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

At my age , I'm not really interested in a body building per se, however, if I needed to put on some muscle fast, I would stick with the tried, true and proven exercises- the big three combos of size, power and strength. The first big three combo is heavy weighted chins, weighted dips and full barbell squats. The second 'big three' combo is the barbell or dumbbell bench press, the barbell or dumbbell bent over row and full barbell squats. The last is the squat, stiff legged deadlift and standing military press. Any of these simple routines will pack on plenty of size if you work, eat and rest. Medium rep sets of 5 to 8 reps works best for most people. One warm up set and three to four work sets. Ancillary movements can be added like standing calf work, neck harness, grip and forearm work and some ab work. But keep the workouts heavy, hard and brief. Thirty minutes two to three times per week should do it. Pack on the protein. On the off days, do joint mobility, walk a brisk 3 miles and stretch. Don't eat so much that you get too fat. Stay with the program for three months. Try to add a little bit of weight to the bar (one and a quarter to two and a half pounds) each workout. Sleep at least 8 hours every night, drink plenty of water and rid yourself of all emotional stress. Steve Maxwell

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I started both of my kids while they were still in diapers. They didn't even know that they were working out because it was always disguised in play. I always made some kind of imaginative game out of it. Check some of my past posts, as I have written a bunch on the subject. My son Zak, 17, just placed in the top three in the world at the BJJ world championships In Rio de Janeiro last Wednesday. Add that title to two BJJ Pan-American titles, the Arnold Schwartzennegger/Gracie World Submission Wrestling championship and a top ranking in the Grapplers Quest tournament series. It's all due to starting early and getting the movements deep into his nervous system so that it becomes unconcious effort. Steve Maxwell

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The Tabata protocol calls for 4 to 8 all out, maximal sprints to systemic failure. If you mean using a 2:1 work, rest ratio of 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest, then yes, many have done it. It is not the more intense Tabata. Once you get past 10 minutes in these type of sprint protocols, the intensity by necessity must be greatly reduced. The idea of the Tabata protocol is to go absolutely all out, holding nothing back during the work interval. Steve Maxwell

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Get in there and start working with a trainer. If money won't allow a full time gym membership, hang a heavy bag and get some focus mitts and work out at home. Get some proffessional instruction first so that you don't build bad habits. Have the guy teach you the drills and set up a program. Steve Maxwell

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Strength is one of the most important attributes in athletics and martial arts. In any given situation, when skill is equal, the stronger, better conditioned athlete will prevail. But strength alone will almost never beat great skill or technique. Only in cases where one athlete is overwhelmingly stronger, will strength beat really good technique. So how can one put in the requisit training time to be really skillful and be as strong as possible? There is not enough time in the day or enough recovery time to be great at everything. If ones goal is to be a strength specialist, lifting heavy weights being the end unto itself, then skill developement will lag. Working hard on skill leaves prescious time or energy for a lot of strength work. Finding the proper balance is necessary. Realize that a martial artist will never have the same kind of strength as the person whose goal is to be a strength specialist. Keeping your training centered on martial arts, with brief, intense and in frequent strength training works best for the majority of martial artists. Martial arts training itself is a form of strength and conditioning. The MA training will build very specific strength needed that the weights never can. Steve Maxwell

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Steve, My feeling is that you are probally very neurologically efficient and there fore would have lower anerobic endurance levels. I am a mixed bag of fiber type and can swing towards the heavier strength end of things and make progress or do very well with higher rep schemes. I never get really super strong and never have phenominal endurance. I am pretty decent in both, with a tendency toward strength /endurance. For my chosen sport of BJJ, that works out well. I do not think that it matters one bit doing ladders forward, backward or up and down as long as you are progressing(Navy Seal style). In the US military spec ops teams, all ladder training is done up and then back down or down from the high number. I have seen plenty of guys make fabulous gains in pull up volume using this system. Steve Maxwell

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Here are some suggestions based on 35 years of experience as a personal trainer, coach and athlete. Address your greatest weakness first. You have identified flexibility issues as your achiles heel. Buy the Relax into Stretch, Super Joints and get to work. Better yet, come to my and Pavel's Unlock seminar in Oct. If you are inflexible, you are also un-mobile. Mobility allows you to use your strength in the complete range. For now, body weight exercises are ideal. Pushups, pullups, dips, Hindu pushups, chinups, various lunges and body weight squats and core work will go along very nicely with the flexibility regimine. Have you ever seen a gymnast with poor upper body developement? They sport terriffic physiques and have amazing mobility and flexibility. I have helped lterally hundreds of young and old alike with extensive body weight conditioning programs. After you get yourself 'unfrozen', you can add in other forms of resistence training such as kettlebells, barbells, clubbells and dumbbells. Steve Maxwell

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I frequently use a Jiujitsu belt with a kettlebell looped through. It sits very comfortably. I have also used regular leather belts with a dumbbell. I have used the backpack, but found it to be restrictive when doing chins or dips. It would catch on my shoulders and I found it irritating. In a pinch, water jugs hung from the waist with a belt or rope work well. One thing nice about the water jugs is the infinite adjustments that can be made on the weight. I would draw a line on the jug to keep track of the water level and would try to exceed it each week. In that way, the workouts are progressive. Once one jug is to light, add another partially filled etc. Steve Maxwell

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In the pistol, the torso must bend very much forward with the head out over the knee. The quads are only about 30% involved. The glutes, low back and hamstrings do the majority of the work. You will still feel a lot of quad involvement in the pistol because they are always going to be the weak link in the kinetic chain. The step up force the exerciser to remain much more upright in posture or balance will be lost. Because of the leverage factors of a bolt upright torso, the low back and glutes are compromised. More stress is palced on the relatively small hamstrings and of course the quads. I think that the high step up with no momentum or push off is much harder than the pistol. Steve Maxwell

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Elevated cholesterol means nothing in itself. The body produces excess cholesterol as a protective mechanism because of inflamatory factors. Address the inflamation and the body will balance out. Steve Maxwell

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Pavel does not work one on one. I do however, it is my 'bread and butter'. I am available anytime. I do a lot of work with individuals desiring to lose weight. Call me at Maxercise 215-928-1374. Steve Maxwell

http://www.stevemaxwell.com