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

How do I submit an article for consideration? thanks zachariah salazar AFPtraining@Gmail.com 

Hi all, I sent a previous post at http://forum.dragondoor.com/training/message/400950%5C and http://forum.dragondoor.com/training/message/400951%5C Any insight or advice from a SRKC would be great! Thanks for all your help guys! Eddie 

I am highly interested in the art of steel bending and scrolling, and it was suggested i start with Iron Minds bag of nails. They have 5 levels listed, where should i begin? how often should a person work this skill? Who here bends steel, and what recommendations do you have? Thanks!  

I recently posted this question on the Z forum but as its quiet on there I thought Id put it on here for more exposure- Frankie pls ignore! When I see programs about Oriental Chi Masters they often have soft, sometimes slightly flabby muscles yet they pull off amazing feats of strength. (I saw one 'untoned' guy pull a landrover with a harness while walking on eggs that didnt break!) Then I read about muscle tone being residual myogenic tension in the muscle. Surely the point of strength training is to become as strong as possible with minimum effort? And surely you would want to feel as light and relaxed as possible when not training? I see the world Girevoy sport champion on Cotters DVD lifting a 32kg KB with his little finger (!) and he is not especially- and I hate the word- toned. So if you practise high tension strength techniques such as Pavels PTP are you not becoming tense? And as many peoples number one goal is to become 'toned' is there a pay off btwn myogenic tension and a relaxed, efficient musculature?  

I started PTP-BEAR midle of November 2005. I did not do it strictly by the book. ie I also did 20 rep squat, I also tried to alternate the presses with BenchPress, Dips, Military press, ChinUps. (it is all in my training log) The results are redicilous. I did manage to increase my 20 rep squat from 80 kgrs to 95 kgrs. This seems to be my only improvement. And it is not PTP. My DL seemed to improve, but this is very natural, since I never DeadLifted before. I rapidly went up to 125 kgrs (5 reps) in December 2005. I never made it past that. My chinups are exactly the same as they were 5 months ago. My bices are 39 cm. The same it was before I started PTP. And they were 41 cm last year! I am completely lost here. Last year I could Bench Press 110 kgr (1RM). Now I am afraid to try even with 100 kgr. I have a lot of faith in PTP. I helped newbies develop bodies rapidly with sets of 5. Why can't I help myself? I started serious working out with weights 3 years ago and had great improvements in the first 2 years. This last one was the most counterproductive. I switched to PTP on November when I saw I was stuck with my old BB methods. I was not the most dedicated person this year. I used to go out a lot, stay up until late (4-5:00 am) up until February. I was much beter afterwards. I eat VERY healthy. I did gain 3-4 kgrs since September, so I did eat enough. I know it is very difficult to diagnose a problem over the net. If I look elsewhere for advice they will laugh at the system I followed and they will direct me to the old methods. Bob  

I started PTP-BEAR midle of November 2005. I did not do it strictly by the book. ie I also did 20 rep squat, I also tried to alternate the presses with BenchPress, Dips, Military press, ChinUps. (it is all in my training log) The results are redicilous. I did manage to increase my 20 rep squat from 80 kgrs to 95 kgrs. This seems to be my only improvement. And it is not PTP. My DL seemed to improve, but this is very natural, since I never DeadLifted before. I rapidly went up to 125 kgrs (5 reps) in December 2005. I never made it past that. My chinups are exactly the same as they were 5 months ago. My bices are 39 cm. The same it was before I started PTP. And they were 41 cm last year! I am completely lost here. Last year I could Bench Press 110 kgr (1RM). Now I am afraid to try even with 100 kgr. I have a lot of faith in PTP. I helped newbies develop bodies rapidly with sets of 5. Why can't I help myself? I started serious working out with weights 3 years ago and had great improvements in the first 2 years. This last one was the most counterproductive. I switched to PTP on November when I saw I was stuck with my old BB methods. I was not the most dedicated person this year. I used to go out a lot, stay up until late (4-5:00 am) up until February. I was much beter afterwards. I eat VERY healthy. I did gain 3-4 kgrs since September, so I did eat enough. I know it is very difficult to diagnose a problem over the net. If I look elsewhere for advice they will laugh at the system I followed and they will direct me to the old methods. Bob  

I started PTP-BEAR midle of November 2005. I did not do it strictly by the book. ie I also did 20 rep squat, I also tried to alternate the presses with BenchPress, Dips, Military press, ChinUps. (it is all in my training log) The results are redicilous. I did manage to increase my 20 rep squat from 80 kgrs to 95 kgrs. This seems to be my only improvement. And it is not PTP. My DL seemed to improve, but this is very natural, since I never DeadLifted before. I rapidly went up to 125 kgrs (5 reps) in December 2005. I never made it past that. My chinups are exactly the same as they were 5 months ago. My bices are 39 cm. The same it was before I started PTP. And they were 41 cm last year! I am completely lost here. Last year I could Bench Press 110 kgr (1RM). Now I am afraid to try even with 100 kgr. I have a lot of faith in PTP. I helped newbies develop bodies rapidly with sets of 5. Why can't I help myself? I started serious working out with weights 3 years ago and had great improvements in the first 2 years. This last one was the most counterproductive. I switched to PTP on November when I saw I was stuck with my old BB methods. I was not the most dedicated person this year. I used to go out a lot, stay up until late (4-5:00 am) up until February. I was much beter afterwards. I eat VERY healthy. I did gain 3-4 kgrs since September, so I did eat enough. I know it is very difficult to diagnose a problem over the net. If I look elsewhere for advice they will laugh at the system I followed and they will direct me to the old methods. Bob  

I started PTP-BEAR midle of November 2005. I did not do it strictly by the book. ie I also did 20 rep squat, I also tried to alternate the presses with BenchPress, Dips, Military press, ChinUps. (it is all in my training log) The results are redicilous. I did manage to increase my 20 rep squat from 80 kgrs to 95 kgrs. This seems to be my only improvement. And it is not PTP. My DL seemed to improve, but this is very natural, since I never DeadLifted before. I rapidly went up to 125 kgrs (5 reps) in December 2005. I never made it past that. My chinups are exactly the same as they were 5 months ago. My bices are 39 cm. The same it was before I started PTP. And they were 41 cm last year! I am completely lost here. Last year I could Bench Press 110 kgr (1RM). Now I am afraid to try even with 100 kgr. I have a lot of faith in PTP. I helped newbies develop bodies rapidly with sets of 5. Why can't I help myself? I started serious working out with weights 3 years ago and had great improvements in the first 2 years. This last one was the most counterproductive. I switched to PTP on November when I saw I was stuck with my old BB methods. I was not the most dedicated person this year. I used to go out a lot, stay up until late (4-5:00 am) up until February. I was much beter afterwards. I eat VERY healthy. I did gain 3-4 kgrs since September, so I did eat enough. I know it is very difficult to diagnose a problem over the net. If I look elsewhere for advice they will laugh at the system I followed and they will direct me to the old methods. Bob  

I started PTP-BEAR midle of November 2005. I did not do it strictly by the book. ie I also did 20 rep squat, I also tried to alternate the presses with BenchPress, Dips, Military press, ChinUps. (it is all in my training log) The results are redicilous. I did manage to increase my 20 rep squat from 80 kgrs to 95 kgrs. This seems to be my only improvement. And it is not PTP. My DL seemed to improve, but this is very natural, since I never DeadLifted before. I rapidly went up to 125 kgrs (5 reps) in December 2005. I never made it past that. My chinups are exactly the same as they were 5 months ago. My bices are 39 cm. The same it was before I started PTP. And they were 41 cm last year! I am completely lost here. Last year I could Bench Press 110 kgr (1RM). Now I am afraid to try even with 100 kgr. I have a lot of faith in PTP. I helped newbies develop bodies rapidly with sets of 5. Why can't I help myself? I started serious working out with weights 3 years ago and had great improvements in the first 2 years. This last one was the most counterproductive. I switched to PTP on November when I saw I was stuck with my old BB methods. I was not the most dedicated person this year. I used to go out a lot, stay up until late (4-5:00 am) up until February. I was much beter afterwards. I eat VERY healthy. I did gain 3-4 kgrs since September, so I did eat enough. I know it is very difficult to diagnose a problem over the net. If I look elsewhere for advice they will laugh at the system I followed and they will direct me to the old methods. Bob  

My high-school swimming career is in danger; I am too big. Currently I am 17 just finished my junior year, 5' 8.5'' and 170 pounds when I wake up in the morning! I would like to get myself down to 155 pounds while maintaing (or increasing) strength and still improve swimming. This is muscle weight I am talking about, from looking at myself I think I am about 10% BF, I don't care about body fat I need to drop some muscle. I have no idea what to do to accomplish these goals with diet or weight training. I am planning on doing this with a combination of KB work, overhead squats, and front squats, good idea? With all this I will be swimming 2-3 hours mon-sat. I know if I just drop some weight I will get faster even if I get weaker, currently in practice it is tough to pace 100's on 60 sec while 3 months ago, and 8 pounds ago, I could do these on 56 sec. I have no idea what to do with diet, relative strength athletes please provide some help. PLEASE HELP ME 

My high-school swimming career is in danger; I am too big. Currently I am 17 just finished my junior year, 5' 8.5'' and 170 pounds when I wake up in the morning! I would like to get myself down to 155 pounds while maintaing (or increasing) strength and still improve swimming. This is muscle weight I am talking about, from looking at myself I think I am about 10% BF, I don't care about body fat I need to drop some muscle. I have no idea what to do to accomplish these goals with diet or weight training. I am planning on doing this with a combination of KB work, overhead squats, and front squats, good idea? With all this I will be swimming 2-3 hours mon-sat. I know if I just drop some weight I will get faster even if I get weaker, currently in practice it is tough to pace 100's on 60 sec while 3 months ago, and 8 pounds ago, I could do these on 56 sec. I have no idea what to do with diet, relative strength athletes please provide some help. PLEASE HELP ME 

My high-school swimming career is in danger; I am too big. Currently I am 17 just finished my junior year, 5' 8.5'' and 170 pounds when I wake up in the morning! I would like to get myself down to 155 pounds while maintaing (or increasing) strength and still improve swimming. This is muscle weight I am talking about, from looking at myself I think I am about 10% BF, I don't care about body fat I need to drop some muscle. I have no idea what to do to accomplish these goals with diet or weight training. I am planning on doing this with a combination of KB work, overhead squats, and front squats, good idea? With all this I will be swimming 2-3 hours mon-sat. I know if I just drop some weight I will get faster even if I get weaker, currently in practice it is tough to pace 100's on 60 sec while 3 months ago, and 8 pounds ago, I could do these on 56 sec. I have no idea what to do with diet, relative strength athletes please provide some help. PLEASE HELP ME 

My high-school swimming career is in danger; I am too big. Currently I am 17 just finished my junior year, 5' 8.5'' and 170 pounds when I wake up in the morning! I would like to get myself down to 155 pounds while maintaing (or increasing) strength and still improve swimming. This is muscle weight I am talking about, from looking at myself I think I am about 10% BF, I don't care about body fat I need to drop some muscle. I have no idea what to do to accomplish these goals with diet or weight training. I am planning on doing this with a combination of KB work, overhead squats, and front squats, good idea? With all this I will be swimming 2-3 hours mon-sat. I know if I just drop some weight I will get faster even if I get weaker, currently in practice it is tough to pace 100's on 60 sec while 3 months ago, and 8 pounds ago, I could do these on 56 sec. I have no idea what to do with diet, relative strength athletes please provide some help. PLEASE HELP ME 

I've been banging up my shoulders with highly frequent sessions of weighted dips and weighted chins. I've been going to the gym every 8-12 hours and alternating working these movements very heavily. Today, my shoulders were really feeling the effects of the weighted dips, but by the end of my work day, I felt much, much better and decided to go back and do light weights--about 5 reps--for each movement, plus some deadlifts if I had the energy. The chins and dips went great. I got a PR with 2 sets of 5 with 85 lbs on the chin and 95 lbs and 90 lbs on the dips (though that last set terminated at rep 4). I was very tired, but my conscience wouldn't let me leave the gym without trying some deadlifts which I haven't done in a couple of days. I worked up to triples with 315, but an intended double with 340 turned into a sloppy, leg-wobbling single as I ran out of steam. I lowered to 315 again, took a long rest and still only managed one with that. My glutes were starting to spasm a bit and my hams were feeling the strain. I figured a very light set--say 225--wouldn't hurt. I had gotten past the really dangerous part of my workout--the chins and dips--without crippling my shoulders, so I didn't fear some very light deadlifts. I should have feared them. I remembered Pavel saying that people hurt themselves with light weights because they don't respect light weights. I kept that in mind and payed attention to form and stayed tight. Yet on the second deadlift with that 225, I felt something swell and rupture in my right glute. It didn't hurt enough for me to cry out and drop the weight, but I immediately set the thing down and sat on the floor, embarassed and shocked. I'd pushed myself too far with a back-off set of all things. I just wanted to practice the movement and get some blood in the area and now I was looking at a few days away from deadlifting at all. I managed to put strip the weights and put them back s-l-o-w-l-y and then limp out of the gym. It's a ten-block walk home and halfway there I was feeling a bit better and I even managed my usual sprint to the fourth floor, but as I sit here typing this, I can feel my glute tightening up. I will definitely feel this in the morning.  

Well almost. I was in acute pain last night after that deadlifting debacle. I considered not going in to work today. My job involves climbing poles and raising my right leg was causing a lot or pain in my glute. I can't really afford to take any time off right now, however, so in I went. By midday I was feeling much better and this evening I feel great. Not completely healed, but a lot better. I can fully articulate my hip and there's only a dull ache at the very extremes of my range. Maybe I have some superhuman healing factor...or maybe the tweak wasn't as bad as the initial pain made it seem. Either way, I'm going to lay off of deadlifts for another few days and until all pain is gone. 

This may be one of those unanswerable questions but here it goes. Which would in theory be more beneficial to a distance runner, the clean and jerk or double kettlebell swings? I have a pair of 24's and have just started working both movements into my routines. I already do a lot of clean and presses so I was leaning more towards the heavy swings and possibly working up to double snatches. At this point the presses, swings and snatches do not seem to cause as much leg heaviness on my runs as the clean and jerks do. Just looking for opinions.  

I have been doing all my single KB presses in front of a mirror. I wanted to make sure my legs were locked and I did not lean and turn it into a side press. Now when I try to MP without a mirror, I feel "disoriented" Where do you look when you do a single military press. I noticed Cotter seemed to look at the bell the whole time. I was wondering of turning the neck could in anyway decrease nerve enervation or increase the chance of neck strain. Thanks for advise!! 

I have been doing all my single KB presses in front of a mirror. I wanted to make sure my legs were locked and I did not lean and turn it into a side press. Now when I try to MP without a mirror, I feel "disoriented" Where do you look when you do a single military press. I noticed Cotter seemed to look at the bell the whole time. I was wondering of turning the neck could in anyway decrease nerve enervation or increase the chance of neck strain. Thanks for advise!!