The Dinosaur Files Quarterly: Issue #3: July, 2015
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The Dinosaur Files Quarterly: Issue #3: July, 2015
This is the third issue of the Dinosaur Files Quarterly, and I'm putting it together in late May and early June. It's a big job, and that means I'm up at the proverbial crack of dawn, and working long hours seven days a week to get things finished.
Of course, I've also been hitting the iron on a regular basis. It's hard to spend all day writing about the Iron Game and not finish things up by heading out to the garage and doing some lifting of my own.
My current workouts focus on Olympic weightlifting. The exercises are challenging and demanding – and lots of fun. And fun is important, particularly when you're close to age 60 (as I am) and you've been training for almost half a century (as I have).
I like weightlifting workouts because they epitomize the kind of “stand on your feet†strength training that goes back to the very beginning of physical culture and barbell and dumbbell training.
It's the kind of training that keeps you healthy and strong. It works your legs, hips and back extremely hard – challenges your balance, coordination, timing and athleticism – stimulates your nervous system – and requires full focus and deep concentration on everything you do.
It requires great skill as well as great strength, and that's important for an older trainee. Exercises that require skill and technique make your training more fun and more interesting because they allow you to focus on progressive skill development as well as progressive increases in strength and power.
Of course, not everyone wants to do a weightlifting workout – and that's fine. There are many different and effective ways to train. My suggestion for any Dino is to find something you enjoy – and then work at it hard, intelligently, systematically and progressively.
For some Dinos, it's weightlifting. For others, it's powerlifting. For some, it's strongman training. Some prefer what we might call “power bodybuilding.†Others prefer bodyweight workouts. Some like dumbbells, some like kettle-bells, and some prefer cables. Others enjoy training with Hammer or Nautilus machines. And some enjoy short-range movements in the power rack.
Some Dinos use the 5 x 5 system on all of their exercises. Other Dinos prefer the one set to failure system. Some use heavy singles. Others prefer 10/8/6 or similar pyramid workouts. And some prefer different sets and reps for different exercises – or prefer to vary their sets and reps from one program to another.
At the end of the day, it's all strength training, and it all works. It keeps us healthy and strong – and in the final analysis, that's what counts.
I'll be hitting the iron again in about five hours – and I already know it's going to be a good one. How could it be any different? After all, I'm a Dinosaur!