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.

[UPDATE: Pavel also answered your 15 most popular questions in a follow-up episode, now below]

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.

You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Ep 55: The Science of Strength and Simplicity with Pavel Tsatsouline https://rss.art19.com/episodes/e06a6ff9-7c2f-4746-8585-9514c459ecbb.mp3 Download

Ep 57: Pavel Tsatsouline Answers Your 15 Most Popular Exercise Questions https://rss.art19.com/episodes/44a1a2cf-d95e-44d0-8c0e-2d1ed37689a1.mp3 Download

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!

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

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]

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The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.