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

Shou Yu Liang. Ken's book you can get on Amazon, not sure about the other. My Animal Frolics book doesn't sound right for you. It is simply a guide to performing the methods and doesn't go into any theory. All my products are for people who want to practice qigong methods and are not designed to explain the background in any great detail. However, that said, one of the very best comments I ever heard was from a Tai Chi master, when asked some abstruse question about qi. His usual answer was "Practice. By and by you shall know it." 

Jon, I have experienced the upper back situation myself sometimes with KBs. I don't think I have ever felt stiffness in my lower back. Some of the techniques I showed at the Unlock seminar would help with this issue for sure, so hopefully you can come to that in the future. I will answer this more thoroughly in a future blog. However in the meantime, incorporate at least five minutes of shaking every day (see one of my very earliest blogs for detail) Spend two of those minutes with your attention in the back areas, working them loose with additional attention as you vibrate and shake in that area. Do more of the shoulder rotations, the Shoulder Spirals, Release the Spine, Recharge the Core, Invigorate the Torso from Qigong Recharge. Do the walking crane techniques from the Crane Frolic. The initial Bear movements on Power Qigong would help. Then you can do a dissolving technique: Go into the sore area with your attention. See it as "frozen". "Melt" it with a "warm" inhale. Relax the area deeply on the exhale. (Tough to do, but see if you can sometimes do it for five minutes.) Then, an interesting way to direct internal healing energy: Hold your breath for ten second periods (max) while you put your attention into the sore area, with a healing and relaxing intention. All of this will speed the healing. On a different note: I recommend you find a very experienced Craniosacral Therapist to help you unwind in those areas. Chinese Tui Na bodywork would also be a good choice, as, like Cranio it concentrates a lot on releasing the fascia. As one highly experienced Tui Na teacher commented to me recently: almost all injuries of your kind result from weak or messed up fascia.  

Good question. None of our nutrition authors have chosen to take advantage of this forum, which is too bad! I have certainly encouraged them to do so, but none of them appear to be active web guys like Pavel and myself. As Stephen points out, neither Pavel nor myself have expertise in nutrition, so any comments we make lack significant credibility. Pavel and I try to stick to what we know. I sometimes post here, but very much as a nutrition enthusiast with some personal opinions and preferences. I would love to see this part of the forum more active, but it's not something you can push, I believe. 

We delete on a case by case basis. We do our best to remove posts about killing arabs etc and did remove some of the posts about Samantha that were put up. We sometimes let a post go by that mentions competitors' kbs but generally we will remove them. This is a privately-owned site and we reserve the right to remove posts that amount to free advertising for competitor's products. 

The Senior RKCs, as Rob points out, were very early-adopters, who also exhibited and continue to exhibit the following traits: High leadership skills Highly innovative and driven to constantly perform at a higher level High level of personal connection with, loyalty to Pavel and/or Dragon Door Able to articulate kettlebell training at a high level Outstanding physical specimens in their individual styles High level of committment to kettlebells as a primary exercise tool Active "in-the trenches" KB teachers Strong entrepreneurial mindset Bring a highly individual contribution to the development of kettlebell practice High level of professional integrity and conduct Capable of authoring and promoting innovative KB training resources Significant background prior to KBs in martial arts, sports science, athletics, strength training. These are some things that first cross my mind when I think of any or all of the Senior RKCs.  

Shawn Get the Bliss Qigong DVD and concentrate on the techniques that complement the longer form. They well help to calm people down. I also recommend the specific Qigong techniques on Qigong Recharge, particularly the ones employing spiraling techniques (don't be concerned with the joint mobility) I strongly recommend you learn and then teach them the current Qigong process you will find on my blog on the home page. You normally do it either sitting or lying down, but it would definitely help. You can call me at 651-487-3828 to discuss further if you want.  

The dan tien translates literally as "elixir field". There are three main dan tien, but the one I am referring to here is three finger widths below the navel, inside the abdomen. Consider the dan tien as a command center, a brain, a gyroscopic like energy center. The dan tien is like a latent force which can be enlivened by attention, breathing and movement. This lower dan tien is closely associated with your constitution, sexuality, power and physical drive. There are some more esoteric dimensions to the dan tien which I am not going to get into here. 

Thanks Joey I am going to take all your questions and answer them in an upcoming blog, maybe the next one. I am under the gun right now, time-wise, and answering you correctly will take some thought. Besides, that way more people are likely to benefit from my response. 

Tai Chi is a martial art and some teachers teach it that way. However the majority of Tai Chi is practiced more as an extended health sequence that has similarities and principles in common with qigong. Qigong literally means cultivating your life energy and has hundreds of different forms. Some help build resilience, power and strength. Some help with mobility and flexibility. Others are like self-acupuncture systems helping to regulate energy flow in the body. I do a Tai Chi form every day, but for its health benefits. So, you can find qigong that will help your martial arts and depending where you live you can practice Tai Chi as a martial art. How effective can Tai Chi be as a martial art? In the Eighties a Scottish policeman in Hong Kong who studied Tai Chi with a martially-oriented teacher won the South East Asia Full Contact Championship (where he went up against every imaginable style) 

For brain function: Petadolex (Enzymatic Therapy has a good one) Huperzine Vinpocetine Ginkgo B Vitamins Choline and phosphatdyl serine are good if you can handle what happens to me: tightening of the muscles (not the good kind of tightness!) Stress: B Vitamins Good quality Ginseng (I like and use HealthAid's) plus aother adaptogens like Polygonum Multiflorum and Astragalus. P.S. I am just an enthusiast here, with no specialized nurtritional education. Just telling you what has worked for me, sometimes for over thirty years. 

I have asked our author Dr. Al Sears, who specializes in heart health, to write a piece on what he considers safe alternatives to Vioxx. I like to believe that because of my qigong I have been able to keep arthritis-like pain at bay, but I do take a number of supplements which probably help also. One I like, which you may want to throw in the mix is Lyprinol, which I discovered when I was in Australia last year. It is supposed to reduce the production of leukotrienes in the body, which cause inflammation. If you are interested, I have included the link below. Oh, and my friend and Dragon Door author Harvey Diamond recently published a new book called Living Without Pain (See Amazon for this) Harvey was badly poisoned by Agent Orange in Vietnam and credits his still being alive and being virtually pain-free to his alternative approaches. You may or may not like all of his advice, but even a few of his ideas might just make a differnce for you...

http://www.lyprinolusa.com 

He wrote a book called The Business Plan for the Body. His website promotes programs using, you guessed it, dumbbells, resistance bands and Swiss balls. Hmmmnnn, I see on his site that he claims to charge clients up to $10,000 per week for "fitness consulting" ... 

Chris, Essentially all qigong will help the immune system by the very way it functions. There are never any guarantees of course, but whatever qigong you chose will almost certainly strengtthen your immune system. 

If I have realized anything after having observed all our RKC certifications is that the certification is really a deep and broad training in strength skills, with kettlebells as the vehicle. And as you say, Rob, teaching people to teach that strength training. About twenty percent of the participants at any one certification will comment that the RKC has been the most significant single strength training program they have ever engaged in. Many of these people are certified in many other systems, are world strength champions, high level athletes, Special Forces and the like. I was surprised when I saw that original comment by John, myself, as he enthusiastically participated in our RKC process.