So it feels like an ever-new mystery to get overpowered in fight training by short, thin, or otherwise gracile people who, it seems to me, can’t possibly have as much power. Not just outmaneuvered and outskilled, but manhandled or just plain pounded. I’m talking thin teenagers, featherweight women, even a girl who’s too young for PG-13 and weighs less than my checked luggage. What gives?
Chat maigre: French for “lean, solid dog”
National Commando Training Center in Coullioure. Photo courtesy of Romain Mielcarek (http://www.guerres-influences.com/romain-mielcarek/) The Cult of Light Infantry? Here at Lean, Solid Dogs, we maintain a special interest in light infantry because we love to romp around the outdoors carrying heavy things. And there’s a whole profession dedicated to that! They're called light infantry and they... Continue Reading →
“Attention, Walmart Shoppers: You Already Have a Prize-Winning Physique For 1900”
"However, the champ often 'took ill' with a pathogen transmitted in oak barrels known to disparately afflict the Irish community."
Romp in the Rain
Today’s game was to test out rain gear on a 3-mile ruck romp with Lean Solid Girl and our team weight, the Canadian Brick Bag (CBB), a sturdy canvas antique loaded with 35# of bricks. The rule was that the bag had to be carried in one hand at all times, by either one of... Continue Reading →
Girevoy Sport (Pt. 3): The Jerk
The jerk rewards a lot of Gumby-like flexibility in the hip flexors and shoulder girdle. Each of these bells weighs 32kg (70lbs.), and during the 10-minute set, your only chance to rest is in this position, but you need flexibility. (battlebell.ru) Whereas the snatch is a pulling exercise—you feel it most in your back and... Continue Reading →
Girevoy Sport (Pt. 2): The Snatch, “Tsar of Kettlebell Exercises”
In the snatch, if you’re going to last the full 10 minutes, you must spare your grip. How? Use your legs. After you “pull” the bell up, bend at the knees and dip down. That way you won’t have to pull as high. Even more importantly, when you drop the bell back down, rise up... Continue Reading →
Girevoy Sport (Pt. 1): Russian for “What Means This ‘Pain’?”
In Russian, a kettlebell is called a girya. As an adjective, it becomes girevoy. And someone who lifts kettlebells is a girevik. (Provenance of photo unknown.) Russians have been lifting kettlebells for health for a long time. They originally used them as "counterweights ... to weigh out dry goods on market scales. People started throwing them around for... Continue Reading →
Selouyanov on Endurance (Pt. 2): More Russian Sports Science from Dr. Smet
Guest author "Dr. Smet" finishes his insider's tour of the Russian sports science underlying Pavel Tsatsouline's long-awaited endurance training manifesto, The Quick and the Dead. I follow Dr. Smet's blog Girevoy Sport After 40 to read about top-dog Russian coaching and research from a medical scientist who also practices what he reports on. Before we... Continue Reading →
Selouyanov on Endurance (Pt. 1): A Guest Post by Dr. Smet
Russian training methods and Russian sports science. Raise your hand if you (a) love these things but (b) don't read Russian. Then you probably owe almost everything you know to Pavel Tsatsouline, THE great interpreter of that subject and almost the most influential voice in American exercise. Pavel created an appetite for English-language popularizations of... Continue Reading →
Weekly Training Log: The Beginning of the Taper
I weigh in for my first kettlebell competition in 2001 as Com. Angelo looks on. That day I weighed 156lbs. Granted, I had to cut some weight, but these days I'd have to cut off a leg. This is an experimental post, summarizing my training for the past week. If I continue to publish these... Continue Reading →