Dinosaur Training: quality training

Showing posts with label quality training. Show all posts

Seven Strength Training and Muscle Building Tips

Going strong at age 62 - hitting it hard and having fun - and doing the right things for lifelong strength and health.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Two quick notes, and then we'll cover
7 quick strength training tips.

The July-August Dino Files

The July-August issue of The Dinosaur
Files has landed - and readers are
loving it. Go here to grab your copy:

Each issue of The Dinosaur Files strength training newsletter is jam-packed with strength training and muscle-building tips - and plenty of great workouts.

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-julyaugust2018.html

George F. Jowett's Progressive
Barbell Training Course

Available again in a modern reprint edition - George F. Jowett's Progressive Barbell Training course. A true classic!

This little gem dates back to the 1920's
or 30's - but I've issued it again in a
modern reprint edition. We have a very
limited number of copies, so if you want
one, act fast.

To order the Jowett course:

Order a copy of my Dinosaur Training
book - but include a note (or send me
an email) saying that you actually want
the Jowett course.

To order a copy of George Jowett's Progressive Barbell Training, do this - order a copy of Dinosaur Training - but include a note (or send an email) telling us that you really want the Jowett Progressive Barbell Training course. We'll fill your order by sending the Jowett course, not Dinosaur Training.

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

Be sure to include the note or send the
email so we know what you actually
want!

Progressive Barbell Training is a
great old-school course - with plenty
of line drawings to show you how to
perform all of the barbell and
dumbbell exercises in it.

Good stuff - and a very nice link to the
past.

Seven Strength Training Tips

Here are 7 strength training and muscle
building tips to help keep your workouts
zipping along - and to help you get the
very best possible results from every
minute of your training.

1. Visualize success.

Set aside 10 minutes every single day -
and use the time to visualize whatever
you want to achieve.

Create a movie - with you as the lead -
doing the things you need to do - and
getting the results you want.

Make this a regular part of each and
every day.

2. Stay on track.

Decide what you want to do - set a
goal - make a plan - and then carry
through on it - without getting side-
tracked by social media.

3. Focus on progression.

When you train, focus on making each
workout better than the one before it -
OR - as part of a series of workouts,
all of which, taken together, help you
achieve the goals you have set for
yourself.

4. Maximize your recovery.

You can't gain if you don't recover from
your workouts.

The critical thing is not just to train hard
and heavy - it's to recover from your hard
and heavy workouts.

5. Do less rather than more.

Tommy Kono used to call this Quality
Training.

The idea is to get maximum benefit
from your workouts in the minimum
amount of time - with the minimum
amount of exercises, sets, and reps.

I sometimes call this Championship
Training - and there's a reason for
that.

It builds champions.

6. Concentrate!

When you train, concentrate on the
task at hand.

Treat it seriously.

Your workouts deserve your full and
undivided attention.

That includes your warm-up sets -
and your work sets - and the time
in between sets and exercises.

7. Focus on the goal.

Set a goal, and work towards it with
unwavering determination.

Don't change goals more often than
you change socks.

Decide what you want to do - and then
start working to make it happen.

Don't get distracted.

Program-hopping is a huge problem for
most trainees - and so is goal-hopping.

So there you are - 7 strength training
tips that will help rocket you to the top
of the Iron Mountain. Give them a try -
they'll make a HUGE difference for you.

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

Also - be sure to grab The July-August
issue of The Dinosaur Files - the little
monster will help keep you heading in
the right direction:

The Dinosaur Files - a terrific strength training resource.

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-julyaugust2018.html

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. If you're over 35, you're ready for
Gray Hair and Black Iron - the best book
ever written about real-world, no-nonsense
strength training for seasoned iron warriors:

Gray Hair and Black Iron - must reading for seasoned Iron Slingers!

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

2. My other books and courses are
right here at Dino Headquarters:

Hard-copy and PDF

Dinosaur Dumbbell Training - your no. 1 guide to old-school dumbbell training!

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

Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1 was our first Kindle book - and it's still going strong!

Kindle

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

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day

"Set a goal, make a plan, then
roll up your sleeves and do the
work."

- 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

How Long Should a Workout Take?

Old-timers like Bernie Baron - shown here in a photo from the early 1940's - built amazing physiques and tremendous strength with much shorter workouts than most people use today.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

I get tons of emails from readers who want
to know how long a workout should take.

They've read about two, three, four and
even five hour workouts -- and about
'"champions" who supposedly train all
day long -- and they wonder how they
can fit all that training into their
schedules.

Some trainees even give up and QUIT
because they think they have to train for
several hours in every workout, and they
don't know how they can do it.

It's frustrating, because trainees have been
facing this issue for over 50 years -- and
the answer has been out there for just as
long -- but most trainees still don't get
it.

That's because the good information gets
lost in a sea of bad advice -- or nowadays,
in a cyber-sea of bad advice.

And that's why we all need to keep beating
the drum for sane, sensible, effective and
productive strength training and muscle
building.

So let me do exactly that.

Fifty years ago, Bradley J. Steiner, Peary
Rader, Arthur Jones, and a small handful
of other writers told their readers some
things that were very important -- and
very true -- and very much worth
remembering:

1. Long workouts are not necessary.

2. Most trainees actually do better on
shorter workouts.

3. You can get a terrific, result-producing
workout in just 45 to 60 minutes.

4. You even can do it in 30 minutes.

5. Or 20 minutes.

6. And two or three workouts a week
work fine for most trainees.

7. Of course, you need to make every
minute count.

a. You need to focus on QUALITY in your
training.

b. Focus on the best exercises -- and follow
the best set/rep systems.

c. Train with concentration and focus.

d. Train for strength. Always try to get
stronger. Always work on improving your
performance from workout to workout.

My own workouts usually take 50 to 75
minutes. Most of them clock in at right
around one hour.

That's one hour, three times a week.

And it works great.

Give it a try, and see what happens!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Chalk and Sweat has over 50 terrific
workouts for trainees of all experience levels,
and none of them require you to spend your
life in the gym:

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

"It's not how LONG you train, it's HOW
you train that counts."

-- 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

How to Train Like a Champion

Old-school champions like Reg Park always brought something a little different to their training - something that made all the difference in the world.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Things are hopping faster than 37 jackalopes
today - so let's get right into the important
stuff!

1. The May Dino Files

. . . is running late - because I've been
buried in a very big, unexpected project.
But it should be ready soon - and I'll send
an email when it's ready to go.

2. My New Course

I've got a brand new training course out, and
it's a good one.

It covers old-school arm training - not the
pump stuff, but the kind of training that
builds plenty of strength and power.

It's based on Doug Hepburn's workouts -
and Hepburn, you may remember, was
the only man in history to set World
records in:

1, The bench press

2. The military press

3. The barbell curl

Which kind of proves that he had pretty
strong arms - and that's why I based
this course on his unique and effective
training techniques.

It comes in a downloadable and printable
PDF - and you get a special bonus with it -
four workout charts. You can print them
out, make copies and use them to keep
track of your workouts.

Go here to grab the little monster:

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

And no, this is NOT a reprint of Dinosaur
Arm Training - it's a brand new course.

Also - it's the first in a series of courses -
so grab them all, starting with this one -
print them out and save them - and you'll
have the complete set - and a ton of great
training programs.

3. How to Train Like a Champion

And now, let's talk training -- as in,
real world, championship training.

Back in 1952, a young man named Tom
was working as a cook in the army. He
was based in California and was slated
to be sent to Korea.

He thought he would probably die there,
because this was during the Korean War,
and the North Koreans were using US
Army cooks for target practice.

They figured that they'd demoralize the
Americans by shooting all their cooks.

So Tom practiced his cooking -- and his
shooting. By then, all the cooks in the
army were carrying rifles while they did
their cooking.

But he also practiced something else.

Weightlifting.

And he was pretty darn good at it.

Good enough to win the USA National
championships and qualify for the 1952
Olympic Games in Helsinki.

So instead of going to Korea, Tom went
to the Olympics -- where he won a gold
medal.

Yes, I'm talking about Tommy Kono --
one of the greatest weightlifters of all
time.

But here's the important thing.

Tommy Kono had very limited time for
training. The Army didn't let him train
all day. He had to do his regular Army
job and Army PT and everything else a
soldier does.

So he developed something he called
Quality Training.

He trained just 3 or 4 times a week for
no more than 90 minutes per workout.

But he made every minute count.

He focused on squats, front squats, military
presses, squat cleans, squat snatches and
jerks.

He didn't do anything else because he didn't
have time to do anything else. He focused on
the important stuff -- and he trained it very,
very hard.

He coupled that with unshakable, iron
determination to be the best in the world.

And when he trained, he trained with zen-
like powers of concentration.

And it worked. He ended up winning six
World Championships, three Pan-American
titles, two Olympic gold medals and an
Olympic silver medal.

He set official World records in four different
weight classes: 148, 165, 181 and 198.

Tommy Kono proved that Quality Training
works.

You can do the very same thing. Follow the
abbreviated and ultra-abbreviated training
programs in my books and courses -- train
with focus and passion -- and the results will
astonish you.

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. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1, gives
you some really terrific abbreviated and ultra-
abbreviated workouts -- and tons of other great
tips about championship training:

Hard copy

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

Kindle e-book

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html

PDF

See the links to PDF books and courses at our
products page:

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

"When you train, train like a champion -
smart, focused, passionate, determined,
and unstoppable."

-- 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

How to Train Like a Champion

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Things are hopping faster than 37 jackalopes
today - so let's get right into the important
stuff!

1. The Dinosaur Files

The February issue of the Dinosaur Files is
almost ready to go - with some great new
features - so be looking for an email with
the links very soon.

In the meantime, if you missed the January
issue, grab it now. It's available in PDF, KIndle
or (something new) a printed edition mailed
to you directly by Amazon:

PDF edition

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017.html

Kindle edition

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017kindle.html

Amazon hard-copy

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017hardcopy.html

2. The Complete List

We have 22 books and courses in the
Kindle bookstore now. Here's the
complete list:

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

Even if you have the books in hard copy
or in e-book format, go over to the Kindle
pages and rank the reviews. Ranking the
reviews helps newbies choose Dino
Training over muscle pumping
silliness.

And, of course, feel free to post a
review of your own. They really
help us.

3. How to Train Like a Champion

And now, let's talk training -- as in,
real world, championship training.

Back in 1952, a young man named Tom
was working as a cook in the army. He
was based in California and was slated
to be sent to Korea.

He thought he would probably die in Korea,
because this was during the Korean War,
and the North Koreans were using US
Army cooks for target practice.

They figured that they'd demoralize the
Americans by shooting all their cooks.

So Tom practiced his cooking -- and his
shooting. By then, all the cooks in the
army were carrying rifles while they did
their cooking.

But he also practiced something else.

Weightlifting.

And he was pretty darn good at it.

Good enough to win the USA National
championships and qualify for the 1952
Olympic Games in Helsinki.

So instead of going to Korea, Tom went
to the Olympics -- where he won a gold
medal.

Yes, I'm talking about Tommy Kono -- one
of the greatest weightlifters of all time.

But here's the important thing.

Tommy Kono had very limited time for
training. The Army didn't let him train
all day. He had to do his regular Army
job and Army PT and everything else a
soldier does.

So he developed something he called
Quality Training.

He trained just 3 or 4 times a week for no
more than 90 minutes per workout.

But he made every minute count.

He focused on squats, front squats, military
presses, squat cleans, squat snatches and
jerks.

He didn't do anything else because he didn't
have time to do anything else. He focused on
the important stuff -- and he trained it very,
very hard.

He coupled that with unshakable, iron
determination to be the best in the world.

And when he trained, he trained with zen-like
powers of concentration.

And it worked. He ended up winning six World
Championships, three Pan-American titles,
two Olympic gold medals and an Olympic
silver medal.

He set official World records in four different
weight classes: 148, 165, 181 and 198.

Tommy Kono proved that Quality Training
works.

You can do the very same thing. Follow the
abbreviated and ultra-abbreviated training
programs in my books and courses -- train
with focus and passion -- and the results will
astonish you.

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. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1, gives you
some terrific abbreviated and ultra-abbreviated
workouts -- and tons of other great tips about
championship training:

Hard copy

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

Kindle e-book

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html

PDF

See the links to PDF books and courses at our
products page:

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

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: "When you train,
train like a champion." -- Brooks Kubik

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

How to Save Your Knees, Hips and Back

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

One quick note, and then we'll talk iron.

1. The March Dinosaur Files

We just put up a brand new order page for
the March Dinosaur Files. It gives you a
detailed description of what's in this month's
issue - along with a look at the cover, which
features one of the best photos of raw
power that you'll ever see:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_march2016.html

Head on over and check it out. It's a heck
of an issue.

2. How to Save Your Knees, Hips and Back

Last Friday I sent an email about The Squat
Every Hour Program - which was purely a
little joke for April Fool's Day.

After all, doing a heavy squat workout every
hour on the hour for 12 hours every single
day is hardly realistic - or effective - or
even possible.

It kind of screams "Just kidding, folks!"

But I got emails from dozens of Dinos who
said, "This is crazy - but it looks and sounds
just like the stuff so many people are teaching
and peddling nowadays. If a newbie read it,
he'd probably think you were serious!"

That's probably true - and it's a sad indictment
of the modern training world.

And that leads me to today's message - how to
save your knees, hips and back. Here are 10
tips on how to do it:

1. Do NOT train hard and heavy every day.

2. Do NOT neglect your warm-ups.

3. Do NOT do goofy exercises just because
you saw someone doing them on social media.

4. Do NOT go cardio crazy.

5. Do NOT do excessive stretching or flexibility
training.

6. DO stick to basic exercises.

a. The basics are the safest and most effective.

7. DO follow slow, sensible progression
systems.

8. Build your body with slow and gradual
progression, NOT with bomb and blast stuff.

9. Focus on QUALITY, not quantity.

10. UNDERSTAND that too many exercises, sets,
or reps - or training too often - wears your body
down.

Strength training is one of the best things you
can do for yourself. But you have to do it the
right way.

And if your training program reads like an
April Fool's joke, you're not doing it right.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Here's the link again for the March Dinosaur
Files - be sure to take a look:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_march2016.html

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: "You're in it for
the long haul. Train that way." - Brooks Kubik

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

The "What Do I Do Next?" Workout

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Here's something you see all the time --
and I've never been able to figure it out.

Guy goes to the gym, steps inside, looks
around, and asks himself, "What should I
do today?"

He sees that the squat rack is empty, but
he doesn't feel like doing squats.

The lat machine is also empty.

He decides to train his lats. After all, lats
are awesome. Everyone wants a big, broad,
massive upper back.

"Gladiator lats!" he thinks. "Gladiator lats
and cannonball pecs. Barn door biceps.
That would be pretty cool! And horseshoe
delts, even!"

So he ambles on over, looks at the plates
on the weight stack, decides it's probably
okay, grabs the bar and starts repping out.

Half-way through his set he remembers
the article he read that said it's better to
use a lat machine handle with parallel grips.

Oops -- he forget to change the handles!

"That's okay," he thinks. "I can change them
before the next set."

Loses count of his reps, but does perhaps
10 or 12. Or maybe 7 or 8. He's not sure.
But it was more than five.

"Definitely more than five!" he thinks.

He doesn't do sets of five reps or less
because those are for powerlifters and
stuff. He knows this is true because
everyone says so.

He stands in front of the mirror and does
a lat spread. Or tries to. He doesn't have
very big lats. They're not gladiator-size,
yet.

Doesn't feel much of a pump, but that's
okay because he's going to do five more
sets and he has plenty of time to get a
pump.

But it never happens.

He rests a minute and reads a magazine that
talks about chest training, so he decides
to specialize on his chest.

Forgets all about his lat training.

The magazine says to start with dumbbell
flies to pre-exhaust the pecs, but he can't
find the right dumbbells, so he does pec
dec squeezes instead.

The magazine says to do ten sets and go
to failure on each set, but that hurts, so he
decides to do 8 x 8 with only 30 seconds
rest between sets.

He read about that in a bodybuilding forum,
and some guy with a cool avatar said it was
super intense.

He pumps out 8 reps, and stops to rest.

Then he remembers he needs to time his
rest period.

But he doesn't have a watch.

Is there a clock in the gym?

He's not sure.

He goes to the manager's office to ask. On
the way, he sees some guys doing curls on
the Scott bench.

"Do you want to work in?" they ask.

"Sure," he says.

So they all do curls for awhile, and talk about
girls and beer and the big game tomorrow
night and the UFC -- and then they talk
about girls some more.

After awhile, one of the guys says he wants to
do benches.

"Do you wanna work in?" he asks.

"No, I'm gonna do chest tomorrow," says our
hero.

He showers and leaves.

Of course, when tomorrow comes, he forgets
it was going to be chest day.

"What should I do today?" he asks.

And so it goes, day after day, and workout after
workout.

Of course, there's another way to train.

It's the Dino way.

It's training with a plan -- with a schedule --
with long term and short term goals -- and
with 100 percent concentration and focus.
Very few people train that way -- but those
that do get great results.

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's the book they call "the Bible of
Strength Training."

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

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: "Think, plan, and
focus -- and THEN train." -- Brooks Kubik

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

The "Gotta Do It All" Guy

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Not long ago, I wrote about the Program
Hopper. The Program Hopper jumps from
workout to workout and never sticks to
anything long enough to get good results.

The Program Hopper is first cousin to the
Gotta Do It All Guy.

The Gotta Do It All Guy is always worried
that's he's missing out on something
important. So he tries to include everything
under the sun in his workouts -- just to be
sure he does everything he needs to do.

In the old days, the muscle mags catered
to the Gotta Do It All Guy by teaching us
that we needed to bomb, blast and blitz
our muscles from every possible angle in
order to build maximum strength and
muscle mass.

That's why you had guys training their
chest (for example) with bench presses,
incline presses, flat bench flies, incline
flies, decline flies, cable cross-overs,
dumbbell pullovers, dips, one-arm
cable cross-overs, and who knows
what else.

You needed to work upper pec, lower
pec, inner pec, the outer pec line, the
lower pec line, the pec-delt tie in, the
deep fibers, the fast-twitch fibers, the
slow-twitch fibers, the rib cage, the
intercostals, the serratus, and all
the muscle fibers in-between.

If you didn't hit everything exactly right,
your chest would fall off, or explode, or
the judges at the Mr. America contest
would laugh at you, or you'd "lose your
girl on the beach to a guy who did
pec pumps" (which someone actually
warned us about in an article I read
when I was a kid).

The problem is this: if you try to do
everything, you end up not doing
anything very well.

The guys who tried the "every exercise
under the sun" workouts never got very
much in the way of results.

The guys who built the most muscle --
and the most strength and power -- were
the guys who worked hard on a limited
number of productive and effective
exercises.

And that's one of the secrets of strength
training and muscle building.

Don't spread yourself thin by training to
do everything.

Instead, focus on a small number of
exercises. Hit them hard. Train with
deep concentration and total focus.
Make every rep count.

Don't be the "Gotta Do It All Guy."

Be the "Gotta Do It Right Guy."

And the "Gotta Do the BEST Exercises
Guy."

Which will make you the "Got Some
Great Results Guy."

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. Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1, 2
and 3, will get you started on the road to
sane, sensible, productive and effective
strength training and muscle-building:

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

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.html

If you prefer Kindle e-books, all three courses
are available at the Amazon Kindle store. Follow
the links on our products page to get there:

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day: "Simple is best
because simple is hardest." -- Brooks Kubik

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