Questions and Answers About the "Essential Exercises"

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Before we get into today's email, let me
again say THANK YOU for all of your kind
words and support following the loss of
our beloved Marcel. Trudi and I appreciate
it more than we can ever say.

By the way, Marcel used to lie on my desk,
next to my keyboard, when I was doing my
writing - so he played a major role in helping
me write all of my books, courses and blog
posts. So if I ever wrote something that you
particularly liked, Marcel probably deserves
at least some of the credit.

On the training front, let's answer some
questions from readers.

We've been talking about the "Essential Exercises"
this week, and I've been getting lots of feedback
from the Dino Nation. So let's cover some of the
more common questions.

Q. Why didn't Bradley J. Steiner include deadlifts
as one of the Essential Exercises?

A. Steiner preferred stiff legged deadlifts. Personally,
I prefer deadlifts. I think stiff legged deadlifts are
best done with a LIGHT weight, more for stretching
and flexibility than heavy strength training. Some
men (Dr. Ken) for example, thrive on heavy stiff
legged deadlifts. I guess it depends on your body
structure as much as anything else.

Q. Why didn't Steiner include Trap Bar Deadlifts on
his list of Essential Exercises?

A. Because the Trap Bar hadn't been invented then.
If it had been available, he might well have suggested
that readers try it. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the
Trap Bar. For more info on Trap Bar training, or to
order the original Gerard Trap Bar:

http://www.trapbartraining.com/

Q. What about dips? Don't you think they should
be on the list?

A. I know some of you are going to hate this answer,
but Steiner preferred the bench press and the
dumbbell incline press.

So do I. Dips are a great movement for young guys,
and many do them and use added weight and really
enjoy them -- but they are very hard on the shoulder
joint. I have rec'd many letters and emails over the
years from guys who hurt their shoulders doing dips.
If you simply MUST do them, do them slow and strict,
with no bouncing, and do NOT go for a deep stretch
at the bottom. And if you're an older and heavier
Dinosaur, you may want to skip them entirely.

If you don't like bench presses or dumbbell incline
presses, try the push-up variations in Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training:

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

Steiner, by the way, liked push-ups quite a bit.
He thought they were better than bench presses
for martial artists.

Q. Steiner's list of Essential Exercises is pretty
old-school.

A. Right -- that's why I like it, and why I shared it
with you.

Q. What about Nautilus machines? I know those were
really big back in the 70's when Steiner compiled his
list.

A. They were indeed. Steiner actually thought they
were pretty good (he liked Arthur Jones' one set to
failure ideas), but he also noted (as did Jones) that
you could get great results with nothing other than
a barbell and a set of squat stands.

Steiner was at heart a home gym guy. He trained at
home, and he always wrote training programs that
worked for a home gym trainee. Cellar dwellers and
garage gorillas usually have barbells, dumbbells,
benches, and squats stands or a power rack --
but they don't have the space or the cash for
a set of a dozen expensive Nautilus machines.
So Steiner wasn't about to call them "essential"
even though he did like them.

Those are some of the more common questions
about the essential exercises. I'll cover some others
next week.

In the meantime, and 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. 1. For the best exercises for older trainees,
see Gray Hair and Black Iron:

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

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are
right here at Dino headquarters -- including
links to my Kindle e-books and the all-new
monthly Dinosaur Files with immediate
digital delivery:

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Exercises are
tools. Use the best you can find." -- Brooks
Kubik

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All Out Exercises for Strength and Power!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Before we talk about sets and reps, I want
to thank everyone for all of the kind words
and emails about Marcel. Trudi and I
appreciate it enormously.

Carl Lanore let me dedicate yesterday's
episode of Physical Culture Radio to Marcel.

It turned out to be a great memorial for a
truly wonderful and amazing cat. If you
missed it, you can listen to it here:

http://superhumanradio.com/shr-1787-physical-culture-radio-living-life-like-marcel-almonds-10-grams-a-day-helps-keep-the-doctor-away.html

On the training front, let's talk a bit more
about Bradley J. Steiner's "Essential Exercises."
I covered this in an email on Monday.

If you missed it, go to the Dinosaur Training
Blog and read it there. By the way, I post all
of my emails on the Blog, so if you ever miss
an email, you can always find it at the Blog.
You can access the Blog from the drop down
bar at my website.

Anyhow, one of Steiner's essential exercises for
the back was the power clean.

I agree that the power clean belongs on the list,
but I'd go a bit further and add a number of
other weightlifting movements to the program.

Some people call these "All Out" exercises. That's
an excellent term for them.

And I'll tell you something else. I very much wish
that someone had taught me to focus on these
exercises when I was a kid. It would have been
the best thing ever for my wrestling. I was a
very good wrestler in high school -- I won a
state championship in Greco-Roman wrestling --
but I would have been twice as good if I had
trained with All Out exercises.

So here are some exercises that I consider to
be "Essential Exercises" for athletes -- and for
anyone who wants to increase their strength
and power enormously:

1. Power cleans

2. Clean grip high pulls

3. Power Snatches

4. Snatch grip high pulls

5. The power clean and press

6. The power clean and push press

7. The power clean and jerk

8. Push presses

9. Jerks

10. Snatch grip deadlifts

11. Clean grip deadlifts

12. Snatch grip or clean grip deadlifts
with a shrug at the top of the movement

All of the exercises listed above provide a triple
benefit. They simultaneously:

1. Build your strength and explosive power.

2. Improve your speed, balance, coordination,
timing and athleticism.

3. Train the heck out of your legs, back, hips
and shoulder girdle (which are the true keys
to Herculean super strength).

4. Build strong, thick bones.

5. Strengthen your nervous system, and help
maintain a strong mind-muscle link and
athletic movement patterns -- which makes
them very important for healthy aging.

For details on how to work these movements
into your training programs, see:

1. Chalk and Sweat (50 workouts from beginners
to advanced men, with many workouts featuring
weightlifting exercises):

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

2. Strength, Muscle and Power (29 chapters covering
a huge variety of topics, including how to add Olympic
lifting to your programs):

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

3. Black Iron: The John Davis Story (reveals World
and Olympic champion John Davis' actual training
programs):

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

4. The Doug Hepburn Training Course (how the 1953
World Weightlifting champion trained):

http://www.brookskubik.com/doug_hepburn.html
5. Gray Hair and Black Iron (how older lifters can
train safely and effectively with Olympic lifting
movements):

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

6. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1 (covers many
different training approaches for cellar dwellers and
garage gorillas, including ssome excellent weightlifting
workouts):

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html

If you need help on how to perform the movements,
see my Going Strong at 54 DVD:

http://brookskubik.com/goingstrong.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. Again, thanks for the kind words about Marcel.
Trudi and I miss him terribly, but we are hanging in
there. Our other cat, Louie, misses Marcel, too. He
sits on the back porch, waiting for his friend to
come home. So we're being extra good to Louie.
It's a tough time for him. He and Marcel have been
together ever since Marcel joined us 10 years ago.

P.S. 2. You'd be surprised how many Dinosaurs are
big animal lovers. It seems to be a part of our Dino
DNA.

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Lessons from Marcel

Our beloved Marcel.  The best cat ever.  Everyone who knew him loved him.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I missed my daily email yesterday,
but I have a good excuse.

We had a death in the family.

Yesterday we lost our beloved Marcel,
a wonderful, active, adventurous, gray
cat who had been with us for ten
glorious, fun-filled years.

Marcel had the best life of any cat who
ever lived -- and it was an adventurous
life. He was an indoor and outdoor cat,
living in a house on a hill with a big
yard, a maze of garden boxes, a
mulberry tree to climb, and endless
birds, squirrels, and small critters to
chase.

The squirrels loved him. When he lay on
the railing on the back porch, the squirrels
would lie on the fence posts and mimic the
way he lay there, face down, with his four
legs dangling down.

It happened so often that we called him
"The Squirrel God."

When he was a small kitten, our daughter
kept him on a long leash when he went out.
He made a beeline for the magnolia tree,
and climbed up as high as he could. He
loved climbing. But climbing with a leash
around your neck can be dangerous, so
we let him off his leash.

Five minutes later I saw a tiny kitten
sitting on top of the neighbor's garage,
surveying what was to become his un-
disputed domain for the next 10 years.

Not long after, our daughter went off to
college, and Trudi and I became Marcel's
new parents. He wasn't sure we would do
a good job for him, so he ran away.

We searched everywhere, put up signs,
made calls, and paid the kids in the
neighborhood to try to find him.

Several days passed -- and there was no
sign of Marcel.

And then, while little Marcel was still out
there -- somewhere -- Louisville was hit
by a terrible storm with hurricane force
winds -- the remnants of a hurricane that
roared out of the Gulf of Mexico and into
Texas.

Trees were toppling everywhere -- branches
and wires were coming down -- and everyone
stayed in their basement, huddling in the
dark with their loved ones.

After the storm, Trudi got a call on her cell
phone.

A family several blocks away had found
Marcel. We raced over to get him -- passing
a dozen or more downed trees along the way.

When we got there, they told us the story.
When the storm hit, the little kitten did what
he thought was the safest thing.

He climbed a tree in their back yard.

And there he was for the entire storm, holding
on for dear life, 30 feet above the ground -- in
a hurricane. The family saw him, but there was
nothing they could do to help him. He had to
do it on his own. And he did.

After the storm had passed, the little kitten
climbed down the tree and stepped with
waery, wobbly legs onto the wet, green
grass.

Trudi wrapped him in an old sweater and
carried him home, holding him close. And
as you can guess, Marcel got a very big
dinner that night.

That was our Marcel. He was fearless. He
was an adventurer. He always loved
to climb as high as he could climb -- and
to spend long hours sitting with the sun and
wind on his face, watching what happened
below.

His favorite spot in the entire world was
the deck outside a third story apartment
in a house on the hill above us.

He would climb up the wooden steps and
sit and see for miles.

I learned many things from Marcel. You
always learn important things from a
special pet.

This is what Marcel taught me:

"Live every day to the fullest. Make time to
sit in the sun and the wind. Always look for
the high ground.  Enjoy the far horizon,
and make everything you see your
own special kingdom."

And there was another important lesson:

"If you're caught in a tall tree in a
hurricane, hold on tight -- and enjoy
the adventure!"

Marcel is gone, but he's enjoying a new
adventure. He can fly now -- and I know
it's something he always wanted to do.
His spirit is free and unfettered.

Goodbye, Marcel. Thank you for the years of
love and laughter -- for the memories -- and
for the lessons you shared with us.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Of course, my next workout will be extra
hard and heavy to honor Marcel. Please join me
and do the same. He'll appreciate it.

P.S. 2. Carl Lanore graciously agreed to let
me share Marcel's story on yesterday's
episode of Physical Culture Radio. Here's
the libnk to the download:

http://superhumanradio.com/shr-1787-physical-culture-radio-living-life-like-marcel-almonds-10-grams-a-day-helps-keep-the-doctor-away.html

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