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

I'm new to the forum and a month and some days into my kbell practice. I also do lots of bjj. I started with the basic movemets- swings,snatches and the military press. My elbows get really sore.Is that common in the beginnings of this practice? Will my joints and tendons get stronger if I keep pushing forward or should I stop ?

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I've been working on splitting recently, both to the front and sides, and have been making a lot of progress but seem to have hit a roadblock recently. I'm having a problem with the hip flexor stretch I've been doing to work up to front splits. I've basically been doing the #31 stretch (p.114) from Relax Into Stretch, only I've been doing it on a low bed instead of a chair for comfort purposes. For you comrades who don't have the book in front of you, the idea is that you stretch your leg out behind you, resting your quads on a chair, bend at the knee and stretch your hip flexors and quads. My problem is that, now that I've made a lot of progress in my hip flexor flexibility, I seem to have encountered some kind of back flexibility problem. When I get really low (for me) what stops me from getting lower anymore isn't tension in my hip flexors but rather what feels like a mechanical locking in my lower back. It doesn't hurt, really (though I won't say it's overly comfortable either.) It's just that it feels like my spine is arched and compressed to the point that I can't sink any lower into the hip flexor. Any advice on what I can do about this? I'm not sure if stretching is the answer here or not. Can some comrades simply not front split? Or am I doing something wrong? For the record, I have no back problems at all, and can deadlift twice my bodyweight, so I don't think I've any medical concerns here. Thanks for your advice in advance. All input is appreciated. Chris  

I taught a Russian how to lift KB's last night. He is one of my peers from BJJ is a import from Moscow. He wants to improve his performance in BJJ and thought that KB's would help him. We went over the basics with the 1 pood his brother gave him which was about the size of a 1.5 pood. Rough, handle a little thinner and more narrow - very "hard-style"(really makes me appreciate DD style KB's). In between moves I was asking him about how familiar he was with KB's being a Russian. He said he saw GS on TV as a child but found it boring. He also said that you couldn't find KB's in most sporting good stores. When he was a child, he and his friends would sneak on to military bases to find KB's just lying around everywhere. He also said you could always find tank track rails that had been separated by the KB's. Pavel, what were these for? BB type exercises? fF

Dallas Kettlebell 

Hello all, I'd like to start by saying that Im relatively new to the forum and I've appreciated all the tidbits of useful knowledge circulating around. So here's one of my observations of the kettlebell lifestyle. I believe nothing can beat high rep ballistic kettlebell excercises (the snatch being the mother-of-all) for not only wiry strength development, but above all else, WILLPOWER development. I've not kept a regular training log, but I most often find myself going for high numbers in the snatch. I prefer to set a goal of several hundred (usually between 200 and 400 with a 24kg) that I intuitively feel can be reached based on my lactic acid load, energy level, time of day, etc. I don't adhere to strict sets and reps throughout the session, as my energy levels will inevitably decline and I will find myself a gasping wreck who would probably be more comfortable being beaten with a crowbar. However, for any lack of strict parameters, my "bodily intuitive" method has delivered great results via allowing my focus to rest on but one exercise; the snatch in my case, and on snatching the kettlebell many many times. What results does this technique yield? The ability to focus entirely on a challenging goal that demands so much simultaneously of ones bodily strength as well as desire to see the goal achieved will deliver sheer willpower, tenacity, and courage. That sounds campy, but there comes a point I've noticed when training with Kettlebells that the mind becomes the superior force over the strength of my muscles. Its not unlike the point that Pavel makes in (Power to the People) that one can in effect train their nervous system in tandem with muscles to equal greater strength than can normally be accessed. As for my results, I feel that using the snatch for willpower development is paramount. Not only is it technically demanding, but the way that the major muscle groups seem to accept the load of the KB as the movement progresses leaves no muscle overworked at the expense of others (well, maybe the forearms). That allows me to do a lot of quality high rep work in the space of a week without burning out. I am (literally) a starving student so I have shrunk from 163 lbs to about 156 lbs at 181 cm in three months on my high rep plan, but my numbers have gone up, with daily improvements the norm. As for my record I've snatched the 24 kg 37 times each arm back to back and done 450 snatches in 45 minutes. That was the morning after a night of hookah smoking. And one more thing, to add a truley Russian element of challenge, make sure you abuse your body the night before. Im not kidding. Remember, this plan is to develop WILLPOWER that is universally applicable. So drink a few liters of Guinness the night before and do ten tons worth of snatches in the morning. Remember the first pages of The Russian Kettlebell challenge: "Vodka at night + pickle juice and Kettlebells in the morning. A Russians day well spent." I say anyone's day well spent. 

I am wondering if your ability to do a front split affects your ability to do a side split. I do isometrics for my side split, but never for the front split. I have pretty good flexibility for the front split but have been stuck with the side split for a while. Should I start hitting the front split iso's harder? Also, do you recommend dynamic leg swings in the morning, or just before workouts? Thanks, as always, for your time. Jon ps Any extra copies of (Beyond Stretching) around that I could buy? I loaned mine out and never got it back. I have all your other books but that was my favorite. 

Can the Law of Reciprocal Inhibition be used with any exercises other than situps like the Janda Situps does? I am very interesting in using this law for effective isolation. One thing though... if you like isolation exercises like the Janda situp, why do you shun ones like curls and tricep and leg extensions? I agree that deadlifts and bench presses and squats are all much more useful and functional movements, but in that case wouldn't that apply to incorporating neighbouring muscle groups like the hip flexors in situps and just adding more and more weight to them like you would the other movements? You mention the reason is avoiding lower back strain, but wouldn't deadlifts strengthen the back so that isn't a problem anymore? Perhaps then a reference to (Power to the People) can be put into Bullet-proof Abs. I feel PttP supplements all the other books very well with it's theory, and that the other books seem to be too 'on their own' when reading all the material would be much more useful for learning purposes. 

Having looked over at crossfit at the WOD, I was thinking if there is any difference between performing the WOD and mixing PTP style strength days with HOC, DOE, PHA into a weeks training? 

Hi, Summer is just about over and I would like a plan for a different training approach. Over the summer I have been doing a lot of endurance training and now I want to spend the next two months getting ready for winter activities. I current;y do bodyweight, swiss ball, and BOSU training in a circuit style workout. I would like to train for power and explosiveness but don't know how to go about it. Maria 

Since an ill-fated arm wrestling match a year ago, my left elbow has been prone to developing tendonitis, especially from doing exercises like dragon flags, pullups, and even squatting. The other night I was dumb enough to arm wrestle a bartender, and after a few months of quiet, my elbow was back to screaming. 800mg Ibuprofen and rest helped the pain, but I promised to help move a buddy of mine yesterday, he said he needed my "russian moving ability". How can you say no to that? While I took it as easy as I could on the elbow, it soon was to the point where I couldn't close my fist. Most intelligent people would back off now I guess, but I struggled through it the best I could, until the moving of the 57" proj. TV. Up the stairs the TV slipped, and I heard a pop in my elbow, and a flash of EXTREME pain. Seconds later, my elbow felt fine, and I also had full power back in my fist. WTH could have happened? Anyone else have anything remotely similar happen? I'll scratch this up to REALLY dumb luck.