FOREWORD BY DAN JOHN
“DO THIS!”
Within minutes of meeting Pavel Tsatsouline for the first time, I was being split fore and aft and being told to tighten my hip as Pavel slapped it. I was stiff in the hip flexors and, well, Pavel was going to do his best to fix it. All I know is that I came away from our first meeting with flexible hips, a plan for lifting for the next year, and, most important, a great respect for Pavel Tsatsouline. Since meeting Pavel, I have seen literally hundreds of his posts on the Internet, read all of his books (although, to the teacher in me, "textbooks" seems more correct), and watched his library of DVDs. Whenever I review his work, one concept comes into my head: Do This!
The greatest challenge in fitness, health, life performance, and sports is walking the narrow balance beam between too much variety and no variety. You know, I love Thanksgiving dinner, but not every day. One day, someone might find the perfect diet with one superfood, but I doubt many people—short of living on a desert island—would follow this diet for very long. Pavel Tsatsouline hit the mark perfectly in his book Power to the People!
Power to the People! had all the earmarks of a perfect program: Do This. And, "this" was deadlifts and side presses. He offered suggestions for further variation, but, honestly, one could have a successful career with just those two lifts. I have it on good authority—several drinks at a bar with these throwers—that many world-ranked track and field throwers are currently doing JUST that workout.
So, you may well ask, why do we need another kettlebell book? Where are the mad throngs of crazed health enthusiasts demanding Enter the Kettlebell!? You know what? They are everywhere! Early in Enter the Kettlebell! Pavel quotes J.M. Martin, who writes, "I was fine doing a Power to the People! workout because I knew exactly what to do. The book broke it down idiot proof for me and it worked. I made enormous gains. Well, now I have a kettlebell and I want to make a set-in-stone path to follow." Martin echoes what I have heard from legions of kettlebell enthusiasts: "What do I do? I’ve got the book/video/DVD/workshop/seminar/article . . . now how do I do ‘what’ when?"
Personally, the RKC Program Minimum was enough for me. "Here you go . . . DO THIS!" could be the subtitle for the first few chapters. Two exercises. Each exercise twice a week. A push and a pull (holy Power to the People!, Batman). For the majority of kettlebell users, here you go . . . a plan to follow.
Pavel, however, delivers more. The chapter on the "Rite of Passage" gives us a step-by-step approach to literally climbing the ladder of kettlebell exercises. Moreover, the section "The Hazards of Variety and How to Dodge Them" is a century of knowledge compressed into a few pages. If you liked the “old school" approach, open your eyes and see the classic training methods from a kettlebell perspective.
Clearly, this book is not the end point. Pavel notes, "I never stop polishing my training system, which is why you will find some inconsistencies between The Russian Kettlebell Challenge and Enter the Kettlebell! The latter book takes precedence. At the RKC, we never rest."
I have some simple advice for you:
Do this.
Dan John is your typical coach. A Fulbright Scholar to Egypt, Dan has advanced degrees in history and religious education. He has traveled the world dealing with parasites, customs officials and a terrible accent in every language he has learned...so much so, that both Turkish and Hebrew speakers have asked him to stop speaking their language.
When not working as a professor of religious studies, Dan is a full-time strength coach and Head Track and Field coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, Utah. Dan has multiple national and state championships in the discus, Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon.
Dan John is the author of two instructional DVDs, Carried Away, on carrying, dragging and pulling objects for strength and conditioning, and From the Ground Up, that teaches weightlifting fundamentals quickly and correctly, the old-school way. Both DVDs are available at www.crossfitnorcal.com/catalog/index.php. Dan also maintains the “world’s largest” free website dedicated to lifting and throwing stuff at www.danjohn.org/coach.