Customer Reviews

Dinosaur training: Lost secrets of strength and development

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As other reviewers have noted, this is a great book if you want to get strong , I mean REALLY strong. It's for people who are mostly interested in functional strength and don't care much about appearance. I personally use many of Kubik's methods like heavy 5x5's, lots of grip work, and odd object training, and have enjoyed wonderful results.

Interestingly, Brooks Kubik no longer does the type of training espoused in this book. Now he's into bodyweight training. Why? Apparently it was too hard on his joints. Too many aches and pains at age 49. So older trainers, beware. The heavy singles and other methods described in Dinosaur Training may be too much for you. And mind you, Kubik is no ectomorph. I own one of his videos, and he's built like a brick ---- house. So if his joints are shot at age 49, where will you be at age 55? It surely gives one pause for thought.

We live in a society that values image over reality. One might expect this message in a tract on sociology but, oddly enough, it is the core theory of Brook Kubik's weightlifting book, "Dinosaur Training". Having read it, I feel like a veil of illusion has been lifted from my eyes. The core theory is this: People in gyms, the so-called "bodybuilders", are building the apperance of strength, not strength itself. In his book, Kubik urges us to break with that pattern and get back to building real strength in the fashion of "old time" weightlifters like Arthur Saxon. The book is as much a manifesto as training manual.

Kubik regularly pokes fun of those who visit the gym for the EXCLUSIVE purpose of looking "buff, pumped, sculpted or toned".
In fact, his mockery is so humorous that I laughed out loud many times during my reading of "Dinosaur Training". Thinking of the book yesterday while at the gym, I could not keep a straight face as I saw the buff "bikini boys" and "butt-thonged godesses"..you know, the typical denizens of the present-day gym world.
Social critique and humor aside, this book will get you wildly excited to start "STRENGTH" training. Better not read it late at night, or you will be in your garage doing deadlifts at midnight! Furthermore, it not only motivates you but gives you the knowledge that you need to build that strength: the lifts, the schedules, the routines.

Kubik emphasizes that the equipment and routines that you need to build real strength are SIMPLE, as opposed to the worthless, complex bodybuilding systems that now blight the gyms of America.
The good news is that simple hardwork over a period of time with basic lifts -bench press, deadlifts, squat-performed with progressively heavy weights are all you need to build real strength. Read this book. The only reason you will want to put it down is to get started on your training!

Brooks Kubik wrote the most inspiring strength training book of all time. I defy anyone to read this book and tell me otherwise.

What is it? Brooks has compiled a book of old strong-man techniques for building incredible, superhuman strength. The old school training methods were written before you could shoot yourself full of chemicals and puff up like a distressed blowfish. In the old days, bodybuilders were not expected to look pretty or be "hooge" veiny looking ding dongs they are now a days; they were expected to be exemplars of terrifying strength. Men who could bend pieces of iron, or tear up solid objects with bare hands, or toss around human beings as if they were nerf toys. Brooks book is a manly bellowing back to the days of tossing around giant logs, pushing around enormous dumb bells and bar bells, and picking up objects that ordinary human beings would have a hard time moving with a fork lift. He isn't hearkening back to the golden, "muscle beach" days; he's hearkening back to some atavistic time when weightlifters were men who wore singlets, and grew giant walrus moustaches, and worked in a circus.

The book outlines many exercises and odd lifts which have been forgotten. It also advocates for use of odd shaped objects, and away from the use of machines to achieve functional strength goals. Personally, I actually do find machines occasionally useful, and I figure Brooks probably did once in a while as well, as he hints here and there, particularly in the first edition of the book. But abhoring such things as evil is a good and necessary thing to do.

This is not a complete training book. It doesn't talk much about nutrition, and disdains the idea of periodization (probably out of spirit more than anything else, but it is still necessary to rest sometimes). This is a book that, when you read it, makes you want to get out and train. Preferably using some kind of scary impliment made out of rusty iron girders, anvils or anchor chain. But even if not; it makes you want to acquire old fashioned herculean strength.

Brook's pulls no punches when it comes to modern man's current weakness. His training idea's are rock solid and if followed will make you STRONG. It's not about "shaping" that's for sure. Follow his advice and be prepared to buy bigger clothes and make more trips to the butcher shop for muscle fuel.

I have been working out seriously since high school (30+ years)
and have at least 30 books on weight training.

This ranks as one of the best for anyone interested in
in improving their overall strength.

WARNING:
THIS TRAINING PROGRAM IS NOT FOR THE
FAINT OF HEART OR PEOPLE INTERESTED
IN ACHIEVING A NICE PUMP.

IT IS FOR 100% HARDCORE WEIGHTLIFTERS INTERESTED
IN IMPROVING THEIR STRENGTH.

THE AUTHOR IS AN EXPERT IN THE FIELD. HE HOLDS MANY
POWERLIFTING RECORDS AND HIS METHODS ARE PROVEN.