Category: Strength
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Pavel Tsatsouline and training the nervous system
When I was younger, and before Amazon, I would go to Barnes and Noble Booksellers. These trips inevitably involved the purchase of three books. One such auspicious book was Power to the People by Pavel Tsatsouline. Here was a Russian dude in blue jeans with his shirt off, looking pretty hardcore and strong, but not…
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Weakness is a crime, the rise and fall of Bernarr MacFadden (plus his key health advice)
Following a reading of Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet by Mark Adams I’m offering below the essential dope on MacFadden. (Note that my experience with MacFadden goes back to 2010 when I found his “Vital Power” book amongst my grandpa’s personal library)…
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Pavel Tsatsouline on the Joe Rogan Experience
It was in 2003, just after I had drunkenly crashed my car into a telephone pole when I found Power to the People, by Pavel Tsatsouline. I was at a low point, for sure. And here is this confident Russian who came to America and was making a name for himself…and had some killer information.…
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The gurus speak: you must lift heavy weights to be manly…do you agree? I don’t.
Remember that psychology study where they put a bunch of people in a room and let smoke in the room? Thing is, one person doesn’t know it’s fake. Just one. Everyone else in the room is in on it. He’s looking around, panic building by the second. “Fire,” he says, but no one listens. “FIRE!”…
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Found myself moving some appliances today—this training saved the day
A friend needed some help getting old appliances out of the house. Found myself on the bottom side of the washer going up the basement stairs. The dude on top was pulling up with a dolly. On the last step, something happens. Who knows what. But the washer came falling into me and the other…
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Using lighter weights and still being stronger than you’ll ever need to be
Steve Maxwell told me that he’s never met an older dude who said that he wished he had lifted heavier when he was younger. It’s not how much weight you can lift – it’s how effectively can you use your body. To cement this idea, I created this video about getting kick-ass strong with the…
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Yard work, playing with kids, and a return of the Gout
Friday night. My parents took our 3.5 year-old and with one kid in tow we headed to what turned out to be an excellent Indian restaurant. We got the non-vegetarian meal not realizing there would be no vegetables whatsoever and just meat. It tasted great, but I felt a little gunky afterwards. Later that night…
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Instantly stronger with feed forward tension
I picked up on this technique from Pavel Tsatsouline’s Power to the People. Basically, you do the exercise without any weights and control the degree of muscular activation. By that I mean degree and quantity. For example, the barbell military press. You consider your foot position, your posture, your shoulder positioning, you’re driving your elbows…
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A good year of training – results with 60 minutes focused time per week
Looking back on the year I’m pleased with the training and productivity I’ve had. A big thing is that we moved beyond bad sleep, although Ruby is still prone to wake up 2 or 3 times per week at some early morning hour…like 1 AM. This is pretty terrible, to be honest. I’m not a…
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How fast do you need to progress?
I used to always increase the weight in my lifts. The problem is that muscles react fast, but tendons and ligaments don’t. So, inevitably one day I’d realize I’d done some damage and then I’d have an injury and have to recover. Gradually, over time, I’ve learned to dial this urge back. What’s the point…