all posts post new thread

Repeat Until Strong.

Today's photo and Report

2135676042491820953_1048264045.jpg

- Few Hindu pushups in the morning (total # of reps = my age) and Hindu squats (double my age), daily.⁣⁣⁣⁣ Not much (yet). ⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣- Simple & Sinister (15 goblet squats, 100 swings and 10 get-ups) 3x a week. Relatively heavy (40 and 48 kg kettlebells). ⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣- Intermittent fasting and low carb/Keto “diet” - eating once or twice a day, usually 16 hours fasting, 8 hours feeding (A LOT), and occasional 3 days fasts - heavy strength training included.⁣⁣

⁣- 8+ hours of sleep (well, occasionally “intermittent sleeping”/VERY early furry alarm clock, thank you kitties!)⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣Simple stuff works - well, it simplifies the exercise, lifestyle, and life a lot.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣


⁣⁣⁣⁣- Oh, and I forgot: ⁣⁣⁣Black clothes only - and a tactical haircut. [Cat hair everywhere.]⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
 
Today's photo and Report

View attachment 9087

- Few Hindu pushups in the morning (total # of reps = my age) and Hindu squats (double my age), daily.⁣⁣⁣⁣ Not much (yet). ⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣- Simple & Sinister (15 goblet squats, 100 swings and 10 get-ups) 3x a week. Relatively heavy (40 and 48 kg kettlebells). ⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣- Intermittent fasting and low carb/Keto “diet” - eating once or twice a day, usually 16 hours fasting, 8 hours feeding (A LOT), and occasional 3 days fasts - heavy strength training included.⁣⁣

⁣- 8+ hours of sleep (well, occasionally “intermittent sleeping”/VERY early furry alarm clock, thank you kitties!)⁣

⁣⁣⁣⁣Simple stuff works - well, it simplifies the exercise, lifestyle, and life a lot.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣


⁣⁣⁣⁣- Oh, and I forgot: ⁣⁣⁣Black clothes only - and a tactical haircut. [Cat hair everywhere.]⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
Pavel - this is inspired. Except for the cat (allergies).

Some questions. Do you do the Hindu squats in prescribed ‘baithak’ form or as a flatfoot air squat? Either way - what is the rationale for goblet squats with daily high rep body weight squats?
 
Pavel - this is inspired. Except for the cat (allergies).

Some questions. Do you do the Hindu squats in prescribed ‘baithak’ form or as a flatfoot air squat? Either way - what is the rationale for goblet squats with daily high rep body weight squats?

Yes, I do them as traditional baithaks - I am doing weighted Hack Squats on my variety days. Baithaks are a nice, flowing movement variation. In both exercises, the load is more on the quads - I use them as (p)rehab of an old knee injury. HSQ progressions helped we tremendously in my torn MCL rehab. So - not a strength training, but movement/mobility/rehab/prehab/antifragility.

GSQ - I do just S&S minimum effective dose, 3 sets of five, mostly with 48 kg right now.
 
Yes, very similarly - not so high cadence though, and maintaining a bit more upright posture.
I was waiting for Pavel’s reply, but he reflected my opinion. Typically I would expect a slightly more upright torso. I’ve read a wrestler would most often use a cadence of between 60 and 80 per minute in sets of between 60 and 100 (obviously the overall load depends on individual adaptation and there is a lot of variation).

But the video gives a good indication of what I think of in terms of form. If I could nitpick I’d say more upright. But note the slight forward jump onto the balls of feet, deep knee bend, fluid motion and cadence. Impressive.
 
Mr Pavel, what do you think about bent press like RSAS (sets/reps), after Q&D session (snatches) ?

I think perfect! (sets/reps/waving the volume, as specified in RSAS).
 
Hello,

@Pavel Macek
I read the last Aleks Salkin's article on SF. You can find a copy below:


"Wanna ratchet up your upper body strength quickly and simply?

Believe it or not, standard pushups will also work wonders at building up serious upper body power.

My friend and StrongFirst Team Leader Jody Beasley told me several years ago that after putting heavy military pressing to the side due to shoulder issues and generally feeling burnt out, he began doing high-rep pushups daily - sometimes to the tune of hundreds a day.

One day, he walked into his gym first thing in the morning and military pressed the Beast, a 48 kg (106 lb) kettlebell with zero warm up – something that would have been impossible before.

Why did this happen?

Because high rep pushups help

1) Strengthen your connective tissues (ligaments, tendons, etc.)

2) Recruit your slow-twitch muscle fibers (something 1-5 rep sets are not as great at doing)

3) Build quality, real-world muscle

4) Strengthen your movement patterns, so you get more effective and efficient at them.

Pretty cool, huh?

Test these out over the next few weeks and watch what happens to your military press. You might be…im-PRESS-ed with your new strength gains!

Okay, I’ll stop making dad jokes now.

Oh, and before I forget: are you on my email list yet? If not, what are you thinking, man?!

My email list is where all my top-shelf, grade A info goes out on the daily - NOT on social media.

In my daily emails, I'll show-and-tell my favorite tried-and-true methods for getting stronger, fitter, and healthier at home - no gym and no hour-long workouts required.

Plus, you'll get access to all my programs, challenges, courses, guides, and other no BS materials to help you get stronger, fitter, and healthier the fastest and simplest way possible (though not easy - nothing worth doing will ever be easy)

Click here to climb aboard (and get my free 8-week kettlebell and bodyweight challenge to boot)

==> https://alekssalkin.leadpages.co/8weekchallenge/

Have fun and happy training!

Aleks Salkin"

Beasly wrote a while ago the Following article
Strength in Numbers: A Case for Push-up Endurance Training | StrongFirst

Then, based on your experience, do you know if we can use the same logic for squats ? Or if there is some kind of "ratio" between push ups and squats ? (for instance if I do 100 push ups, I do 300 squats)

Thanks again for all your work and congrats for your recent results about S&S ! :)

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Hello,

@Pavel Macek
I read the last Aleks Salkin's article on SF. You can find a copy below:


"Wanna ratchet up your upper body strength quickly and simply?

Believe it or not, standard pushups will also work wonders at building up serious upper body power.

My friend and StrongFirst Team Leader Jody Beasley told me several years ago that after putting heavy military pressing to the side due to shoulder issues and generally feeling burnt out, he began doing high-rep pushups daily - sometimes to the tune of hundreds a day.

One day, he walked into his gym first thing in the morning and military pressed the Beast, a 48 kg (106 lb) kettlebell with zero warm up – something that would have been impossible before.

Why did this happen?

Because high rep pushups help

1) Strengthen your connective tissues (ligaments, tendons, etc.)

2) Recruit your slow-twitch muscle fibers (something 1-5 rep sets are not as great at doing)

3) Build quality, real-world muscle

4) Strengthen your movement patterns, so you get more effective and efficient at them.

Pretty cool, huh?

Test these out over the next few weeks and watch what happens to your military press. You might be…im-PRESS-ed with your new strength gains!

Okay, I’ll stop making dad jokes now.

Oh, and before I forget: are you on my email list yet? If not, what are you thinking, man?!

My email list is where all my top-shelf, grade A info goes out on the daily - NOT on social media.

In my daily emails, I'll show-and-tell my favorite tried-and-true methods for getting stronger, fitter, and healthier at home - no gym and no hour-long workouts required.

Plus, you'll get access to all my programs, challenges, courses, guides, and other no BS materials to help you get stronger, fitter, and healthier the fastest and simplest way possible (though not easy - nothing worth doing will ever be easy)

Click here to climb aboard (and get my free 8-week kettlebell and bodyweight challenge to boot)

==> https://alekssalkin.leadpages.co/8weekchallenge/

Have fun and happy training!

Aleks Salkin"

Beasly wrote a while ago the Following article
Strength in Numbers: A Case for Push-up Endurance Training | StrongFirst

Then, based on your experience, do you know if we can use the same logic for squats ? Or if there is some kind of "ratio" between push ups and squats ? (for instance if I do 100 push ups, I do 300 squats)

Thanks again for all your work and congrats for your recent results about S&S ! :)

Kind regards,

Pet'

Pet',

Please repeat the question - I don't understand the question (and/or the connection with Aleks' article), thank you.
 
Hello,

Beasly and Salkin talk about relatively high repetition training in their articles.

Beasley did abuot 300 push ups a day and noticed some gains in terms of strength and endurance. So to notice the same kind of gains, but for leg, what number of squats should one do ?

For instance, if I notice gains with 300 push ups, will I also notice the same kind of gains with 600 squats (so 1:2 ratio)

Thank you ! :)

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Pet',

I can't answer the question - I don't do any type of high rep pushups/squats (just 43 pushups and 86 squats to be precise, divided to roughly 4 sets), and certainly not for strength or endurance.

As for the squats total reps I just follow a recommendation of old Indian wrestling resources where they recommend to do twice as many squats than pushups.
 
The Great Gama was a noted wrestler in the early 1900’s who was reputed to be immensely strong and practiced traditional Indian exercises using body weight or relatively light weight for extraordinarily high reps. Dands and baithaks were two of his main exercises. He also used relatively heavy maces and other movements.

And I believe he was strong. But. Specificity Rules. If strength is the goal ‘power to the people’ is more efficient than high rep body weight movements. Yes, the Great Gama was strong. But he also wrestled - resistance training against heavy, strong people. You have to look at the total package.
 
The Great Gama was a noted wrestler in the early 1900’s who was reputed to be immensely strong and practiced traditional Indian exercises using body weight or relatively light weight for extraordinarily high reps. Dands and baithaks were two of his main exercises. He also used relatively heavy maces and other movements.

And I believe he was strong. But. Specificity Rules. If strength is the goal ‘power to the people’ is more efficient than high rep body weight movements. Yes, the Great Gama was strong. But he also wrestled - resistance training against heavy, strong people. You have to look at the total package.

I would another factor to think of: time investment and return. It is said Great Gama did squats and pushups for hours (!), plus lifted stones, trained with the mace, and wrestled.

High rep stuff imho has its place in the training - but mainly as rehab/rehab (connective tissue, joints, ligaments, etc.). Strength, endurance? We have better ways to develop them - with way less time investment - and way less burn.
 
I would another factor to think of: time investment and return. It is said Great Gama did squats and pushups for hours (!), plus lifted stones, trained with the mace, and wrestled.

High rep stuff imho has its place in the training - but mainly as rehab/rehab (connective tissue, joints, ligaments, etc.). Strength, endurance? We have better ways to develop them - with way less time investment - and way less burn.
Case in point - the programming of Pavel Macek. I really think it is a brilliant application.

Overall movement/skill development is in Hung Kyun, which he teaches in conjunction with MMA. So this is a ‘hardman’ in Pavel Tsatsouline’s words. He has to use technique and skill in a fluid and challenging environment. Strength, power, endurance and skill all come into play.

So he uses a super-efficient program - Simple & Sinister - to develop more strength, power and endurance. High payback - low cost. And sticks with what works.

But being a ‘hardman’ places demands and challenges his health - in particular joint health. So he prescribes SuperJoints and expands on the concept with ‘Resilient’. Hangs, getups, bridges, Jefferson curls, hack squats - building strength and range of motion - efficient and effective.

Now he adds in dands and baithaks. Not to build strength or endurance - that is simple and sinister. This is more resilient, focusing on tendons and ligaments health by performing higher reps. Avoiding the acid bath of hundreds of reps, but performing a sufficiently high rep count to rehab his injured MCL and injury proof his ankles, knees, hips, spine and shoulders.

Pavel has a simple and elegant structure that is hyper effective. His application of StrongFirst principles and framework is as close to flawless as is humanly possible, in my opinion.
 
Case in point - the programming of Pavel Macek. I really think it is a brilliant application.

Overall movement/skill development is in Hung Kyun, which he teaches in conjunction with MMA. So this is a ‘hardman’ in Pavel Tsatsouline’s words. He has to use technique and skill in a fluid and challenging environment. Strength, power, endurance and skill all come into play.

So he uses a super-efficient program - Simple & Sinister - to develop more strength, power and endurance. High payback - low cost. And sticks with what works.

But being a ‘hardman’ places demands and challenges his health - in particular joint health. So he prescribes SuperJoints and expands on the concept with ‘Resilient’. Hangs, getups, bridges, Jefferson curls, hack squats - building strength and range of motion - efficient and effective.

Now he adds in dands and baithaks. Not to build strength or endurance - that is simple and sinister. This is more resilient, focusing on tendons and ligaments health by performing higher reps. Avoiding the acid bath of hundreds of reps, but performing a sufficiently high rep count to rehab his injured MCL and injury proof his ankles, knees, hips, spine and shoulders.

Pavel has a simple and elegant structure that is hyper effective. His application of StrongFirst principles and framework is as close to flawless as is humanly possible, in my opinion.

Thank you for your kind words, brother.
 
Today's training: Date with the Beast

  • goblet squats - 40-48-48, 3 sets of 5
  • 1-2 (low volume-medium intensity) one-arm swings -48-40-48-48, 10 swings OTM, always left, rest; right, rest; 80 swings total (sum of left and right).
  • 3-2 (high volume-medium intensity) get-ups -48-40-48-40-48-48, always 1 left+ 1 right, rest; 10 get-ups total (sum of left and right).
Early morning session. On my way to Hamburg, Germany, to do what I love: travel, teach, see old friends, and make new friends!
 
Back
Top Bottom