This episode was a real treat. It was one of the most enlightening and lucid conversations about physical training I’ve ever had.  If you want strength, power, endurance, and flexibility, it’s all covered in this one interview.

Pavel Tsatsouline is Chairman of StrongFirst, Inc. and was born in Minsk, USSR, which is now part of Belarus.

In the 1980s, he was a physical-training instructor for Spetnaz, the elite Soviet special-forces units. Pavel is now a subject matter expert to the US Marine Corps, the US Secret Service, and the US Navy SEALs. He is widely credited with introducing the now ubiquitous kettlebell to the United States.

Over the last several years, Pavel has become a friend, and his input was critical to the success (and experiments) of The 4-Hour Body.  His massively popular post on 80/20 Powerlifting and How to Add 110+ Pounds to Your Lifts appears on this blog.

Whether you’ve heard of him or not, prepare to have your mind blown, and I don’t say that lightly :)  Enjoy!

Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
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This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What’s the most valuable exercise tip you’ve ever received or learned? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Enjoy!

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Selected Links from the Episode

Learn more about StrongFirst
Kettlebell: Simple and Sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Deadlift Dynamite by Pavel Tsatsouline and Andy Bolton
Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel Tsatsouline
Learn more about The Four Quadrants by Dan John
Pick up some Captains of Crush grippers from Iron Mind
Hard Style Abs by Pavel Tsatsouline
The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline
Learn more about Tim’s suggested writing software – Scrivener
Learn more about Dr. Mark Cheng and the Turkish getup
The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
The trailer for Pavel’s favorite movie – The Magnificent Seven
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Show Notes

How Pavel and Tim first came in contact [1:00]
How others define Pavel as “world-class” [2:00]
Considerations for designing training for top performers [5:00]
The biggest misconceptions about Pavel Tsatsouline [11:25]
When in doubt, what’s the minimum you should train? [18:00]
How to train “grease to groove” [21:15]
Approaching training as a practice [35:45]
Prioritizing skills that lead to strength [39:20]
The most counter-productive myths about strength training [42:20]
Pavel’s hypothesis for the science behind hypertrophy [48:30]
What is preventing new powerlifting records? [1:02:00]
Deadlifts, kettlebells, and the most common mistakes with both [1:10:00]
Morning rituals [1:13:50]
Most frequently played music [1:16:50]
Pavel’s writing mechanics [1:18:05]
Current professional improvement endeavors [1:21:30]
Mobility, flexibility, and the goal of full side splits [1:22:45]
On the malfunction of over-sharing [1:39:00]
What Americans can learn from former Soviet culture [1:40:20]
Mitigating distractions [1:48:40]

People Mentioned

Andy Bolton
Dan John
Ed Coan
Konstantin Konstantinovs
Dmitry Klokov