Once the prized and jealously-guarded training secret of elite Russian athletes, old-school strongmen and the military, the kettlebell has invaded the West. And taken no prisoners—thanks to former Soviet Special Forces physical training instructor and strength author, Pavel Tsatsouline's 2001 publication of The Russian Kettlebell Challenge and his manufacture of the first traditional Russian kettlebell in modern America. Pavel's Russian Kettlebell Certification was an intense learning period for exercise practice that you can't get anywhere else with people you probably couldn't find together in one group if you searched a lifetime. Excellent and thorough knowledge by all instructors, especially Pavel. Scope is probably the broadest I have ever dealt with. Practical use is excellent." Chapter 4: A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming a Man Among Men Have Your Borsch and Eat It Too: The Hazards of Variety and How to Dodge Them A system for the really ambitious man… the cyclical nature of complex phenomena… constructive corrections and waving the loads… the function of variety days… working your “in-between strength”… schedules for the RKC Right of Passage.

The main areas I’m working on are: press strength, swing endurance/strength, with some other core and total body stuff thrown in (TGUs, pullups, etc.) Recall my previous blog post on exercise selection where I mentioned the Kalashnikov analogy. The bottom line up front was a quote from Pavel Tsatsouline:There is room for interpretation in this book. I enjoyed this program as it was laid out in the above PDF. If you’re interested grab yourself a kettlebell and take the challenge with me. We’ll both be better people because of it. Long story short, "Enter The Kettlebell" has allowed me to produce and environment where everything is better at 50 years of age than it has been for many years. Anyone have a favorite progression program to build to a pullup? I have suspension straps, a sturdy table, and a pullup bar, so my thinking was that I would start by getting straight leg under the table horizontal pulls down, then do raised leg horizontal pulls with the suspension straps, then eventually move to negative pullups. Thoughts? They’ll all be doing it soon . I’m just ahead o f the curve. —Reggie Sande rs, St. Louis Car dinals outfielder, on ke ttlebells

Collectively, these ideas constitute "hard-style" training, a remarkably cohesive and adaptable approach that "reverse engineers what strong people do naturally," as powerlifter and strength coach Louie Simmons has said of Tsatsouline. All of his work emphasizes simple programming, maximal tension, and "practicing" difficult movements rather than "working out." I bought Tsatsouline's book to gain mental strength and motivation to stay with it and maybe expand my body weight program with kettlebell exercises. Kettlebells come in poods. For example, the average male beginner uses 1 pood (16 kgs. or 35 lbs.) while the advanced lifter uses 2 poods (32 kgs. or 70 lbs.). There are different weights for every level. One must master the lighter weights to progress onto the heavier ones, but even the most powerful athletes can accomplish their goals with 1 pood. This little—known drill guarantees improvement in your squatting depth, flexibility, technique and powerSimple and si nister. —A U.S. Secre t Service Counte r Assault Team in structor on the RKC system of training

Practice th e swing, th e get-up, a remedial d nd the rills and str etches alm least three ost daily— times a we at ek. Practice, d on’t work out! Practice fo r 30 minu tes. Finish when you stronger th started. an Build up the training load gradually using common sense, and listen to your body. If you have sore elbows, it is your own fault, dude. Doing 50 cleans the first day you learned them was stupid. “The training load” refers not only to the weight, sets, and reps, but also to the flexibility requirements. Don’t force yourself into positions you are not ready for; develop your flexibility gradually. If you bang your forearm during cleans, don’t go clean crazy until you have fixed your technique. Bruised and swollen forearms are signs of impatience, not toughness. More importantly, as mentioned in ETK, really focus on the negatives of the presses. This helps a lot more than you'd think (or more than I thought, anyway). Ronen Katz, a StrongFirst instructor and 6th Dan in Kyokushin karate, told me a parable. A villager asked a wise man how to find water. "Dig down 10 meters," was the answer. A few days later the villager returned complaining that he had done as told and found no water. The wise man came over to take a look: the villager had dug 10 holes, each 1 meter deep.

hen the Communists were plotting their coup on the verge of the XX century, they had a program maximum, for total domination— and a program minimum, for the most important and immediate concerns. The New RKC Program Minimum will deliver Understand the crucial value of "slow strength" training—the counterintuitive and rarely revealed secret of Russian athletic might