The Russian Kettlebell Challenge Quotes

“Understanding is a delaying tactic…,” as one novelist put it. “Do you want to understand how to swim, or do you want to jump in and start swimming? Only people who are afraid of water want to understand. Other people jump in and get wet.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Vodka at night. Pickle juice in the morning (the best thing for a hangover). Throwing some kettlebells around between this hangover and the next one. A Russian’s day well spent. The ‘kettlebell’ or girya is a cast iron weight which looks like a basketball with a suitcase handle. It is an old Russian toy. As the 1986 Soviet Weightlifting Yearbook put it, “It is hard to find a sport that has deeper roots in the”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“girevik, or ‘a kettlebell man’.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Kettlebells are round lumps of iron with molded handles.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The Official Soviet Weightlifting Textbook Girevoy Sport Competition Training Guidelines (Falameyev, 1986) Train three times a week on non-consecutive days, preferably at the same time of the day. In the beginning limit your sessions to 30 min and your load to 3 sets per exercise in two arm exercises and 3 sets per arm in one arm drills. Select a weight that enables you to do 5-16 repetitions in a given exercise. Perform your exercises through the full range of motion. Breathe deep and smooth without excessive straining and breath holding. Rest for 2 min between sets. Calmly walk around. Train the one arm snatches, presses, and C&Js in 3-5 sets. Complete all the sets for the weaker arm first. Once a week work both arms back to back without setting the kettlebell down on the platform. Perform 2-3 such competition style sets. Do extra snatches with the weaker arm. Pay a lot of attention to the development of your wrist strength. Before tackling the competition-level, two arm/two kettlebell C&Js, master one arm/one KB C&Js, with a special emphasis on the weaker arm. Train the two arm/two kettlebell C&J in 6-8 sets. Include two different kettlebell exercises in a training session and follow them up with 2-3 barbell exercises. As the competition approaches, the number of barbell exercises in a session is decreased, so is their volume.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Train the press in a similar fashion. First, give an adequate load to the weaker arm (3-5 sets till substantial fatigue), then to the strong one. Once a week, perform a full cycle of the exercises (in 2-3 sets—as in a competition): press the kettlebell out with one arm until total exhaustion, and then repeat the drill with the other arm, without setting the kettlebell down on the platform.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Repeat the one arm snatch in 3-5 sets, first with the left (if it is the weaker one), and then for the same number of sets with the right arm. For some sessions, perform the complete cycle of the exercise by switching the kettlebell from hand to hand. Pay a lot of attention to developing your wrist strength. Snatch more often with the weaker arm.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“In the beginning of your career, the Russian expert advises you to limit your load to three sets per exercise in two-arm exercises and three sets per arm in one-arm drills. You should select a weight that enables you to do no less than 5-6 and no more than 15-16 repetitions in a given exercise.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Falameyev advises to start training with 16kg, advance to 24 kg in four to six weeks, and later to dvukhpudoviks. Beginners are not supposed to train longer than 30 min per workout. Three workouts a week on non-consecutive days, preferably at the same time of the day, are the rule of thumb.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“WORKOUT #1 1. Double arm swing to warm up. –x20 2. Military press (strict). –x10 3. Clean and push press. –x10 4. Cleans. –x10 5. One arm side press. –x5 (each side) 6. Overhead one arm squats. –x10 7. Lunges. –x20 8. Sumo deadlifts. –x20-50 9. Wrestler’s bridge press. –x10 10. Turkish get ups. –x5 (each side) 11. Janda or Ab Pavelizer situps. 12. Chin up ladders. –alternate with a partner. The circuit is done with no rest between exercises for one set of the above repetitions with kettlebells that weight about 23.6 kilograms or 52 pounds each. The workout is under 15.00 and I attempt to lessen the time every workout. Zack and Steve Maxwell are ready to take on their kettlebells.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“You can think of the snatch as a clean to the point above your head. Do not even think about taking it on until you have mastered one arm swings and cleans! Stand over a kettlebell, your feet about shoulder width apart, your weight on your heels. Inhale, arch your back, push your butt back, and bend your knees. Reach for the bell with one hand, the arm straight, while keeping the other arm away from your body (initially you may help yourself by pushing with the free hand against your thigh but it is considered ‘no class’ by most gireviks). Swing the bell back and whip it straight overhead in one clean movement. Note that the pulling arm will bend and your body will shift to the side opposite to the weight. But you do not need to worry about trying to do it that way; just pull straight up and your body will find an efficient path in a short while. Do not lift with your arm, but rather with your hips. Project the force straight up, rather than back—as in a jump. You may end up airborne or at least on your toes. It is OK as long as you roll back on your heels by the time the bell comes down. Dip under the K-bell as it is flipping over the wrist. Absorb the shock the same way you did for cleans. Fix the weight overhead, in the press behind the neck position for a second, then let it free fall between your legs as you are dropping into a half squat. Keep the girya near your body when it comes down. As an option, lower the bell to your shoulder before dropping it between the legs. Ease into the one arm power snatch because even a hardcore deadlifter’s hamstrings and palms are guaranteed to take a beating. Especially if your kettlebells are rusty like the ones I trained with at the ‘courage corner’. It was a long time after my discharge before my palms finally lost their rust speckled calluses. Unlike the deadlift, the kettlebell snatch does not impose prohibitively strict requirements on spinal alignment and hamstring flexibility. If you are deadlifting with a humped over back you are generally asking for trouble; KB snatches let you get away with a slightly flexed spine. It is probably due to the fact that your connective tissues absorb shock more effectively when loaded rapidly. Your ligaments have wavy structures. A ballistic shock—as long as it is of a reasonable magnitude—is absorbed by these ‘waves’, which straighten out like springs.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The one-arm snatch is the Tsar of kettlebell lifts, fluid and vicious. It will quickly humble even studly powerlifters. The forces generated by this drill are awesome. “How can it be if the weight is so light?” you might ask. –Through great acceleration and deceleration. F=ma, force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. Would you rather roll a 500 pound barbell over your toes or drop a 72 pounder from seven feet? I rest my case.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Right before the hunk of iron has reached its destination quickly dip your knees and get under it. This action has been compared to putting on a sweater. Finish in the position shown.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The clean draws its name from the requirement to bring the weight to your shoulders in one ‘clean’ movement. Pick up the kettlebell off the floor, the same way you would for the one arm swing. Note that the starting position for all the pulls, swings, cleans, and snatches is identical. Swing the kettlebell back and then immediately toward your shoulder.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Ballistic drills, at least with kettlebells, can get away with much greater numbers; it is a lot easier to keep your technique in the groove.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Ludvig Chaplinskiy wrote in the Russian magazine Hercules in 1913, “Kettlebell lifting more than any other sport relies on nerve strength; its sensible practice strengthens the nervous system, mindless practice destroys it.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Do not be afraid to push into slight overtraining and then back off with lighter workouts. As a Lithuanian saying goes, “A river with a dam has more power.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Do not freak out about training the same movement or the same body part for two or more days in a row. It is a standard operating procedure among Russian athletes. For example, the Russian National Powerlifting Team benches up to eight times a week. The key to successful frequent training is constant variation of the loading variables: weights, reps, sets, rest periods, tempo, exercise order, exercise selection, etc.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Periodically speed up or slow down the movement from the comfortable pace. For example, snatch at the limit of your explosiveness or at a near stall. When pressing, lowering the kettlebell fast but lifting it slow or vice versa is an option. If you have been following the Power to the People! workout, alternate a 2-4 week period of kettlebell training with a PTP cycle.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Snatches, cleans and jerks can be performed for any number of repetitions, from one to hundreds. Leave all the sets of more than ten reps for the very end of the workout to avoid their negative effect on your presses. The exception is when your presses have become too easy and you have not saved up for a heavier kettlebell yet. Understand that performing strength drills on the background of pronounced fatigue is only marginally effective.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Generally perform no more than five reps per set in various presses and side bends. It is better to increase the difficulty by upgrading to a heavier kettlebell, selecting a more difficult press (e.g. the military rather than the side press), moving slower, pausing at different points of the lift, compressing the rest periods between the sets, or performing more sets of five reps. Use the above techniques by themselves or in any sensible combination.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Never go to failure but vary the difficulty of your sets. For example, your estimated best in the side press is four reps. Some sets do one or two reps, others three. Play by the seat of your pants.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The total number of sets is up to you, anywhere from three to as many as twenty sets per exercise are acceptable but should be varied.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Start your practice with the most technically demanding exercises, e.g. the two hands anyhow. Do not engage in any endurance activities before your kettlebell practice.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The order of the drills in the rotation is up to you but it is a good idea to alternate harder and easier (for you) exercises and/or sets. For example, do a set of five reps in the difficult military press, then ten reps in the relatively easy two-arm snatch pull.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Perform your exercises in a circuit. Allow at least a few minutes of rest between the sets; do not rush if your focus is strength. Compress the rest periods to favor endurance, muscular and cardiovascular, over strength. Do not practice exercises which require great coordination, e.g. the bent press, if you choose brief rest periods.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Each session do as few or as many exercises as you wish but do not work equally hard on every one of them. For example, on Monday do a lot of sets of the bent press, on Tuesday skip the bent press or take it easy and work hard on snatches, etc. Do not be overly pedantic about the order. Just do not do one pet feat at the expense of everything else all the time. Also, do not be afraid to make some workouts relatively easier than others.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“Train 2-7 times a week. Try to complete your workout in 45 min or less. Vary the length of your workouts, for example Monday 30 min, Tuesday 45 min, Wednesday 20 min, Thursday off, Friday 35 min.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“The fat loss power of kettlebells is explained by the extremely high metabolic cost of throwing a weight around combined with the fat burning effect of the growth hormone stimulated by such exercise. The author of Manly Weight Loss, top strength coach Charles Poliquin, explains:”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades

“To build a superman, slow movements and quick lifts are required… I have a fondness for two particular lifts. The two hands snatch and the bent press. The two hands snatch… is the best single exercise in existence when practiced as a repetition movement in various forms [read the one-arm snatch —P.T.]. The bent press brings into play every muscle of your physique and builds superstrength through all the body.”
― Pavel Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard Living Comrades