Another Way to Measure Progress as You Grow Older

John Grimek was healthy and strong for pretty much his entire life - and he lived a very long life. We have much to learn from the old-timers about healthy and successful aging.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I changed doctors seven years ago,
and when I did, I collected a full set
of medical records from my first doc.

I'd been seeing him since I was 28 or
29 - and I changed docs at age 54 -
so there were a ton of records.

Anyhow, the other day Trudi had an
idea:

"You should go through all your old
medical records - and then get new
labs and blood work done - and com-
pare where you are now - at age 60 -
to where you were at age 30, 40 and
50. That would be good information."

"You could share it with the Dinos,"
she added. "They'd like to see it."

That's a good idea, so I'm going to
go ahead and do it.

My birthday is in September - I'll be
turning 61 - so I may wait until then
to get the labs and blood work.

That way I can compare age 29, 30
and so on to age 61 - a full 32 years
later.

In the meantime, I'm following a very
healthy diet - and training hard - doing
a lot of new things, that I'll be sharing
with you in the future - and working on
being as strong, healthy, fit and well-
conditioned as possible as I head into
my 60s.

I don't compete against other people
any more. I compete against myself.

My goal is to be stronger, leaner, fitter,
healthier and better conditioned at age
61 than I was at age 30 - or age 40 -
or age 50.

In fact, I plan to kick the you know what
out of the younger version of Brooks.

Not that the younger version was a bad
guy - or in bad shape - but the goal is
to always keep on improving - and the
more ways to measure improvement,
the better.

If you're  a younger Dino, get some
labs and blood work - and save the
results - and compare them to where
you are in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years.

The docs used to say that weight
training would kill us. Let's all work
together to prove them wrong!

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. Gray Hair and Black Iron has
tons of workouts and training tips
for trainees. If you don't already
have a copy, do yourself a big favor
and grab it today:

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

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: 

"Stay strong, stay young."

 -- Brooks Kubik

Friday Q and A for Dinos

It's Friday, it's sunny, and I'm looking forward to a great workout in the outdoor training area here at Dino Headquarters!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I've been getting a ton of questions from
Dinos around the world, and thought I'd
share some of them with you -- along
with my answers.

1. You're a former bench press champion
and record holder. Why don't you write a
course about bench pressing?

A. I just wrote a long course on the bench
press. But I don't sell it. It's only available
at The Iron League, which is a wonderful
member's only strength training archive
developed by my good friend, John Wood.

I've also allowed John to upload five of my
original Dinosaur Training DVD's, as well 
as all seven of my Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training DVD's. They're not all available
yet, but several are. And in the meantime,
there's a ton of other great stuff at The
Iron League:

http://www.ironleague.com/

2. When you outline a program where the
trainee does 5 x 5 with one heavy set, what
weight do you use on the warm-up sets? If
the top set is 100%, what are the percentages
for the warm-up sets?

A. Try 60/70/80/90/100 percent. If you are
doing an exercise like squats or deadlifts where
you need to start lighter and do more warm-up
sets, then try 30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100
percent. I know that's 8 x 5, but the extra
warm-up sets are just that - warm-up sets -
and they won't tire you out or cut into your
recovery.

3. I dropped off your email list. What happened?

A. I don't know. People sometimes drop off the
list and we don't know why. It's either something
to do with our email service or its something at
your end. One reader changed mobile devices
recently, and doesn't get the emails any more.

I send emails every day other than Sunday, so
if you miss an email, there's a glitch somewhere.

Go to my website and sign back up -- and check
your junk mail settings, because they change
sometimes and you may need to put us on
your white list.

As a back-up, I post every email I send at the
Dinosaur Training Blog. If you miss an email, go
to the Blog to catch up. You can access the Blog
from my website. Email me if you can't find the
link.

I'm also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at
"Brooks Kubik." I share links to my blog posts
on Facebook and Twitter, so those are great
ways to stay in contact. Look for #brookskubik
or #dinosaurtraining.

Also . . .  join the new Strength Secrets Face-
book group - I post links to my Blog posts and
daily emails there:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/strengthsecrets/

4. I'm a young woman. How should I get started
in strength training?

A. Women can and should train exactly the same
as men. See Chalk and Sweat, and Dinosaur
Training Secrets, Vols. 1 and 3 for training
programs for beginners.

5. Which is better for upper body muscle mass --
the bench press or the push press?

A. The bench press will build more mass, but
the push press will build more power and is a
better movement for athletes in most sports.

That said, don't do one or the other. Do BOTH!
6. I recall that Trudi challenged you to try a
vegetarian diet for 30 days - back in August
of last year. How did that go?

It worked very well. We learned to cook and
prepare tons of delicious new (to us) dishes.

So we stayed on the new diet.

We both lost weight - and we both feel great.

In fact, my goal for 2018 is to be stronger
at age 61 than I was in my early 50's - while
weighing less - and doing it on a whole food,
plant-based diet - just to prove that I can do
it.

For me, eye health is a priority because I
have glaucoma - and after as few months
on the diet, I had an eye exam and got the
best results in the past 15 or so years. One
of my primary tests came back as essentially
normal - which is a huge improvement. And
I think the new diet was responsible.

I'll be doing a more detailed report on the
experiment. I know many of you are very
interested in seeing what happened and
how we have been doing things.

In the meantime, check out my Facebook
and Instagram pages for photos of my
meals.

You'll see tons of delicious vegetarian
dishes.

7. Do you like body rows with rings?

A. Yes, and I cover them in Dinosaur Bodyweight
Training -- along with tons of other great exercises
with rings (and with ropes, as well). Many Dinos
like body rows better than any other rowing
exercise.

There have been about a zillion other questions
this week, but we'll have to leave it at seven for
now.

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 Chalk and Sweat, Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training, Knife Fork Muscle and my
new Dinosaur Training Secrets courses:

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

P.S. 2. Remember to check out The Iron
League -- it's really good:

http://www.ironleague.com/

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: 

"There's never one RIGHT way to do
something -- but there are plenty
of WRONG ways."

- 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

From Weightlifter to Mr. America!

 

Strength training is a life-long journey - and you can (and should) try many different things and have many different adventures along the way. 

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

One of the very best things about the
Iron Game is that it's a never-ending
journey - and you never have to end
up at one destination and stay there
for the rest of your life.

Case in point - Clarence Bass, a/k/a
Mr. Ripped.

Most people don't know it, but Clarence
started out as an Olympic weightlifter.

He was a good one, too.

He was one of the youngest lifters
of his generation to clean and jerk
300 pounds in official competition.

His best lifts were a military press
of 275 lbs., a snatch of 245 lbs.,
and a clean and jerk of 325 lbs.

He won city, state and regional
championships, and placed second
in the Teenage Nationals, the Junior
Nationals and the YMCA Nationals.

But by his mid-thirties, Clarence
found that his progress in Olympic
weightlifting hasd stopped. So he
decided to look for a new challenge.

He became a bodybuilder.

And he went on to win his class
in the Past 40 Mr. America contest
not once, but twice - and also to
win the title of Most Muscular Man
at the Mr. USA Past 40 contest.

He developed incredible muscularity
with a unique diet that flew in the
face of the conventional wisdom of
the era.

At the time, bodybuilders followed a
strict meat and salad diet (essentially,
a zero carb diet) to get "cut" for
contests.

Clarence ate almost no meat. He got
his protein from milk and eggs. And he
ate plenty of whole grains, beans, and
fresh vegetables. It was close to being
a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

It worked pretty well for him.

He ended up being one of the most
muscular men in the world - and
today, 40 years later, he's still in
terrific shape.

He also - get this - went back to
his first love - Olympic weightlifting -
when he was 60!

Clarence Bass is a great example
of how the Iron Game can be - and
should be - a lifelong journey - and
how it can take you to many different
places and bring you many different
adventures throughout your entire
life.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Clarence Bass has written a number
of terrific training books that cover his
Iron Game journey - and his diet and
nutrition plan - as well as his training
program and workouts.

I have seven of them that I need to sell
as part of our big book and magazine
sale here at Dino Headquarters. They're
used copies, but in good condition.

If you're interested in the seven-book
set, shoot me an email. You can have
all seven for $100.00 plus s&h.

I have just one set, so it's first come,
first served.

P.S. 2. If you're looking to change
up your training, all-dumbbell and
all-bodyweight workouts are a
terrific change of pace - or you can
combine them for some really great
workouts:

I specialized in heavy dumbbell training in my early 40's because I wanted to try new and different ways to train - and to tackle new challenges.

Dinosaur Dumbbell Training

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

Bodyweight training is a great way to change things up. You can follow an all-bodyweight program, or combine bodyweight training with weight training.

Dinosaur Bodyweight Training

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

P.S. 3. 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. 4. Thought for the Day:

"Change can keep you young - and
keep you training."

- 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

An Update on the 30 Day Challenge

A delicious stir-fry with garlic and red pepper sauce - it made a terrific dinner, and we used the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Back in August, Trudi decided she
wanted to try as many new and
different recipes and meals as
possible.

So she challenged me to a 30
Day program of nothing but
vegetarian meals.

Being a Dinosaur, I had to accept
the challenge - so we began the
30 day program at the very next
meal.

I even helped by looking up a
recipe for dinner - and then
helping out with the prep and
the cooking - and I even did
the dinner dishes (all of which
was probably part of Trudi's
plan).

We followed a vegetarian diet for
several days - meaning that we
included eggs, butter and cheese.

No milk - I haven't used milk for
35 years. Around age 25 or so I
found that I couldn't digest it.

But I was curious to see how I
would do on a 100 percent plant
based diet, so I dropped the
eggs, butter and cheese.

Meanwhile, we started to explore
all sorts of fun meals:

Mexican dishes. (We're even
making our own tortillas, which
is lots of fun.)

Yellow corn polenta topped with black beans, salsa, sliced tomatoes and sliced avocado.

Thick soups and vegetable stews,
using recipes from around the
world - and my own homemade
veggie broth.

Roasted and oven-baked veggies.
Middle eastern dishes.


Lots of fun pasta dishes.

Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms sauted with garlic and onions.

Buddha bowls (meaning a
big bowl of all sorts of
good stuff).

Power plates (a Buddha
bowl on a plate).

A power plate consisting of raw celery; sauted onions, peppers and mushrooms; raw carrots; steamed chard; kimchi; brown rice, and baked tofu.

Homemade panini sandwiches
with veggies, black beans,
hummus, and much goodness.
(I flatten them with one of
Trudi's dumbbells or kettle-
bells.)

Oatmeal with cinnamon, nuts,
sunflower seeds, pumpkin
seeds, cherries and sliced
banana.

It worked great, and we had lots
of terrific meals - so after 30 days,
we continued to do it.

We went to Dayton one day and
had lunch with my brother, who
took us to a great little Korean
restaurant - which we loved -
so we decided to add Korean
food to the menu.

That led us to a local Asian
store - where we got all kinds
of fun ingredients for new and
different meals - including some
awesome garlic and red pepper
sauce and some killer kimchi.

Broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, onion, garlic, kimchi, and tofu in garlic and red pepper sauce.

I even found a recipe for easy
no-knead whole wheat bread -
and baked some bread one
day.

We're about 90 days into the
new diet, and I feel great - and
I plan to continue with it - and
see what happens.

It would be fun to be stronger at
age 61 (my age next year) than I
was at age 50 - and to do it on a
plant-based diet. So we'll see what
happens over the coming year.

I've been posting photos of our
meals on Facebook and Insta-
gram - go check them out and
see some of the fun:

https://www.instagram.com/brooks_kubik/?hl=en

Some of you have less than
zero interest in the new diet,
and that's fine - but others are
VERY interested in it. So I'll
go ahead and write up a more
detailed report, including
some of our favorite recipes.

Anyhow, that's the update for
now. If you have comments or
questions, send them in.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. We're starting to get near
the end of our current printing
of Strength, Muscle and Power -
and I'm not going to reprint it
for awhile - so if you want a
copy, grab it now:

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. 3. Thought for the Day: 

"Train for strength, eat for
health, be strong and live
long."

-- 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