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

After you guys get together for the Deadlift/Powerclean Summit, please post what you end up agreeing and agreeing to disagree upon so the rest of us can benefit from your insights. Might make for a good article. I agree with Geoff's comments from the previous thread with the caveat that powerlifters have developed sports specific techniques for the dead that don't translate well to cleans or snatches. That being said, my experience with PL and OL has been that a proper conventional deadlift and the first pull in the clean are identical. (Anecdotally, Fred Hatfield thus corrected a USAW coach friend of mine at a conference a few years back when that coach declared, wrongly in Hatfield's view, that there were major differences between a DL and PC...for what it's worth) One of the big differences between PL deads and OL deads/clean pulls I notice when a PL asks me to look at their conventional DL is foot placement relative to the bar at the setup. PLers seem to crowd the bar, tight to shin while standing. Most OL are taught to start with the bar over the mid foot while standing. Abraded shins in either case, I've been taught, is a tell tale sign of technical problems, usually premature back involvement. Will be curious to hear about the results. Randy 

Today was supposed to be second last workout for Russian deadlift but couldnt wait. Results: Deadlift pulled 340, old was 320. (At home P.R. Can lift more with olympic or powerlifting bar). Clean and press: 187, old was 180. (Probably could have got 190 poor clean due to fatigue from the deadlift). Now here are the questions. I always workout at home with a slightly thicker than average, rotating handle barbell. My old PR on the deadlift was 330 at the gym with an olympic barbell. At that time my best home deadlift was 310. The reason for the difference I believe is because my bar at home is slippery and it rotates around the the actual barbell while you are lifting making it hard to grip. So my home deadlift PR of 340 would probably translate to around a 360 or 365 deadlift at the gym. My question is should I buy a fixed handle, knurled grip barbell or should I stick with the one I have now? Since the grip is the limiting factor in many peoples deadlifts including mine do you think using the bar I have now would be more effective than a standard bar? Thanks Craig Vogel 

I have designed some experimental hollow kettlebells that very closely resemble the ones from the early strong-men pictures. These are not the milo ones, but the simple globe with 1" handle version. have made some hollow kettlebells that closely resemble many of the ones from the early 1900's. These prototypes do not have the plug's yet finished so I can't fill em with anything yet. Which leads me to another question... Andrey demonstrated his bells had 2cm lead balls in them. The type you would shoot from a slingshot or muzzleloader. As the competition kettlebells are designed to let you "farily" quickly load and unload the weight, this worries me about it. Because of the lead moving so much it will make very fine dust. Bad lead exposure! I think out-of-spec ball bearings would work fine. It's just a pain to find these things. You could go ghetto and use a bunch of nuts also... The dragondoor kettlebells are the way to go for everyday training. They have the durability I want. I know it's possible, but who has actually broke the handle of their bell? Incidently, I would like to see dragondoor make some of the "official" Russian comp kettlebells, specifically for comp training. I know they are availible from the UK. I am one who does like to buy US made goods. It's getting hard these days though... Chuck chuck_rkc@gomcse.com  

260 later this week; here's the full workout: Conventional deadlift from floor 250 x 20 Seesaw press 2-32kg x 3-3/4 Snatch 32kg x 4-4/4 in 4:00 Sternum chinup bw x 5/2 Floor press 2-32kg x 6/3 The 20 reps went flying up. Rob 

Pavel, I took this from Z Health's forum about the "long spine" position. "With regards to the pelvis and lumbar spine, understand that there is a great amount of ambiguity in the research as to what constitutes a true "neutral pelvis". Given that fact, in the Z approach to postural retraining we focus almost exclusively on two key elements in the beginning: 1. Restoring mobility and control to all joints and body areas. 2. Learning long spine positioning and developing the ability to maintain this position while in motion or in any static position. The act of achieving "long spine" is actually termed axial extension. When performed correctly, the movement automatically induces adbominal muscle activity and corrects pelvic and lumbar positioning. You can achieve "similar" results with the force approach except for one more critical element... When you achieve a proper long spine position as taught in Z, this movement creates activity in all of the small muscle groups that stabilize the spine. In other words, the long spine position accomplishes all of the elements of the "force" approach with the added value of greater spinal stabilization and great neural ability to maintain the postural changes." Pavel, you often hear Sonnon say, "lengthen crown to coccyx". Z teaches the correct way to do this. Does this answer the "long spine" question? fF 

Is it ok to do the Smolov with Dl instead with Squats? gregor 

returning from our illiminative journey to the land of strong people, I am now cozy and able to begin implementing my new discoveries. Accepting that I have been 'training' and preparing myself all wrong for higher-level GS training, I am now taking pieces from the offical GS periodical (sorry I am not yet learned in Cryllic). In the article of Handlebell Sport, written by Y.A. Romashin, Master of the Handbell Sport, under the section "Training Methodics and Planning Education-Training Process: General Notions", Romashin writes: "Physical (athletic) training is nothing else but one of the principle means of <>. Physical exercises, athletic traiing can considerably modify the functions and the structure of the organism. At training with handlebells, accommodative (adapting) reactions of the organism against variuos loadings is maifested by the growth of skeleton sinews, power increase and augmenting of power endurances, growth of aerobical efficiency. In other words, the handlebell sport is the combination of power and endurance. Proceeding from these requirements, training should be composed so as to preview the development of these both qualities". There you have it, sport fans. To further elucidate, Romashin breaks it down further here, : " Round-the-year training of the handlebell-lifters is usually divided into 2 semi-annual cycles. The first one includes 2 periods: preparatory and competitive, the second one is composed of three-preparatory, competitive, and transitional." "During preparatory therm workiing with handlebell-lifters is manily targeted at health strengthening, creating premises for the successful mastering the technique of motion and its perfection, imporvement of the general and special physical fitness, training moral-and-strong-will qualities, accumulation of erudition in theory, methodics physiology, and hygiene of the handlebell sport". Now, this is the part that I am now working on: "In the six-month cycle the preparatory term lasts for 3 months. At the first stage (1-2 months) of this term training is composed so that half-loading falls on strength development, while the other half-on promotion of general endurance. At this stage are carried out the goals of general preparation, targeted at improvement of physical fitness of the dumb-bell-lifters and at creation of the basis for his special preparation". So, there it is, all spelled out nice and clear like. Being without coach, it is most important to not reinvent the wheel with this new sport. Here is my training from today, reflecting my goals of preparation: 2 Hand Swings (all swings done full range with 1 s pause at top of swing--all the way overhead) 16kg x 10 x 1 BB DL: 275 x 1 2Hand Swings: 24kg x 10 x 1 BB DL: 325 x 1 2 Hand Swings: 32kg x 10 x 1 BB DL: 375 x 1 2 Hand Swings: 40kg x 10 x 1 BB DL: 365 x 2 2 Hand Swings: 45kg x 10 x 1 Weighted Pull-ups: BW + 32kg x 1 x 6 sets; BW + 24kg x 2 x 3 ; BW + 16kg x 3 x 5; BW + 12kg x 5 x 1; BW + 12kg x 3 x 1 5:00 KB Snatch Test: 32kg x 102 reps (L/R: 20/20, rest, 15/15, rest, 8L, rest, 15R, rest, 7L/2 R--time up)