Something for Jowett Fans!

George F. Jowett's wonderful course on old-school barbell and dumbbell training is available again in a great-looking modern reprint edition - but we don't have many copies - so if you want one, act fast!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Did you know that George F. Jowett
wrote a complete course on old-school
barbell and dumbbell training?

He did.

He called it:

Progressive Barbell Training.

Which is a pretty good title.

It's a very interesting course - but
unfortunately, it's almost impossible
to find.

Has been for almost 100 years.

But not any more!

Way back in 2010 I issued a modern
reprint edition of this classic course.

They're 8 1/2 x 11 - 36 pages - with
a heavy card cover - and it's illustrated
with some very nice line drawings that
show you how to do all of the different
exercises in the course.

It's a very nice course - and a real link to
a grand old man of the Iron Game -
and to old-school barbell and dumbbell
training.

I thought I was out of them - but the
other day I found a mysterious box at
our storage unit - took it home - looked
inside - and found some of those modern
reprint editions of Progressive Barbell
Training.

So I'm offering them to the Dino Nation
on a first come, first served basis.

If you want a copy, do this:

Go to the Dinosaur Training website
and order a copy of Dinosaur Training.

But when you place your order, include
a note in the special comments section
saying that you actually want George
Jowett's Progressive Barbell Training
course.

We'll fill your order by shipping you the
Progressive Barbell Training course -
NOT Dinosaur Training.

But be sure to include the note when you
place your order - otherwise, we'll ship
Dinosaur Training.

If you forget to include the note with
your order, shoot me an email PRONTO -
and let me know that your order was
for Progressive Barbell Training.

Also, pls note - we can adjust the
shipping method for overseas orders -
so if you place an overseas order for
the Jowett course, go ahead and select
the default postage you're given - and
we'll see if we can send it for less - and
if we can, we will - and we'll refund the
extra postage charges.

We don't have very many of these left,
so if you want a copy, I strongly suggest
that you jump on this offer right away.

Here's the link to Dinosaur Training -
and remember, if you want Progressive
Barbell Training, include a note to that
effect with your order:

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

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

The Fortune Cookie Workout

Reg Park followed many different training programs, but I don't think he ever did the Fortune Cookie Workout!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Son. no. 1 came over last night to
join us for dinner, and he and Trudi
shared a special treat of Chinese
carry-out.

So this morning I spotted a fortune
from a fortune cookie sitting on the
dinner table.

It made me think that most people
today train in such a random, hap-
hazard fashion that you could just
grab a fortune cookie, break it open,
and use the lucky numbers to devise
your workout.

So here goes.

The lucky numbers on this fortune
were:

9, 28, 32, 10, 13 and 17

This one's easy.

You do 9 different exercises.

You total the remaining numbers:

28 plus 32 plus 10 plus 13 plus
17 = 100

So you do 100 reps of each exercise.

Or - you do 9 different exercises for
whatever sets and reps you want,
and get a total of 100 reps.

That's totally random, of course,
and it makes no sense whatsoever,
but it's pretty much the way most
people train.

Of course, you also could do ONE
exercise for a series of descending
reps to match the lucky numbers:

1 x 32 reps

1 x 28 reps

1 x 17 reps

1 x 13 reps

1 x 10 reps

1 x 9 reps

Or - you could do one exercise where
you do as many sets as you want to
get a total of 32 reps.

Followed by another exercise where
you do the same thing to get a total
of 28 reps.

And so on.

There are lots of different ways to do
it.

Me, I'm going to do things the old-
fashioned way:

1. I have my program.

2. I know what exercises to do.

3. I know what sets and reps - and
what weights - to use.

So I'm going to go ahead and do the
job - and stick to the program - and
make things slow, steady and
progressive.

It's not the Fortune Cookie Workout,
but it's pretty darn effective.

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. There are 50 great workouts in
Chalk and Sweat - and you'll have no
trouble finding one that is perfect for
you:

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

"Tried and true is very effective -
and if very effective is boring, you
might as well throw in the towel."

- 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

John Grimek's Back of the Chair Curl

John Grimek's form in the one-arm deadlift.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Two quick notes, and then we'll talk
training - as in, the long-forgotten but
very effective back of the chair curl.

1. The July-Aug Dino Files

We just released the July-Aug issue of
The Dinosaur Files - and you can
grab the little monster right here:

July-Aug Dino Files

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

If you missed the May-June issue,
go ahead and grab it, as well:

May-June Dino Files

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

They're great issues, with tons of
terrific workouts and articles.

2. Strength Training Shorts

John Davis - shown above finishing  a heavy press - is featured in one of John Wood's Strength Training Shorts. Check them out!

John Wood is doing some great new
60-second strength training videos.
You can find them here - and while
you're there, go ahead and sign up
to get alerts whenever he posts a
new one:

60-Second Strength History - video
no. 1

https://www.oldtimestrongman.com/60-second-strength-history/

60-Second Strength History Youtube
Channel

https://www.youtube.com/OldtimeStrongman

3. The Back of the Chair Curl

John Grimek started weight training
in the early 1930's, and ended up
being the best built man in the
entire world - as well as one of the
strongest men in the world.

And he met, knew and trained with
many of the other top men of the
era.

So he had a pretty good idea of
how they did things back in the
day.

In the mid-1970's, Grimek wrote an
article comparing the way men trained
back in the 1930's - and he noted that
even though they didn't have as much
equipment, they were able to get
things done very effectively.

It just took a little bit of ingenuity.

John Grimek and other champions of his era accomplished amazing things with very basic, simple training equipment.

For example, they didn't have a
special stand for doing preacher
curls (a/k/a Scott curls).

No one made or sold that kind of
stand back then.

But it didn't matter.

Grimek and others of his era would
use an old wooden chair instead.

They'd turn it around, stand it in
place, brace it with one hand to
keep it from tipping - and do one
arm dumbbell curls over the back
of the chair.

He said it worked great - just as
well as doing preacher curls on a
modern preacher bench.

He gave other examples of how the
old-timers got it done with a very
limited amount of basic equipment.

They just had to be creative.

That made things interesting for
them - and I'm sure it made things
lots of fun, as well.

That was one of the good things
about the Iron Game.

You had to think about what you
were doing and what you wanted
to achieve - and you had to figure
out ways to do the job without an
equipment manufacturer doing it
for you.

Many of us do somewhat similar
things today - especially if we train
in a home gym.

We don't let anything hold us back.

We figure out how to do the job -
and then we do 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

John Grimek with a classic collection of old iron at the Weightlifting Hall of Fame in York - including the legendary Cyr dumbbell.

P.S. To learn more about John Grimek
andf how he trained, grab my John
Grimek training course:

Hard-copy edition

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

Kindle edition

http://www.brookskubik.com/grimektraining_kindle.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

"Iron and ingenuity will do the job
every single time."

- 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

How to Save a Loved One's Life

Here's a very important message that isn't about exercises, sets or reps - instead, it's about how you can save the life of a loved one. Please read - and please share.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Today is our wedding anniversary.

But we almost didn't get to celebrate
it.

Trudi had a terrible stomach ache that
started on Monday night.

She thought it was something she ate.

It wasn't.

It was much worse.

It got worse during the day on Tuesday,
and finally, at about 7:00 in the evening,
I took her to the ER.

That was a darn good thing - because it
was an acute appendicitis attack.

Which meant she needed immediate surgery
to have it removed.

Luckily, we got there before it burst. That's
when appendicitis can become life-threatening.

She had surgery on Wed morning - and
thankfully all went well.

She's home now, and recovering, and she
should be fine.

But meanwhile, I'm kicking myself for not
getting her to the hospital earlier.

Although, in all fairness to me, consider
this:

1. Trudi is a health care professional with
about 40 years experience in the field -
and she never thought it might be
appendicitis.

2. Trudi worked all day on Tuesday - at a
health care facility - where all of her co-
workers are doctors, nurses and other
medical professionals - and no one
thought it might be appendicitis.

No one said, "You need to stop, get to
the ER, and have this checked out."

So we all missed it.

And that's not unusual - especially when
it happens to someone who has a very
high pain threshold - and is used to
working through and carrying on when
s/he's in a lot of pain . . . which may
sound a lot like everyone who is
reading this right now.

And to repeat - this is NOT unusual.

Many of you have written to give Trudi
your best wishes - and about half a dozen
of you have shared stories of friends or
family members who did NOT get to the
hospital soon enough - and had to deal
with the major complications caused by
a burst appendix.

One Dino almost lost his wife because
they waited too long to get her in and
have her checked out.

No exaggeration. She almost died.

So it's a good idea to take a minute or
two and read about appendicitis and it's
symptoms - which you can do right here
at Web MD:

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-appendicitis#1

If a friend or family member is showing
these symptoms, don't wait and see if
they feel better in the morning - get
them to a doctor and have it checked
out right away.

That's why I'm sharing this message - and
why I thank you for reading it.

Because it might help you save the life of
someone very near and dear to you.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

Grab Them While You Can!

We're getting down to the end of the line for my Legacy of Iron books - and I'm not going to print any more - so if you want the full set - or if you need  one or more to complete your collection, act now - and take advantage of the special low price for the books!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We're getting down to the end of the
line for my five Legacy of Iron books -
and because we're going to be moving
in the not too distant future, I'm not
going to reprint them.

There are five books in the series -
which covers the inside history of
bodybuilding and weightlifting in
the USA in the 1930s and 1940s:

Legacy of Iron

Legacy of Iron 2 - Clouds of War

Legacy of Iron 3 - The 1000 Pound
Total

Legacy of Iron 4 - York Goes to
War!

Legacy of Iron 5 - Barbells in the
Pacific

The books are historical novels -
meaning that they're based on
actual events and include real
people - such as John Grimek,
Steve Stanko, Bob Hoffman,
Gracie Bard, John Davis, Sig
Klein, Warren Lincoln Travis,
Harry Paschall, and many others.

They cover all of the big weight-
lifting and bodybuilding contests
of the era - and tell you how the
champs trained - and what they
ate.

They even include plenty of
actual workouts, training tips,
and training advice from men
like Grimek, Stanko, Klein
and Hoffman.

It's like sitting down and having
a cup of coffee with John Grimek
and Steve Stanko - and finding
out exactly how they trained and
what they were like.

Best of all, the books are fun,
fast-paced, exciting reads that
will get you revved up and ready
to hit the iron hard and heavy!

If you want to grab a set of all
five books in the series for a
special low price of 50 clams
plus shipping and handling,
then shoot me an email - and
let me know your shipping
address.

Ditto if you need some but not
all of the books to complete
your set - for example, if you
need books 4 and 5 in the series

In that case, it would be just
10 clams per book plus the
cost of shipping and handling.

We'll work up the postage and
let you know the total cost for
the books you want, plus the
cost of shipping and handling.

It's first come, first served -
for as long as we still have
them - and then that's it -
over and done with - out of
print - no longer available.

So if you want to grab all five
books - or if you need a couple
of them to complete your set -
grab them NOW!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. The first three books in the
series are available in the Kindle
bookstore - and books 4 and
5 in the series will be added to our
Kindle store soon. If you prefer the
Kindle format,go here to see them:

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

73 to 18 - and Counting!

Regular, consistent, progressive training and a healthy diet can work miracles.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

A couple of days ago, I started a poll
over at John Wood's Strength Secrets
Facebook Group.

It was a Yes/No question.

Over the past 12 months, have you
made measurable progress in your
training, strength levels, lifting
ability, health and/or body
composition?

So far, 88 members have answered
the question.

73 said YES.

15 said NO.

Now, that's good news for the 73 forum
members who have made measurable
progress over the past 12 months -
although it's not unexpected, since
most or all of them have been following
me, John Wood and Bill Hinbern for a
long time - and they train regularly and
consistently - and they take charge of
their diet and nutrition.

But we still have 15 members who were
brave enough to step up, raise their hands,
and admit that they've not made any sort
of measurable progress for the past 12
months - which is an awful long time to
be trapped at a standstill.

And 15 out of 88 is close to 20% of the
members who responded - or almost
one out of five. Which is a lot of people
in a forum dedicated to old-school,
drug-free strength training.

I also asked the members to leave a
brief comment explaining why they
were or were not making any sort of
measurable progress.

The most common answer from the 73
members who made measurable progress
over the past 12 months was something
along the lines of:

"I trained regularly, consistently, and
progressively - and I ate right."

Many also noted that they trained on a
program that they enjoyed. In other
words, they had fun when they trained.

Those who had not made any measurable
progress also had pretty much the same
explanation for their lack of progress:

"I stopped training and I can't seem to
get back into it - and my diet is lousy."

So in a nutshell, that seems to be the
answer:

1. Regular, consistent, progressive training
and a healthy diet

vs.

2. Not training, and a lousy diet.

No. 1 works - and no. 2 doesn't.

It's that simple.

So if you're not making progress, you
know what you need to do.

You need to train regularly, consistently
and progressively.

Train on a program that fits into your
schedule.

Use a program that gives you plenty
of time for recovery.

Walk a mile or two on your non-training
days.

Don't try to do it all or to get it all back
overnight. That leads to the old Crash
and Burn.

Start back easy - and build back up
slowly and intelligently.

Use your brain, not your ego.

And eat smart - as opposed to mindless
munching on junk.

Forget about supplements. Eat plenty of
healthy, nutritious, fresh food.

Cook your own meals. It's much cheaper,
and it's enormously better for you.

It's not hard. In fact, it's easy if you just
make it a regular habit.

Start today - give yourself 30 days to
train regularly and to clean up your
diet - and after you do the 30 days
you'll be pretty well back in the
swing of things.

As far as workouts go, grab a copy of
Dinosaur Bodyweight Training if
you enjoy/want to try bodyweight
workouts:

 

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

Otherwise, grab a copy of Chalk and
Sweat, and start with one of the 10
programs for beginners:

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

But whatever you do, get started
right NOW.

The next time I ask if anyone has made
measurable progress over the past 12
months, I want you raising your hand
and saying YES!

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. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters - including this
very popular book:

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

For hard-copy hard-copy and PDF books and courses, go to:


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

For Kindle books and courses, go to:

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

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day

"If you're not training, you're not
gaining."

- 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