Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One quick note, and then we'll talk
training.
1. The August-September Dinosaur Files
We ran late on the August issue, so we're
going to do a combined August-September
issue. It should be ready later today or
tomorrow. I'll send a link as soon as it's
ready to order.
2. The "What Would Happen?" Question
On the training front, I received an interesting
question in response to yesterday's email. It's
a question I get fairly often.
This time it came from Chris Califano. He wrote:
"Here is an interesting question: What would the
result/benefits be if a younger lifter followed the
exact same advice that older trainees should
employ regarding "making every rep count"
and "every exercise and every set count"?
In other words, that a younger dedicated lifter
can put more hours into his or her training
should not be a "license to waste energy."
Just that we COULD do it when we were
younger does not mean that we SHOULD
have.
In fact, I am sure that if I had applied the
same methods for Progression with
Recuperation when I was in my teens,
twenties and thirties, I would have
gotten further faster. And with less
if any injuries, nagging or small!
And I would have had more balanced
development, plus better health and
more free time, to boot!
Chris"
Chris -- Thanks for your email. The question
you pose is a good one. Most trainees follow
the over-the-top high volume workouts when
they are young -- and they end up wasting
what should have been the very best years
of their training careers.
It's a crying shame -- especially when it leads
them to quit training -- or to turn to steroids
and other drugs.
If everyone started training the right way from
Day 1 of their career, we'd see many more
trainees achieve great success -- and we'd
see many more trainees stick to their program
for their entire lives.
In terms of concrete results, let's look at
some real-life examples of young men who
started out training the right way from Day
One:
John Davis started training at age 15 -- and won
the World weightlifting championship -- beating
not one but two former Olympic gold medal
winners -- at age 17.
John Grimek went from 120 lbs. to 178 lbs. in
his his first three years of training -- and went
from a clean and jerk of 95 lbs. to a clean and
jerk with 247 1/2 lbs.
Steve Stanko gained 80 pounds of muscle in
his first 2 years of training -- and won his first
United States Senior National title later in the
same year.
Frank Spellman worked up to a 240 lb. military
press at a bodyweight of 156 lbs. -- after just
1 1/2 years of training. He went on to win an
Olympic gold medal in 1948.
Tommy Kono entered his first weightlifting
contest in 1948. He improved his 3-lift total
(press, snatch and clean and jerk) by 195
lbs. over the next 2 years. He won his first
Olympic gold medal in 1952.
Obviously, not everyone is going to become
a World or Olympic Champion, or a Mr. America.
But if more young guys trained the way that
Davis, Grimek, Stanko, Spellman and Kono
trained, they'd make enormously more
progress.
And that's why I continue to bang the drum.
It's an important message -- and so many
guys and gals need to hear it!
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today (as I will), make
it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S.As I mentioned, the August-September
issue of the Dinosaur Files will be out later
today or tomorrow. Get ready for it - it's a
terrific issue!
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "It doesn't matter
if a hammer and nails are old-fashioned. They
still work better than anything else -- and every
carpenter needs them." -- Brooks Kubik
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