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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
94 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
best review of all,
By eugene (La, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Power to the People! : Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American (Paperback)
i found this review of the book on the sfuk website and found it to be a very detailed and nonbaised. here it is:Power To The People : Russian Strength Training Secrets
Dinosaur Training author, Brook Kubik, wrote (in Hardgainer mag issue 44).."what do you do if you only have a barbell? - no stands, rack or bench?" He said you deadlift and press. "Don't you think you'd be big and strong all over if you could standing press big poundages and deadlift two or three times as much?" Tsatsouline takes this philosophy and runs with it in Power To The People. Tale of the Tape: PTTP is about 125 pages, including a few ads for his other books. What's the book about? Maximum strength using minimum exercise and training time The first exercise is the the deadlift. Pavel much prefers it to the squat - although you wonder if it's because Pavel looks more like a deadlifter than a natural squatter. His second exercise is the Side Press. - the old time strongman lift. Basically you hike a barbell overhead with one hand. Yes that's right, just one hand. Arthur Saxon could hoist over 300lbs that way and Pavel reason's that if you can get strong in that, then that's good enough. Good Stuff: Pavel thinks machines are crap - yey! The writing is a bit cheesy. He hams up the "Evil Russian" bit a lot. Pavel's methods have certain similarities to the way Olympic lifters train - ie. Very low reps, never to failure, long rests between sets, frequent training (if you follow Pavel, you'll know he's up for training 2-3 times a day). It was also very similar to John McKean method of 'Single-ing" (McKean is a champion weightlifter in Old-Style lifts, like the Hip lift - he also trained his phenomenally strong son). PTTP also shares similarities to John Christy & Stuart McRobert's work to a certain extent - ie. abbreviated routines to avoid overtraining. His "Russian Bear" routine is very similar to the German Volume Training (GVT) that was trendy a few years ago - so in theory it should work. But does it work? Yeah. Sort of. I tried it after a very long layoff and within 8 weeks moved my deadlift from 80kgs to 200kgs. Training was novel and fun. Doing only 4 work sets lets you fit a workout in pretty much anytime day or night. However my own gain was a strength regain - ie back to previous levels of strength. After that I needed to cut down on frequency - Deadlifting once a week was better. Which brought me back to a McRobert style of training. However, your recovery abilities may be better, so it's worth a shot. In theory it works, but I wonder if the 2 exercise, 20 minute a day regime is tailored as a 'quick fix' sales pitch than actually the most effective way to train given the same amount of time per week. Conclusion Really enjoyed the book. Well worth getting if you have an interest in strength training. It's particularly good if you're looking for a way to train with minimal equipment. It's cool to be able to fit in a quick workout at anytime of the day - eg. you can get one in whilst waiting for the kettle to boil for a cuppa - and doing only 2 exercises for 2 sets is a refreshing change. Because you never train to failure, the routine doesn't leave you wiped out, like, say a HIT routine. But I don't think I could recommend it to a skinny 'hardgainer' looking to gain strength and mass. The Brawn series of books would be much better for that, as I know it works. However, if you've got a few years of weightlifting under your belt then it's well worth a blast - and you could use the same methods to train Olympic style exercises like the Push Press, Overhead Squat, Power Clean etc.
102 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good info, purposely limited to sell another book later,
By
This review is from: Power to the People! : Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American (Paperback)
This book is essentialy about deadlifting and overhead pressing. Deadlifting has been the subject of much agreement in the fitness world as the most important barbell movement to enhance athletic performance. The varieties of and tricks for improving DL performance can be put on two pages. Overhead presses are treated as the pushing equivalent of the DL's pulling. SP's are rightfully more imporant than bench presses, or for that matter, perhaps any other single movement. Ok. Another two pages. Pavel makes it a whole forty dolllar book, and charges another forty for two more exercises in another book,(pushups and squats), in his -Naked Warrior-Pavel makes a big point of the superiority of building strength without mass due to the possibility of losing the mass, and thus the strength, in harsh circumstances. The -reality- is that strength built without mass must recieve constant training to be maintained, and is very specific to the way it's trained, while mass is much slower to be lost,(along with its strength), and is applicable to whatever strength you apply it to, with a little bit of training. Unless you are training for powerlifting, the possible damaging effect of the heavy weight eventually needed in this method far outweigh the benefits. (add 10.08/05): In Arthur Jones' "Nautilus Bulletin" #1, chapter 9, Jones essentially recommends the same program in Pavel's book,(overhead presses and deadlifts), with the addition of squats. This was originally published in 1973, and the individual ideas had been stated by Jones long before that. The point is that: 1/this stuff isn't new, 2/the split between 'functional ' trainers and bodybuilders is a modern creation with no meaning to clear thinkers such as Jones, and 3/ it's free!(on the internet).
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It is worth the price.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Power to the People! : Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American (Paperback)
Reading the other reviews of this book helped me decide to go ahead with the purchase. I have been lifting weights on and off for over ten years. After some consistant training I always had a problem of getting too tight and feeling restricted in my movements. This was even more of a problem as I got more and more involved in martial arts. After all these years I finally found a method to get stronger without feeling like I am loosing flexability (I think I've even gained some range of motion). So far (2 months) I find the claims the author makes on the back cover to be no exaggeration - he's all he is cracked up to be. If you are interested in strength, I recommend this book over all others. Don't waste you time or money on anything else. The author's ideas are contrary to the popular methods in use. But, I find that his ideas match my actual experience. For example, the basic rule of "bulking up" is to do heavy weight for only a few reps. Absolutely not true. For years I bought into that theory. Luckily I came accross this book. Lastly, I recommend this book to all martial artists. You don't have to look like a freak off a California beach to be monsterously stong. In fact you can be equally as strong, probably stronger in MUCH less time. Finally there is a safe way to get strong for those of us that are "chemically challenged." (I should also mention that although I have been getting consitant and powerfull results, I don't know if it works for everyone.) Good luck.
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