"Do you suppose they will choose to make war against lean, solid dogs rather than against fat and tender sheep?"
We’ve all had friends who exerted unhealthy influence over us. They were charismatic and had qualities we wanted to emulate, but in the exuberance of growth we also idealized them for a time and didn’t want to accept that they too were just fragile, finite people with foibles, not all-purpose role models. And so we... Continue Reading →
Part 2 of our series "Tao of the Lazy Badass" The 5x5 is a classic approach because it is a foolproof way to accumulate volume.For liability reasons, however, you should not attempt high-volume midget lifting. Just add more plates. Exercise is a tale of two variables: Volume (how much you do) and Intensity (how hard... Continue Reading →
“Like water, volume is soft and yielding. But volume will wear away rock, and it beats the crap out of excess fatigue. As a rule, volume wins over fatigue. This is another paradox: what is soft and voluminous is strong.”from the lost training manual of Laozi (Lao-Tzu) A difficult book, but the most important one... Continue Reading →
Today's game was to climb to the summit on hands and knees: For every step, I had either to "bear walk" or lunge. Though that may sound wretched, it was a huge endorphin fest. The golden recipe for training is to do as much work as possible while staying as fresh as possible. That's the... Continue Reading →
As Julien says, I recommend Pavel Tsatouline’s original primer on kettlebells, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge (2001), and the open-ended, unscripted training guidelines he gives there: Train 2-7 times per week.You can vary this week to week. You benefit from a certain amount of randomness in loading.Keep it to 45 minutes or less. Sometimes a lot less.... Continue Reading →
https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/side-stretch-satisfaction Anti-rotation. Al Kavadlo doesn't twist and fall here because his QL is keeping his waist rigid. The poor quadratus lumborum (QL). It does much more than its share during one-arm movements like kettlebell swings and presses, where it keeps your torso rigid and facing forward. It needs to be stretched, but if you are... Continue Reading →
From Sgt. Sileika, a lean, solid dog in Vilnius who serves as our resident subject-matter expert in ruck marching and sentence diagramming. Living in the Baltics, he is located at the intersection (to use a fashionable word) of three of our favorite things: kvass, kettlebells, and Varusteleka. Power to you, sir!
This is the first installment in our series on the training doctrines of Pavel Tsatsouline. Pavel Tsatsouline entered my life through a side door. In 1998, on an internet forum hosted by the first man to squat 1000 lbs., “Dr. Squat” Fred Hatfield, I read a terse post by a polite Russian émigré. He introduced... Continue Reading →
20 Years of Pavel Tsastouline: IntroductionBefore the Russian Revolution: The Ancien Regime of 1999 Strength Is a SkillMinimalism: When All You Have Is a HammerOne Pull, One PressEnter the DeadliftPower to the People!
Back in the 80s, most of us were taught that you had to lift all out, every time. Boy, was that stupid. Not only were we courting injury, we were making exercise, which should be joyful, into a grim discipline. It's a wonder that any of us still likes to train. Everybody has to "cycle"... Continue Reading →