all posts post new thread

Other/Mixed Favorite book by Pavel and favorite by Dan John?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Zeohawk

Level 1 Valued Member
I am namely curious about Super Joints and Intervention, but I'm curious which books of theirs are your favorites? I currently have ETK, S&S, PTTP, and Never Let Go (which I haven't gotten to read yet). It seems like Dan John's books are more for coaches and trainers from what I can tell.
 
I couldn't pick a favorite from Pavel. My favorite routine is S&S, but there's gold in every of them, you just need to read very carefully to find it as it's sometimes hidden in a single sentence that you don't really pay much attention to until you read the book for the third or fourth time.
My favorite from Dan is definitely Intervention. I already said it in a thread 2 years ago. This book changed the way I approach a lot of things. The "traffic light" and the balance (work to play etc.) he mentions in Intervention are good guidelines for life, not just training.
 
Hello,

@Zeohawk
Welcome on StrongFirst !

I really like
- Power to the People
- The Naked Warrior
- Simple & Sinister

In addition to the programs they contain, they also are full of principles you can use everywhere else (full tension, number of sets / reps in function of the goal, etc...)

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Overall, I'd say Naked Warrior.

The tension and breathing chapters in Naked Warrior are broadly applicable, and the drills can be done anywhere with no equipment, and can be worked up to full form.

Tension and power breathing are quintessential Pavel, and NW covers it well. S&S covers it too in the application of the principals to the kettlebell, but NW is the principles at their most "raw".
 
Overall, I'd say Naked Warrior.

The tension and breathing chapters in Naked Warrior are broadly applicable, and the drills can be done anywhere with no equipment, and can be worked up to full form.

Tension and power breathing are quintessential Pavel, and NW covers it well. S&S covers it too in the application of the principals to the kettlebell, but NW is the principles at their most "raw".


He seems to go into this in Power to the People, I'm reading it now. Is it much different or more detail in Naked Warrior?
 
One of my favorite books by Pavel that doesn't get hardly any mention on this site is Beyond Bodybuilding. Once you get past the illustrations of the guy in flip flops doing the movements, it is one of the best all around training books you can find. Definitely not an instruction book on learning the lifts but more of a programming book and how to properly setup routines for different reasons.

Favorite book by Dan John is "Never Let Go" mostly because it was just a good read. I definitely want to read "Intervention" very soon.
 
My favorite from Pavel is the one not released yet.

I couldn't pick a favorite from Pavel. My favorite routine is S&S, but there's gold in every of them, you just need to read very carefully to find it as it's sometimes hidden in a single sentence that you don't really pay much attention to until you read the book for the third or fourth time.
absolutely.

I am a proud owner of S&S hardcover since a few days apart from the kindle version I have on my kindle app, for I can almost say "for years". I really love to rereread a paragraph before turning of the lights to fall into sleep. I spent so much time with the swing and get up, the get up and currently the snatch. There is so much in it. It gives me currently so much to think about, as I would say it gives me all the programming I will ever need. I don't really know what zen is, but this is zen of the kettlebell.

With Dan from Never let go to...Easy Strength with Pavel. I always like Dan's (self)humour and abundance of experience condensed to down to earth advice: simple, but not easy...
 
Easy Strength was the intro for me into Dan's quadrants which is then further explored in Interventions. On reading the genial quadrant idea I self diagnosed myself as a quadrant 2. I had been there ever since, well, ever. Now at 53, when I read it maybe 50, I overspent my time there by 25 years. I'm now fully camped in quadrant 3. Priceless advice. There can be no other thing in my training/sports/fitness life and experience that has made such an impact. Coinciding with this knowledge provided by Dan with Pavel's S&S....a quadrant 3 lurker....I'm with @Harald Motz, Easy strength and S&S, both huge game changing books for me. And due to the quadrants, Dan's Interventions.
 
power to the people. simple and sinister came in second- i kinda miss the comrade things
 
Tough question!

For Pavel I'd find it hard to choose between Beyond Bodybuilding, the Naked Warrior and Easy Strength. Forced to pick one I'd say Beyond Bodybuilding as I like the inclusion of calisthenics programming.


For Dan John I'd say Intervention.

Every sentence, article and book either of these two share is worth paying attention to in my experience. Much gold to be found.





I am namely curious about Super Joints and Intervention, but I'm curious which books of theirs are your favorites? I currently have ETK, S&S, PTTP, and Never Let Go (which I haven't gotten to read yet). It seems like Dan John's books are more for coaches and trainers from what I can tell.
 
He seems to go into this in Power to the People, I'm reading it now. Is it much different or more detail in Naked Warrior?
I believe it is more in-depth in Naked Warrior. PTTP is more polemical ("fighting" the prevailing notions of strength, bodybuilding, etc.), NW is more of a discourse.
 
When it comes to Pavel, I think Naked Warrior is my favourite. Not because of the bodyweight program, but because the book really lays down the simple essentials to strength training. GTG, freshness, frequency, intensity, etc. I like all of his books, and the thread of what is optimal strength training is reinforced from different angles from each of the books.

I haven't read enough of Dan Johns books to pick a favourite.
 
Favorite book by Pavel and favorite by Dan John?

I read them all. Hard to choose - but the one that started it all for me was The Naked Warrior. And guess what - years later I had the honour to write a foreword to the Czech edition! Blessed!

nahy-bojovnik-pavel-tsatsouline.jpg
 
Simple and Sinister changed my life for much the better. That's a real masterpiece of fitness writing. Amazing!
 
It is hard to say for Pavel's book. S&S and power to the people were both very good, but I think I will actually put Enter the Kettlebell above them. A push and a pull, a grind and a ballistic, strength and conditioning written over 10 years ago in a convenient 3 days a week program using just 1-2 kettlebells, and it's still awesome to this day. I absolutely love the press programming in particular from this book.

As for Dan John, intervention!

But basically anything by Pavel and Dan John is excellent.
 
Pavel: Power to the People. It started me down this road and delivered precisely what it promised. This book instilled my faith in Pavel and his principles.

Dan John: Intervention. The best organized and most direct of his superbly organized and direct books. Coach John clearly points out the forest for those of us who aren't seeing it for the trees....
 
Last edited:
@Zeohawk : Welcome to the forum :)
I like S&S best, followed by Super Joints and, to put another author in the light, Jon Engum's Flexible Steel.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom