Brooks Kubik's "The Lost Art Of Dumbbell Training" On DVD

Brooks "Dinosaur Training" Kubik is re-releasing his exercise tapes on DVD. I still consider them among my favourite training movies so that is great news! If you are like me you have gotten bored with the typical, common and boring bodybuilding "lifestyle movies" featuring bloated steroid-freaks wearing a cap and sun-glasses in the gym pumping away till there is no tomorrow. If you are like me you want something truly worth your hard-earned money that will educate and heavily inspire your own progress in the gym. Well, you are in for a treat!

Imagine a super-strong fellow in his basement gym with thick glasses handing out great lifting advice on not very common but oh so productive exercises, a couple of dogs, plenty of spider-web, Brookish humor, loads of intensity and...the music of Wagner! Sounds surrealistic? It is definitely not your everyday experience... But it is darn good! If you missed out on these before, now is the time!

Training Safety - False Grip

The basis of a long and productive career in the Iron Game is to actually be able to train. Yes, I admit that sounds like a no-brainer but have a look around the average gym and you will witness an absolute plethora of injury-prone lifting. The most common fault is lousy exercise form.

There is no sense in attracting injury to a greater extent than necessary when training hard. Training hard in itself is an injury-factor so why add to the injury potential? One of the most dangerous practices of bad exercise form is using the false (or thumbless) grip in any kind of pressing exercise. If you have seen an accident happening from using the false grip you don't need further explaining. For the others I will let a movie clip later in the post speak more than 1000 words ever could.

In my experience the reason for using the false grip often originates from one of the following:

• Plain and simple ignorance.
• A belief that the false grip enhances the training effect of the desired purpose of the exercise, e.g. you commonly hear false grippers claim "I feel it focuses the work to the pectorals" in relation to the bench-press.
• The trainee has done an excess of machine-work and avoided free weights throughout his/her years of lifting. For instance, trainees having done most of their bench-pressing on the Smith-machine might have grown accustomed to the locked movement in the vertical plane. Let's for now disregard that machines that do not follow the trainees required movement pattern will also lay the foundation for accumulated injury in relation to not abiding to the, most times, rigid laws of biomechanics. Adding to this potentially detrimental setup the locked plane of movement is likely to open up for bad exercise technique like applying the false grip.

Recently USC running back Stafon Johnson suffered severe injury from using a false grip. At the time, amazingly, he was spotted by his assistant strength coach. What kind of inadequate coaching is it to allow already injury-prone athletes to use idiotic training practices? Racks, spotters etc will do little unless you also apply the absolute basic prerequisites of safe training. Not using the false grip is such a prerequisite!

To sum it up, the thumbs are potential life-savers so just use them! Still not a believer? Have a look at the following clip and you will change your mind.

Introduction

Welcome to the first post of this blog!

An explanation of the title is appropriate. Most people with a slight interest in the history of the Iron Game is aware of the fact that in the Iron Game not very much is new. As a matter of fact, most valid information and knowledge stems from past Iron heroes. Many of these are unsung and left in oblivion by contemporary members of the Iron Game. By "Iron hero" I am not referring to Arnold or Franco. To be precise, I am definitely not referring to Arnold and Franco! The Iron Game did not commence with Arnold and Franco! I much more prefer to say that the era of Arnold and Franco symbolizes the end of the true Iron Age.

The beginning of the end of the true Iron Age was the early 1960's when drugs entered the scene. Ever since, and in combination with the absurd and phony commercialization of the Iron Age, things have been going downhill. Hence, what we are experiencing today with chemically induced freaks, horrendously and ironically promoting and symbolizing health though in practice exemplifying quite the opposite, is the result of almost half a century of deterioration.

Don't get me wrong, I looked up to Arnold and his peers myself in the past and hesistantly still find his era and it's participants of some interest. That should come as no surprise as the late 70's and the early 80's was when I developed the flu originating from the incurable Iron Bug. Heck, I even find Haney, Yates, Coleman and Cutler fascinating. Fascinating not in the way of looking at them in awe but more like watching a traffic-accident with lethal consequences. It is hard not to look but you would be better off just driving by a.s.a.p.!

Arnold was if not my hero at least my favourite bodybuilder and Iron Gamer. Eventually I grew up, matured, got more knowledgeable and realised the fake reality of Arnold and his peers. Arnold has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of being a role-model or promoting ideals and methods of training applicable to the average person. What I have in common with Arnold is about naught. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Sure, we both lift weights but that is about it. I certainly do not have his genetics and I most definitely do not walk the path of the ever so common gym druggie. To paraphrase strength coach Bob Whelan, I prefer to gain strength and size the old-school way by earning it! In order to do that I should not, can not, must not look up to Da Governator and "his way" to achieve my goals and aspirations with the iron.

These days my absolute favourite Iron Gamers are Doug Hepburn (hence my handle here) and Marvin Eder. They are both fine specimens of times long gone but not forgotten. I will not mention more of them for the time being but rest assured I will return to them and their feats. Anyway, and to the subject of the title of the blog, we are standing on the deltoids of giants, giants like Hepurn, Eder, Grimek, Sandow, Arco, Pandour etc, and one of my purposes with this blog is to hopefully rekindle an interest in the past and true Iron Age, as I know for a fact most Iron Gamers truly believe it all started with Arnold and Franco. I will also write about the sad and tragic state of current affairs in the Iron Age. Last but not least I will write about productive training and it's related topics.

Stay tuned and thank you for reading!