they can't find the last guy who did
curls in the power rack.

7. Chalk is mandatory.

6. Serious is mandatory.

5. No one says "Spot me, bro."

4. No one does yoga on the lifting
platform.

3. You train your core with squats,
deadlifts and heavy overhead lifting.

2. No one does peak contraction
anything.

1. The owner had a dog-eared copy of
Dinosaur Training on the bookshelf in
his office.

So -- would you train in a gym like
that? I would!

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 YOUR copy of 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 -- including links to my Dinosaur
Training e-books on Kindle:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Don't live
to lift -- lift to live." -- Brooks Kubik


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

My Birthday Wish for Uncle Sam

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Tomorrow's the 4th of July, so it's almost
time to say "Happy Birthday to Uncle Sam!"

But if I were able to do it, I'd do more
than merely wish him "Happy Birthday!"
I'd make it the very best birthday ever.

So here's my birthday wish to Uncle Sam:

I wish him a country full of hard-training,
hard-charging Dinosaurs!

We'd start by building great gyms everywhere.
In every neighborhood across the entire
country. And we'd throw in plenty of home
gyms, as well.

They'd be Dinosaur Gyms -- old-school,
heavy iron, and please use plenty of chalk!

They'd have lifting platforms.

Squat stands.

Power racks.

Barbells.

Dumbbells.

Kettlebells.

Thick bars.

An outside training area with plenty of
strongman equipment.

An area for bodyweight training -- complete
with pull-up bars, rings and ropes.

The folks who ran the gyms would be serious
lifters. They'd all have memorized Dinosaur
Training, and they'd teach the gym members
the right way to train. In fact, they'd make
Dinosaur Training  mandatory reading for
everyone!

And no, there wouldn't be any chrome -- or
ferns -- and no mirrors -- and no cardio
theater.

It would be the kind of place where a
Dinosaur would want to train. Heck, just
thinking about it makes me want to go out
and hit the iron!

Unfortunately, we can't wave a magic wand
and make it happen overnight.

We have to do it one gym at a time -- and
we have to do it one lifter at a time. But
if we all work together, and if we all help
to spread the word about the incredible
benefits of old-school strength training,
then someday in the not too distant future
that birthday dream may become a reality.

You can help the cause. You can help by
spreading the word -- by demonstrating just
how effective Dino style training can be --
and by inspiring others to start training
Dino style.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Sam! I hope it's a
great one!

As always, thanks for reading, and have a
great day -- and a great 4th of July! If
you train today (or tomorrow), make it a
good one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. You can find Dinosaur Training and all
of my other books and courses right here at
Dino Headquarters -- so go ahead and treat
yourself to something extra special to help
celebrate July 4th:

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "It's only a
dream -- for now." -- Brooks Kubik

Barbells, Dumbbells and Kettlebells!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I was reading an old weightlifting book
at breakfast this morning.

It described all of the official lifts
used in competition in the B.A.W.L.A.
(the British Amateur Weightlifting
Association) going back prior to World
War One. It included barbell lifts,
dumbbell lifts, and kettlebell or
ring-weight lifts. It also included
special developmental exercises to
be used to build strength and power
for performing the competition lifts.

And I noted something interesting.

Some of the lifts and exercises were
performed with a barbell.

Some of them were performed with a
a single dumbbell.

Some of them required two dumbbells.

Several required dumbbells loaded so that
the back end was heavier than the front
end.

Some of them required a single kettlebell
or a single ring-weight.

Others required two kettlebells or ring-
weights.

And others required a barbell PLUS a
dumbbell -- or a barbell PLUS a kettlebell
or ring-weight -- or a dumbbell PLUS a
kettlebell or ring-weight.

That's interesting in many respects.

For one thing, it gives you a good idea
of the proper answer to the question,
"Which is better -- barbells or dumbbells?"

Or, the one you hear more often nowadays,
"Which is better -- barbells or kettlebells?"

Or, "Dumbbells or kettlebells -- which is
better?"

In the old days, they didn't ask those sorts
of questions. Instead, they trained with all
three -- and in some exercises or lifts, they
used two different lifting tools (e.g., a
barbell and a kettlebell) at the same time.

It was a good way of training. There was
plenty of variety, but everything you did
was old-school, hard core, basic and
productive.

And all it required was a barbell -- a set of
dumbbells -- and some kettlebells.

That made a pretty good little gym "back in
the day" -- and it makes a pretty good little
gym today!

BTW, if you're wondering what book I was
reading and where to get a copy, go here:

http://www.superstrengthtraining.com/william_pullum.html

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. The one hand swing is one of my favorite
old-school lifts. It builds strength, muscle,
speed and explosive power -- and it's tons of
fun! You can learn how to do it on my DVD,
The Lost Art of Heavy Dumbbell Training:

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dvds.html

P.S. 2. My books and courses -- including Black
Iron: The John Davis Story and the Legacy of
Iron series -- are right here:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Nothing beats
hard work intelligently applied. Nothing."
-- Brooks Kubik

Basic, Primitive and Productive!

On Friday I sent a link to a photo gallery
in the on-line edition of the UK Guardian.

It features a boxing gym in Sao Paulo,
Brazil. It's in what looks like a deserted
underpass beneath the Alcantara Machado
Expressway. It was founded by a former
professional boxer named Nilson Garrido.

It's in a poor part of town, and Garrido
runs the place as a community service.
And by doing it, he's giving worlds of
hope and inspiration to the young men who
train there.

The place is as primitive as can be. The
gym features homemade barbells and dumbbells,
a heavy bag made out of an old tire, another
heavy bag made out of an old refrigerator,
and a collection of heavy, awkward objects
that would make a Dinosaur salivate.

The best gyms are like that. They're basic,
simple and old-fashioned. They're not crowded
with the latest super-duper bodybuilding and
strength training machines, they don't feature
all kinds of exotic cardio gadgets, and they
don't have big rubber bouncy balls and fluff
stuff.

They have lots of heavy iron. And very little
else. Barbells, dumbbells, squat stands, power
racks, lifting platforms, grip stuff, and heavy
awkward objects. And that's it.

And that's a very important thing. You're actually
much better off with LESS equipment than with
MORE equipment.

An old-school gym with basic equipment naturally
fosters a back to the basics training approach.
And the basics are what give you great results.

When you train in a gym with basic equipment, you
understand that in the end, it all comes down to
one thing: YOU AND THE IRON. That's really all
the matters. Going out there and lifting heavy
iron -- and then coming back and doing it
again -- and repeating the process over and
over, always trying to improve your performance
from workout to workout. That's the whole secret.

When you understand THAT, you are well on the road
to strength training success.

I salute Nilson Garrido for the work he is doing.
And I salute each and every one of you for the work
that YOU are 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. For the very best in back to the basics, no
nonsense strength training, grab any of the books,
courses and DVD's from Dinosaur Headquarters:

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

P.S. 2 My new book, Black Iron: The John Davis
Story, tells the true story of a man who became
the greatest strength athlete of his generation
by training in old-school gyms with the most
basic of equipment, and the most basic of training
programs:

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

Snow, Chalk and Sweat in Canada

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

It’s currently 5 degrees above 0 in Calgary, and snowing – with a northwest wind for good measure.

But that doesn’t stop our Canadian Dinos – and later today, the chalk and iron is going to be flying as fast and furious as the snow is now.

How do I know?

I know it because of the following email from Jeff Osadec, who works at a place called Peak Power Sport Development, located on the campus of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary. It’s a real gym, with lots of heavy iron – lifting platforms – high quality Olympic bars and bumper plates – and plenty of chalk.

I know, because I vacationed in Calgary and trained there several times. I had some great workouts, with plenty of heavy Olympic lifting and plenty of chalk. Good stuff.

So with that background, here’s the email from Jeff:

“Brooks,

I wanted to say thank you for the great posts, and I am looking forward to reading your book, "Dinosaur Training". I was referred it through a friend the other day. But the funniest part of this is sheer coincidence.

I had a woman call the gym I work at and ask is she can come in and have a look around.

She comes in, takes a look, and states, "No mirrors?"

I said,"No."

She asks, "Can I use chalk?"

I said, "Sure, it's in the buckets on the platforms."

We talked about training and the basics (pushing, pulling squatting and Olympic lifting) and she said, "I think this is the gym for me."

So I asked, "How did you hear about us?"

And then she said, "Brooks Kubik, the guy who wrote Dinosaur Training."

I just started to laugh and told her that I had just ordered the book. By the way, I work at Peak Power Sport Development on the SAIT Campus. Thanks for the referral and I look forward to reading the book.

Cheers,

Jeff Osadec”

Now, you might be wondering, who was the Mystery Woman?

Her name is Lynne Loiselle – and she’s one of the top female bodybuilders in Canada – and a certified Dinosaur. Her favorite exercise is the deadlift – and cleans, high pulls, squats and bent over rowing aren’t far behind on her list!

A few years ago, a different version of the Dinosaur Training site had a Dinosaur Hall of Fame – and Lynne was our very first Hall of Famer.

Anyhow, Lynne recently moved to Calgary – and asked me for ideas about places to train – and I suggested Peak Power – and now you know the rest of the story!

And speaking of CHALK – I will be getting some info from my printer about the shipping date for CHALK AND SWEAT – and when I have something definite, I’ll let you know the status.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day – and if you train today, do it Dino style – hard, heavy and serious – with lots of chalk, and lots of sweat.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. We’re shipping orders as fast as possible – but it’s getting very close to the Holidays, so if you want something to arrive in time for Christmas, please order today. Thanks!

Our new Dinosaur Training hoodies are here:

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaurtraining_hoodie.html

And our books, courses, DVD’s, t-shirts, sweatshirts and subscriptions to the Dinosaur Files newsletter are right here:

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