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

After reading ETK and thinking back to some conversations with Fireman Tom from this January, I am curious about the RKC testing. Considering that over the last year the USSS Snatch test has become the defacto-standard and that ETK focuses extensively on these drills, are there plans for the RKC cert test reflect this? Rather than training for a GS type event why not have USSS snatch standards for each gender/weight class and test candidates that way?  

pavel, I recently got my hands on your (Beyond Bodybuilding)(excellent book by the way). You made a recommendation for good mornings instead of squats for someone with a bad knee. But Im not really sure about how to do the exercise. And also was wondering about what weight to use, warming up (Bruce Lee hurt himself with this exercise), and a spotter. I know this is a lot but any input would be appreciated.  

Hi there, I am prepping for my RKC certification, coming up soon and I am having a discussion with my coach about which style of snatching is the most "energy efficient" - Meaning: Which version of the Kb snatch causes you to perform the most reps? (RKC approved styles of course, so sadly no corkscrew snatch) Traditional Style: As seen in Pavels books. Swing way back between the legs, bent knees, thrust the Kb forward with the hips and legs, all the way to the top. With or without the "dipping under" thing... Locked knees: Very slight bend in knees. Momentum gathered by bending at the waist and using the hips only, to get that bell to the top. (My coachs´ favorite) High pull + punch: Either of the above, performed as a high pull, followed by a punchthrough. The answer to my question seems pretty obvious, I know: "Why doesn´t the moron just try all three styles and see which one gets him the most reps?" I tried that and all three styles leaves me at a pathetic 20 reps or so with each arm, before my lungs and grip give up. (Long way to 37 reps pr. arm and I only got another six weeks) Which style do you suggest I focus on? P.s. My height: 180cm. Weight: 92kg. Fairly lean... Thank you 

2 days ago I hurt my back double jerking a pair of 24 kg kettlebell. I've been troublefree in my back for some months doing heavy (for me) deadlifts, cleans presses and so on. I must have done something bad with the jerks. The back has been quite bad, it's the lower part of the back and it hurt in all movements, it's getting better now but I have to get the technique rigth. Emediatly after the work out I felt something was bad since it hurted to bend the back backward. What I do is, keeping the bells in the rack i try to lean back (a problem?) to get under the bells for rest, It's what it looks when I watch gs videos. Then I knee dip and try to keep the elbows in contact with the torso for the start of the jerk. When I do the second dip and the standup I try to get the bells behind my head and close together, the hips back and an arch in the back. Does all this sound right, well something has to be wrong but maybe I explain badly. I guess what I need help with is hip alignment during different phases, arch of the back and when to pressurize and when to relax and also how to get rest. Hope someone take time to help me out so I don't become a cripple again, I really like the exercise, thanks. 

your comments to Gregor: I am unclear as to the relative role you ascribe to volume and intensity in improving the press. (My heavily underlined and annotated copies of (ETKb, BB, PtP et. al. are downstairs in my basement gym. I'm more than willing to review any suggested sections . . . ) My understanding was/is that the press (and other drills) are subject to improvement in primarily two ways, either through increased neurological efficiency (GTG) or increased muscular mass, which will respond to the appropriate motor unit stimulus. I further understand these two approaches to be overlapping (absent overtraining) and best implemented by training emphasizing volume (muscular mass, e.g. the "Bear," from PtP) or intensity (GTG, at about 83%-85% 1RM weights). By overlapping I mean that heavy, lower volume training will indeed develop considerable muscle mass, although perhaps not what high volume bodybuilding oriented work might achieve, while the high volume lower intensity bodybuilding work will increase strength to a certain extent (certainly over that achieved by a non-trained control subject) In respect to the former, one can cite the Bulgarian Oly team (e.g.Botev) who apparently rarely exceed doubles in their lifts, (mostly at 90% 1RM or more) while certain builders, such as Yates and Coleman are strong by almost any measure. Forgive the logorrhea, but I want to be clear on my premises. Now this being so, I'm honestly confused by your answering Gregor to the effect that to improve his press he must do high volume, and should he switch to higher intensity lower volume work w/ a 48 kg KB his retention of strength is questionable. Am I wrong in thinking that either approach is valid? And if the Bear, whivh emphasizes volume (or ETKb's Rite of Passage, which does likewise) is pointed towards an increase in muscular mass, as opposed to an increase in absolute 1RM strength, and GTG is the opposite, it would seem that as long as volume and frequency are sufficient, although less than ETKb his strength should increase. Or is the difference in the frequency with which the w/outs are performed? In sum, what volume of work at what level of intensity (% 1RM) is optimal for strength increases as a primary outcome, increases in muscle mass being secondary?  

I started this program this week and one part of it strikes me as peculiar. Why does Coach Sheyko bother having the lifter do random excercises like PBN or incline bench very rarely? For example, the lifter is to do PBN and incline bench once in the first week then not touch the excercises again until week 4. Whats the point? At least there is some sort of consistency with the p-bar dips so I can understand. Also, all of the excercises besides bench are all pressing motions...PBN,dips,inclines. IF I am squatting instead of deadlifting for this program would you advise that I throw in one excercise maybe once or twice a week that works my pulling strength? I am thinking pullups or T-Bar Rows (chest supported rows). Believe me, I am not skeptical of the genius behind Sheyko's program, I was just wondering what the functional purpose of the setup was. Thank you very much. 

This is a new idea I just thought of, although I'm sure its not new by anymeans, just new to me. Has anyone here done it, or know someone who has? If you have home much weight were you pulling. Seems like a killer grip, arm, and back workout. Any info on the topic would be great, thanks! 

I was talking to my brother the other day. He said he saw in the Hard-Style Catalog a quote from someone saying, "Why would you want heavier kettlebells for Benching when you can get a 700 lb bench (or floor press... I can't remember) with a 53 lb kettlebell". The quote was something along those lines. I looked through the online Hard-Style and couldn't find it. Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, how? The only techniques that I'm aware of for increasing the difficulty of a floor press are to relax at the bottom of each rep, slower reps, and lower the bell a little at a time... pretty much all the same things that Pavel recommends for increasing the difficulty on the military press. So is this quote at all valid? Are there any other techniques that I can use to increase the difficulty on the Floor Press? Right now I feel I'm ready to move up from the 32kg's, but won't be able to afford the beast's any time soon. Thanks for any advice. 

mostly has been BUP, KB wrist curl and the KB floor exercises you showed in the second RKC DVD. Suggestions?? 

http://www.powerlifting.ru/library/training/benchpress/b_systems/chernyshev/ as a weightlifting and pl coach it looks very very interesting, but not sure to understand everythings thanks a lot for your work