Pavel Tsatsouline on the Science of Strength and the Art of Physical Performance | Tim Ferriss Show
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.
Whether you’ve heard of him or not, prepare to have your mind blown, and I don’t say that lightly 🙂 Enjoy!
Connect with Pavel Tsatsouline:
Like Pavel Tsatsouline on Facebook: / bestrongfirst
Follow Pavel Tsatsouline on Twitter: / bestrongfirst
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Pavel Tsatsouline on the Science of Strength and the Art of Physical Performance
Show Notes: tim.blog/2015/01/15/pavel-tsa...
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About Tim Ferriss:
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 200 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running.
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Start [00:00]
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]
Take 10 seconds and sign up for my free "5-Bullet Friday" newsletter: go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-yt/ Each Friday, you’ll get a short email from me with five things I've discovered that week, sending you off to your weekend with fun and useful things to ponder and try. 🙌
Why would any man wish for a 4 hour work week? I would be so depressed....
😊😊😊😊😊
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]
Rafał Grzesiakowski yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
you legend
My mans
LEGEND
Rafał Grzesiakowski thanks
This is still in the top five greatest episodes in the history of the Tim Ferriss Show
For future reference: 12:45 White knuckle/contract glutes & abs as tight as possible to amplify strength. 17:40 The four quadrants: Dan John. 21:50 When in doubt, train grip & core. 24:40 Developing the grip: hand grippers. 25:50 Grease the groove. 27:35 Training abs: 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps - 3x week of any good exercise, focus on contraction, plank no longer than 10 secs contracting everything below neck (3 sets of 10s, 3x week) 36:00 The hollow rock position 37:54 To be strong: 5 reps & under is key. 38:38 Avoid the fatigue & burn. 39:20 A training session or practice _not_ a "workout". It should be enjoyed. 1:16:25 Balance with priorities. Be calm and thus have time to meditate, reflect and set priorities. 1:31:25 Kettlebell: Simple & Sinister. 1:31:45 Prying goblet squat. 1:32:35 The three S's: use strength, find space, spread the load.
Thank you
You're a lifesaver. Thank you!
THANK YOU!
Great summary, nice work
I could listen to this a thousand times and still get something out of it. Exceptional
I agree. A lot to chew on. I'll be coming back to it as well.
StrongFirst: the School of Strength
Pretty much every podcast of Tim’s. ❤️
Thank you Pavel and Tim, very inspiring and motivating interview.
"Soundcheck. Breakfast. Coffee."
LiquidRush That was great.
"Strength is a Skill" THIS!!!
I Learned about Pavel when reading about GTG back in 2014. I could barely do 1 handstand pushup and I began doing 1 every hour on the hour for 5-7 hours...after a couple of weeks I could do 2,3 and so on and ended with 10 handstand pushups just over 4 weeks. I use this technique to help my military students get better at pushups or pull-ups. Love it. Thank you Pavel!
Great share.
Did you see any noticeable changes in the muscle size?
@@enlighten92 some but not a lot. If I was a male I’d probably see a bigger increase in muscle size. Mainly was a bit more definition for me
You knew this shit was going to be intense when Tim asked to tell him about his breakfast and Pavel replied, “Coffee”.
The idea of more sets with perfect form makes great sense. Its hard to put the ego to the side and mentally accept lifting with control rather than raw will
Got my first Kettlebell 20 years ago because of this guy. Pavel still kicks ass to this day.
i could do a max of 15 pushups, then i did the greasing the groove technique, so i did 5 pushups at normal speed, and i did about 4-5 sets through out the day with about a 2 hour gap in between sets. I was able to increase my max to 25 pushups after 3 weeks, its an amazing technique that doesn't even tire you out.
Your insecure masculinity and need to put positive people down is disgusting, Paul
i do a different method as im trying to get back to my 92 pushups again. right now i can do about 85 push ups. what i do is one set as fast as possible in a explosive manner and get my 85 reps then i do 7 sets of 20-33 reps depending on how fresh i feel. i do this on tuseday and friday. i went from just 60 pushups to 85 in a matter of weeks. now im at 85 though i plateaued for a while and took a reduced workout for recvery whilst still greasing the groove. my goal is to pass my 92 pushups of pain and get to 100. once i reach 100 then i will add 10lbs on a vest and start back at 60 even if i can do more. then build back up again. i feel if i can get 100 push ups with a 10lb then i will be a bad ass lol. one thing i will say is it becomes a matter of cardio once you pass just about 50 reps and the pain really kicks in to overdrive. oh and before you do that first all out demanding set warm your shoulders up as you will not be able to explode or just get injured.
@golden child I was doing 50 rep sets of finger pushups as a 7 year old. Weakling.
@golden child Knuckle ups are easy.
BroToPro how you warm up your shoulder?
35:30 Pullup repetition increase Tighten abs Master Hollow position Strengthen grip Assisted repetition 3 times a week 3 sets 3-5 reps Avoid the burn
This guy is a master. The idea of greasing the groove, doing something every you walk past a bar or kettle bell. This works so well to anyones fitness.
For what? What's the point of just getting stronger without size. Look at him, he looks like a skinny high school teacher. Maybe he can bench press 350-400 pounds but isn't that pretty pointless, and has no carry over to real life?
@@bigbaba4542 To be able to lift things, have endurance, and age well. That has always been the purpose of strength.
45:57 The training to failure misconception 47:55 Superiority of USSR training & Universality of principle based training: applicability to powerlifting and calisthenics. 49:00 Maximal hypertrophy, lots of 5 & 6 reps sets, with 60-70% 1RM (5@6-10RIR, 6@5-9RIR), and contracted rest periods (
thanks so much
Thank you
Thank you brother y really have a gd heart.
Thank you.
Easily one of the best podcast ever. Period.
Dude, this episode is a diamond cut, if you don't watch it, you're missing out on extremely valuable information. Kudos to Tim and Pavel for sharing
Squeezing your fist for the spill over tension thing had me sold.
Pavel mentioned his playlist is 80s HeavyMetal - ACCEPT, Maiden, Saxon. . On top of the wealth of knowledge with training , this man is a win in my book. Don't mind me - just strolling by after hearing him on Rogan's podcast. .
pavels awesome more sets less reps. This will help me heaps. I am self taught from reading and wathching pavels Enter the kettlebell.I have restarted my kettlebell training and your interview with pavel has reminded me the importance of my sets and reps. Grip. Tight abs and Butt is also true for extra reps and power. Awesome interview thanks from Darwin.Australia.
The segment about what Americans and Soviets can learn from each other was very refreshing. I loved Pavel's take on this without using any hyperbole
I can't stand how much Tim fumbles around for words. He's a smart dude... Just take an extra second to figure it out instead of spitting out the beginning of 6 different words before finding the right one... On the other hand I could listen to Pavel all day.
Tony P. I 100% agree and Pavel is in his third language.
very wise words about what americans can learn from other cultures. I needed to hear that. Thanks Tim and Pavel
kettlebell swing and deadlift are both great for longetivity. Great i will always remember this advice and pass it onto anyone that wants a good long strong healthy life. Thanks again for this interview you have with pavel.
Such an amazing interview but the last 10 minutes were extra special. Pavel is not only a very gifted man but he is also obviously a quite virtuous one as well. I was very impressed by his humility & wisdom.
Coffee. Didn't mention if it was a drink, or eaten like a bowl of cereal! Legend!
I loved listening to both of you! Thank you!
This was awesome Thank You Pavel and Tim!
27:35 How to strengthen abdomen 3 times a week 3-5 sets 3-5 reps Plank 3 x 10 sec flexing every muscle below the neck Focus on contraction and tension
And wait at least 15 minutes between sets if I remember correctly?
@@haveaniceday7950 yes
this pavel guy is amazing this stretching advice was just spot on he is indeed the man
Thanx Tim and Pavel for the knowledge to think about, i used this pod to train en before i go to sleep👌🏽👊🏽
This is great. I'm going to have to relisten to get all the great information. But can't wait to begin white knuckling and flexing the core.
Pavel was much more congenial than I expected. Greatest quote, “Oversharing is one of the problems of the modern world.” I like it that Pavel shared so much in this podcast. He is famous for turning what most experts would share in paragraph into a fluffy $26 book. He must be a millionaire many times over. Happy for him.
Well done. Both of you. Very informative.
I see a podcast with Pablo, I click like !
Pablo is da man-no, yesh!
Great interview all around, but the best part starts with the question at 1:42:56. Pavel's response is so well rounded and wise.
This is fantastic. Thank you for the conversation.
thanks a ton for sharing all this amazing info
The magnificent seven is also my favorite movie! I love that each of the seven has a different personality, a different set of character traits (negative & positive) The idea of bravery, personal sacrifice, teamwork, depending on each other to accomplish a shared goal - for good to concrete evil & rescue the oppressed. It's a great demonstration of masculinity, encouraging each other in bravery, to overcome personal fears, to selflessly bless & protect others.
Great questions !!!
Thank you for this!
A great interview with someone really worth listening to👍
Pavel is extremely clear and persuasive. I haven’t listened to a lot of strength trainers, but Pavel is by far my biggest inspiration at the moment. Today I do 60 swings (standard weight) and 100 squats (at light weight) based on his philosophy of volume and functional training.
Great podcast! Thanks for sharing.
such great lessons - thank you!
Soundcheck. Coffee. I love this guy.
Same same when it came to swimming for me. Total Immersion had exactly the same effect on my love of moving through the water. Around the same decade too.
Excellent interview.
32:00 - I never thought about it like this, but for a while I had a pull-up bar in the middle of my place and used to do a few every time I walked by and I was able to do way more than now. Interesting.
Lots of great information here.
I got my son a pull up bar,one rule= do one strict pull up all the way up chest touch bar, pause lower,has to do one every time he walks passed the bar no exceptions, it's outside his bedroom door,now he is ripped like Bruce Lee and can do 58 strict
xcllent idea. Its good to have fathers that can give their sons advantages for their future.
+deltatoofow get him to work on his squat, kids lose it overtime from sitting/lack of use. search ido portal squat 30/30
mattstazza Thats funny you mentioned Ido because i have been following connor mcgregor ufc and he got Ido to teach him fluid body movements. Yes Ido is an incredible master of body movements for sure and strength for longevity.
Farther's should also do it to :)
Luv the idea...my son will be starting this weekend. Tnx!
Amazing conversation!
This is gold
Reminds me Arnold's training in Germany where he had to pace himself by not going to failure to early... they expected him to train all day in the military
Awesomeness
Increased my pushups from failing at 20 to knocking out 30 well before failure within a week. Crazy.
What was your program? How did you do it?
@@incorectulpolitic pushups every time I went to the bathroom at work or every time I went to get a drink in the kitchen at home etc. Not to failure, just enough to feel that you're getting close to failure. Maybe 6 reps before. Did same with pull-ups and went from 6-8 to 12-15 within a month
@@naikhanomtom7552 so basically you did a set of 12- 14 reps of push-ups followed by a set of 2- 3 reps of pull-ups every 2- 3 hours, every day?
@@incorectulpolitic listen to the interview d%mb fu#k
Pavel and Tim are amazing 👏
This was absolutely awesome. I now have a new influence and lots of reading to do!
Such a Technical Podcast. Would have loved to see Pavel give video examples of some of these movements
That was fantastic!
This is GOLD
Totally new to this world...this is fascinating. *order grippers from Ironmind*
Joe Rogan brought me here.
I think he brought everyone here. ~ReyRey
fuck joe rogan
@Conspiracies by Hans 4 Come on man, sheep can't use the internets, don't be a douche Rogan kinda brought me here too, I'm interested to see how this lines up against Jeff Cavaliere's strength concepts.... baaaaa
This is a much better episode than Rogan’s is.
Pronounced "ZOE HOGAN"!
Some usefull stuff. Thanks.
Brilliant man.
Can we get a transcript of this for deaf and hard of hearing? The auto captions are horrible.
Well it's been 4 years, but for the hard of hearing, deaf, or non-english speaking people who may still look for it, there's a transcript on Tim's website : tim.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/55-pavel-tsatsouline.pdf There are transcripts for all the episodes.
@@rayantraceur qqqqq
@@rayantraceur wow, thank you!
Only just found out about Pavel. He has interesting to study.
He's the man!
Hydrogen ions and lactic acid are not identical but their effects will be the same. Acids produce free hydrogen ions in water (blood). So lactic acid will produce hydrogen ions. It's talked about at 01:04:00.
My experience with GTG - I used to be able to do 10 HSPU on the floor with ease at a bodyweight of 77KG, 15 when pushing to limit, and around 6 full ROM. around ten years ago. Over the years injuries and two big shoulder injuries didn't allow me to do them and recently it's been hard to get them back. within 3 weeks of greasing the groove I went from 1 on my warmup (harder now weighing 85kg) to doing sets of 5. Not much and haven't tested max but will go till I reach 7-8 then start doing FULL ROM. I find also if I eat a big meal of carbs such as pasta I don't get a crash, assuming that my muscle is constantly trying to absorb glucose to refuel.
Mehmetron how many it is now ?
"Not to over communicate".. brilliant. Quality not quantity communication? Much like his training sessions?
Surprised he didn't mention jaw clenching to increase power, along with glutes and abs. As a ground fighter you're not always in a position where an ab or glute squeeze is possible, but I've increased my power tremendously by learning to clench my jaw when necessary and feeling the power migrate to the whole body just as he described.
Incredible interview.
Did I miss the part where they were going to cover tricks to eating more food without fatigue?
Pavel is the man - true performance training scientist right here! Strength and health first...all of the meatheads our there who look like they should be wearing a Bane mask are ‘strongly’ misguided! (Ego lifting) P.S. love how he reads a newspaper in the AM vs. going on the Internet, such a contrarian.
Im here because of your book and the coffee sound check😂😂😂
39:05. So many people get this wrong. Lift heavy get bulky, go light to get lean. Wrong.
26:00 where he's talking about greasing the groove, how many times a day do you do so?
I do 20 push ups at a time. Every hour of the day. For around 15 Sets a day. Gonna start implementing 5 pull ups and 20 sit ups as well, every hour a day for 15 Sets.
What happened?
He died
What happened?
Anyone reading TFT? and had to hear the "Sound check. Breakfast. Coffee". Lol
Tim Murphy me too
Tim Murphy Yep. GREAT book.
Hahaha same
Jaja me too
what book is that one, TFT?
Can super setting different muscle groups be effectively used in conjunction with the grease-the-groove technique? For instance, does it work do a set of push ups immediately followed by a set of pull ups, then rest for 15 minutes before repeating multiple times? Or, should only single sets be used?
Thank you for guiding me here Joe Rogan
*Pavels hypothesis on the science behind hypertrophy is EXACTLY WHAT INMATES DO IN PRISON TO GET BIG AS FUCK, I have a bunch of mechanic friends to take care of my bikes and some of them are huge inmates* They do it every other day for each muscle group, but they do 2-3 sessions a day, and these guys eat a minimum of a kilo of carbs a day, that's the macro. They do an exercise they can do 10-30 reps with non stop before failure, resting more than a second between reps in a set DOES NOT COUNT, perfect form. They do half their maximum reps on each set which is the *rep goal*, 1-2 minutes between sets, they keep doing sets until they REACH THAT SET where they fail before reaching that rep goal. Every 3-4 weeks they would do a set to failure to see if they have increased their max reps. Then they would set the new *rep goal* per set based on that new max. They train each body part every other day, so basically upper body pressing, upper body pulling, and pistol squats. However they do those squats only twice a week. Squats are harder to recover from because we humans walk around all day everyday, legs get minimal rest. Exercises they use are push up variations(diamond push ups, archer push ups, one arm push up feet shoulder width, one arm one leg push ups, deep handstand push ups, archer handstand push ups and I have heard some can also do one arm deep handstand push ups).... And obviously, the feet elevated variations of all push up variations to fail before reaching 50 nonstop reps. For pulling they do kipping pull ups, strict pull ups, archer pull ups, negative one arm pull ups, one arm pull ups...... Guys I know have 21 inch arms with flat abs, everyone is 250-260lbs. Now, according to them, there are lots of guys who got 20 inch guns from one arm push ups alone, also there are lots of them who can do one arm pull ups and one arm one leg push ups for 50+ reps but their arms are below 20 inches. According to them everything depends upon how heavy some one is, a 270lbs guy who can do 25 pull ups will be far more ripped and jacked than the guy who is 160lbs and can do 50 pull ups... But yeah, volume is key, volume is money, I have been doing this with pronated dips and chin ups and put on 5lbs of lean mass in 4 weeks..... *THATS A LOT* Like Pavel says, forget about the number of sets, just keep doing them, recover between sessions, you will get big if you eat enough.
What steroids do they inject?
Tim, this guy is a Bad Ass, I have been a security officer in a past life. I have worked with some of the most bad ass marines in the world and this group you speak of the "Spetnaz" is serous and highly regarded as some of the best in the world. Way to go on getting this guy on your show. 🏳🏳🚫Don't have him practice any moves on you bro!! It's not like the UFC, there is no option to tap out!!🛇🏳🏳 🍻Cheers to bring on the deadliest guest on your show🍻
Took me 3 weeks of consistent work after herring this, but I got my suspended side splits.
Does anyone know who are the Russian strength coaches that Pavel mentions in this podcast? I would like to read more about their methods.
+40BelowTr00per I've heard of verkoshansky but not the other guy. I wish someone could translate his stuff
20:23 Max SHANK I think you mean Tim ??
51:44 💪
This method would probably work when you try to overcome a old injury?
pearl after pearl :)
Very well said...Las Vegas version of America
Does Pavel still speak on his system? Or is all his works still practical?
Somebody know what number is this podcast on Spotify??
how to spell the two russian names of trainers that pavel mentions?? sounds like prochavskava and tsilianov or something like this??
60-70%1RM with sets of 5-6 reps? 60%1RM with 5RM is 5@10RIR! And 9RIR with 6 rep sets! That's really light!
boxerfencer it works tho. He really focuses on technique. I can attest to his training. It’s a bit of a what the F**** factor. Because you go for a 2 or 1 RM and it’s far exceeding of expectations.
@@jonathanerickson1543 oh, I can believe it.
Most of you will ignore Pavel, few will truly grasp the power he speaks of
can we please get video?
1:25:40 does anyone know if Pavel ended up publishing this book?
What is the name Pavel says at 57:03?