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

I have been teaching and grappling for over 30 years. I have won at the world level in Brazil against other black belts in my division. I have a lot of experience with what you are talking about. To improve your elbow escape, you must do elbow escapes. For example, my 128 lb. son can escape from almost anyone. Zak trains with grown men that out weigh him by over 100 lbs. They try to hold him and he escapes quite easily. Obviously he is much weaker than these older, heavier adults. He can escape because he knows the precise timing and moment when to apply the strength that he has. It is all about knowing how to use ones strength. Trying to duplicate a skilled movement through artificially applying resistence at some specific point will more than likely make your escapes worse or not have any effect at all. How do you even know at your level what it is that you need? When I was a begginner in jiujitsu, I didn't even know what I didn't know. A trained coach can spot your area of difficulty and show you how to over come it. A good instructor can come up with a specific drill to help you in specific situations. Almost never does it have to do with being stronger. The whole purpose of jiujoitsu is to minimize strength and maximise technique. If strength is all it takes, the Gracie family wouldn't exist. You are already strong enough. The problem is that you do not understand the move or how to apply it. It is not your fault. You need a bonifide black belt instructor to monitor and correct your training. Using your arms as you describe will result in a easy submission for your opponent and a dislocated elbow for you. You can crawl all over the place with a rubber band and kettlebell and get real strong at doing it and your escapes will still not work. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Ken, While it is admirable and inovative of you to come up with this exercise to improve your 'elbow escape' from the mount, it is basically wasting your valueable time and energy for little return. The elbow escape or shrimping motion in BJJ is a skill movement dependent on timing and pricision, not strength or power. Trying to duplicate a highly complex sport or martial art skill will only lead to motor learning confusion. The best and only way to get good at this escape from the mount is to drill it repeatedly until it becomes a reflex. Start by doing 25 repititions with a non-resisting partner evary day for a week. The next week, have your partner use partial resistence and escape 25 times each training session. Then find someone that you are better and stronger than and have them use full all out resistence. Once again do 25 escapes. If you are successful, the next training find someone that is your equal in size, strength and skill. Now attempt the escape. There are many 'tricks' to this escape. For every thing that you do when attempting the escape, your opponent has a possible counter move. As the great Relson Gracie once put it when asked for an explanation of how Jiujitsu works,"When you do this, I will do that, when you do this, I will do that-forever". Even though Relson's english skills were lacking, he completely captured the essense of the jiujitsu game in that simple statement. Keep your strength training general and non specific and work the skills of your sport or martial art seperately-do not try to combine them. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Change your forum name to something positive. The self deprecation programs your subconcious mind negatively. If you call yourself 'fat boy', your subconcious will attempt to fulfill the negative mind image. By calling yourself fat boy, you will find yourself doing what'fat boys' do, over eating, over sleeping, not sticking to a diet, being lazy with your workouts etc. By asking for someone to 'give' you a workout with your new kettlebell because you are to lazy to figure it out is a fat boy attitude. There are simply thousands of workouts on this site to select from. All one has to do is a little research and take some personal responsibility. For weightloss, the mind is the most important tool. You must image yourself in your minds eye as being lean and muscular. Body image is a very important part of weight control. Labeling yourself in this negative fashion does you no favors. In order to lose any significant amount of body fat, you must create a negative calorie balance. By being more active and eating less, you will force your body to use up stored body fat. Your body does not want to do this and will attempt to hold on to it's fat cells. To over come nature, you need a strict dietary plan. You are bucking thousands of years of evolution. The human body is made to lay down a rapid layer of fat to insure survival. In ancient times food sources were often scarce. Our bodies are programed to store away any calories not immediately burned in activity. never before in the history of man has there been such a plentiful food supply in the industrialized countries. It is ironic that while much of the third world is literally starving to death, we here in the US and europe, are eating ourselves to death. Not what you wanted to hear, but I have given you the keys to the city. You will probally get a bunch of lame answers of,'do swings supersetted with blah, blah blah'. But before any of this will work, get your mind strong, then the body will follow. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

The bridge has been used in many forms in yoga for many centuries. When trained and used properly, it is unparalled in it's ability to open the chest and spine. Scott Sonnon, whom I respect vry much, is not so much against bridging, as he is against the current methedology concerning teaching and performing the bridge. He published a great article in his Circular Training magazine showing different yoga bridges and their progressions. Most people get into trouble because they jump right in with no prep work. The bridge is meant to be a gentle opener that one gradually works into. Too many people try and force their nose to the mat and hold for extended times right off the bat. That is a sure formula for pain and injury. The flexibility value of the bridge is not in the neck, but in the thoracic and low back area. The cevical spine does recieve a fair share of strengthening and stretch, but the hip flexors and upper chest area are the main targets. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Martial arts covers a wide area.Pavel was refering to the striking arts. The training needs of grapplers are very different than strikers. For strikers, the need for power in kicks and punches is very important. Strikers need power/endurance or the ability to generate power for a prolonged period of time. For them, low to medium rep work with medium to heavy weight is important. Local muscle endurance in the shoulders, arms, feet, ankles calves and legs can be obtained with plenty of bag work, focus mitts and high level sparrring. Endurance is a skill that is learned. In the grappling arts, it is different. Being able to latch on and execute submissions and chokes requires strength/endurance. A subset of strength/endurance is static or isometric endurance. The ability to hold a position for a prolonged period of time without fatigue is very important to the grappler. In wrestling for an advantageous position, muscle fatigue can be quite high. Simply over whelming someone with all out efforts and brute strength will not work against a clever grappler. Part of grappling training is to fatigue the victim as much as possible with technique and then go in for the kill. The type of muscle strength/endurance needed for grappling is provided with higher rep work. This type of work builds tolerence to high blood lactate levels and mental toughness. Of course every fight or sport match starts standing up, so low rep explosive exercises with heavier weight has it's place for the grappler. The low rep, explosive movements help with the execution of throws, body slam and take downs. So, grappling is a mixed bag. Power/endurance for take downs and throws, strength/endurance for prolonged grappling and static endurance when imobilizing, choking or applying joint locks. The grappler needs to have a good balance of all three to be successful. High rep training definitely has it's place in the arsenal. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Having been involved with weight class sports most of my life, it is not hard to decide. First you need to access your percent body fat. Being fat does not help much in any sport, although some claim that it helps in power lifting. Once you have an accurate assessment (under water weighing is the gold standard), figure out what your weight would be at 10% fat or below. Grapplers like to be at 6% or below to maximise strength to weight ratio. Strength to weight ratio is relative. The more muscle and less fat, the easier body weight exercises are. Even a few pounds of body fat can penalize a person in body weight exercises several reps. Take for example Alexander, a forum member from Bavaria who weighs in at around 220 lbs. He has done one arm chinups and a one arm handstand pushup. He wrote a guide to one arm chins that I believe was published here. I know plenty of lean heavy weight wrestlers and jiujitsu players that can knock out pullups , pistols and one arm push ups with the best of them. Just today, I introduced Alexandre 'Xande' Ribeiro (6'4" 215), current BJJ heavy weight world champ, to pistols and he did them his second try. He routinely knocks off 21 reps in the pullup and 100 pushup sets. He is very lean and demonstarted his flexibility by bending forward and kissing his knee caps without pulling with his arms. Big men can have great strength to weight ratios and flexibility if they are lean. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Dave, You are jumping around to much from one routine to another. One week it's Bill Fox, another week it's Pavel's routine or something I showed you. You need to buckle down and stick with one thing and really milk it. Real advanced guys who have been working out for years can jump around alot. You are still pretty much a novice and it is important to stay with a protocol or routine for a lengthy period of time. Working the big basic moves like squats, deadlifts, military presses, chins, dips, swings and snatches is always a step in the right direction. Now stay with these moves for a year or two. Get really strong and conditioned and everything else will fall into place as far as a good physique goes. I notice that in many of your posts that you report feeling horrible, weak and tired. Obviously what you are doing for general health such as diet and sleep is not working. You need a tight food plan that doesn't leave you hungruy, tired and with low energy. No workout is going to provide anything in the way of results if you are tired and stressed all the time. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Ellis's diet system works. It's not really his system, but it is how the human body works. He will be the first to tell you that it is simple bio-chemistry. I felt so much better, I never looked back. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Start the initial reps in the Cossack mobility drill by keeping the entire foot on the ground, toes pointing forward. After several reps and as the adductors begin to loosen, start the rep the same with the foot flat and then externally rotate the femur and point the toes straight up. This will emphasize hamstring flexibility (muscles running up the back of the leg). The cossack hits both muscle groups by changing thefoot angle. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Hands on training is far superior to learning from a book or video. You will leave far more flexible than when you came.I personally guarantee that it will be worth every penny. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Mike, Here is the protocol I use for my clients that suffer from limb strength differences. One rep difference is normal, two or more is cause for concern. Check your one arm pulling as well as pushing. See if the strength differetial is isolated to one or more muscle groups. Test the various upper body muscle groups with the following exercises; strict one arm dumbbell curls, strict one arm dumbbell tricep extentions, one arm over head press, one arm pulldowns, one arm chest press, one arm rows. Hammer iso-lateral machines are great for this test. Once you determine what muscle groups and planes of motion are affected, you can map out a program. The basic rules are, always start with the weak limb, only do the same reps for the stronger arm, occasionally work only the weak limb for a week or so. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

At our seminar in Santa Monica two weeks ago, my friend Mike Mahler snatched the beast for 16 reps! It blew everyones minds. Mike said that he probally had twenty reps in him, but fear of losing the bell inside made him conservative. It was truly an amazing demonstration of raw power and beautiful technique. He also did 10 double snatches with the 32's! He is bent pressing and windmilling the thing like a toy. Probally the only reason he isn't doing pullups with it is he has no convienient access to a pullup bar. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com 

Dave, The entire seminar is all about health and restorative nature of the Russian exercise system. Your health is failing because you because you have been out of balance. These exercises will help restore that balance. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com