Pistols

[Cameron]

I did a workshop with Mike and his bodyweight strength is incredible. He used to crank out thousands of Hindu Squats and hundreds of pushups but now does kettlebells and clubells.

 

Anyway, here's his pistol article

 

bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler2.htm

[Cameron]

oops

 

www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler2.htm

[Yoda]

I thought I was more or less the only one here who had messed with strength training and could just grab the Strongest Tao Bum Award.

 

Damn!

 

Not only that, but all the Tao Bums know about Pavel, Furey, Mahler, etc! Oh well. As I said, this White Skeleton is going to make me a badass on this front and that's why I'm pondering strength training again.

 

Mahler is a mutant. He got me into a very short lived phase of combining kettlebells and Indo boards! One moment I was military pressing a 72# kettlebell and the next I was lying on my patio with a fucking near miss to my head as that sucker came back to earth. Notice that he trains with his indo board on the grass--not on the cement. I noticed that little pointer after the fact. Scott Sonnon won't bring a 72#er on the Indo. I also noticed that after the fact too! Fun stuff, but my Indo board is officially fired.

 

-Yoda

[Cameron]

It goes back to James who is the webmaster of both dragondoor and the HT site. He sent me an email right when Pavel came out and I bought his books. I got the original Combat Conditioning book from Dragondoor after that.

 

Mike is a great guy and he has designed several personalized training programs for me. He does clubbells sort of as a recovery from kettlebells. I think clubbells are probably useful but dont' feel the need for them right now. Indo board looks fun also but doesnt' look like something I need to have.

 

Still doing Zhan Zhuang every day? I have a goal in the back of my head to be able to do that for an hour. But these days I am just trying to do things that are most helpful, since my time is limited.

 

I also like the idea of being able to do pistols with my 2 pood...let me so if I can do it...nope!

 

Maybe Furey is right when he says get to 500 straight hindu squats before doing pistols in reps..oh well!

[Guest]

Saw that in one of his emails. Shoalinstrengthtrainingsecrets or something along those lines. a 45lb granite kettlebell and a 60lb granite ball. Don't know anything more than that. Didn't know both forums were so closely related. I'm thinking of doing white skeleton while doing the zz standing--combining training modalities like with that Indo board, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Lam Kam Chuen says not to do visualizations with zz, but there are plenty of teachers who are into it. I'll just play around with it.

 

-Yoda

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[Yoda]

My whole life is a huge cycle. I'm in commission sales too, so one month I'll be on top of the world, burning through cash, can launch those kettlebells into orbit and a few months later you'd think I was Gandhi on a hunger strike. I'm a cusp Geminii born in the year of the Monkey, so some of that is just my fortune. Chikung has definitely "helped" but by no means has "cured" this situation. I'd get a normal job, but I refuse to have a boss and actually work, so here I am.

 

Recently, I've been reading Bodri's stuff about changing one's fortune in this regard. I would like to either get off this cycle or just raise the whole thing so that the bottom is still cool to be at. Jing retention helps to the extent of my beginnner's level of mastery, primordial so far is excellent in a general soothing/smoothing manner, and I'm very bullish about White Skeleton even though it is brand new to me. It opens, distributes, grounds to earth and locks in practice energy-- recommended for us scattered types. You had mentioned that you might get a Bodri book. His Beautiful skin has some good stuff in it and includes White Skeleton, use of Nattokinase, basic practice concepts and a general good intro to his thinking imo.

 

So my pet feats are obviously my high water mark. Actually, I've lost 15# in the last 6 months so I should be in range of the one arm pullup (you're a climber, so you can appreciate that one) but I want success with White Skeleton before it'll be cost effective for me to go for it.

 

Still doing funny sound chi kung? I actually talked to Jack Johnson in person two weeks ago. He said go with whatever variant of the funny sound and out loud or whisper mode that works for you and your situation. But he said that his funny sound, as loud as possible is the best in his experience.

 

-Yoda

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[SheepishLord]

On Dragondoor.com in the articles section there is an article on the "one-arm come-down" which you can use. I would use that method if I were to train it today.

 

In the past I used to do one-arm assisted with the assitant grip in such a way that the back of my hand faced my face. Then, as I got stronger I would lower my hand. I could do a bunch or reps and then I stopped doing it. Will probably return to it one day...

 

Also, you must use a rotating bar so you don't torque your shoulders to death.

[Yoda]

Hagar,

 

My almost 5 year old daughter, Freya, just came back from gymnastics saying that they are working on pistols in class! Apparently, you have to do them on the balance beam. So I got her started on airbornes--she'll be the first in her class to get them.

 

Pavel's "Greasing the Groove For Strength" is the best strength training article that I've found. You can find it on dragondoor.com in the articles section. He took his elderly father in law to a personal record of 20 pullups--more than he did as a young man in the Marines. The glorious thing about strength training is that it doesn't take much time or energy if you follow Pavel's approach. A few minutes a day over the years will make you a mutant. When you grease the groove you stay away from maximum or even 70% effort. Only test your max once every 30-60 days. It's a good way to study for exams too--a few minutes a few times a day. When I was in college, I trained for several years to get to 15 pullups. Then in my thirties, I followed Pavel's approach for--I'm not kidding--about 6 months and got to 30. I could probably get that back in 45 days right now.

 

Just for kicks, I grabbed my 72# kettlebell and *yes* I can still pistol it! 8) Failed on the military press though :evil: but that gave me an idea. I'm guessing it would take me 3 weeks of training to get it back. So that'll be my White Skeleton Challenge--I'll do the meditation, but no overhead strength work and see if just the meditation itself can deliver that modest level of strength increase. I bet it can. If I succeed there, I'll jump back into training for the one arm pullup. Between the White Skeleton and the 15# weight loss, I should be able to do it this time.

 

I think you are right about making space--when I'm down I don't do that--I don't practice as much and the practice isn't as good when I do. I will shift that around.

 

-Yoda

[Yoda]

Grease the Groove for Strength

 

 

by Pavel Tsatsouline

 

 

Copyright 1999 Advanced Fitness Solutions, Inc.

This article was first published in MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes under the heading "Chain Yourself to the Squat Rack and Call Me in a Year." Back issues and subscriptions are available from www.ironmind.com.

 

 

Grease the Groove for Strength

 

by Pavel Tsatsouline, Master of Sports

 

 

Our communist enemies, who are trying to bury us, have exercise breaks instead of coffee breaks.

-Bob Hoffman, York Barbell Club

 

Your grandmother used to tell you: to get good at something, you must do it often, do it a lot, and do it to the exclusion of other things. Yet you never listened, why you little..! If you did, how would you ever get the bright idea of deadlifting once every two weeks and doing ten assistance exercises for the bench press?

 

Specificity + frequent practice = success. It is so obvious, most people don't get it. Once I came across a question posted on a popular powerlifting website by a young Marine: how should he train to be able to do more chin-ups? I was amused when I read the arcane and non-specific advice the trooper had received: straight-arm pull-downs, reverse curls, avoiding the negative part of the chin-up every third workout... I had a radical thought: if you want to get good at chin-ups, why not try to do... a lot of chin-ups? Just a couple of months earlier I had put my father-in-law Roger Antonson, incidentally an ex-Marine, on a program which required him to do an easy five chins every time he went down to his basement. Each day he would total between twenty-five and a hundred chin-ups hardly breaking a sweat. Every month or so Roger would take a few days off and then test himself. Before you knew it, the old leatherneck could knock off twenty consecutive chins, more than he could do forty years ago during his service with the few good men!

 

A few months later Roger sold his house and moved to an apartment. A paranoid Stalinist that I am, I suspected that he plotted to work around the 'chin every time you go to the basement' clause. By the degree of the Politbureau Comrade Antonson was issued one of those 'Door Gym' pull-up bars. Roger wisely conceded to the will of the Party and carried on with his 'grease the chin-up groove' program. Roger Ivanovich's next objective is a one-arm chin. He just does not know it yet.

 

My father, a Soviet Army officer, had me follow an identical routine in my early testosterone years. My parents' apartment had a built in storage space above the kitchen door (it is a Russian design, you wouldn't understand). Every time I left the kitchen I would hang on to the ledge and crank out as many fingertip pull-ups as I could without struggle. Consequently, high school pull-up tests were a breeze.

 

Both Roger and I got stronger through the process of synaptic facilitation. Neurogeeks never got around to telling iron heads that repetitive and reasonably intense stimulation of a motoneuron increases the strength of its synaptic connections and may even form new synapses. Translated in English it means that multiple repetitions of a bench press will 'grease up' this powerlift's groove. More 'juice' will reach the muscle when you are benching your max. The muscle will contract harder and you will have a new PR to brag about. Four times powerlifting world record holder Dr. Judd Biasiotto set up a bench in his kitchen, got in the habit of hitting it every time he was in the area and put up a 319BP @ 132!

 

Obviously, you do not have to be a Commie weightlifter with Rocky IV pharmacy to benefit from high volume heavy training. Here is how you can to set up a 'grease the groove' program for one rep max strength or for strength endurance in your dungeon:

 

1. Intensity

 

The science of motor learning explains that an extreme, all out movement is operated by a program different from that used for the identical task performed at a moderate intensity. As far as your nervous system is concerned, throwing a football for maximum distance is a totally different ball game than passing it ten yards, no pun intended. According to Russian scientist Matveyev (yeah, the chap who invented periodization), you must train with at least 80% 1RM weights if you intend to make a noticeable impact on your max. According to Prof. Verkhoshansky, another mad scientist from the Empire of Evil, for elite athletes this minimal load is even higher -85% 1RM. Yet many comrades will be very successful greasing the groove with 60-80% weights as long they emphasize the competitive technique -high tension, Power Breathing, etc.

 

Naturally, if you are training for strength endurance rather than absolute strength, you should train with lighter loads. To meet the Soviet Special Forces pull-up standard of eighteen consecutive dead hang reps stick to your bodyweight plus heavy regulation boots.

 

It is critical for the program's success that you avoid muscle failure as aerobic classes and rice cakes. Do not come even close to failure, whether you train for max or repetitions! A triple with a five-rep max or ten pull-ups if twenty is your PR will do the trick. The secret to this workout is performing a lot of work with reasonably heavy weights. Pushing to exhaustion will burn out your neuromuscular system and force you to cut back on the weights or tonnage.

 

2. Repetitions

 

According to former world weight lifting champion Prof. Arkady Vorobyev, one to six reps are optimal for training of high caliber weightlifters and increasing this number hinders strength development. Or, as Luke Iams put it, "Anything over six reps is bodybuilding."

 

Do more reps, and your body will think that you are practicing a totally different lift. Dr. Biasiotto who once squatted an unreal 605 @ 130 has switched to bodybuilding and knocks off 325x25 these days. His legs are no longer 'a pair of pliers in shorts' as they used to be in his days of heavy triples and world records, but he would be the first one to tell you that there is no way he could put up a massive single training this way.

 

Of course, for bodyweight pull-ups, push-ups, and other commando feats of staying power you will need to bump up the reps to satisfy the law of specificity. Roger Antonson worked up to training sets of nine by the time he set a personal record of twenty chin-ups.

 

3. Volume

 

Vitaly Regulyan, one of the top Russian benchers, does fifty to seventy heavy sets per lift! What are YOU waiting for? A permission from Mike Mentzer? Up the volume!

 

'High volume' does NOT mean a lot of reps with Barbie weights. Such training is good or nothing but a muscle pumper's virtual muscle. Do I sound like Anthony Dittillo? -Good, the man is right, give him a cigar! 'High volume' on the synaptic facilitation power plan means maximizing your weekly tonnage with heavy weights.

 

'Tonnage' -or 'poundage' if you are not up on the metric system -refers to the total weight lifted in a given period of time, for example a day, a week, a mesocycle. Say your best deadlift is 500x1 and last week you did the following pulls: 400x5/20, 450x2/50. Here is how to calculate your weekly deadlift poundage: (400x5x20) + (450x2x50) = 85,000. As this number grows, so will your strength, at least up to a point.

 

Make sure that volume does not come at the expense of intensity. Average intensity is calculated by dividing the poundage by the total number of lifts: 85,000 : 200 = 425 pounds. Intensity can be expressed in pounds or % 1RM. In the above example 425 pounds is 82,5% of 500 pounds one rep max; the intensity is on the money.

 

The strong man must make an effort to gradually build up both the volume and the intensity while making sure his body can handle the load and does not overtrain. Trite as it sounds, listen to your body.

 

4. Frequency

 

Prof. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, a Soviet strength expert who jump shipped from the Dark Side of the Force to America, summed up effective strength building as training as often as possible while being as fresh as possible. An eighties study by Gillam found that increasing training frequency up to five days a week improved the results in the bench press, something big Jim Williams knew a decade earlier when he benched in the neighbourhood of 700. Ditto for Dr. Judd. Before Biasiotto took up benching in the midst of his kitchen appliances, he had worked out in his training partner's spider web insulated and rat infested garage where he benched five times a week for fifteen heavy sets within an hour. That brutally efficient routine boosted skinny Judd's bench from 140 to 295 pounds in nine months!

 

Russian strength researchers discovered that fragmentation of the training volume into smaller units is very effective for promoting strength adaptation, especially in the nervous system. In other words, one set of five every day is better than five sets of five every five days.

 

It is even better if you chop up your daily workload into multiple sessions. Motor learning comrades know that while the total number of trials is important, the frequency of practice is even more critical than the total volume. Paul Anderson had it all figured out when he supersetted heavy triples in the squat with gallons of milk throughout the day. If you can swing it -all the power to you, people!

 

5. Exercise selection

 

Concentrate your gains on the snatch and the C&J, SQ-BP-DL, or any other few select lifts and forget assistance work! The synaptic facilitation approach is very powerful because it greases the specific groove of your pet feat. Additional exercises will just distract you from your purpose. I plan to expand on the cloudy issue of specificity of strength in a future article. For now, be a good Communist and show some blind faith!

 

The synaptic facilitation power plan can be summed up as lifting heavy weights as often as possible while staying 'fresh as a cucumber' (Russkies have a thing against daisies, you wouldn't understand). Contrary to what some snobby pantywaists believe, this heavy, high volume approach is not an iron fossil but one of the most scientific approaches to strength training there is. "Chain yourself to the squat rack and call me in a year." Words to live by.

 

# # #

 

 

Read about Clarence 'Ripped' Bass' experiment with the above method on http://cbass.com/Synaptic.htm. Learn more cutting edge strength building techniques in Pavel's books Power to the People!, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge, and Bullet-Proof Abs.

[RON JEREMY]

THAT TYPE O WORKOUT IS OK FOR RUSSIANS SINCE THEY GOT NO EMPLOYMENT N CAN SPEND DA WHOLE FREAKIN DAY IN DA HOME BEATIN UP DA WIFE N GOIN BACK N FORTH TO DA KITCHEN FOR A GULP O VODKA N A SET O BENCH PRESS.

 

(ACTUALLY, EHR, THAT SOUND LIKE ME)

 

WELL NEVER MIND, DA PROBLEM IS THAT IT TAKES YA FOREVER TO DO THAT TYPE O EXERCISE.

 

WEIGHT LIFTIN SHOULD REALY BE CONSIDERED LIKE A SUPPLEMENT TO OTHER TYPE O ACTIVITIES. DA WAY I DO IT IS, *VERY* SLOW. TRY TO BENCH PRESS SO SLOW THAT EACH REP TAKES YA EG 20 SECONDS, N TELL ME HOW *THAT* FEELS. DA ADVANTAGES ARE:

 

1)GENTLE ON TENDONS

2)HEAVY WORK ON MUSCLES - NO MOMMENTUM IS USED - YA WORK ALL ANGLES EQUALLY

 

SO I GUESS WHEN YA SAY *TONNAGE*, IT ALSO SHOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT DA TIME IT TAKES YA TO LIFT. DA LONGER IT TAKES YA TO LIFT A POUND, DA MORE WORK YA DO.

 

 

 

SO I DO FOR EACH EXERCISE 2-3 SETS O EXTRA SLOW REPS WITH ENNOUGH WEIGHT TO DO 8-12. I MAKE SURE I *FEEL* DA WEIGHT ALL DA WAY, N PUMP CHI INTO MY MERRIDIANS , THEN PERRAHPS STOP DA WEIGHT MID AIR N PULL SOME CHI UP FROM MY HUEVOS INTO MY PECS, THEN RESUME DA LIFT.

 

EACH TIME I HIT DA WEIGHT ROOM I DO ALL BODY, THEN I JOG, THEN I DO DA FUN PART WHICH IS SPARRIN ON DA RING. SPARRIN IS MUCH MORE INTELIGENT THAN WEIGHT LIFTIN OR ANY TYPE O SOLO EXERCISE. YA HAVE TO ENGAGE SOMEONE ELSE'S CHI N ANGER TO REALY TURN EXERCISE INTO SOMETHIN MORE EDDUCATIONAL.

IT IS ALSO A MOST HUMBLIN EXPERIENCE TO SPAR WITH A PRO BOXER N BE ABLE TO SMILE AFTER WARDS.

 

JUST MY 2 PESETAS

[Yoda]

I just learned on the HT forum that Trunk is a Xingyi practitioner and he lives in LA--you guys need to get together. You would rock at Xingyi, btw. Sounds like some pretty hardcore sparring--doesn't that burn up the ole jing, though? Let me know, I'm debating whether to encourage my 1.5 year old son to box.

 

Pavel's protocol is good for bodyweight stuff b/c you don't have to be in the weightroom all the time. It's the best way for low rep strength but is also good for higher rep stuff if you don't push too hard per session.

 

-Yoda

[RON JEREMY]

YO MASTER YODA, CANT YA COME UP WITH A BETTER WAY TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH SOMEONE THAN SMASHIN HIS NOSE??? OR PERRHAPS HE WILL KICK ME IN DA HUEVOS???

 

WHAT DA HELL IS XINGYI ANNYWAY???

 

YER 1.5 Y.O. SON IS DEFFINITELY TOO SMALL FOR ANY TYPE O SPORT SHORT O, PERRHAPS SWIMMIN. (OR IS THAT 15 YEARS OLD?)

 

SWIMMIN IS DA BEST SPORT FOR SMALL CHILDREN, I RECOMMEND THAT.

I DONT RECOMMEND REAL BOXIN UNLESS DA KID HAS A PASSION FOR IT.

 

HOWEVER, DA BOXIN WORKOUT IS TERRIFIC.

A GREAT, I MEAN GREAT SPORT IS MUAY THAI. CHECK OUT http://www.muaythai.com/

NOW IF I WAS A KID AGGAIN NOW I WOULD PROBABLY TAKE UP THAI BOXE.

YA CAN PRACTICE IT LIKE A SELF DEFFENSE MARTIAL ART, N IT'S GREAT. OR, YA CAN DO IT FOR REAL, BUT THEN DA SAME DAMAGES AS BOXIN N WORSE OCCUR, SO THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.

 

 

HOWEVER, MY OPPINION IS THAT THESE TYPES O SPORTS SHOULD BE CHOSEN BY DA KID HIMSELF IF HE FEELS ATTRACTED TO EM. IT'S MUCH BETTER TO SEND HIM TO SWIMMIN CLASS N PERHAPS TO A KARATE CLASS FOR KIDS. FOR A VERY SMALL CHILD, SWIMMIN WOULD BE DA CHOICE IF I HAD A KID.

 

BYE NOW

 

RJ

[Yoda]

Xingyichuan is the bad boy of the Chinese internal martial arts systems which includes Baguazhang and Taichi. Powerful, internal, explosive and edgy--totally your thing. Since Keith is doing it in your n'hood, you should get him to give you a backstage tour.

 

Check out emptyflower.com. The real masters like Wang Xiangzhai go beyond the styles and get their power from the bone magic/iron shirt/zhanzhang/white skeleton dimensions of the practice.

 

The way you are strength training is selling yourself short. Most fighters aren't very strong b/c they follow protocol & exercises designed for bodybuilding and you can't do too much of that b/c it takes too much energy from sparring. Pavel's material really is the answer with pavel pushups and pistols done throughout the day. Check out his book Naked Warrior if you are interested.

 

You and Keith need to do lunch!

 

-Yoda

[Pietro]

I learned a bit of Xing Yi from one of my teachers Frank Allen from NYC. Xing Yi tends to build up the ego. The philosopy behind it is:

"My Will Be Done!"

 

Totally the opposite of most spiritual systems.

 

I was (well) advised by Frank Allen never, ever, ever, for no reason, to mix Xing Yi with chastity practice. Each is edgy, but both would push anybody beyond the edge, and make of him "a blood thirsty assassin". One builds the ego, the second let you tap on enormous amount of jing.

 

Knowing you and your practice I must advise you NOT to practice it while following the current regime.

 

With love,

Pietro

[RON JEREMY]

With love,

Pietro

 

YO MAHAEJACULATOR, YO NO SOY UNA PECCORA!!!!!!!

 

BYE NOW

 

RONNIETSU TSU TSU

[Yoda]

Pietro, you are basically right... What you say is along the lines of my recent post on HT "Nothing is more powerful than ZZ"

 

But two things: 1. Ron's a freak--he can handle it and 2. Trunk endorses this teacher which means the guy has processed the tradition in a balanced manner.

 

Sadly, I don't think that Trunk and Ron will actually meet. Two big HT Immortals meeting in one place would be like in "Highlander". In the movie, they would meet in church to cool their jets, but I'm not certain that this would work today's world.

 

I'm willing to risk it, though.

 

-Yoda

[RON JEREMY]

TAO BUMS DONT NEED TO MEET PHYSICALLY IN ORDER TO GET IN TOUCH.

LET ME TELL YA, OVER DA HT BOARD OVER DA YEARS AT TIMES THERE HAVE BEEN PSYCHIC CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CERTAIN MEMBERS.

 

IN SPITE O OUR DIVERSITIES, ONE FEATURE WE TAO BUMS HAVE IN COMMON IS, WE WANNA LAST FOREVER. SO WE HAVE PLENTY O TIME, PLENTY O TIME, WE DONT RUSH, DONT GO OUTTA OUR WAY. THINGS HAPPEN WHEN THEY MUST.

 

RJ