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

The limiting factor for most people in the performance of over-head squats is flexibility issues. Usually shoulder girdle, spine and hip. A drill that has helped me and many of my clients is to do static holds at the bottom position for time. For some people,a 45lb olympic bar might be to heavy. A EZ-curl bar or even a broom stick handle might be all they can handle. This drill is best done in a power rack with the supports low enough to catch the bar. This drill builds vital strength, flexibility and confidence in the weakest position. I like to hold for at least 60 sec. Several sets of static holds can be done. This also makes a good warm-up for regular over squats. Just drop slowly down with a light weight and hold for a minute or so before doing your regular over head squat routine. Last year, I worked up to sets of three with my body weight in this fine exercise using the above technique. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

I like the trap bar deadlifts. The bent leg style is more of a squat than true deadlift. That does not diminish the exercise in the least. The movement lends itself more to hip and thigh developement than low back. For low back and hamstring emphasis,I sometimes have clients stand on blocks to increase the range of motion and perform the movement with straight legs(aka stiff legged deadlift). All of the tension, bracing and breath control techniques are used here to protect the back. Because of the position of the trap bar in relation to the torso, this exercise is safer for many people than regular barbell deadlifts. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

In cases like this, when a particular muscle group is being used strenuously everyday in what is tanamount to high rep endurance work, stripping down to bare bones pure strength work is the answer. Because your work is basically high rep endurance work of the arms, chest and shoulders, go to low rep, pure strength work with the bench and overhead press. Stay with heavy singles, doubles and triples. Warmup with a couple submaximal sets, then do 3 heavy work sets. Take plenty of rest between sets. Cycle it so that you start out doing three reps. As you add weight each week, start to drop reps until you are doing three really heavy singles. Keep your warmup sets very brief. Just one or two reps of progressively heavier weight. When you stop making progress on the singles, take a couple days off, lighten up twenty percent and go back to triples again. Alternate the bench with the over head press each workout. Workout every other day. The heavy low rep work will stimulate the central nervous system without undue fatigue of the muscular system. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

There is no such thing as a masters division in MMA that I know of. MMA is a tough sport and there is only one Randy Couture. Usually you are old at 35 in that sport. There are really great master/senior competitions in BJJ, judo and wrestling. Personally, I would steer him into one of those. Randy Couture is amazing at 40, but remember, he trained and competed all his life. He didn't just start out competeing at 40. Besides, he is a very rare exception.If he insists, find an amatuer event somewhere that has rule limitations designed to minimize punishment to thje contestents. Steve Maxwell 

Start holding the bottom position for time. Use your hands at first by holding on to an upright support. Door knobs work well. Just try and balance as long as you can and minimize how much you use your hands. Slowly wean yourself away from using your hands until you can hold the bottom position for 60 sec. It helps to pre-stretch the hamstrings first. Do supported pistols for reps as well. Do fairly high rep sets to get the groove. In the begginning, use two hands. Then go to one, then two fingers then the index finger. By that time you should be able to do several reps unsupported. I have taught many people to do pistols this way. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

TS, I had a female tennis player that had a similar problem with her pistols. This woman was unusally strong and could do a dozen chin-ups and dipd. Every time she tried to do unsupported pistols on her left leg, she would simply lose her balance and fall backwards as you describe. Her right leg presented no problems. It was almost like she couldn't 'enervate' her nervous system in the low point of the pistol. At first, I thought she had some type of nerve impingement. There was no pain however. I worked her feet and ankles with slow standing calf raises and tibial dorsi flexion using a special apparatus that I built. I discovered that her left ankle was real weak and her feet were also weak. We began standing balance drills. I borrowed heavily from Scott Sonnons four corner balance drill with some of my own twists added. At first she had great difficulty standing on one foot during these drills. I then would have her balance in the low pistol position for up to 90 seconds while holding on with her hands. Soon she went to one hand, then two fingers of one hand and then to just the middle finger. I also had her do multiple sets of supported pistols on a 'trapeise' type device that I rigged up. The device was harder than holding a stationary object like a pole. I also had her do one legged deck squats. She would sit and rock back on the mat on her shoulders and use the forward momentum to stand up. She persevered through much frustration and now can do 8 butt to heel pistols unsupported on either leg. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Basically it's a home made dard made of pvc pipe that sits on the foot and allows weighted dorsi flexion. I was to cheap to buy the real thing. The dard is a great device, but hanging a bucket on a shoe works well. Secure a small bucket handle on the toe of a sneaker with an extra shoe lace or twist tie. Sit on a high bench or table and let the foot hang down. Use small barbell plates in the bucket. Now dorsi flex away. This exercise really helps with shin splints, turf toe and all sorts of grappling related injuries including foot and ankle locks. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

When doing daily GTG for chins or pull-ups, don't do any other work for the lats and biceps. Two or at the most three times per week, non-related exercises can be worked such as miltary presses,side presses, dips, OAP, various squats, deadlifts, kettlebell snatches and abdominal work. Keep the workouts minimal, no more than three or four movements. If cardio is desired, short intense 'sprint' style sessions could be added once or twice per week. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

I use a jiu jitsu belt for the same purpose. I loop it through a kettlebell handle and tie it around my waist. It works great. at home, I have an old day pack that I put barbell plates in and I wear that to do pullups. I have several weight vests, but sometimes I don't want to be bothered with strapping them on. The simple jiu jitsu belt or little day pack are quick, convient ways to load a set of pull-ups, chin-ups or dips. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

At Maxercise in Phila., I work with many women clients and have worked with thousands in my 35 year career as a trainer. Women have a lot of concerns about physical appearance through societal pressure that most men do not share.Many of these concerns are irrational. The fashion magazines with computered enhanced pictures of waif thin models on the cover have given women a false sense of realistic expectations concerning physical appearance. The two of the most commen concerns when women come to the gym are not wanting to increase muscular size and to lose body fat. It is difficult for most women to become muscularly defined. It takes a lot of dietary dicipline.Even then most women cannot become really lean no matter what they do. The amount of muscular growth that can be attained by the majority of women is also limited. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but defined extremely muscular women are quite rare. I am not talking about female bodybuilders who abuse steroid drugs. Female bodybuilders represent less than one tenth of one percent of female trainees. Being'bulky' usually means fat. The only way to lose fat is to eat less and do more. (Liposuction being the exception). Many women have false expectations about what they can achieve and not achieve through diet and exercise. The fitness/diet industry thrive on mis-information. Charlatens play off womens fears and offer all sorts of quackery designed only to make them lose their money. Kettlebells are a good tool for helping you achieve your goals.There are two ways you can go with the kettlebells to avoid increased 'bulk' while losing fat, conditioning and strengthening yourself. Multiple sets of high reps (15 to 20) withh compressed rest periods. The other is heavy weight with low reps and low sets (3 to 5). Neither will build much in the way of muscular size. The high rep work is very cardio and if done for a prolonged period, calorie intensive. The heavy low rep work will stimulate the CNS and increase strength in the muscles, tendons, connective tissue and increase bone density. Cycle back and forth between the two workout styles. At the same time, lower food intake and drink plenty of water. Be active every day. Active doesn't mean hard workouts every day. On your off days, get out and walk for an hour or more along with joint mobility and stretching. Engage in active sports such as roller blading, cycling, swimming, rock climbing, martail arts or back packing. Find something that you like and work at being good at it. Hit the kettlebells three times per week and do the active recovery activities on your off days. This is as good advice as you are ever going to get. It has worked for hundreds of women here at Maxercise. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

You are correct. Do not let the upper arm come out of the socket. Keep tension in the lats and shoulders at the bottom. That does not mean that the arms stay bent. Completely straighten the arms at the start of each reps. I have seen a lot of shoulder injuries from allowing the shoulders to come up at the bottom during pullups. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

There are hundreds of ways to combine body weight drills with kettlebells. Instead of front squats, substitute pistols. Instead of the side press, do one arm push-ups. You can alternate back and forth every workout. Weighted or unweighted pull-up or chin-up ladders or sets can be added almost every workout. Some form of swing or snatch can be used as a cardio finisher at the end of each workout. Windmills can be done as a warm-up to pre-stretch the hamstrings before each pistol workout. Abdominal work also can be included each workout. You can do ladders, circuits, ladder circuits, super-sets, or straight sets. Vary it often. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

I like rock up squats very much, but I still find the Hindu squat valuable. Try the no momentum deck squat for an amazing strength/flexibility/mobility/cardio workout. Hold a 35 lb. barbell plate or a 16kg. kettlebell. If you are really big, you may opt for a 45lb weight or if small, a 25 lb. weight.Slowly squat down butt to floor while keeping the torso compeletly erect. Hold the weight out in front as a counter balance. Softly sit down and roll back without moving the feet. Touch the weight over your head to the floor as if doing a straight arm pull-over. Now reverse the motion and do a no momentum sit-up with the plate held forward (like a weighted sit-up) and back to the squat. Counter balance with the weight and slowly stand up. Your feet do not move during the entire sequence. You can super set this exercise with weighted pushups for a total body experience or perhaps an out of body experience. Just kneel down and slide the plate onto your shoulder blades and do strict, chin to the floor push-ups. Don't flair the elbows out, but keep them tucked in at the sides ala yoga plank style pushups. They are more functional for combat sports and way safer on the shoulders. Do 10 no momentum deck squats and immediately 5 weighted pushups. Now impress me by doing 10 sets. If you make it, consider yourself very studly! These two movements constitute a total body workout. You will notice how hard your abs, lats, biceps, grip and forearms are working during the squats, not to mention the legs and lungs. Even though you are going somewhat slowly, it is amazingly cardio. It will take twenty minutes or so to do 10 sets. Of course modify it anyway you see fit. I like the Ivananko barbell plates with the handle cut outs. I bought several at Walmart really cheap. $16.00 for a 45 pounder. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

The idea of ladder workouts is to increase the volume of reps within a given period of time with as little fatigue as possible. It is another way of greasing the groove. Perform a rep, then rest about the same amount of time it took to do the rep or reps. Start with 1, rest, 2, rest a bit longer etc. The idea is to drop down to one again and restart the ladder as soon as you start to struggle. A sequence might look like this; 1,2,3,4,5, then 1,2,3,4,5 then 1,2,3,4, then 1,2,3,4 then 1,2,3, then 1,2. then 1, then 1. When 1 rep gets difficult as in you barely make it, then stop for the day. The above sequence would net you 60 quality reps. For most people, 60 reps would be immpossible in straight sets. The ladder allows you to practise the rep and program the nueral firing pattern. Generally for a particular rep goal, the ladder volume should be twice the number. In your case, 20 is the desired goal, so build up to at least 40 reps per ladder workout. You can also do weighted, low rep pull-up ladders. Every third workout, add extra weight to your body via a vest or barbell plates in a back pack. Dipping belts are also good. Start with 10% of your body weight and work up to your goal rep count. In your case, 20 reps. Your rep count might look like this; 1,2,3,4 then 1,2,3 then 1,2 then 1. That would be a total of 20 reps while carrying 10% of your bodyweight. Keep building from there. Add 5% soon as you reach your goal. In the body weight only ladders, strive to do more reps per ladder. In the first couple of ladder sets, go to 6 reps etc. When you are ready to test your max reps, take two or three days off and then go all out. Rest the next day and resume the ladders again. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

Several variations of the rock up or deck squat that we use here at Maxercise are, non-weighted. The first one the exerciser squats and rolls back, does a shoulder stand, touches the feet to the floor behind the head and rolls back to the feet. The same thing can be done,but with a high leap. Also one legged with a leap. A third variation involves rolling back, touch the feet tp the floor, roll back to a low squat, quickly extend the legs back as if sprawling and do any variety of pushups. It can be done directly under a high pull-up bar and from the low squat, you leap up to the bar and do a pull-up, drop down roll back into a rockup squat, sprawl and do a pushup. The non-momentum squat can be done one legged as in a pistol, withor without a jump. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Chin-ups use the biceps in a more efficient pulling position. Pull-ups are more a mater of function than efficiency. Pull-ups are the way one uses their muscles in almost all real world climbing or scaling movements. Chin-ups are excellent as well. Chin-ups are a great way to strengthen the entire upper body with emphasis on the grip, forearms, biceps and lats. For your purposes, they are fine. I have done many a chin-up on ridged bathroom stall bars. To protect the hands, use a light dish towel or two wash cloths under the palms. Two small pieces of light weight rubber matting could be cut palm size and kept on your desk.I cut two small pieces from an old yoga matt. Every bathroom visit, just grab them and slip them into your pocket. You can now grease the groove with a higher rep count without hurting the hands. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Three or four exercise circuits are an excellent way to build work capacity. for example; pull-ups, hindu pushups, hindu squats and jumping jacks. Do 5 pullups or chinups, 10 hindu pushups, 40 jumping jacks and 20 hindu squats. Repeat as many circuits as many times as possible in 20 minutes. That is just one example of many possibilities. I like it because it can be done with virtually no equipment and in a small space like a hotel, dorm or living room. An example of a kettlebell work capacity enhancer would be (with one kettlebell) the following circuit; 10 swings per arm, 10 around the body passes (aka 'sling shots') both directions, 10 snatches per arm, 10 crush curl to press out( no finger tips and not over your face), 10 clean and presses per arm, 5 windmills per arm, 20 alternating tactical lunges,10 front squats/push press per arm(aks'thrusters'), 5 turkish get-ups per arm, 20 alternating one arm swings, 10 figure eights between the legs each direction, 10 deck squats holding the kettlebell and finish with 20 two arm swings. Don't put the kettlebell down during the entire workout. If you get winded, hold the kettlebell in both hands until you catch your breath. The routine alternates hard drills with less hard drills. Write the routine on a sheet of paper large enough to read. Glance at the paper to keep track of whats next. Time yourself with a large kitchen timer. Try to beat your time each workout. This may be the ultimate in building work capacity. Of course these are only two examples of many that I use at Maxercise. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

For building general work capacity or endurance, it doesn't really matter whether you do few movements or many. The example kettlebell workout above was arranged to provide over lap so that the same muscle groups were taxed many times with a variations in each successive drill. The main thing is to tax your system and keep the workouts balanced. Begginners need to stick with their routines for several weeks to even months at a time. People that have been at it for many years can play around with a lot of variety. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

You can do sepearte cycles of low rep PTP style and endurance work. The two can co-exist by alternating the two types of workouts each time. You could also take one major movement like the deadlift and work a few heavy low rep sets almost every day while doing endurance workouts later in the day. Steve Maxwell 

You can contact either one of us.I will be happy to guide you in any way that I can. I do phone consultations. Mike sets up programs through email. I have worked with athletes from amatuer to pro level. My main expertise is with the grappling martial arts. I am currently working with two world champions in BJJ. Mike works with MMA fighters and has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

First of all, your shoulders have been tight and inflexible for years so there is no quick fix. If you have had previous injuries, there is a lot of scar tissue and adhesions that you will have to break up. Be prepared for a lot of discomfort. Start reclaiming shoulder mobility by doing daily hangs from a high bar. You want to eventually get your head and torso directly below your hands. Perform the cobra stretch demo-ed in Super Joints. Use a barbell in a power rack. Start slow and low. Gradually raise the height of the bar. Start doing double kettlebell military presses with emphasis on range of motion. Open the shoulders and slowly press until the kettlebells touch together. Pause and lean into the stretch. Try to work the kettlebells well behind the head with locked arms and straight wrists. Daily do Pavel's rubber band dislocates. Hold a light rubber tube or band in front of you waist high, arms locked. Slowly raise the band over your head and behind to your lower back. Don't twist, writhe and keep both arms even. You must keep tension on the band as if you are trying to tear it apart. These drills will help re-establish range of motion as much as any. Work slowly and carefully. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

The perscription for definition is to burn more calories than you eat. Eat less, do more. Work the kettlebells in high rep sets with whole body moves like swings, snatches, clean and press, front squat press, turkish get-ups. Also include liberal amounts of deck squats, abdominal work and push-ups. There is nothing mystical about losing body fat. There are no secret formulas. Three hard workouts per week on non-consecutive days and easy active recovery workouts on the other days while simultaneously dropping calories. Drink lots of water and eat at regular intervals. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

First off, lifting compliments any sport or martial art. Who ever told you that lifting weights doesn't help jiujitsu did you a great disservice. Bigger, faster, stronger always wins in any combat sport when skills are equal. Bigger, stronger, faster wins many times even against higher skill levels. Getting physically stronger can only help in any endeavor. It's knowing how to lift the right way for jiu jitsu that is important. Power lifting and olympic lifting would have a low value in conditioning for jiujitsu. Yoga can be a great supplement for strength/flexibility. Once again, yoga has many systems and using the right one is key. Kettlebells have proven themselves for strength/endurance and cardio for all grappling arts. Learning to identify weaknesses in your game and then finding the modalities to correct them is key to improvement. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

You definetly were not following the proper protocol as Pavel lays it out in Relax Into Stretch. Pavel teaches how to protect the knees by keeping the toes dorsi flexed and the knee joints tight.I am no doctor, but I healed myself from three serious knee injuries. I have rehabbed dozens of students with bad knee problems when the only option their doctors offered was surgery. Knee ligaments don't have a lot of sensation and one really doesn't feel much pain until after a ligament injury actually occurs. Other muscle groups and joints will give a bit more warning with pain sensations that gives you a chance to back off whatever you are doing. Injury to the inside of the knee is a common injury seen in a lot of begginner yoga students. I see it a lot in jiujitsu and submission wrestling. My injury was caused during a jiujitsu practise where my leg was put in a weird stretch position. The most likely culprit isn't the MCL, but the medial edge of the meniscus. One of the hamstrings and thigh adductors have tendons that have attachments to the inside of the knee and connect to the meniscal cartiledge. If the muscles exert to much force during forced stretches, they can cause a slight tear on the inside of the cartiledge pad. It hurts a lot and if there is a big enough tear, the knee may lock or feel loose. The torn part of the cartiledge may move around, sometimes causing sudden pain or locking. I've had this injury three times and avoided surgery each time. The outside edge of the cartiledge has a good blood supply and can be treated without invasive surgery. Don't let any one fool you into thinking that knee surgery is a walk in the park. You'll be on crutches for many weeks and I have seen secondary infections that really mess things up. I treated the knee with DMSO three times daily and did a lot of mobility exercise as well as static contraction in the terminal end position on a leg extension machine. Both knees healed fine. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

I use DMSO gel. I used to use a liquid form mixed with aloe vera. I really like this new gel that I recently discovered. I also have taken oral doses in water. MSM is a derivitive of DMSO and I take daily with glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate. On the knee extensions, I used a medium weight and would hold at the terminal end for time. I would hold for as long as 90 sec. This exercise made my knee feel good and stable. I would also do hamstring statics on a seated leg curl at the midpoint to keep good balance. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

You may have developed a muscle imbalance in your shoulders girdle between the front and the back. It is a common source of problems especially in people who do a lot of bench pressing. Make sure that you do plenty of strict barbell and dumbbell rows to off set the benches. You may find that rear deltoid flies and external rotations of the humerous (L-flys) may give relief. Another source of problems could be bicep tendonitis. From your description of the pain, it sounds like the origin of the bicep where it attaches under the shoulder could be irritated. The tendon could also be out of the groove. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

The point of GTG with ladder sets is to maximize as much volume in as little time as possible while minimizing fatigue. This is why it is considered one of the best ways to build strength/endurance. So called strength ladders are still a form of strength endurance, with more emphasis on strength because of the higher resistence and lower reps. However, it is not the best way to build pure strength. There are many other protocols that serve that purpose better. GTG throughout the day with heavy singles would be better IMO. Ladder workouts can also be excellent cardio tools, especially when done circuit style. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

I do them as part of an over all spinal mobility and flexibilty routine. I use a footstool with my feet anchored under the sofa. My foot stool is the perfect height to allow my shoulders to touch the floor flat so that I am in a shoulder bridge position each rep. At the end, I stay there in the supported bridge for a great hip flexor stretch. I also enjoy using a stability ball. The stretch on the ball is more like a yoga back bridge. I take care not to spread my knees to far apart so that I can maximize my flexibility. In fact , I strive to keep my feet and legs close together, which makes the exercise more difficult. I also use a breathing technique Pavel showed me. It's called inverse paradox breathing. It creates much more abdominal tension and makes the exercise more difficult, but allows the spine to release more tension in the extended position. As you lower back, you exhale through the mouth slowly to release the spine and hip flexors. As you sit back up, you inhale through the nose into the lower abdominals (as if inflating a balloon). This creates a lot of abdominal tension and is much harder to sit up. It's a really good exercise for combat athletes and grapplers. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Not all jiu jitsu is created equal. Some of the more sport oriented schools do not teach the Gracie Jiu jitsu self defence.I was lucky enough to learn from the Gracie family. Remember, self defence is not MMA.MMA is a entertainment sports show. Most of the particpants cross train in many diciplines with jiu jitsu being one of the most important ones. MMA is geared more to strikers by handicapping the jiu jitsu and submission grapplers with large cumbersome gloves that make gripping and obtaining holds very difficult to secure. The gloves do make for spectacular knockouts because they turn the hands into dangerous weapons. The gloves protect the hands like armor and allow a lot of wild punches to be thrown that would usually result in a painful broken knuckle if bare knuckles were used. It is interesting to note that grappling specialists still win the majority of the fights despite the handicap. Take the gloves off the fighters and you would see the grapplers dominate virtually all the time. This would make for poor television viewing and would be quite boring for the general public. Taking someone down in the street is wise if the guy has no idea what to do. Fortunately that's most people. On the ground, it's childs play to dispatch even big strong people. My 16 year old son has trained jiu jitsu since he was in diapers. he has been forced to 'street test' his jiu jitsu on the mean streets of Philadelphia many times. He is small for his age, but always easily prevailed against much bigger attackers and even multiple assailants. No matter what you study, you need to be flexible, strong, fast and have good endurance. Find a Gracie trained instructor if possible. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

Grappling on the side walk is only a problem for people who don't really know grappling. I've been forced to do it and it was only a problem for my attacker. People that know how to fall are fine. I see skate boarders hit the deck all the time and bounce right up as have roller bladers and bicyclists. Jiu jitsu teaches you how to roll around without injury even on a hard surface. Cars, poles and curbs are some of a grapplers best friends. They can easily be used as weapons against your assailant. Who better than a man used to daily close quarter combat to put his opponent in a bad position against a wall, chain link fence, bathroom stall, over the edge of a curb or a parked car. Once the clinch and tie up occur, the non-grappler is basically done. Any decent wrestler, judo or jiu jitsu man can smash a non grappler to the ground in any position he wants and where the assailant is helpless. My students have cleared many a bar room. Many of my guys are bouncers and doormen. Several are law enforcement officers and two are prison guards. All of them feel that grappling and jui jitsu training in particular are indispensible. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

Jason, You could easily practise muy thai by yourself by buying a quality heavy bag or banana bag and studying some videos of top practitioners. Since you already know wrestling, why not capitolize on that? Just turn the moves around and think of them more from a martial point of view. Keep your wrestling skills sharp by going to the local high school and introducing yourself to the coach. Wrestling and muy thai are a great combination. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com 

Your kinesiology degree blows all the weekend certs out of the water. If a quick fix is what is in order, take any cert you can. As ridiculous as it seems, clients want to train with someone who is 'certified'. Later, you will have your degree and it won't matter. In the meantime, take the seminar. It certainly won't hurt to have several certs under your belt. Brett said it best though, it's the man, not the paper. I have met some PHds who were came across like fools. Steve Maxwell

http://www.maxercise.com