Hey, I read an article I thought you might like.

http://www.dragondoor.com/kettlebells/news/

May 08, 2006
"Before you can endure strength you must first develop it."
The emphasis on brute, low-rep strength differentiates The Russian Kettlebell Challenge system. Most S&C methodologies aimed at the military and fighters heavily lean into conditioning while de-emphasizing strength. Probably because it is a lot easier to smoke somebody than to make him strong. RKC practitioners get their share of conditioning, but strength always remains a priority.

Low-rep training, so heavy that the weight barely moves, is the stepchild of the strength-and-conditioning world. Pros and amateurs alike are afraid of low-rep “slow strength” training. After all, doesn’t it slow you down? And where is the conditioning?!

Wrong. “Slow strength” happens to be one of the counterintuitive and rarely revealed secrets of Russian athletic might. It is defined as one’s ability to exert the greatest force regardless of the time it takes. The guts to grind it through. The powerlifting deadlift and the military press with a heavy kettlebell are classic displays of slow strength. Slow strength is always trained and tested with low repetitions, one to five.

“All fighters and coaches understand the importance of roadwork,” says Boston boxing coach extraordinaire Steve Baccari, RKC. “They understand the importance of working the heavy bag, the hand-pads, and of course, sparring. But what is commonly overlooked, and possibly the most important piece of the strength and conditioning puzzle—is strength training. Or what Pavel refers to as slow strength. What does slow strength do for a boxer? First and foremost, when a fighter has a good strength base, it reduces his chance of injuries. Second, it makes him more resilient in the ring. Finally, strength translates into more power in his punches. After all, power is strength times speed. Most coaches over-emphasize strength endurance. Granted, this is very important, but before you can endure strength, you must first develop it.”

Russian kettlebell power to you!

fredrick- Nice to see you over here, I have read a lot of your posts over in the "Bear thread". You have been quite an inspiration to me when you reported no decline in training abilities when you went from LC to VLC. Thanks!

I don't remember how old you are, I am pretty sure you are younger than me though. Age really is a state of mind. I am 41 and I out kick most of the teens in my class!! It sounds like you are already in terrific shape, and I believe that listening to your body, fueling it properly and maintaining good flexibilty are the keys to excelling in any sport as we get older.

I would go watch a class, see if you like it. All the styles of martial arts, as well as all the instructors are different, so you may want to observe more than one school. A lot of schools also offer free trial periods as well. The school I go to offers 1 month of lessons free.

Keep us posted!!

Sandy

kbfunTH-
Thank you very much for the article- all I can say is WOW! I have always been a huge believer in train as you would want to perform! I always put everything I have behind every move I make trying to make each one faster, more powerful and more on target than the last. I do this in every training session and have carried that over to my weight training as well. Trying to go heavy, hard and explode. I thought I was training my muscles to ignite faster and harder. This article definately shakes my paradime a bit! I will definately be putting some thought into it!! Thanks for rocking my world this morning!!

Sandy


Rocketrob-
I too am sorry about the delay-we had testing yesturday, so the day was a bit busy!!

The two day camp sounds awesome! Hot though-CA. Do you mind me asking what belt you are?

I don't know what your instructers teach in the way of practicing irradiation/hyper-irradiation, but if you're not familar with it, take the time to learn it and apply it where applicable. It will be especially beneficial in your heavy slow grind strength training. Bruce Lee mastered irradiation, his one-inch punch was as example of that. It's basically the opposite of relaxation.

Thanks kbfunTH- I am not totally sure I know exactly what irradiation/hyper-irradiation is, but I will definately google it and check it out!

Sandy

I'll see if I can find some resources for you. The basics of it... make a fist... now make a fist and flex all the way up through the arm and shoulder (irradiation), now do it again and go all they way through your entire body (hyper-irradiation). Feel the fist get tighter with each...

Think about the effects of this when applied at the right times.

I wonder if this could be applied to the foot or knee for kicking? Or would it begin at the hip for kicking? Or to the shoulder down to the forearm for blocking?

Very interesting thoughts!!

Sandy

Yes it could actually. It would start with being very relaxed, then exploding into the movement and then optimal tension at the precise moment to generate the most force at impact and provide stability, then in reverse order back to the beginning of the movement. Irradiation would be instant throughout.

COOL! I will definately give this a try!!

Hi, Sandy!

I'm currently a blue belt. I've been doing this for about a year. Having lots of fun and definitely getting more conditioned!

"... how to develop instant strength by harnessing the power of your "neuro-muscular software." Here are the highlights:

• To demonstrate how to tap into your "muscle software," Pavel demonstrated an interesting test. You'll need a partner for this one. First, squeeze your partner's hand has hard as you can. Now, do it again, but this time clench your opposite hand hard at the same time you're squeezing your partner's hand. Your gripping power will be greatly increased if you clench your opposite fist. Try it.

• There's a difference between working out and practice. In the past, "working out" had a negative connotation. If a man trained too hard and fried his muscles and nervous system, he was said to have "worked himself out." Pavel says you should approach training as practice.

• Practice must be specific, perfect and frequent. Stop practice when it becomes less than perfect. Multiple sessions of perfect reps is better than one long session of sloppy reps and training to failure.

• To illustrate, Pavel told the story of a 132 pound client of his who could only bench 140 pounds. The client took the perfect practice stuff to heart and placed a bench press in his kitchen. Every time he walked by he did one perfect set, multiple times per day. Now he can bench 295 at the same bodyweight. The same guy can squat over 600 at 132 pounds.

You know, that's a great story, but the bodybuilder in me says, "He still weighs a measly 132?!" Of course, some athletes don't want to outgrow their weight class so this is cool for them.


The Evil Russian Vs. The Evil Canadian (T-Nation contrib David Barr)
• Strength does not equal toughness.

• The study of fiber types is an "irrelevant science."

• Train as heavy as possible, as often as possible.

• Don't train to failure. Performing triples with your five rep max is better than going to failure.

• HIT (High Intensity Training) is for drama class. All that "train to failure plus two more" is just histrionics. (Gee, think we can set up and Pavel vs. Darden celebrity boxing event? It might be interesting!)

• If you're trying to do more push-ups, don't do 20 reps to failure. Instead do sets of 10 spread throughout the day. Grease the groove. It will feel easy and your max push-ups will increase rapidly.

• Many say that neural adaptations are over in six weeks, then you must build muscle to further increase strength. This is a myth according to Pavel. People are capable of increasing strength for years without growing out of their weight class. (Again, the bodybuilder part of me cringed, but I understand his point.)

• Strength must be seamless. You can't deadlift in stages. Aim to keep all muscles under tension.

• Use an "active negative." When squatting, get tight and "pull" yourself down."

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.d...tan?id=5226 29

http://www.universal-tao.com/article/people.html



http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9668.asp

"Hyperirradiation
Ever notice how boxers, martial artists, and gymnasts all have rock hard, yet lean physiques? Pavel Tsatsouline, author of Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American, attributes this to mastering muscle tension in the entire body while performing an exercise. When a martial artist kicks he tenses his entire body to brace for contact or a counterattack. Pavel believes you can apply this to weightlifting and calls it hyperirradiation. It requires that you contract all your muscles with as much force as possible while performing an exercise. Try it with a dumbbell curl. Start by gripping the weight as if your life depended on it. Pull your shoulders down and squeeze your shoulder blades together as if you were trying to squeeze a tennis ball in your armpit. Contract your abs and butt as hard as you can and maintain your entire body this tense. Begin to squeeze the weight up and use the entire contraction to exhale out. When you reach the top squeeze your bicep as hard as you can then slowly lower the weight focusing on flexing your tricep so that it feels like you're pushing the weight down (should feel like your doing a very difficult tricep pressdown). This creates maximum muscle tension in the body that makes you stronger, harder, and trains your body the way it's actually used, as one unit. Try these techniques on one, several, or all your exercises and you'll soon have tighter more defined muscles."

Wow kbfunTH-

Thanks for all those links. They will definately keep me busy for a while. I never understood how one could "train as heavy as possible" without going to failure...seems to me that if you are attempting to do 8 reps and you are training as heavy as possible, that you would at the very least want to hit momentary failure on your last set, if not every set. Otherwise, you aren't training as heavy as you could??

Rocketrob- I'm not sure how your belt system works, but coincidentally I am blue too!

Sandy

Training heavy means training with high percentages of your 1 rep maximum => 85%. One of the reasons for avoiding failure is so that training frequency can be greater.

Thanks for the explanation kbfunTH.

Question-The article you sent on Sunday talks about "slow training" being one of the secrets of Russian athletics. How frequently do you think they used this training method? Was it something they did exclusively? Once a week? One exercise each training session? Or as one leg of their periodization? The article also mentioned doing 1-5 reps, but made no mention of what the tempo might be, in your opinion, what would be the best for developing MA skills?

Thanks for sharing!

Sandy