Pavel Tsatsouline Kettlebell Strength Training Weight Lifting Workouts Exercise and Flexibility Questions & Answers.

I'm currently in a TDY position at a local college until I go to OBC. I'm trying to improve my APFT score while still maintaining some size and maximal strength. 3 days out of the week are devoted to unit PT, and the other two days I do PT on my own, consisting of weight lifting in the 5-8 rep range (mainly emphasizing shoulders, back, triceps and abs, with some olympic lifts thrown in), along with stair runs, rowing, and treadmill running. I attempted to calculate my last PT score, taken in september, from memory, and figured out that it was about 250. My goal is now to score a 300+. Basically that was a a big wake up call, and I have been taking steps since then to improve by changing my focus from body-building and powerlifting style workouts to more endurance focused workouts. I'm wondering if I should increase my workout frequency from once a day 5 days a week to something along the lines of 2x day 3 days, 1x day 2 days, in a version of the hard easy program thats recommended in some workouts. I rarely experience any delayed onset soreness since I've started doing PT 3 days a week, and while I know I shouldn't judge my progress by soreness, I've read that if you want to be ready for SOF, you need to regularly train through soreness. Any thoughts or ideas? 

This is more or less a continuation of a previous post. I've got a little over a month to prep myself for the USASOC combat diver qualification course, and i was tipped off that you might know a little somthing about somthing. I just recieved my first kettle bell earlier this week, a 16 kg (good lord, the thing is decepticely small, but that first workout kicked my ass!) and was hoping you had a few ideas about how to use my new baby to get ready. I came out of ranger school in horrible shape, and it feels like i've been playing catch up ever since, so the advice would be pure gold to an aspiring amphibian such as myself. thanks a lot, Doc Joe 

Are there advantages with either? I have only done Pistols, never any Squats. I guess since I have just started working with weights when I heard of KB and got one. But the squat seems like a major exercise that a lot of you do over a Pistol. Thanks for your thoughts Samuel A. Jones  

Looked through over two years of logs last night and confirmed some hunches I'd been having. Namely, I build the most strength on singles, and also seem to get some mileage out of doubles and triples. This seems to apply regardless of the lift in question. Anything over 1-3 seems to be strength-endurance for me and has almost no carryover to my 1RM. The one quasi-exception would be 20-rep squats, which made me stronger, but likely because they also made me bigger in the process. I remember reading an article about the Olympic lifter Pete George where he said that for him, "Anything over three reps [was] bodybuilding." At least over the past couple of years, that seems to have applied to me as well. Over three reps, my mind drifts and I do not get the same level of concentration on each rep. Rob 

Hey everyone, I got signed up for an arm wrestling competition next week on base here. I am pretty sure the kettlebell/clubbell work i've been doing will help, but does anyone have any tips on technique or tips? I haven't ever arm wrestled except when at a party or two. Thank you Branden 

Howdy- I was hoping someone could give me some advice as to how to modify a fitness routine to get the best results for strength and fitness that doesn't require much ankle flexion. I was in good shape (a pretty solid 6'3, 220 lb.) up until about a year ago October when I shattered my right ankle. A bunch of surgeries later I now have my right ankle fused but everything else is pretty much hunky-dorey-- well, except that I'm now about 265 lb. Its just been the last 3 weeks or so that I've been able to do any exercise that involves the ankle, but its pretty sturdy/pain-free and I've gotten all the OK's from my surgeon to do whatever the hell I want. I have access to one kettlebell of 16 kg, 24 kg, 32 kg, dumbells up to 80 lb. and a squat rack/olympic bar with up to 500 lb. of weight So I've been riding the exercise bike every morning for about 30 minutes and then starting to lift a bit 4 nights a week. My routine right now looks like this (slowly building up by adding sets/reps)-- Sat/Mon-- situps, 7 sets of 5 snatches with the 24 kg kettlebell, 7 sets of 5 with 40 lb. dumbells of a standing military press Sun/Wed-- situps, 1 long set of snatches with the 16 kg KB (currently up to 34 with each arm) I'm interested in getting a 2nd 24 kg and 32 kg KB so I can add jerks to the routine, but I'm not sure about squats and deadlifts because of the ankle. I can't run or do anything that requires much front-back ankle flexion. Just curious whether anyone else around here either had a fused ankle or had trained/worked with someone who had their ankle fused, that they could give me some suggestions for setting up a pretty complete freeweight/KB routine. Thanks in advance, Dan 

Wheel rollouts are described as an abdominal exercise in BPA. What other muscles are mainly worked? (This isn't an exercise commonly described in bodybuilding or strength training books.) Pavel writes that you should keep your lats tight to protect your shoulders. How are the different deltoid muscles involved? He also says that if this exercise hurts your lower back, you're not ready for the evil wheel. If you can do this exercise without it hurting your lower back, should it be regarded as a good exercise to strengthen your lower back? I have the single wheel Pavel is using in BPA. I also have one with two wheels of the same size (and additional fixed handles perpendicular to the other handles). One wheel is more of a stabilization challenge, but, other than that, does using one with two wheels make this a less productive exercise? I also do rollouts with Lifeline-USA's Power Wheel. http://www.lifelineusa.com/products.cfm?categoryid=4&productid=11 This is a great gizmo, but the wheel rollouts feel very different because the single wheel is larger and thicker and the handles are foam over a thin steel rod. How does a larger (and thicker) wheel change the productivity of the wheel rollout? 

I have been playing with this test for roughly 2 months. Every friday I would try and do more reps and always stop a ew erps short of failure (as we all should). The rest of the week I would work either double swings, conservative anchored snatches or LC C&J's. never going over 10 reps just lowering the rest time between sets. Double swings were done power ladder style. The end result was a SS snatch test of 240 reps. Not sure what the record is but if someone could tell me I would be happy to try and break it. I finished the last rep just as the timer went off. (this i ment to be done in 10 minutes isnt it????? Also I took minimal rest between sets as I need to get cardio up a little since adding weight. Some questions and thought: questions: 1. Is it ok to switch hands on the top part of the motion if i dont count that snatch? This would lead me to push out more reps... 2. Is there a number I should be aiming for besides the record? 3. Does this test have to be done GS style or can I keep doing it RKC style? I recal someone saying that the record was done with RKC style. It is harder but pays off more for me anyway. 4. I hope it counts that I did it with a 24kg bell as thats whta a majority of the russian military use. Thoughts: * 3 days before you try this test go low carb high fat/protein, and the day before go carb crazy nd get a good night sleep. this is whart I did (not meaniing to) but the results were great. * long sets and other assistance work is great (all GS biys would know this) but it was a matter of finding the weak link, I actually remember the April 2003 cert when pavel asked me how my snatch was and I told him frankly that is was shit. I got a great kick in the arse for it from brett but it helped more now than it did then. * I still had a few reps left in the bank but I have to go away soon for work and I cant stuff up my nerves so I plaed it conservativly, unless yor going for some GS ranking dont bother taking all the way, just stay on the nerve and dont cross the thin line. * Listen to your body both before and afterwards but not your negative mind. I had never gone this high in snatch reps in quite a while, my mind was saying no but my body was saying "yeah mate it should be no dramas". listen to the body, afterwards the body said "lets get a beer" so I did and just relaxed and wrote this. which reminds me I need another beer. * do it and see where you stand. make sure you really master the whole technique and always try to eliminate your weak links. I know that I need a little bit more grip work o do better and thats what I will do, before I was having trouble with my hip snap, so I had to fix that, as well as work on my breathing. * last but not least take it easy and build up at a comfortable pace, just because some mutants here can do better than me doesnt mean I will try and emulate their training, why should I a am not them. Thats it Im going to take a nice long bath and get stupidly drunk tonight I think I deserve it (but I am australian so I deserve a beer anyway). Simon  

Have had some knee pain lately after practicing gs jerks. Still getting the hang of them, so it could be a technique issue. Maybe I just need to break into them slowly and give the joints a chance to adapt. Definitely seems a real knee stressor pushing the knees forward and all, but also seems to work the vastus medialis nicely. I have had surgery on one knee in the past. Are these jerks a bad idea? Or are they a good way of strengthening the knees? 

Let me know your thoughts,it's an interesting topic,and I think we can both show where either of us can be right,just depends on the peramiters. "You will find that the truths we cling to deppend greatly on our point of veiw."-Obi Wan Kenobi It might be from a Sci Fi flick,but that is so true. Thanks. Dylan 

I keep seeing the "functional/tactical" pull-up argument brought up and thought I would contribute my own insight for what it's worth. A few years back I went throught S.W.A.T. School. To get in I had to do 15 anyway you can get your chin over the bar pull-ups. My entire upper body pulling training never consisted of anything but weighted chin-ups (yes, the "non-tactical" kind) for a few sets of 3-5 reps. I worked up to 70 pounds for 5 reps at a bodyweight of 195. During the test I had no trouble knocking out 15 dead hang pull-ups with 5-7 more in the bank. During the 3 weeks of S.W.A.T. school I had no trouble doing more pull-ups than the larger stronger guys or the lighter guys. I pulled myself over every obstacle on the military O-Course on the day we spent there with no problems either. I've had times that I've had to climb over fence quickly and times that I've had to slowly pull myself up to quietly peek over a fence or balcony to scan for threats before taking the leap. Despite my lack of "tactical" practice I had no trouble overcoming any of these obstacles. The bottom line is that if you're training goal is to get your chin over the bar 40x anyway you can then you need to train in a specific manner that will help you achieve that goal. But if your a police officer, soldier, fireman, ect, just pull as much weight as possible, as quickly as possible, a few times, for a few sets, once or twice a week and I'm sure when the time comes to overcome that obstacle you'll have no trouble.  

About your advice in the latest newsletter (see below), how do you feel about adopting a similar strategy for the squat? The newbie advice for the squat is always to look up, but I actually find that the 6-8 feet thing works better for me on this lift too. If I look up, I hold too extreme an arch for my flexibility, and I have to sacrifice tension at the bottom to get depth. If I look 6-8 feet ahead of me, I can sit all the way into the hole with full tension. Thoughts on this? Rob Power by Pavel: Which Way to Look for a Strong Pull? Every strength athlete knows that looking up and extending the neck strengthens his posterior chain. But did you know that doing the reverse amplifies your quad power? A little know postural reflex designed to help animals reach their food. If you are an experienced strength athlete who has no problem keeping an arch in his lower back and whose deadlift weakness is off the platform try looking at a spot on the floor six to eight feet in front of you. Report your results on the forum. It goes without saying that this technique is not for beginners or comrades with bad backs.  

Hi, I am a male in my mid 40s. I currently do weight training 2-3 times per week, and reality-based martial arts 2-3 times per week. I rest a day in between workouts (and weight train a muscle group only once per week). I normally have two full rest days per week. I have a 'bad' back, and my muscles seem to 'pull' very easily. I have to be very careful, or I will pull my back muscles and not be able to do anything for weeks. I have below average body fat and a good amount of muscle. My questions are: 1). Can I do a stretching/flexibility routine in my condition and actually become significantly flexible? [I understand that each person has individual circumstances, but I wondered if there were examples of people in bad shape (back problems...) and non-flexible who became extremely flexible in their older years.] I would like to be able to bend over and touch my forehead to my upper legs. If I try to bend over much now, my back will 'go out' and into spasms and pain. I do a warm up before I do weights and simple stretching afterwards, and I do a warmup and stretch before martial arts. However, it's obviously not doing the trick. 2). Is there a routine that I can do to stretch and obtain flexibility that can be done in a reasonable amount of time at home? If so, please point me to specific instructions... I'm looking for expert information, as I don't have the time to read many books right now... [Also, how long would it take me (on average) to become significantly flexible, if I followed the plan accordingly?] 3). I've read that it is not good to stretch muscles prior to a weight training routine, rather to do so afterwards is better. What is your understand on this point? Thank you very much. I look forward to your helpful replies. JC