Little Man, Big Legs

Guess who almost got selected to play the role of Superman - and who would have done a pretty good job at it.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Trudi and I were walking the other
day, and we met a friend who's a
dancer with the Louisville Ballet
Company.


Meaning that her job is to train for
8 to 10 hours a day - on her feet,
up and down - doing thousands of
reps of different leg exercises:
squats, jumps, sprints, hops, calf
raises, kicks, bouncing, and more.

No, it's not heavy squats, but it's a
tough workout, and you have to be
in seriously great condition to do it
day after day, year after year.

She was with her son - a miniature
dynamo who looks to be four or five
years old.

He was riding a small bicycle with
training wheels.

It had a Spiderman symbol on the
front.

"Do you like Spiderman?" I asked
him.

He nodded his head up and down.
"Do you know Spiderman's real
name?"

That was easy.

"Spiderman!" he said.

"No - I mean his real name - when
he's not wearing his Spiderman suit."

He thought about it very carefully
before answering.

Probably wasn't sure if he could trust
me. After all, this was top secret stuff.
If the Green Goblin ever found out,
Spidey would be in big trouble.

"Don't worry - I won't tell anyone," I
promised.

He continued to think about it.

I must have looked suspicious.

"I know it's a secret," I said. "We
don't want the bad guys to find
out."

"Okay," he said."Peter Parker!"

"That's right!"

And then HE asked ME a question -
which was good, because I had pretty
much run out of questions for him. It's
been a long time since I read a Spider-
man comic, and I'm not up to date on
what everyone's favorite webslinger
is doing.

"Do you want to see how fast I can
go?" he asked.

"If your mom says it's ok."

Mom nodded.

"It's ok," she said.

We stepped aside and he took off, his
little legs pedaling furiously.

Before you knew it, he was half a block
away.

He stopped, turned around, looked back
at us, and waved.

We waved back, and mom went down the
block to collect him, and Trudi and I went
on with our walk.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think
that little man is going to be an Iron
Slinger someday - and those little legs
are going to be doing some serious
squatting in about 15 or so years.

I also think it reminds us that we're born
to exercise. It comes naturally to us. We're
made for walking, running, lifting, moving
and carrying. Children know this - it's why
they're so active - but adults tend to forget
it.

Which means that if you have kids or grand-
kids, it should be easy to get them into the
exercise habit. If they've ever seen YOU
training, they're probably itching to give
it a try.

And it also should be easy for YOU to get
into - and stay into - the exercise habit.

Heck, it's as fast, fun and easy as blasting
down the block on an official Spiderman
bicycle.

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 some great courses that
focus on some unusual but very
effective old-school training methods:

Dinosaur Strength and Power -
Course No. 1 - Strength Style
Arm Training with Doug Hepburn

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurstrengthandpower-01.html

A complete - and brand new - training
course that teaches you how to build
strong, powerful,and muscular arms -
using the training methods of the
legendary Doug Hepburn.

The Bone Strength Project

https://www.oldtimestrongman.com/bone-strength-projectPDF.html

John Wood's unique program for building
your bones in order to increase your
potential for maximum muscle mass.

Dinosaur Strength and Power -
Course No. 2 - Heavy Partials

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurstrengthandpower-02.html

Another way of building your bones -
and strengthening your tendons and
ligaments - a must read for anyone
interested in maximum strength and
power.

The May-June Dinosaur Files

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-mayjune2018.html

Feature articles include:

The World's Simplest Bodyweight
Program

The Deadlift from Hell

The Valhalla Challenge

Bob Hoffman's Favorite Training
Program

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:

"Start young and keep on going. If you're
not young, then start NOW and keep on
going."

-- 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

Do It Yourself Health Care

Staggered grip double rope pull-ups - one of my favorite exercises from Dinosaur Bodyweight Training.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
DVD's

I have ONE set of all seven of my
Dinosaur Bodyweight Training
DVD's.

It would normally run $150 plus
shipping and handling, but since
today is Black Friday I'm letting it
go for $120.00 plus s&h. But if no
one grabs it, the price goes back
up tomorrow.

If you're interested, shoot me an
email. First come, first served.

2. The Dinosaur Files

The October and November issues
of The Dinosaur Files newsletter are
getting great reviews. You can grab
them in PDF format with immediate
electronic delivery:

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

The Dinosaur Files is printable, so if you
want a hard copy, get the PDF edition
and print it out.

if you don't have a printer or if you want
a one year (12 issue) subscription, shoot
me an email and we'll see what we can
do for you.

3. Do It Yourself Health Care

Everyone worries about health care -
and about the ever-increasing cost of
health care.

The politicians debate it backwards and
forwards, upside down, inside out, and
every other way.

Everyone has a proposed solution - most
of which just won't work.

But no one asked me.

And that's a shame, because I have a
couple of ideas that might help the
situation.

Actually, there not MY ideas - they're
just common sense physical culture
and physical fitness ideas that have
been around for the past 100 years
or more.

Here they are:

1. Walkable cities. The more people
walk, the leaner and healthier they
are.

a. Bike friendly cities are also
important.

2. Parks and playgrounds for kids.
Start 'em young, and keep 'em
moving.

a. With monkey bars, even. (Those
were my favorite when I was a kid.)

b. And outdoor workout areas for
the older kids and the adults.

3. Community gardens. They should
be everywhere - with people using
them - and growing plenty of healthy
and delicious food.

a. This also would help make real food
much more affordable.

b. And gardening is good for you - it
gets you outside, and it provides some
light exercise - at a level that almost
anyone can do.

4. A gym on every corner. Meaning an
old-school gym with barbells, dumbbells,
kettlebells and similar basics. A neighbor-
hood gym that anyone and everyone can
use.

a. This actually used to be pretty much
the case in many big cities back in the
day.

5. Real food in the grocery stores - and
in restaurants.

a. But no more deep fried, super greasy,
high fat, high sugar, high calorie fast
food.

6. A gym in every house (or apartment).

a. Just the basics - for the entire family
to use.

b. This was one of Bob Hoffman's life-
long dreams.

7. A national effort - similar to the effort
the USA made in World War 2 or to get a
man on the moon - to teach people to
build their health with the right kind of
diet and exercise.

Those are the ideas that come to mind
immediately.

Do you have any others? If you do, send
them on it!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Dinosaur Bodyweight Training is
great for home-gym workouts - or for
outdoor training.

Go here to grab the little monster:

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

And remember, if you want the DVD
set - the last one I have - shoot me
an email right now.

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -
and 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/kindle.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day:

"Think how wonderful the world
would be if everyone followed the
strength and health lifestyle!"

- 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

What Would Happen If . . . ?

 

The garage gym at Dino Headquarters was the best-ever place to train. What would happen if everyone had a small home gym or a local neighborhood gym to use?

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

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

1. Legacy of Iron 3 - on Kindle!

Yesterday we released Legacy of
Iron 3 - The 1,000 Pound Total
in a Kindle edition. You can find
it right here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/legacyofiron03_kindle.html

Of course, if you prefer hard-copy,
all of the Legacy of iron books are
available in hard-copy editions.

You can find them here:

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

2. The Iron League

I talked to John Wood the other
day, and he's putting up some
great new stuff at the Iron League.

That includes - drum roll - the original
Dinosaur Files newsletter from 1997
through 2002 - a total of 61 killer
issues.

If you missed them the first time
around, or if you read them but
don't have them any more, this is
your chance to grab a very big slice
of Dino-riffic training advice and
Iron Game history.

Go here to join the Iron League:

https://www.ironleague.com/

 

The outdoor lifting area in back of our apartment.  You can get a great workout anywhere.

3. What Would Happen If . . .?

On the training front, I was asking
myself what would happen if every-
one in the USA owned a basic barbell
and dumbbell set and trained for 45
minutes to an hour three times
a week.

I bet it would take care of a whole
lot of health problems.

And that got me to thinking about
other "What if . .  ." questions.

So I thought I'd share some of them
with you.

1. What would happen if there were
no more steroids and everyone trained
100% drug-free and natural?

2. What would happen if there were
no more super supplements and
everyone relied on hard work, regular
training and a healthy diet?

3. What would happen if every
household had a small home gym?

4. What would happen if there was
an old-fashioned, old-school gym on
every corner in every town and city
throughout the world?

Knife, Fork, Muscle may be the best book out there on how to eat for lifelong strength and health. It should be mandatory reading for all doctors - and for everyone in medical school.

 5. What would happen if everyone
had a small garden, and grew plenty
of fresh, healthy, local, organic and
inexpensive food?

6. What would happen if we eliminated
sugar from our diets - all of us, every
single person, and completely?

7. What would happen if everyone
walked two or three miles a day?

8. What would happen if everyone
played sports instead of watching
sports on television?

9. What would happen if everyone
read one book a week?

10. What would happen if the most
common prescription that doctors
wrote was "Less food and more
squats"?

I'll stop now, but I could keep going
for a very long time. You can probably
think of plenty more of these - and
you can probably picture the kind of
world I want for all of us.

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 home gyms and
how to set them up - and how to get
the most out of them - see chapters
14 and 25 in Strength, Muscle and
Power:

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. 2. Thought for the Day

"You may not realize it, but when
you train, you set a very important
example for others - and that's a
good thing!"

-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 Food Mobile

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

A guy in Louisville has opened
some old-fashioned corner grocery
stores featuring nothing but fresh,
locally grown vegetables, fruits,
and eggs -- and some locally raised
free range beef and pork, and locally
sourced cheese and honey. It's sort
of like going to the local Farmer's
Market.

He's calls the stores The Root
Cellar.

There's Root Cellar No. 1 and Root
Cellar No. 2. Trudi goes to them
once or twice a week, grabbing
extra green stuff to supplement
what we buy at the Farmer's Market
or grow in the back yard.

Now he's taking the thing one
step further.

He's buying a big bus, and he's
going to make it into a Food
Mobile.

Sort of like a Book Mobile, for
those of you old enough to
remember the Book Mobile. (The
book mobile was  a bus or van
that brought library books to
parts of town far away from the
library. Neat concept. Books
are good, reading is good,
libraries are good and Book
Mobiles are good.)

But back to the Food Mobile.

He'll use it to bring fresh,
healthy food to people living
in the parts of town we call
Food Deserts -- the parts
of Louisville where all you
can buy is fast food, junk
food and processed junk from
the gas station or
convenience mart.

These are parts of town where
there's no local grocery store,
and where fresh vegetables are
virtually unknown. And you can
imagine the health impact of
living on chips and cheese
crackers.

He's raising funding for the
project on Kickstarter. Trudi
and I are supporting him. It
seems like a good thing to do.

You can read more about it
right here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1679419829/the-root-mobile-a-locally-grown-farm-fresh-mobile

I think it's a pretty good
idea -- and it's something we
might be seeing in lots of places
around the world in the not too
distant future.

Anyhow, that's the Food Mobile.

Be looking for a post tomorrow
about a somewhat similar idea
that one of the original Dinos
came up with about 10 years ago.
I call it The Muscle Mobile --
and you'll want to be sure to
read about it.

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 strength and health, eat
your veggies and hit the iron --
Dino Style. My books and courses
tell you how to do it:

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Iron
plus effort plus healthy eating
equals great results." -- Brooks Kubik

The Fortress of Strength

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

After sending out yesterday's post about the
Kazakhstani weightlifting team winning FOUR
gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, I
did some more research and learned a bit
about their super secret Fortress of
Strength. I even found some photos of
it.

So let me tell you what I found. But keep
this under your hat. Remember, it's top
secret.

The Kazakhastani team trains in what has
been described as "a remote sanitarium"
in the hills surrounding the mining town
of Tekeli, located in southeastern
Kazakhstan. The town was incorporated
in 1952 after various mineral discoveries,
and the current population is 27,000 plus
16 -- the 16 being 12 weightlifters and 4
coaches.

The training center features a long room
with low ceilings. It has a wooden floor
that looks like the floor of a basketball
court. It's not very fancy. The walls are
an uninspiring white and beige, the entry-
way is unfinished,and unadorned light
bulbs hang down from black wires.

There appear to be eight or more wooden
lifting platforms. The platforms appear
to be 8 feet by 10 feet. They are made
of wood, with rubber matting on the
sides where the barbells land. I'm not
sure if they're commercial weightlifting
platforms or if they were made at the
facility. They look about the same as
what you'd find in any garage gym where
someone practices weightlifting. In fact,
they look pretty much like the platform
in my garage, except a bit bigger.

The platforms are laid out in two rows,
with a narrow space between the platforms.
Each platform has an Olympic barbell, and
between each platform is a small metal
stand for bumper plates.

I'm sure there are squat stands somewhere,
but I haven't seen a photo of them. I've
seen other photos of Kazakhastani lifters
with squat racks in the background, and
they're basic, free-standing racks. Not
power racks, but simple squat racks.
Pretty old school.

In between their sets, the lifters sit on
narrow wooden benches in back of the plat-
forms.

There are big windows in back of the wooden
benches, and you can see that the training
hall is up in the mountains. There are
plenty of shrubs and trees growing close
to the building. It's like training in the
middle of a green forest.

As far as diet and nutrition goes, the
lifters follow an ordinary diet -- but
eat huge amounts of food to fuel their
hard, heavy workouts!

The Kazakhastani diet is pretty simple.
Lots of meat, mainly lamb, horse meat
(yes, you read that right), and beef.
The Kazakhstani were a nomadic race,
and horse meat has always been part of
their diet. The athletes eat so much
of it that the government flew a huge
amount of horse meat sausages to London
so the athletes could eat their usual
fare. Kazakhastan's two time Olympic
gold medal winner, Illya Illyin, is on
record saying that horse meat is their
secret weapon and that horse meat and
chicken are the best foods for weight-
lifters.

In addition to meat, the Kazakhastani
diet includes milk and yogurt. They
don't stop with cow's milk, either --
they use milk from sheep, goats, mares,
and camels.

They eat basic whole grains, including
barley, wheat, melon, and rice, and
fruits and vegetables, which vary
depending on the season and the part
of the country you are in.

So that's the super secret Fortress of
Strength -- the super secret training
equipment -- and the super secret diet
that led to four Olympic gold medals in
London.

You can see a photo of it here:

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63873

I'll close with a question.

If we're serious about doing something
to fight the epidemic of obesity, diabetes
and health problems facing the modern world,
and in particular, our children,

and

If the health benefits of weightlifting
are far better than those of any other
sport (and they are),

and

If weightlifting is one of the safest of
sports (and it is),

and

If if you can set up a world class training
center for weightlifting for no more than
the cost of some barbells, some squat stands,
some platforms and some chairs or benches for
the lifters to sit on,

Then why in the world aren't we starting
weightlifting clubs, intramural weightlifting
programs, and interscholastic weightlifting
competition in all of our schools from junior
high to the NCAA level?

Just a question. Had to ask it.

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 reserve your copy of my new
book, Dinosaur Dumbbell Training:

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html

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

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "If you're serious
about improving the strength and health of our
children, then you're serious about weightlifting
and weight training -- and you want to see them
in the schools." -- Brooks Kubik 

How to Teach Them the Vegetable Thing

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We have a lot of parents and grand-
parents reading these emails, and I know
you're interested in getting the kids and
grand-kids going on good, solid exercise
programs and following a wholesome, healthy
diet.

So I thought I'd update on my efforts to
get the granddaughters to eat their vegetables.

We have two of them. Twins. I'll refer to them
as Little Person No. 1 and Little Person No. 2.
LPN 1 and LPN 2 for short. They're only 3, so
LPN 1 and LPN 2 is perfect for them.

Now, as regular readers now, I've turned the
entire back and side yard into a vegetable
garden. I covered it over the winter and kept
on growing hardy winter crops (spinach and other
hardy greens). Everything did well, and we had
fresh veggies all winter long -- and then when
it started to warm up, they started to grow
like crazy, and now we have green stuff
everywhere.

We had a family dinner on Sunday night and of
course LPN1 and LPN 2 were there.

So I decided to put them to work.

Of course, that wasn't what I told Trudi.

I told Trudi I was going to let the girls play
in the garden.

What a difference a word makes. Play sounds
so much nicer than work.

Anyhow, I took them outside and showed them
the garden.

"Look at the nice spinach!" I said.

LPN 2 turned and pointed to the cat sunning
himself on the porch.

"Cat!" she hollered.

And suddenly they both ran off to chase the cat.

After a long chase I corralled them, told the cat
to scram, and brought them back to the garden.

I showed them the tat soi. It's an emerald green
Asian green that you can eat raw or use for stir
fries. It grows tall, with lots of leaves, so it's
eye-catching.

"Look," I said. "Tat soi."

LPN 1 stared at me. She clearly thought I was crazy.

LPN 2 wandered off to find the cat.

Finally, I got them working.

"Which one should I pick?" I asked. "This one --
or this one?"

"That one," said LPN 1 gravely.

Meanwhile, LPN 2 harvested her own spinach leaves. Or
bits and pieces of them. Every once in awhile she
managed to harvest an entire plant, roots and all.

We put the spinach leaves in a big plastic bowl. LPN 1
carried the bowl. I viewed it as an age appropriate Dino
workout. A junior version of the farmer's walk.

We finally filled the bowl, took the greens inside,
and gave them "a bath" in the kitchen sink.

The girls thought that was funny. Why was their silly
grandpa washing the funny green stuff in the funny
bowl?

I guess if you're three years old it WOULD be funny.

Half an hour later we sat down to dinner. Everyone had
a big bowl of fresh salad.

LPN 1 was perched on my knee. I reached over to the
salad bowl and took a small piece of spinach and handed
it to her.

"This is good," I said. "Yum!"

She took the piece of spinach and held it in her hand,
looking at it gravely.

And then, equally gravely, she handed it back to me.

I don't think she's completely sold on the veggie thing
yet.

But don't worry -- I'll keep working on it.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day. And
if you train today, make it a good one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. If you're looking for a good father/son or grandfather/
grandson reading combo, try this: Gray Hair and Black Iron
for the older member of the team, and Chalk and Sweat for
the Junior member.

1. For Gray Hair and Black Iron, go here:

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

2. For Chalk and Sweat, go here:

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