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

I had the honor of being an assistant instructor at the latest RKC. The program has really grown and improved in many ways. Steve Maxwell put the attendees thru an outstanding example of his joint mobility program. It took about 20 minutes, and by the end everyone was warmed up, limbered up and ready to go. This is a list of the exercises that Steve did, with some descriptions. I was furiously taking notes and drawing pictures of stick figures to show what he was doing, but you can't capture everything. I hope Steve will fill in the blanks and correct the order, but I do think I have made it is as accurate as I could. For those who haven't bought Steve's Joint Mobility DVD, SHAME ON YOU!! ;-) Please go to maxercise.com and buy a copy for your penance. It is a follow-along program which takes about 20 minutes. It's filled with great exercises to limber you up. Each exercise was done for 30-60 seconds, at a rhythmic pace. 1) Neck Turns - side to side, looking behind you. 2) Neck Tilts - lean right/left, ear goes toward shoulder. 3) Neck Tilts - Chin up to the ceiling, then down to the chest between the clavicles. 4) Neck Slide - move head to right, then left, while keeping it vertical. 5) Neck Slide - move head front to back, keeping vertical. Like a chicken. 6) Thorasic Bending - Throw chest out and up while bending back, and roll shoulders back and down. Then roll forward, chest collapsing and shoulders rolling forward and then down, hunching over like Quasimodo. 7) "Sideways Scarecrow" - Stand with feet shoulder width and legs straight. Put arms straight out like scarecrow. While keeping your shoulders, hips and head level, lean and reach out to the right, then the left. Imagine your being pulled by a rope. 8) Pelvic Tilt - Stand with hands on hips. Tilt pelvis up, rounding low back and tucking your tail. Then tilt it down, arching your low back. 9) Pelvic Tilt - Side to side, pushing hip out, stretching outer hip. 10) Bend over and Lean Back - Stand with arms crossed on chest, rt. fingertips on left shldr.,left fingertips on rt. Bend over, rounding back and keeping head down and knees slightly bent. Then straighten back out, thrusting hips forward, and stretching backward and upward at 45 degrees. 11) Tai Chi Waist Twisters - Stand with arms hanging loosely at sides. Turn your chest quickly to the left (facing 9 o'clock) and let your arms whip around, and have the back of your left hand slap your right kidney. Then quickly spin right (to 3 o'clock) and your arms will fly around and your right hand will hit your left kidney. Arms should stay loose. Hips should remain fairly stationary while your upperbody quickly twists. 12) Arm circles - keep arms straight, make big circles, leading with thumbs. Go inside/out then outside/in. 13) Swimming Moves - Swing your arms like you're Backstroking, then Crawling (fwd stroke) 14) Figure 8s - Trace figure 8s with arms together, then do them going opposite directions (asymetrically - the arms cross each other) 15) Head Circle - Keep arms bent at 90 degrees and circle them aroung your head, with your biceps near your ears and then your nose. Your forearms will skim your scalp area. 16) Spinal Wave - curl and uncurl your pine as you stand, undulating like a snake. 17) Boot Strappers - Fold over at waist, put palms on ground, shoulder width and two feet in front of feet. Butt is high and head is down. Have feet close together and then bend knees, going up the balls of your feet. Straighten your legs out, putting heels on ground, then return to crouch. Repeat till your hammies scream... 18) Downward Dog with a tilt - while in the pose, tilt your hips to the right and left multiple times, then tilt your pelvis back and front. 19) Downward Dog Reach - while in the pose, pick up right hand and reach for your left ankle, twisting upper body only. Then reach for your right ankle with your left hand. 20) "The Pump" - go from the Cobra to Downward Dog in a rhythmic fashion. Not done like a Dive Bomber Push-up. Just go up and down. 21) Scarecrow Twist - Lay on your stomach, arms out. Lift your right leg, bend it and try to touch your left hand with your foot, twisting your hips, but leaving your upperchest and shoulders on the ground. Then go left foot to Rt. hand. 22) Frog Pose Hip Twists - Get in frog pose, on ground, propped up on elbows, hips low, legs spread with knees out wide and toes pointing down. Then lift your right lower leg, making it vertical, then have your right toes touch your left knee. Your hips will twist a bit, and the femur will really move in your hip socket. Then return your right leg, and then have your left leg go up, then have your toes touch your right knee. 23)The LAST drill I'm not going to attempt to describe because only seeing it will explain it. I'll only say that Steve would go fron standing to kneeling to sitting, then spinning a bit, then to kneeling, then standing again, 180 degrees away from where he started. He did this again and again, both directions, never touching the ground with his hands. Just an amazing exercise. Again, this was taken from my notes, and I hope Steve will edit this where it needs to be. Also, I just made up the names of these exercises, and I'm sure Steve has better names for them. Tom 

Hello all, I have a little case of info overload and was wondering your opinions. I am 36 6'2" weigh 200lbs and have some excess flab around my midsection but the rest of my body is fairly thin. My goal is to cut up and increase my strength endurance, if I put on some muscle as a result of regular workouts I would be extremly happy as well. I just started taking Hapkido about 2 months ago on Tuesday and Thursday nights and some Saturdays. On those mornings I do Yoga (from the book "moving toward balance" by Rodney Yee.) I am also following a warrior type diet. make a shake of berries, protien and natural green powder. this I drink after my morning workouts and mid morning and mid afternoon. I have a pretty stressful desk job and work about 10-11 hours a day. Sorry for the long intro my question is, would you suggest that I do a M-W-F workout and switch between strength and strength endurance worouts or do you think it would be better for me to do a PTP style workout M-W-F AM and like a C.C. or a 20 min. work capacity buliding workout on those evenings? Or does it really not matter and should I try them both. I really respect both of your opinions and your accomplishments so your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!  

Tommy Kono says that for longivity in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting hinges greatly on a lifters ability to keep their joints healthy and remain flexible. He also says that gaining and maintaining flexibilty is important for master level lifters so they can continue to do the squat versions of the lifts instead of being forced to do the split or power versions. I know that simply doing the Snatch and Clean and Jerk will provide basically enough flexibilty to do the lifts if one continues to do them. But, I want to know if there is more one should do to support longivity in the sport and even improve well up in years? I am not old per say, 30 years old, but I do find that my mobilty and flexibilty isn't what it once was. Could anyone give me a simple routine or point me to one that would increase joint stabilty and flexibilty that will be of benefit for and olympic lifter? I have RIS and SJs but I wanted to trim what I don't need as a lifter and emphasize what would keep one strong and flexible. Thanks for any help. 

Bottoms up clean - Is it usually done for many reps or only a few? And where does it belong in a workout? Should I try to snatch or clean for high reps at the end of every workout? I do chin-ups on a power rack. If I hook thumb under the bar and not over the bar it feels like I am stronger. Is this correct or will it injure my thumbs. Thank you. 

I have been doing the naked warrior program for a few weeks.And I cant seem to do a strict one arm pushup with my elbow to my side.I can do them with my elbow pointing out away from my body.Are there any suggestions that could help me or can I do them this way and still get the whole effect I was looking in Matt Furey's book and it shows him doing the one arm pushup with his elbow out is this wrong or not? 

Just finished watching Steve's excellent joint mobility DVD and am so glad I got this! After watching steve go through this routine at the Convention and then at the RKC I've been trying to get the info down on paper and this is even better. Its hard to say whether the kb or joint mobility has had more effect on getting this rode hard/put up wet body moving but after watching this tape I know I have tons to learn and practice with JM. Steve leads you through this routine and I can easily see putting this thing in the dvd on a regular basis and "following along" until I got the movements down pat and memorized. Plus, Steve narrative is extremely informative as well as entertaining. This stuff should be standard issue in every school PE class in the country. I cant see who wouldnt benefit from this mobility routine. This is just like the KB. So simple it seems it couldnt work as well as it does. But it does. Great Job Prof. Maxwell.Going to try to get out to your mobilty seminar this summer with Pavel and John. Rif 

Steve, I read the "weak link is never the lungs" post you did several weeks ago (http://forum.dragondoor.com/training/message/326931/), and I was wondering if that explained the fact that I get so winded during heavy DL. When doing my sets (2x5), I hold my breath on the way up, but I get winded so much by reps 4 & 5 that I have to take several breaths in between reps. Is this because of my legs' inability to use oxygen efficiently? Jason 

Steve you had printed an article on a student named mike ancona .Your school nicknamed him Judo Mike do you have this article still you talked about his conditioning program . Does he still train at your school. Thanks John 

Ok, back home I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for about an hour and a half, twice a week. Here I do BJJ, on average, five hours a day, five days a week. There is a serious upside to this. For one, Im getting more mat time in a week than I used to get in two months. That means the eight weeks I am here is like sixteen months of training back home. Thats amazing, and Im already completely unrecognizable as a BJJ fighter from when I got here. There is also a downside. The downside is that after three straight weeks of two a days, I just dont care about BJJ at all right now. Im not even physically tired, Im mentally burned out. Ive learned about 200 more techniques, and although Im seriously trying to forget most of them (I only pick a few to really take notes on, drill, and focus on in sparring) I still feel fried. So last night after my private lesson, and the Gracie Camp semi-private lesson I did an amazing thing. I skipped the night class, and walked down the beach with my friends drinking cerverjas (beer), capi-vodkas, and cuba libres (rum and coke) at every bar and every kiosk all the way back to the house. Talk about just what I needed. I feel better already =) And Im taking the rest of the week off also, except for my private lessons and semi privates. Instead of class tonight, Im going to see a pro vale tudo fight card. Josh Hillis RKC + CrossFit www.myspace.com/joosh 

What specific area do you think is needed in developing a rounded jiu jitsu player? Can you point to the Judo Mike article? I couldnt find it on your website.  

On strength ladders do you rest a minute between each individual step as well between each ladder? For example; 1 rep, rest 1 min., 2 reps, rest 1 min., 3 reps rest 1 min. and start over? Any other tips for the strength ladder would be greatly appreciated. Im thinking about doing strength ladders 3xwk focusing on a different grip each time. for example: monday- 2 rolling thunder handles wednesday- rope pullups friday- regular pullups or chinups Thanks guys for your input. Austin  

Hi all, My son approached me last night to help him do some general purpose strength training. He's not particularly interested in bulk--he prefers to be small and wiry--but he will accept it as a side effect if necessary. He is 13 years old and hasn't hit his growth spurt yet, so he's pretty small for his age. He is very agile and has great natural athletic ability, though lacks a bit in the patience department. I have available a standard weight set with more weight than he will need, bench, pull down machine, heavy bag, and kettlebells (1 9#, 2 18#, 2 36# and 1 53#). He isn't in training for any sports, he just feels the need for more strength. What kind of program would you suggest? Thanks for your help, Glenn 

I was wondering is there a difference on presure on the bicpes tendons, during a kettlebeel/dumbell swing, if your keep your elbows straight troughout or slighty bent? I am curious as after trying swings, i felt great, sweating like crap and a good cardio workout. I felt a little twitch in the tendons, properly just as i am new to it. Thanks Daryl 

I want to get back into training more often but I dont know how to go about it I have the book the naked warrior and I really like the exercises but I also like working out with weights.I was wondering if anyone can tell me how I can do both in my training.Should I do bodyweight exercises one month then do weights for one month or should I do bodyweight exercises for one week then weights for one week.If I switch them every week should I do the bodyweight exercises 3 days a week like I would do weights.If anyone can help it would be great. 

I've started doing the foot extensions in the leg press machine described on pg 86, but considering the calves are worked daily, and very well conditioned muscles by nature, is it ok to pound them more brutally than other muscles groups? Strength is always top priority, but in this case, hypertrophy would be appreciated as well. My plan was to blast them 3on-1off-2on-1off-1on-1off, then start over, with a PTP cycle weight increase(+10lbs: +4,-3 cycle). The weight I did today seems to be an ok place to begin an explosive 3repsx10sets with 30-60 sec rest. It seems like the calves more than anything need to be tortured into growth, but I'm concerned with overtraining and hampering progress. Any insight is much appreciated. Jim 

Steve you answered my post below that i should give the class a go and see if i like it. I have never studied an MA that involved any ground work and so do not really know what to look for in evaluative terms of an instructor / class. Can you give me any pearls of wisdom as to what to look for. Thanks, Richard 

I spoke to Pavel earlier today right after I caught this little show on the Discovery Channel called, "The Sumo Story." Told him about it and that I'd post it on the forum here. I rarely get a chance to post anywhere else, but I saw this and thought it was cool. Sumo Story is a 30 minute long little documentary deal on Discovery that tells about Sumo wrestling. Anyway it has some really interesting things about the differnet society issues of Sumo and how modern Japan accepts it and other little interesting tidbits. Like the fact that it takes three years of training to become the guy who does the Sumo wrestlers' hair. And 10 years of training to be the guy who puts the clay ring together for the tournaments. Anyway... my point is, there is some interesting training footage showing several of the wrestlers actually grappling and training and their training stable. In the background shot, right next to the ring is a stone ball similar to a small Atlas stone (they actually showed a guy doing squats holding that ball in Zercher position), a pair of dumbbells and low and behold.... the Holy Grail... a pair of kettlebells. Now I know the Chinese have the stone padlock which is an implement similar to kettlebells dating back from ancient times. These however were steel implements. Appear to be made in a blacksmith or metal shop. The Sumo wrestlers to my understanding have not embraced any traditional weight training until just lately. I'm thinking this has to be a direct off-shoot of Pavel/Maxwell/Mahler and their influence in Japan. The Sumos are also very intense martial artists competing in multiple tournaments a year often with broken fingers and other injuries. Some of the fighters I used to train with had actually fought in Japan in Pancrease and other tournaments and they told me that they thought the Sumos' training was even harder than the NHB guys. Anyway, just thought the kettlebell sighting was interesting. God bless, Bud Jeffries

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