King Joes Barbell Club
622 E.Drinker St. Dunmore PA 18512
DINOSAUR TRAINING OVER 50
excerpts from Brooks Kubick's great book
DINOSAUR TRAINING OVER 50--KUBIK 
One of the key issues for an older lifter is recovery and recuperation. You just don’t bounce back from a heavy workout as well as you did when you were younger.
Another issue is energy. Sometimes, a 20 to 30 minute is all you can handle — or all you want to handle.
That leads to the obvious possibility of divided workouts with one or two days of rest in-between each training session. Something like this:
Tues
1. A pressing movement
2. Gut work
3. Grip work
Wed
1. A pulling movement
2. Gut work
3. Headstrap work for the neck
4. Grip work
Sat
1. Squats or front squats
2. Curls
3. The farmer’s walk
4. Gut work
For optimum helath, add some walking on your non-lifting days, and include some cardio work in your weekly training — perhaps at the end of your regular sessions.
As far as sets and reps go — keep the total tonnage rather low. This helps recovery. For me, that means, multiple sets of low to medium reps.
#1 – Moderation –
Just one odd lift can add a lot of spice to a weight routine … but five or six can turn your ‘abbreviated workout’ into a high-volume ‘body-builder special’. Keep a reasonable limit on your total sets, to avoid diluting your workout intensity.
#2 - Substitution – When you substitute an odd lift for one of your old barbell stand-bys … select a lift with a similar purpose.
#3 – Progress -
Dinosaur training is about adding progressive poundage
#4 – Intensity -
Focus your intensity first on the basics … and use those finishers to squeeze out the last drop of energy at the end of the workout.
#5 – Kegs, Barrels and Tires –
Don't spend more time making custom-sized sandbags, modifying beer kegs, and weighing the rocks in your yard spend time actually lifting weights.
#6 – Technique - Practice your technique with light-to-moderate weights, before attempting that 1-Hand Clean & Jerk with heavy poundage Whether your goal is a bone-crushing handshake or an improved deadlift, there are innumerable grip exercises to choose from.
#8 – The Basics –
Sometimes the worst enemy is the enthusiasm Enthusiasm is great but focusing it properly requires a lot of discipline.
DINOSAUR BIG TEN
ELEMENT NO. ONE: HARD WORK ELEMENT NO. TWO: COMPOUND, BASIC EXERCISES ELEMENT NO. THREE: ABBREVIATED TRAINING ELEMENT NO. FOUR: HEAVY POUNDAGES ELEMENT NO. FIVE: PROGRESSION ELEMENT NO. SIX: THE PROPER SET/REP SCHEME ELEMENT NO. SEVEN: THICK HANDLED BARBELLS ELEMENT NO. EIGHT: GRIP WORK ELEMENT NO. NINE: HEAVY, AWKWARD OBJECTS ELEMENT NO. TEN: RACK WORK
WHY PEOPLE ARE UNSUCCESSFUL
1. They will not train as hard as possible.
2. They do not believe that a program can be effective if it appears limited in the number of
exercises.
3. They will not train as hard as possible.
4. They lack confidence in their ability to gain muscular strength and
size.
5. They will not train as hard as possible.
TRAIN ON THE BASICS
BUILDING DINOSAUR THIGHS Dinosaurs do squats.
BUILDING A DINOSAUR’S CHEST Dinosaurs do heavy benches. Dinosaurs do their benches in the toughest and most difficult manner - by starting at the bottom, with the bar set on pins positioned so that the bar grazes the lifter’s chest when he gets into position and prepares to press. In addition, dinosaurs do all or almost all of their bench pressing with a thick bar. Heavy benching is all a dinosaur ever needs to do for his chest.
BUILDING DINOSAUR DELTS
Dinosaurs train their shoulders with heavy presses. They do them seated or standing. They use heavy dumbbells or barbells. Some dinosaurs use thick handled barbells for almost all of their pressing movements. In addition, dinosaurs do presses with logs, barrels and heavy bags filled with sand or lead shot.
BUILDING DINOSAUR ARMS
Dinosaurs build their triceps with heavy bench and overhead presses, and their biceps with
heavy curls.
BUILDING A DINOSAUR BACK
Dinosaurs do barbell bent-over rowing, power cleans, power snatches, high
pulls, one arm cleans, one arm snatches, bent-legged deadlifts and stiff-legged deadlifts.
In addition, dinosaurs train their backs with barrel lifting, heavy sand bag lifting, and similar
activities.
THE 5X5 SYSTEM
The 5 x 5 system is one of the classic methods of training for muscular size and strength. It
was used by Reg Park, and has been promoted by McCallum and Steiner. Let’s use a set of
squats to illustrate the .5x5. system. Let’s assume you can handle 300 pounds for five reps in
the squat. Do a warmup with 200 pounds for five reps. Rest a few minutes, load the bar to 250
and do a second warmup set of five reps.
Rest a few more minutes and load the bar to 300 pounds for your first .working. set. Do five
reps. Even if you can do MORE than five, stop when you have done five reps. Then rest a few
minutes.
Now do another set of five reps with 300. Again, stop at five reps even if you could do more.
Rest awhile, then tackle your third and final working set. Again, go for five reps. Again, stop
at five if you are able to get all five reps,
If you get five reps on all three of your working sets, add weight the next time you do your
squats. Try 305 or 310 for the working sets. However, if you did NOT get five reps on all
three working sets, stay at 300 pounds until you are able to do so. If you cannot get a total of
at least 12 reps on the three working sets, the weight is too heavy and you should drop twenty
pounds or so from the bar.
As you get bigger and stronger, you may find that you cannot recover from three working
sets. In that case, try three progressively heavier warmup sets and only two working sets.
Once you are really strong, you probably will find that you do best on three or four
progressively heavier warmup sets and only ONE working set.
Some of you will do better on fewer reps. Some of you should try five sets of three reps or
five sets of two reps. Many of you will do best on heavy singles - which are discussed in
detail in the following chapter. The only way to determine what works best for you is by trial
and error.
Whatever you do, though, don’t get locked into the modern mind-set that believes that
muscle-pumping, time controlled reps, supersets, .going for the burn. or using exotic
machinery is the most important aspect of one’s training program. The single most important
thing to do is to train as heavy as possible and constantly strive to add more and more weight
to the bar. Unless you become obsessed with putting weight on the bar, you are spinning your
wheels in the sands of time.
To train like a dinosaur, use the 5 x 5 system or any other rational training system that permits
you to train with heavy weights.
SINGLES
A training system that used to be used by quite a few exceptionally strong and muscular men, but one
that has fallen into almost total disrepute. Heavy singles ONE REP AT A TIME
Many dinosaurs do heavy singles. Singles build more muscle and strength than sets of multiple repetitions.
THE WAY MEN USED TO TRAIN
Singles build muscle and strength like you wouldn’t believe. Forty or fifty years ago - BEFORE the steroid
era - quite a number of folks did singles and they got really big and strong on them.
Singles WORK .
WHY SINGLES WORK
You are using a HEAVY weight. A heavy weight stimulates increases in muscular size and strength throughout the body. This
may be because you are overloading the tendons and ligaments whenever you use a really
heavy poundage, or it may be because the heavy poundage forces more involvement by the
nervous system (i.e., the nervous system has to recruit more muscle fibers to lift the heavy
weight). Singles require good form and white hot concentration.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT SINGLES
Four or five progressively heavier singles.
Some lifters prefer a different approach. Some men will use the same sequence of
progressively heavier warmup sets, but do five singles with their top weight. For example, a
lifter might do parallel squats with 135x1, 225 x 1, 315 x 1, 405 x 1 and 460 x five singles,
with two to five minutes rest between each lift. Some men use a lighter weight and do even
more singles - ten or even twenty on occasion.
SENSIBLE SINGLES
When you are ready to do the single rep program, do three or four progressively heavier
warmup sets of one to five reps each, followed by one single with 70% of your one rep max,
one single with 80% of your one rep max, and one single with 90% of your one rep max.
Then stop! Do no more than three singles to begin with: one at 70%, one at 80% and one at
90%.
Try to add 1 to 2 pounds per week and gradually work your way up to the point where you are
approaching your former one rep max. At that point, settle into a long series of training
sessions where you hit your top weight or something very close to it every time you train any
particular exercise. Plan to do this for several months at a bare minimum. It takes a long period of steady, consistent training to realize the full benefits of single rep work. This is because the singles are building not only your muscles, but your tendons and ligaments as well, and tendons and ligaments don’t grow as quickly as muscles do.
THICK BAR TRAINING
WHY THICK BARS WORK
Thick bars develop levels of muscular size and strength that cannot be duplicated with any
other equipment. Thick bars are very difficult to control. Compared to an Olympic barbell, a
bar with a 2. or 3. diameter seems like a log. Thick bars are terrific for strengthening the forearms, wrists, thumbs and fingers. An exercise you do with a thick bar automatically becomes a test of hand and finger strength. Pulling movements are almost impossible with a thick bar, curling movements are incredibly rugged, and even pressing exercises are downright nasty when you do them with a thick bar. HOW TO USE THICK BARS Use thick bars for all of your upper body exercises. 
WORKING THE GRIP
Dinosaurs do grip work - lots and lots of serious, old fashioned, heavy grip work.
WHY DO GRIP WORK?
Why do dinosaurs do heavy grip work? There are several reasons. First, dinosaurs thrive on
thick bar work, but you can’t use thick bars for heavy weights in your upper body exercises
unless you have one heck of a grip.
HOW TO DO IT? 
Basic movements for serious grip training include: (1) thick bar deadlifts with an overhand
grip, for reps or singles, (2) thick bar curls and reverse curls, for reps or singles, (3) thick bar
reverse curls, for reps or singles, (4) .power holds. with a thick bar, (5) pinch grip work - for
singles and holds, (6) serious work squeezing a rubber ball, (6) using a heavy duty plate
loading grip machine for reps, singles or holds, (7) hammer curls with thick handled
dumbbells (for reps or singles), (8) timed hangs from a chinning bar - or, better yet, from a 2.
or 2 1/2. chinning bar, (9) using a CAPTAINS OF CRUSH gripper, and (10) using a
TITAN’S TELEGRAPH KEY..
...
FINISHERS
Dinosaurs know that heavy barbells, effective as they are, are only the starting point when it
comes to serious, heavy duty training equipment. To become a true dinosaur you must do
more than lift a nicely balanced Olympic barbell. Working with bags, barrels, logs, beams and similar objects builds an incredible ruggedness throughout the entire physique. Your entire body becomes more athletic, better balanced, more coordinated, and far, far stronger. Your back and grip in particular will receive extreme benefit. Barbells and dumbbells are great. To a dinosaur, they are worth their weight in gold. But you can augment and enhance these basic tools by lifting, carrying, pushing, or walking with heavy, awkward objects. Bags, barrels, kegs, beams, logs, anvils, and yes, even the family car.
