Something to Think About

A classic photo of old-time wrestling and weightlifting champion, George Hackenschmidt. He's thick and massive from head to toe - but take a close second look at the thickness of his neck. Almost all of the old-timers specialized in neck training - and it shows!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Did you know that many of the old-time
strongmen and weightlifting champions
were also wrestlers?

And that many weightlifting gyms were
also wrestling gyms - and vice-versa?

It's true.

At least, it was true back in Europe.

Not so much in the USA, simply because
there wasn't much weightlifting in the
USA back then.

Back in the day - the 1860's or 1870's
through World War I (or perhaps even
into the 1920's), most of the top strong-
men and weightlifters in Europe also did
plenty of wrestling.

George Hackenschmidt, the famous
"Russian Lion," was both a weightlifting
champion and record holder and a great
wrestling champion.

George Lurich set a world record in the
one-hand jerk - and also won plenty of
wrestling titles.

George F. Jowett was a famous lifter and
strongman - but he also doubled as a
wrestling champion.

Arthur Saxon was one of the most famous
strongmen of the era - but he also did
plenty of wrestling.

The list goes on and on. It includes all or
substantially all of the old-time European
strongmen and weightlifters.

In Europe, the strongmen traveled from
city to city, engaging in hugely popular
weightlifting contests. Back in those days,
weightlifting contests were a popular thing
to see, and people paid good money to
watch an afternoon of top notch lifting.

And people also paid good money to see
top notch wrestling.

So the promoters got smart, and paid
what it took to bring the strongmen to
town - but then doubled their ticket
sales but hosting TWO events with the
same men - a lifting event, and a
separate wrestling event.

One of the results of this was that all old-
time strongmen had truly excellent neck
development.

That's because wrestling builds the neck
muscles - and because wrestlers do plenty
of bridging - and because the old-school,
stand on your feat weightlifting that these
men did was great for building the traps
(which is a necessary part of effective
neck training).

Later, wrestlers and weightlifters drifted
apart.

In the 1940's, Henry Wittenberg, one of
the best amateur wrestlers in the USA, had
to do his weight training in secret so his
coach wouldn't find out about it. (It worked,
too, because Wittenberg won an Olympic
gold medal in 1948 and a silver medal in
1952.)

And when bodybuilding became the big
thing on the weight training side of things,
some men actually stopped training their
neck at all - because they thought it would
make their arms and shoulders look bigger!

Anyhow, I happen to think that the old-
school way of doing things was the best.
Nothing beats a combination of all-around
strength training PLUS specialized neck
training.

It builds a strong, thick, massive, and
impressive neck - one that tells the entire
at the very first glance that YOU are a man
to be reckoned with!

That's the kind of development you want.

A strong, thick, powerful neck - just like
all of the old-timer champions.

To help you do that, I've included an all
new, complete neck training course in
the November issue of The Dinosaur
Files newsletter.

You can find it right here:

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

Go ahead and grab it today - and start
the neck course tonight - and build the
very biggest, thickest and most powerful
neck possible.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. The November Dino Files is available
in a PDF edition with immediate electronic
delivery.

The PDF is printable, so if you prefer a
hard-copy, order the PDF and print it --
and you'll have an instant hard-copy to
save in your collection.

If you don't have a printer, send me
an email and we'll see what we can do
for you.

Also, if you prefer to subscribe to The
Dino Files rather than order each issue
as it becomes available, shoot me an
email and we'll work up a special
subscription package for you.

Train Hard, Eat Well, Enjoy the Weekend!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I hope you're having a great weekend.

It's been pretty good here at Dino
Headquarters.

We had our granddaughters over on Sat
night, which is always an adventure. They
had us outnumbered two to two, but we
managed to survive until their mom came
over and picked them up.

I managed to sneak in a hard workout
yesterday afternon before they arrived,
and followed it up with a great dinner.

My legs are sore today, but that's all part
of the fun of training hard and heavy. And
it entitles me to more great meals today.

We took the girls to the park, and saw a
fitness boot camp in action. It wasn't
Dino, but it was pretty good for that
sort of thing. It looked like everyone
was having fun and working up a good
sweat, and that's a heck of a lot better
than being a weekend coach potato.

The bootcamp even used some sandbags,
although they were small ones.

I wondered if they had any idea that
the old guy pushing his granddaughters
on the swingset was one of the people
who helped put sandbag training on
the map -- and that he got the idea
from an NFL strength coach named
Kim Wood -- and that it dated back to
the old-time strongmen and wrestlers
over 100 years ago -- including Arthur
Saxon and his 300-pound Challenge
Sack that no one else could lift.

Or that George Hackenschmidt trained
for wrestling matches well over 100
years ago by getting down on his
hands and knees, and having a
couple of very strong helpers place
a 600 pound (not a typo, that's SIX
HUNDRED) sandbag on his back so
he could practice resisting a heavy
opponent in a match.

I probably should tell them. They might
move up to heavier sandbags in the
next bootcamp!

Anyhow, I hope it's been a good weekend
for you. If you train today or tomorrow,
train hard, and follow it up with some
great food. Pay attention to recovery
and recuperation. Have fun, and spend
some time with your favorite people.

And remember to synchronize your
watches for 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday
morning -- we're going to launch vol. 3
in our series of new Dinosaur Training
Courses, and I think you're really going
to like it.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

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

The Legs Go First -- Or Not!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

They say the legs go first, but it doesn't
have to be that way.

Close to 100 years ago, George Hackenshmidt
was the Heavyweight wrestling champion of the
world -- and that was back in the day when
wrestling matches were real.

He was in tremendous shape as a young man --
strong and muscular in in great condition.

He kept on training for his entire life, and
many years later -- in his late 70's or early
80's, he was able to do the following:

1. Place two ordinary wooden kitchen chairs
across from one another and about three to
four feet apart.

2. Place a broomstick over the backs of the
chairs, so it was waist height for him.

3. Perform a standing high jump right over
the broomstick.

It sounds impossible, but I've seen photos of
him doing it.

Contrast Hack's performance with that of the
typical senior. We're talking artificial knees
and hips, little or no bone density, and
virtually no strength. Many older folks cannot
walk or even stand on their feet without
assistance.

That's a very good reason to keep on training.
Your workouts at age 20, age 30, age 40 and age
50 are the ones that are going to keep you going
when you're age 60, age 70 and age 80 (and
hopefully, for many years after that).

But like anything else you need to do it the right
way -- carefully balancing training "hard enough"
versus training "too hard."

Balancing "enough" training with "too much" training.

Balancing strength training and conditioning/cardio
work.

Finding the bodyweight that is the best for you as
you grow older -- and then maintaining that magic
weight.

There's very little information about serious
strength training for older lifters. Almost all of
the training literature is aimed at the younger crowd.
And much of what is left for older lifters is too basic
and too remedial for anyone other than a beginner.

That's why I wrote Gray Hair and Black Iron. It's
about hard, heavy, challenging workouts for older
lifters. It has a ton of advice written for older
trainees (after all, at age 54, I'm one myself), and
it has over 50 detailed workouts for lifters of all
ages. It's been our most popular book for the past
several years -- and there's a reason for that. It's
a darn good book.

The goal is to have leg and hip strength like George
Hackenshmidt had when you're in your 70's and 80's.
And Gray Hair and Black Iron -- and a barbell - will
get you there.

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. Readers often ask how old you should be before buying
Gray Hair and Black Iron. If you're 35 or older, grab the
book now. And even if you're younger, you may want to give
it a try. I've had many younger guys read the book and write
to say how much it helped them. You can find the little
monster right here:

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

P.S. 2 My newest book, Black Iron: The John Davis Story, is
right here:

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