4

Cals enforce a functional bodyweight and a healthy bodycomposition. You could eat yourself into a heart attack yet excel inthe bench press. That won’t happen with one-arm pushups. You can’thave a high ratio of strength to bodyweight if you are a fat blob (ora muscle-bound blob, for that matter).

The biggest disadvantage of bodyweight exercising is that thisa p p roach doesn’t enable you to perf o rm full-body pullingmovements, such as the deadlift, the snatch, or the clean. Such movesare fundamental to training in most sports. While you could developthe muscles of the posterior chain with back bridges, back extensions,and reverse hypers, training the muscles and training the movementare “two big differences,” as they say in the Russian hard town ofOdessa.

The authoritative Russian Boxing Yearbook recommends doingexplosive snatches with a weight equal to the boxer’s bodyweight.Frank Shamrock said it all in his interview with Mike Mahler, RKCSr.: “What the clean does is it builds explosiveness from your toes upand that’s really where we’re starting from in MMA [mixed martialarts]. Everything starts from the toes and extends to the point of thehands. It’s more of a continuity thing; if you can get your body to gorip and blow that energy up, you can focus that energy in otherplaces. Your body will remember that and be strong through thatmotion. It’s very similar to punching.”

BarbellsA barbell enables you to lift very heavy, which is just plain fun. Thereis nothing like the rush of locking out a bar-bending deadlift.

Apart from the testosterone bull, a true advantage of the barbell is theprecisely calibrated resistance. You can easily specify something like“82.5 % 1RM.” Why is that important? Because it enables you to do

a power cycle: a multiweek program that specifies exact trainingpoundages and culminates with a strength PR. Such a cycle is veryeasy to implement and highly effective.

Cycling will not work with other traditional types of resistance theway it will work with barbells. Dumbbells, even if they progress in 5-lb. increments, don’t allow such precision (an increase from 20 to 25pounds is a 25 percent jump!), and kettlebells were purposefullydesigned to make major jumps in weight. Finally, bodyweight drillsdon’t let you change your leverage with barbell-like precision, either.

DumbellsA dumbell adds a stabilization challenge and works you more equallyon both sides than a barbell. The disadvantage of using dumbbells isthat you need a ton of them, which consumes cash and space.Adjustable plate-loaded dumbells are an option. Make sure you getthem from a reputable company, such as ironmind.com. You don’twant them to fall apart and crack your skull!

Dumbbells are not practical for some valuable exercises. For instance,a strong trainee will have a hard time getting a quality leg workoutwith dumbbells. They don’t get nearly heavy enough for deadlifts,they cannot be racked for front squats, and they cannot becomfortably held for pistols.

KettlebellsI have yet to meet a hard man who has lifted a Russian kettlebell andnot come away convinced that it’s the ultimate in strength andconditioning. Dr. Dennis Koslowski, DC, RKC, Olympic silvermedalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, flat out stated, “Kettlebells arelike weightlifting times ten. . . . If I could’ve met Pavel in the early’80s, I might’ve won two gold medals. I’m serious.”

LI F T I N G IR O N VS. BO D Y W E I G H TEX E R C I S E S— WH AT’S BE S T FO R YO U?

By PAVELExcerpted from Pavel’s upcoming book

THE NAKED WARRIORStrong Anywhere, Anytime with

Bodyweight Exercise

Are bodyweight exercises superior to exercises with weights?Neither is superior. Various types of resistance have advantages and disadvantages.H e re is how the most common ones stack up against each other.

Bodyweight The calisthenic’s advantage is their accessibility, first and foremost. I could give you anonscientific pitch about the naturalness of cals or a pseudo-scientific one about openand closed kinetic chains, but I won’t. The primary advantage of bodyweight stre n g t he x e rcises is the fact that you can practice them anywhere and anytime.

5

The kettlebell’s design, namely a thick handle removed from acompact center of mass, is responsible for its many unique benefits. Athick and smooth handle, combined with the ballistic nature of manyexercises, forges an iron grip and wrist. Last but not least on thekettlebell forearm killer list are bottom up cleans and similar drills.Offset center of gravity maximizes shoulder strength, health, andflexibility.

The position of the handle also allows dynamic passing of thekettlebell from hand to hand for a great variety of powerful juggling-type exercises, which are strongly endorsed by the Russian FederationState Committee on Physical Culture. These drills develop dynamics t rength and injury - p roof the body in many planes, unlikeconventional linear exercises.

Another benefit of kettlebell training is that there is no need to haveadjustable or numerous weights. It has evolved to provide progressiveoverload through other means. To use the squat as an example, youcan back squat holding a kettlebell by its “horns” between yourshoulder blades (which cannot be done with a dumbbell), then workup to holding it on your chest (front squats are impossible withdumbbells and can be brutal on the wrists with barbells), proceed tothe Hack squats with the kettlebell held in the small of your back(again, cannot be done with a dumbbell), and then to a one-leggedsquat with the kettlebell held in the front by the “horns.” Finally, anextremely strong comrade can do one-legged front squats with akettlebell racked.

Thus, a single kettlebell provides an uncompromising means ofdeveloping leg strength—without the need for expensive and space-consuming barbells and squat racks. Thus, kettlebells have beencalled “the low-tech/high-concept strength solution for specops.”

Being a kettlebell lifter, instructor, and businessman, Icould go on forever. But you should have the idea bynow: The Russian kettlebell is “a workout with balls.”

I’m not going to review all the types of resistance equipment onthe market. You get the idea.

One parting thought: Your sport’s specificity might dictate yourprimary choice of type of resistance. For instance, a gymnast mustemphasize bodyweight training, and a powerlifter must lift abarbell.

Why is there such an intense argument in themartial arts community as to whetherbodyweight exercises are superior to exerciseswith weights?

Because the issue of what provides the resistance is confused with theworkout design: sets, reps, rest periods, tempo, etc.

Under the terms of this pointless argument powerlifting and high re ptriceps kickbacks with a Barbie dumbbell fall under the samemisleading category of ‘weight training.” The label “bodyweighttraining” is just as misleading, considering that one-legged squats witha one-second pause on the bottom and Hindu squats have totallyd i ff e rent effects on your body. Apples and oranges. The pistols’ effect isa lot closer to that of barbell squats—h e a v y, low rep barbell squats, tobe exact—than to that of high rep Hindu squats. The point is, don’t gethung up on what provides the resistance. Focus on the attribute you aret rying to develop. And a fighter, unlike a weightlifter or a distanceru n n e r, needs a mix of diff e rent types of strength and endurance.

If you see a powerlifter who sucks wind on the mat or in the ring, itd o e s n ’t mean that barbells or heavy training are inappropriate for af i g h t e r. They are simply one piece of the S&C puzzle (and he hasneglected the other pieces, be it one or more subtypes of stre n g t h ,endurance, skill, etc. Yakov Zobnin from Siberia, the heavyweightworld champion in Kyokushinkai, “the Wo r l d ’s Strongest Karate,”squats almost 500 pounds deep enough to get white lights in anypowerlifting meet, in spite of his basketball height. But he also maxesout at 25 strict pullups and practices explosive pushups, etc.

The bottom line. The argument about whether iron or bodyweightrules is a waste of bad breath. What you need to do is identify the

d i ff e rent types of strength re q u i red in your style and then developthem with the types of resistance available to you. Practice low-

rep, high-tension, max-strength training as outlined in T h eNaked Wa rr i o r or Power to the People! Do explosive drills.

And don’t forget your endurance. In case you didn’t know,The Russian Kettlebell Challenge covers the complete

m a rtial arts strength and conditioning package. Justadd skills and kick butt!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

1 0

In 1988 and 1992, Dennis Koslowski won Olympicb ronze and silver, re s p e c t i v e l y, in the 220-poundweight class of Greco-Roman wrestling. He hasbeen a licensed chiropractor since 1986, and is alsoa practitioner of Active Release Therapy. TheMinnesota resident received his RKC certification inJune of 2003.

H a rd-Style: Do you still wre s t l e ?

Dennis Koslowski: No. I was involved up through 2000,helping guys who were training for Atlanta. I’ve pulled backre c e n t l y, but I’ll get involved again in the years to come.

H.S.: How did you get involved with chiropractic care ?

D . K . : Well, I had injured my ankle the end of my sophomoreyear in the college wrestling season. It was one of these would-h a v e - b e e n - b e t t e r- o ff - b reaking-it kind of injuries. And it did seemto heal over the spring and summer, but then once I start e dplaying football again, it started to break down, and every weekit got worse.

I was doing everything the trainers and doctors suggested as faras taping and icing and medications and things like that, but bythe end of the football season, my ankle was almost unusable. Ic o u l d n ’t really put my weight on it; I couldn’t push off on it.

I made it through the football season, but then—usually I wouldpractically step off the football field and onto the wrestling mat.When I tried to do that, the injury was very obvious because inw restling you really have to be able to pivot and push. One day, Ijust realized, “This is not going to work.”

So I found a chiropractor in the town I was going to college in,and within one visit, I had about a 75-80% improvement. I wasso impressed with it, and I was getting a B.A. in biology at thesame time, and after a few more visits and talking to thec h i ro p r a c t o r, I decided that that would be the way I wanted to go.

T h a t ’s pretty common with people who go into Chiro p r a c t i cCollege; they’ve had that type of life-changing experience, if youwill. They’re so impressed with the results that they think itwould be neat to do that for other people. So that’s kind of howI got into chiropractic.

H . S . : When you were training as a wre s t l e r, did you follow thetraditional weight lifting pro g r a m s ?

D.K.: Yes, although I did get into some of the big lifts kind oflate—in my last couple years of wrestling, because I realized thatI wanted to get more depth in the squat-type movements. A bigp a rt of Greco was the par terre or down position, when you’ret rying to lift the person off the mat, ready to do a thro w. Andyour opponent is not laying still; they’re moving around andt rying to knock you off balance. So it’s a moving target, and youhave to have not only the strength, but also the speed.

Dennis Koslowski, Greco-RomanOlympic Silver Medalist andChiropractor, Discusses the ManyAdvantages of Kettlebell TrainingInterviewed by Stephanie Watson

“If I could’ve met Pavel in theearly ‘80s, I might’ve won two

gold medals. I’m serious.”

“If I could’ve met Pavel in theearly ‘80s, I might’ve won two

gold medals. I’m serious.”

1 1

“ Kettlebells are likeweightlifting times ten”

H.S.: How do you feel about kettlebellsversus more traditional weightlifting?

D.K.: I t ’s like weightlifting times ten. I mean,y o u ’ re getting a lot more function out of KBtraining. Out of all of the motions, ands t rengthening exercises and stabilizers. I thinkKB training is a much more functional form ofweightlifting.

If I could’ve met Pavel in the early ’80s, Imight’ve won two gold medals. I’m serious.

In wrestling, you’re always trying to lift youropponent off the mat, and for me, it was a220-pound guy that didn’t want to be lifted,you know? And the better you could do at it,the better success you would have in the sport .O b v i o u s l y, if you can pick a guy up off themat, throw him in the air, throw him on hisb a c k — y o u ’ re going to win a lot more matchesthan you lose. And even though I gotsomewhat proficient at this, I was never asgood as I wanted to be.

I think that if I would’ve understood whatPavel teaches as far as the paradoxicalb reathing and what he’s calling a “virt u a lweight belt,” of how you use your diaphragmto load and protect your spine while you lift, Ithink I would’ve been a much more eff e c t i v ew re s t l e r.

Because I find that by doing thesetechniques, it just makes you so muchs t ro n g e r. You know, when you’re doing a KBlift and you breathe corre c t l y, the way Pavelteaches you, the weight feels so much lighter.So it stands to reason that if I was trying to liftan opponent off the mat, and I would contro lmy breathing and have practiced this re g u l a r l y,I would’ve been able to lift people much moree ff e c t i v e l y.

H.S.: How did you get interested in thisRussian brand of fitness?

D.K.: Our World and Olympic coach,between ’83 and ’88, was Russian, his namewas Pavel Katsen, and he actually bro u g h tover the Russian way of training for wre s t l i n g .Not with kettlebells; just wrestling. But it wasour first big leap forw a rd as a team, as a

c o u n t ry. We hadn’t won a wrestling medal ina fully attended Olympics, ever.

In fact, in ’88, I was the first Americanw restler to win an Olympic medal. And in’92, I was the only two-time medalist at thattime. So I have a lot of faith in the Russianway…in the United States for Greco we hadfive or six coaches, and they were n ’t even fulltime. In Russia, they had 30,000 full-time,paid coaches in Greco-Roman. So thenumbers and the emphasis there and thewhole training is much more in-depth. I havea lot of confidence in the way they’ve donethings.

H . S . : So just to clarify, you feel that the U.S.s t a rted winning wrestling medals because ofthe Russian way of training?

D . K . : Oh, yeah!

H.S.: What do you hope to get out of theRKC certification seminar, and what are yourplans once you leave here ?

D.K.: Well, as a chiro p r a c t o r, I’m alwayslooking for new ways to help people, and it’snot always easy to say, “Okay, go join a healthclub.” You know, it might not be somethingthey can do financially. It might not be in theirmental makeup—they don’t want to go to agym and do that whole thing. So usually, ahome exercise-type routine is the best way togo, and something that guarantees betters u c c e s s .

And so I think I’m going to be trying toteach my patients to a certain level, and if theyreally like it (which I think they will), then I’dp robably refer them to Andrea Du Cane orsomebody else. I’d try to push them to a classand that type of thing. Even during thisweekend, I’ve been thinking about half adozen of my patients that I’m sure wouldgravitate towards it right away.

“I may end up giving upmy own health clubmembership just becauseI like kettlebells so much.”

H . S . : So it’s more about helping other peoplethan personal goals, is that right?

D.K.: Well, no, I love it! I may end upgiving up my own health club membership justbecause I like it so much. I was talking to JeffM a rtone about it, about how he tries to useKBs almost every day; it’s just that you need tochange it up. So I’ll probably stock my clinicwith KBs, and do it over lunch hour. BecauseI don’t have a lot of time, you know, to go tothe health club.

Kettlebells great for golf too

A c t u a l l y, my big love now is golf, and I see alot of real help from kettlebells there, too. Ican see a lot of transfer…a lot of the thingsw e ’ re doing here at the RKC weekend are re a lsolid core exercises, but with kind of loosea rms. Yo u ’ re trying to project your powerf rom the core strength, while bringing speedout to the arms. The kettlebell swing is acounterbalance; that’s what it really is. That’sone word no one’s ever said, but that’s what itlooks like to me. Yo u ’ re not trying to lift it;y o u ’ re trying to offset the weight of thatkettlebell. And that’s what a golf swing is:Yo u ’ re trying to create a real solid core, butyou have to have a suppleness in your club. Sot h e re ’s a lot of similarities between golf andkettlebells.

H . S . : I’m sure a lot of people would bei n t e rested in that connection. I mean, peoplea re always looking for ways to improve theirgolf swing.

D . K . : Oh, absolutely. And I think theA RT — t h e re ’s a real complementary thingwith ART and kettlebells. Most of thep roblems that you treat with ART are either ofc h ronic, static position—where the person isshoulders hunched forw a rd, sitting all day. Sowe have ways to treat that, to break upadhesions and open up the body. Those areactive stretches, but they’re not re a l l ys t rengthening exercises. That would be thenext step, to strengthen the body so it doesn’tallow it to get into that static position again.

And I think kettlebells are actually a gre a tcombination of strengthening and stre t c h i n g .T h a t ’s what I mean about functional lifting.

I’ve always considered myself a flexibleperson, but I feel like I’m going to be 50%m o re flexible once I start doing the kettlebellsm o re fre q u e n t l y.

If you live in Minnesota and are interested in receiving ARTor chiropractic from Dr. Koslowski call (612) 379-4043

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

2 0

The most common form ofstrength training, for a boxer, isc i rcuit training. Circuit trainingenables a coach to train a largenumber of fighters at the same time,with the following goals in mind:

1) To improve strength endurance;2) To increase work capacity;3) To target various physical

qualities.

The circuit-training format is thesystem of choice for the USAOlympic Training Center.

J e ff Mart o n e ’s H a n d - t o - H a n dKettlebell Drills, in my opinion,takes circuit training to a wholenew level.

First, it simplifies the equipmentdown to one kettlebell.

Second, by seamlessly blending onee x e rcise with another Jeff hasremoved the brief rest an athletegets when he moves from one pieceof apparatus to another. Thisusually accounts for 10-15 seconds.Without this brief rest interval theintensity of the circuit goes throughthe roof!

Third, by varying the complexity ofthe exercises, you can insert anactive rest period. This wouldeliminate the typical 30-60 secondrest intervals given between trips—further increasing the intensity ofthe overall training session. I havealready started formulating specificflow drills to use with my boxers. Ihonestly believe this type oftraining would benefit any kind offighter.

“Before You CanEndure StrengthYou Must First

Develop Strength”

Having said all that about circuittraining/H2H, before you cane n d u re strength first you mustdevelop strength.

P a v e l ’s Power to the People!p rogram is the very best basestrength program we have ever usedat the South Shore Police AthleticLeague School of Boxing.

Power to the People! +Hand-to-Hand Kettlebell Drills

= The Perfect One-Tw oCombination for Any Fighter

Steve Baccari, RKC is a Medford, MA based boxing coach and certified Russiankettlebell instru c t o r. To inquire about training under Steve e-mail sbaccari@selmark.com.

See page 29 for Power to the Pe o p l eand page 23 for H2H

Kettlebell Drills

See page 29 for Power to the Pe o p l eand page 23 for H2H

Kettlebell Drills

by Steve Baccari, RKC

2 1

I am currently using PTP with three professional fighters: ShaunCreegan, Jimmy Leblanc, and Chris Tillman. Their sizes range from5’ 8” 165 Lbs. to 6’ 0” 140 Lbs. to 5’ 10” 190 Lbs. All three of thesefighters have a completely different style of fighting. Amazingly, thissingle short simple program has benefited all three fighters immensely.In fact, it would be hard to tell which fighter has gotten the most outof it. They are all using the ‘strength and tone only’ program in a stepcycle three times a week exactly as it is in the PTP book.

Another bonus of this Power to the People! program is that all threetraining sessions only total 45 minutes for an entire week. Adding inthree sessions of H2H drills for another total of 45 minutes brings usto an hour and 30 minutes per week. This is crucial because a fighterhas so much sport specific work that has to be done before he can evenconsider additional strength and conditioning programs.

F i g h t e r, ShaunC re e g a n

See page 29 forPower to the People!

See page 23 forH2H Kettlebell Drills

2 2

“ We thought they’d put up more of a fight,to tell you the truth, but it has really turn e dinto a rout”—claimed Dragon Door h o n c h o ,John Du Cane, today, when we reached himat an undisclosed location.

As bodybuilders fled for the hills and“ b i g g e r-is-better” diehards wentu n d e rg round, swearing to fight to the lastfailed rep, Pavel The Evil One Ts a t s o u l i n e,could be heard chuckling on his cell phone—“ Yes, we expect isolated pockets ofresistance, but John’s right—the jig is up forthe old fitness establishment. I think, in thelong run, real results will always triumphover hype and misinformation. People willonly tolerate failure and frustration for solong—and they’ll rush to a genuine solution,like Russian Kettlebells, when they see it.We’ve been happy to liberate folks fro mtheir decades of wasted eff o rt—it has beenv e ry gratifying to watch the speed andenthusiasm with which the nation has takenup our challenge to transform its functionalf i t n e s s . ”

“Nothing sells like success and in the worldof serious fitness results are the only thingthat matter. The best sales tool imaginable isa human walking billboard, someone whohas obtained tangible results using ap a rticular system. Pavel and his businessp a rtner John Du Cane have taken the fitnessworld by storm; like Marshall Zhukovblasting T54 tanks through re t re a t i n gPanzers at Stalingrad.”— M a rty Gallagher,

Washingtonpost.com, Feb 2003

“Russian kettlebell trainer PavelTsatsouline demonstrates how to achieve ac o m m a n d o ’s physique and wiry stre n g t h . ”— P l a y b o y, July 2003

“Think yoga or Pilates is too, uh, delicate?Now you can maintain your tough-guyimage and be at the fitness fore f ront withRussian kettlebells. The cast-iron bells arelifted and swung in a series of moves thatbuild total body muscle and burn calories.”— S m a rt Money, June 2003

“My job…involves travel to remote placesand walking around with a pack on my backor crawling through caves or kayaking onglacial lakes…I don’t know what I’ll bedoing next: trekking in the tropical fore s t ,climbing mountains in Peru, or riding ahorse across a Mongolian steppe…I don’talways have time to bone up on the specificskills involved. That’s where the highlyfunctional strength and endurancedeveloped with kettlebells comes in handy. ”— Tim Cahill, Men’s Health, Best

Life Magazine, Spring/Summer 2003

“KB workouts, which produce part i c u l a r l yi m p ressive gains in the legs, hips andshoulders, are all the rage in Nort hA m e r i c a . ”—EnRoute Magazine, Air Canada

“Reshape your body and burn fat fast withthe kettlebell—a superior strength trainingtool used by Russian athletes for decades. Ifyou’ve stopped seeing results from yourworkouts, it’s time to take a cue from yourbody by intensifying your training. So ditchthe dumbbells and challenge your muscleswith kettlebells, a versatile new stre n g t htraining tool that will make you re t h i n kyour definition of stro n g . ”— K a ren Asp, Oxygen, July 2003

“I have been doing kettlebell training forover a year and have never been in bettershape. In addition to being stro n g e r, mymuscular endurance is also incredible. And

I am the leanest I have ever been in my life!But it’s not just me. Since I started workingwith kettlebells, I’ve heard many similarstories of success from satisfied users. Infact, it seems like everyone from novicee x e rcisers who have never lifted weights toexperienced trainers can benefit from thisp ro g r a m . ”—Mike Mahler, Exercise for Men Only,

M a rch 2003

‘ ’ For more intensity trykettlebells…it's a full-bo d yw o r kout, aerobic andstrength-building‘’ — Time Magazine, 2002

‘ ’ For practical types…kettlebells could be just thetonic‘’ —New York Times Sunday,2 0 0 2

‘ ’ Ke t t l e b e l l s —Hot Weight of the Year‘’ —Rolling Stone, 2002

‘ ’ Kettlebells—a workout withballs‘’ —Men's Journal, 2002

‘ ’ Pavel Ts a t s o u l i n e —Hot Trainer of the Year‘’ —Rolling Stone, 2001

Russian Kettlebell Invasion RollsT h rough US, Meets Little

Resistance—Major MediaQuick to Voice Support for

New Fitness Regime October 21, 2003Staff correspondent

2 6

The legend is largely true. When combined withthe right protocols and lots of food, the squatwill pack on mass like no other exercise. But evenif you don’t want to pack on mass—for example,if you are a “wiry” strength trainee like myself(5' 11", 165) who can't or won’t spend half yourwaking hours eating—you should seriouslyconsider making the squat your core exerc i s e .This article explains why and how.

The squat vs. the deadlift The best – maybe the only – contemporary book

on the wiry strength ideal, Pavel Ts a t s o u l i n e ’sPower to the People!, proposes a highly

a b b reviated daily program based around the deadlift. To gain stre n g t hwithout mass, Pavel explains, train the nervous system instead of bulkingup. Pull two sets of five daily with a near-maximal poundage, then hit theshowers (if you even need to). Stay fresh, stay alert. Choose the deadlift forits brute simplicity and total-body training effect. Avoid the squat due to itstechnical complexity and its mass-building effects.

I find most of this logic tough to argue with. I find abbreviated dailytraining with high poundages invigorating and a great way to make steadygains. However, I do not agree that the deadlift is simpler or less technicalthan the squat – or, to address a coro l l a ry argument, that it is lessd a n g e rous. Granted, with light poundages, a raw beginner will pro b a b l ymake a better first showing in the deadlift than in the squat. Picking aweight off the floor is more intuitive than squatting with it on your back.But as the poundage increases, the deadlift quickly becomes every bit astechnical as the squat. The penalties for minor lapses of form mountquickly: a tweaked back, a forced week off. I am an absolute stickler forf o rm in every lift, and yet I have hurt myself deadlifting more times than Ic a re to admit. The injuries have come despite close attention to form anddespite the fact that I have the classic “deadlifter’s build” of long arms andlong legs. If the deadlift has treated you better, I wish you the best, but I donot feel comfortable generalizing that the deadlift is safer than the squat, orthat it is inherently better for long-limbed wiry trainees.

As a learned skill, the squat is quite the opposite of the deadlift. Your firstfew squats will likely be grotesque in the extreme. Raw beginners seem tothink the point is to collapse under the weight – that is, to perf o rm whatDan John calls an “accordion squat.” The potential for injury in this initiall e a rning phase is high, but with light weights and some good coaching,anyone with fair athletic sense can learn to squat safely over the course ofseveral weeks. There is one important caveat: unless you are handling verylight poundages, you should always squat with qualified spotters or a rack.This is not quite the “gotcha” some would have you believe, however. As e rviceable rack can be had for around $250, and anyone with basicc a r p e n t ry skills can improvise some type of spotting solution for far lessthan that.

Once the basics are in place, the squat is much like the deadlift: heavierpoundages re q u i re more and more precise technique. Given a good spot,h o w e v e r, the price of technical failure is much lower. I have never hurtmyself seriously doing barbell back squats. When I miss a lift, I simplylower the weight to the rack pins, crawl out, and pre p a re for the next set.A serious lapse of form can hurt you in any lift, of course, but in generalminor lapses will not damage you in the squat the way they do in thedeadlift. I strive for 100% concentration on every lift, but when I squat inthe rack, I feel safer knowing that if I only hit 95% concentration, I willstill be back the next day.

What about the wiry strength ideal? Will squatting necessarily blow upyour quads and hamstrings and set you up for a lifetime of shopping at thebig-and-tall store? If you tightly control your volume and caloric intake,no. Ask any big guy how “easy” it was to become big, and you may findyourself hanging from your pretty new squat rack. I have put on ten poundssquatting over the course of a year, but they were ten pounds I felt I neededand had to fight hard to put on. I put them on during cycles of 20-re psquats by eating four times a day. When I hit my desired weight, I dro p p e dback to a Power to the People!-type protocol (three sets of three withmaximal weights), began eating normally again, and stabilized at 165. Inthe NFL, I wouldn’t even pass for a soccer-style kicker from the CzechRepublic.

Of course, you can squat and deadlift, and if you are a powerlifter, youhave to. But if you are practicing for wiry strength without mass, you arebetter off sticking to one total-body lift and working the heck out of it. Sof a r, the squat has done wonders for me. I’ve squatted 315, and with the aidof kettlebell training, maintained my deadlift (which I now do sumo-styleunder the influence of my squat) at 365 or better whenever I’ve checked inon it. I am faster and more flexible and feel athletic in ways I never didwhile concentrating on the deadlift. I do all my lifts raw without so muchas a taped knuckle or a lycra waistband for support, and so far, I still fitinto my 32/34 jeans without a hitch.

Te c h n i q u eWhat about technique then? I will not mince words: the squat is a

relentlessly technical exercise. If you have a short attention span, stick toyour leg press or better yet, stay out of the gym altogether. If however youaccept the basic fact that anything worth doing takes serious work andconcentration, you are already halfway to becoming a good squatter. Thenext step is to find yourself a good teacher or, barring that, some goodi n s t ructional material. I cannot recommend the following highly enough:

• Bud Jeffries’ books and tapes on squatting, available thro u g hw w w. s t ro n g e rman.com.

• Dan John’s online materials on Olympic lifting, freely available atd a n j o h n . o rg/coach.html.

• Louie Simmons’ and Dave Ta t e ’s articles on squatting, freely available atd e e p s q u a t t e r.com.

B e f o re you go looking for material, be warned: even those who agree on

How and Why I Squatby Rob Lawrence, RKC

For strength athletes, sprinters, running backs and linemen everywhere, thesquat is the acknowledged King of Exercises. The transformative power of the20-rep squat routine is legendary. Do 20-rep sets twice a week, ransack yourrefrigerator hourly and sleep nine hours a night, the legend runs, and in sixweeks you will be a massive, superhuman version of your former self, withthe clothing bills to prove it.

the value of the squat are split up into camps. The twop r i m a ry camps share a basic theory that there are twotypes of squats: “power squats” and “Olympic squats.”The theory runs something like this: • In the power squat, the lifter keeps the bar lower on

his back and uses a fairly wide stance. Heconcentrates on sitting back (rather than down), andleans forw a rd somewhat as he reaches a bottomposition just below parallel.

• In the Olympic squat, the lifter keeps the bar higheron his back and uses a narrow stance. Heconcentrates on sitting down between the legs (ratherthan back) and keeps the torso bolt upright as hesquats all the way to “rock bottom” - i.e. the positionw h e re the hamstrings come to rest against the calves.

This distinction is good and valid as far as it goes. As atool for really understanding the squat, though, it ishopelessly inadequate. There are three major pro b l e m swith it:

The Olympic/power distinction isn’t part i c u l a r l yd e s c r i p t i v e . Ve ry few people do a pure power squat or ap u re Olympic squat. There are countless diff e rences ofphysiology and technique. In fact, if you took just sixvariables—bar position, stance width, forw a rd lean, hipflexion, knee flexion, and ankle flexion—you would notfind two people in a hundred who squat the same way.At least one of these variables would almost surely diff e rin any two people you looked at.

The Olympic/power distinction covers up similaritiesbetween the two allegedly pure styles. As much as theirtechniques diff e r, all good squatters have a few things incommon. They “sit” under a weight instead of foldingup under it. They keep their knees more or less in linewith their toes. They maintain extreme tension whiledescending with a weight and stand up with ite x p l o s i v e l y.

The Olympic/power distinction covers up diff e re n c e sbetween allegedly similar “Olympic” and “power”s q u a t s . Many powerlifters, particularly in the US, are

“good morning” squatters: they use extreme forw a rdlean, particularly when competing in a meet with amonolift, and just barely break parallel. Otherpowerlifters, particularly those you see in the IPF, keeptheir torsos fairly upright, use a slightly narrower stance,and get well below parallel: in some cases, three or fourinches below. These “IPF power squatters” bear a closerresemblance to Olympic squatters than they do to good-m o rning power squatters, a fact that seems to underm i n ethe “power squat” category altogether.

S i m i l a r l y, there are Olympic squatters, part i c u l a r l ythose with long limbs, whose squats look nothing likethe textbook “no no no” squats lionized in the pages ofMilo. If you’ve ever seen the 85-kilo Oscar Chaplinp e rf o rm a squat snatch, for example, you’ve seem himpull with his feet close together, then jump into a super-wide, not-so-deep squat to get under the weight. If therew e re any purists booing him at the 2002 Nationals inNew York City, where I happened to catch his brilliantp e rf o rmance, I didn't hear them.

The fundamentals don’t changeThe point is: free your mind. The less you try to forc e

yourself into a “power squat” or an "Olympic squat"based on the advice of someone with a completelyd i ff e rent build and training history, the better off you'llbe. Experiment with the pure types early on, using verylight weights. Widen your stance here, narrow it there ,change your bar position, do whatever you need untilyou have found an efficient groove that lets you bre a kparallel without sacrificing overall muscular tension.

Cycling poundagesI am a highly non-scientific cycler. In my kettlebell

training, in fact, I don’t cycle poundages, reps, sets, oranything else. With the squat, though, I believe thatsome type of cycling is necessary. It is too taxing a lift toleave to “feel” or whims or crystal readings.

In a normal workout I do four sets of three reps or less.For me a typical squat cycle might look something likethis:

Wo r kout Squat poundages x reps (x sets)1 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 235 x 3 x 2 2 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 245 x 3 x 2 3 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 255 x 3 x 2 4 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 265 x 3 x 2 5 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 275 x 3 x 2 6 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 285 x 2 x 2 7 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 295 x 2 x 2 8 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 305 x 1 x 2

As you can see I like to do warmup sets, but I never dothem with less than 185. I find a weight like 135 justdoes not enforce good form. If I squat using tension with135, I cannot feel the weight and have no sense oftechnique. It takes 185 or more to do a warmup that willresemble the actual work sets. The next weight, 225,feels like half warmup, half work set. The next two setsa re the ones for which the poundage is actually cycled.

Note that the foundation of my routine is triples. Icannot provide any rational explanation for this; I justfeel like three is a good number. On the first rep, theweight feels novel, on the second I adjust to it, on thet h i rd, I feel technically perfect. On a fourth or fifth rep Iget no improvement of focus or concentration, so I don’tdo fourth or fifth reps. I like to think that in the gre a tcosmic scheme of things, the bodybuilders are doing myreps for me.

Of course, at the top of the cycle I get into weights thatI cannot necessarily triple. So I don’t. I simply do adouble or single with maximum concentration. You mayobject that this strategy won’t add mass. My pointe x a c t l y.

Twenty-rep squatsWhen I do want to add mass, I do twenty-rep squats

twice a week, rest at least one day after each twenty-re psession, and space out the work days of my normal cyclewhich otherwise proceeds norm a l l y. Many stre n g t h - a n d -conditioning writers have extolled twenty-rep squats,and everything they say is true: they are brutal, theymake you hungry, and they add mass. There is one otherpoint those writers have neglected to mention: if youhave good conditioning from kettlebell work, you shouldnot take three deep breaths between each rep with thebar on your back. Your breaths will be so slow and solong that you will be there forever and will cru m p l eb e f o re your twentieth rep, even if you just have 150 onyour back. Two medium-deep breaths will do for akettlebell man. If a big guy who can’t climb a flight ofstairs without huffing and puffing challenges you on thispoint, challenge him to an underwater bre a t h - h o l d i n gcontest.

That, in sum, is how and why I squat. If you havequestions, direct them to ro b t _ l a w rence@yahoo.com ora d d ress them to me on the www. d r a g o n d o o r.com forum.

2 7

The IPF squat: Louie Simmons meets Idalberto Aranda.Note distinct non-hugeness of the quadriceps andh a m s t r i n g s .

SQUAT POINTSAfter a year of serious squatting, I havedistilled all I know about the squat into sevenfundamental principles. I have put these on asign in my garage gym:

REVIEW BEFORE EVERY SET• Chest way out • Feet braced outward against the ground • Knees braced outward• Flex hip flexors hard while descending • Sit down/back and “pull hips out of

sockets” • At bottom, “drive traps into the bar” and

push with feet • Drive up with explosive acceleration

If these don’t make sense to you yet, they will.Seek out a teacher or instructional materialand start learning. Regardless of the style youend up with, every good squat you managewill be more or less based on the aboveprinciples.

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Growth Hormone, a.k.a “the hormone of youth,” is ahighly potent anabolic and fat burning agent. Its complex ofactions is currently the subject of much scientific re s e a rch.

The secretion of growth hormone (GH) is controlled bymany variables such as food intake, exercise, sleep, stress andby factors such as age, body mass and gender. Mosti m p o rt a n t l y, growth hormone secretion is affected pro f o u n d l yby the circadian clock. Factors such as hunger and physicals t ress during the day and deep sleep at night can up-re g u l a t eg rowth hormone release. GH blood levels are characterized byl a rge pulses succeeded by very low-level pulses. The larg e s tpulse occurs during deep sleep.

G rowth hormone secretion could be adversely affected bysleep deprivation, chronic stress and poor eating habits. A GHdeficiency can lead to abnormal body fat, a decrease in exerc i s eendurance, poor health, reduced bone mineral density,i m p a i red lipid metabolism, stunted growth and advancedaging. It is most likely that by manipulating certain dailyfeeding and sleeping cycles, combined with special trainingroutines, one may be able to significantly enhance gro w t hh o rm o n e ’s actions.

Food Intake & Growth Horm o n e

G rowth Hormone is a polypeptide hormone. It is secreted bycells in the anterior pituitary gland. The main effects of GH are :stimulation of bone growth, an anabolic effect in the muscles,c o n s e rvation of protein and carbohydrates and mobilization offat for energy (lioplysis). The effects of growth hormone arep a rtly enforced by mediators, of which the most important areinsulin-like growth factors IGF1 and IGF2.

As noted, GH secretion is controlled by an inner circ a d i a nrhythm. Growth hormone secretion starts to decline during thef o u rth decade of life. It is important to note that agingdiminishes GH secretion during the day initially. The sleep-associated GH pulse persists longer. Thus any method that canhelp increase GH release during the day may have a pro f o u n danti-aging as well as anabolic effect on the body.

The Science of Growth Horm o n e

Food intake is an important influencing factor in both therate of growth and fat burning. Mammals’ feedings are

HO W T O EN H A N C E GR O W T HHO R M O N E AC T I V I T Y

by Ori Hofmekler With Marc Salzman

Regulation of Growth HormoneG r o wth Hormone release is regulated by stimulating and

inhibitory agents. Secretion of GH is controlled by twohypothalamic peptides:

• G r o wth Hormone Releasing Hormone {GHRH } –that stimulates GH secretion. GHRH is stimulated bycellular factor cAMP and its secretion increases when theGH plasma level drops.

• Somatostatin which inhibits GH secretion – itssecretion increases when GH level increases.Somatostatin is widely distributed in the body. Anymethod that suppresses somatostatin would helpstimulate gr o wth hormone release and thereby enhanceoverall gr o wth and fat loss.

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c o n t rolled by an innate biologicalmechanism that involves the regulation ofh o rmones and feeling of hunger, aggre s s i o nand satiety. Animal and humans feed ino rder to satisfy their immediate energy andnutritional needs. Regulation of food intakeinvolves the sensation of factors such asfood availability, danger or temperature.

Under certain conditions such as lack offood or danger, human survival depends onthe ability to cycle between periods ofsustaining life with minimal food intake,and periods of overeating, while allowinge n e rgy and nutrients to be anabolicallys t o red in anticipation of high energ yd e m a n d .

Animal and human feeding cycles aret h e re f o re primarily controlled by a surv i v a l -related mechanism. When facing catabolic-inducing conditions such as fasting,u n d e reating or intense physical stress, theb o d y ’s survival mechanism is triggere d ,activating very powerful anabolicstimulating factors to compensate andadapt.

The brain plays a key role in re g u l a t i n gfeeding cycles and growth. Experiments thatw e re done in the 1940’s showed that cert a i nlesions in the hypothalamus reduce feedingw h e reas other lesions induce overe a t i n g .That led to the hypothesis that diff e re n tlesions in the hypothalamus are pre -p rogrammed to control feeding cycles ofu n d e reating and overeating thro u g hsensations of satiety and hunger.

Recent biological techniques reveal a moresophisticated neural control of feeding ande n e rgy balance. A large number ofn e u ropeptides were found to exert eithers t i m u l a t o ry or inhibitory effects on feedingand growth and overall energy expenditure .

For instance, a lack of food will incre a s eh u n g e r-stimulating peptides such asN e u ropeptide Y and galanin as well as thes t ress hormone cortisol. On the other hand,while eating full meals, hunger- i n h i b i t o ryagents such as leptin and insulin willn o rmally signal the brain to sense satietyand reduce feeding.

This surv i v a l - related feeding mechanismc o n t rols various biological functions. Inaddition to stimulating or inhibiting theamount of food eaten, neuropeptides helpregulate cravings. NPY induces a pre f e re n c efor carbs whereas Ganalin induces ap re f e rence for fat. Most important, thesen e u ropeptides may also exert signals thatp romote growth and fat burning. NPY andGanalin induce a general anabolic state bystimulating growth hormone release, thusi m p roving energy balance and acceleratingfat burn i n g .

How To Practically EnhanceG rowth Hormone Actions

In summary, the Galanin-NPY-GH axismay play an important role in re g u l a t i n gfeeding and overall growth. All the abovei n f o rmation clearly indicates that the hungersensation, with its related Neuro p e p t i d e s ,

Hunger & G r owt hHunger involves the actions of neuropeptides that

stimulate gr o wth hormone release. NPY and galaninare hunger-related peptides found in the centralnervous system and gastrointestinal tract. In addition totheir effects on feeding and energy balance, it isbelieved that both ganalin and NPY increases GHsecretion by inhibiting somatostatin, thus indirectlyincreasing GHRH secretion which, as noted, stimulatesGH release.

5 0

helps increase growth hormone re l e a s eduring the day (for those who fast oru n d e reat).

Human feeding cycles are controlled by aprimal survival mechanism that helpssustain life under tough external conditionssuch as lack of food or intense physicals t ress with high energy demand. There f o re ,u n d e reating and hunger will activate ap o w e rful anabolic stimulation via gro w t hh o rmone release, thus accelerating fatb u rning while sparing protein and carbs.

Eating at night while relaxing will likelyclose the feeding cycle. Keeping a steadydaily sleep-wake cycle and avoiding sleepdeprivation will help maximize GH impacton the body during deep sleep. Overall,maintaining feeding cycles that involveperiods of hunger and physical stress (i.e.,e x e rcise) followed by periods of fullnourishment and relaxation, combined withs u fficient amounts of sleep, will helpmaximize growth horm o n e ’s anabolic andrejuvenating actions on the body.

Avoid chronic calorie and carbrestrictions. Carbs are necessary fore ffectively finalizing growth horm o n eactions.

Note that GH has a profound affinity forbone and connective tissue buildup.Athletes, bodybuilders and martial art i s t soften suffer from injuries due to weaktendons or low bone density. Bones andconnective tissue play critical roles ine ffective muscular development.

G rowth hormone helps facilitate the re p a i rof muscle fibers and tendons and themineralization of bones. Insufficient gro w t hh o rmone release will adversely impairoverall muscle and strength gain.

Power Naps to EnhanceMuscle Gain & Fat Loss

Power naps may help increase GHrelease during the day. GHRH and deepsleep highly affect each other. High levelsof GHRH can increase the amount ofdeep sleep and vice-versa.

Low levels of GHRH can impair SWS,thus shortening sleep time with anadverse decline in GH release.I n t e r e s t i n g l y, the amount of GHRHm RNA could be highest in the morning,in particular for those who suffer frominsomnia or those who retire late. Th u s ,for some people, skipping morning sleepmay impair GH secretion. It’s highlyrecommended in these cases to have a“power nap” in the afternoon. The bodywill compensate for the lack of deepsleep by inducing it faster during the“afternoon siesta” and thereby increasegr o wth hormone release. For individualswho wish to accelerate muscle gain andfat loss, power naps may be oneeffective way to accomplish this.

Ori Hofmekler is theauthor of M a x i m u mMuscle, Minimum Fatand The Warrior Diet.Sign up for Hofmekler’sfree e-newsletter onw w w. d r a g o n d o o r. c o m .For more information orfor consultations with theauthor visitw w w. w a r r i o r d i e t . c o m.

An athlete’s failure toreach maximum, peakp e rf o rmance is sometimesthe result of dysfunctionalbody pro p o rtion. Whenthe body’s naturals y m m e t ry is interru p t e ddue to incorrect training,injuries, or aging, some

body parts can grow dispro p o rtionately to others. As a re s u l t ,the oversized body parts assume most of the body’s workload,leaving the undeveloped parts prone to further inactivity andresulting degradation.

If uncorrected, unbalanced body pro p o rtions may lead to avicious cycle in which the strong body part gets stronger andl a rger while the weak body part gets weaker and smaller.

U n f o rt u n a t e l y, thisp roblem is often overlooked.L a rge-chested men often domultiple sets of bench pre s s e swhile chronically neglectingtheir legs. There are alsothose “two-dimensionalathletes” who work only on

the body parts they see inthe mirro r, meaning thef ront of the body only.Two-dimensional peopleoften carry a big chest andbiceps but have a flat backand buttocks.

Typical workoutroutines may not

be sufficient to reverse body deformations andestablish new body pro p o rtions. However, there is ap rocess that can force the body to redesign itself andc reate new, improved body pro p o rtions with overallsuperior perf o rmance capabilities. This process iscalled muscle shifting. To understand how it is possibleto improve body pro p o rtion, you will need to acquaintyourself with the biological mechanism that re g u l a t e smuscle gain and muscle waste.

Muscle Gain versus Muscle Wa s t e

Muscle gain is a process bywhich muscle adds morep rotein to its mass than itloses. Gain and loss ofmuscle protein is part of are g u l a t o ry mechanism thathelps the body constantlymaintain homeostasis of itsp rotein pool. Protein isneeded for numerous criticalmetabolic functions,including the formation ofantibodies, production ofenzymes and hormones, andthe repair of old and bro k e ntissue. For this re a s o n ,maintaining a protein pool isof the utmost importance fors u rvival.

Skeletal muscles serve asthe body’s exclusive pro t e i nstorage organs. Proteins are synthesized or degraded accord i n gto the body’s specific needs. For instance, injuries, disease, orp rolonged starvation increases the body’s demand for pro t e i nand there f o re these are often associated with protein degradationand muscle wasting.

A healthy, 160-pound male has a daily protein turnover ofabout 280-300 grams. Protein turnover is a term that describesthe total amount of protein that is consumed and utilized foranabolic and catabolic purposes. Muscle gain clearly depends onthe rate of p rotein turn o v e r, in particular on the rate of pro t e i nsynthesis and protein degradation. In fact, any process thatinduces muscle gain also involves a surplus of protein synthesison protein breakdown.

Real muscle mass gain clearly depends on two criticallyi m p o rtant processes. The first promotes a gain in muscle pro t e i n ,

and the second inhibits muscle waste. Anythingthat helps inhibit muscle waste eff e c t i v e l yp romotes muscle gain, a fact often overlooked.

Because carbohydrates and insulin arec o n s i d e red “bad guys,” athletes and bodybuilderstend to restrict carb consumption, not re a l i z i n gthat by doing so they severely compromise theiro p p o rtunity to effectively build muscle. Insulin,among other functions, is an anticatabolich o rmone that inhibits muscle breakdown. That’swhy it is so important to incorporate smallre c o v e ry meals that contain protein and carbs aftere x e rcise.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR BODYPROPORTIONS WITH MUSCLE SHIFTING

5 8

by Ori Hofmekler With Marc Salzman

An excerptfrom Maximum

Muscle Minimum Fat

The anticatabolic anti-muscle-wastee ffect of insulin also explains why a state ofinsulin resistance or diabetes is oftenassociated with muscle waste.

Other factors that help prevent musclewaste do so through various actions,including exercise, inhibition of stre s sh o rmones, and the ingestion of dietaryp rotein, especially branch chain aminoacids. The amino acid leucine has ap rofound inhibitory effect on musclep rotein degradation. This is also true of theactions of anabolic agents such as gro w t hh o rmone, testosterone, IGF1 and its re l a t e dheat-shock protein 27, all of which incre a s emuscle protein conservation, there b yinhibiting muscle waste.

Incorporating special dietary and training methods that re d u c es t ress can effectively suppress cort i s o l ’s catabolic effect on musclep rotein. Relaxation and proper rest intervals are as important ase x e rcise, and avoiding overtraining is the most important of all.O v e rtraining often leads to stagnation, plateau, and loss ofmuscle tissue.

Let Your Body Redesign Itself

Most protein synthesis originates from endogenous sourc e s ,not from dietary sources. This suggests that muscle gain isactually a process of recycling in which the body convert sendogenous protein into new muscle fibers. It also leads to thes t a rtling conclusion that the body can, in fact, redesign itself.

Under certain conditions involving nutritional and physicals t ress, the body would try to improve perf o rmance capabilitiesby changing its muscular pro p o rtions via strengthening of activemuscles and attenuating less active muscles.

A process exists that can shift protein fro mless active muscles to more active muscles,t h e reby creating a more functional bodyp ro p o rtion. Recycling old tissue into newtissue is also a natural method that helpsmaintain tissue integrity and may slow age-related wear and tear.

How can you signal your body to re d e s i g nitself? You can do it by alternating betweendays of low protein consumption and days ofhigh protein consumption. This dietarymethod, combined with special exercise thatt a rgets and prioritizes certain muscles, is likelyto trigger the recycling process that shiftsp rotein from one muscle to another, there b yhelping design new body pro p o rt i o n s .

Muscle Shifting

Recent experimental evidence demonstratesthat a low-protein diet with sufficient calories triggers amechanism that inhibits active muscle protein breakdown. Thatmechanism presumably helps the body survive under conditionsof low protein ingestion by sparing active muscle’s protein fro m

degradation. It is possible, then, that at e m p o r a ry low-protein diet combinedwith exercise may force the body tomobilize protein from less activemuscles to more active muscles, thussparing the more active muscles whileusing the less active ones as anendogenous source of protein.

That process would redesign the bodyto achieve more functional bodyp ro p o rtions. If you want to impro v eyour body pro p o rtions, you may findthis method well worth trying. Notethat exercise routines that incorporatespecial strength, speed, or endurancetraining are necessary for the inductionof body transformation according toyour specific needs.

Muscle shifting is a new term derived from an old concept. Theidea of shifting muscles is based on the body’s tendency toi m p rove its perf o rmance capabilities by strengthening thosemuscles responsible for actions thatoccur most often and most intensely.

In practical terms, a person maybe able to shift muscles byestablishing special workoutsessions five to six times per weekthat incorporate exerc i s e sprioritizing certain body part s(those that need extras t rengthening) while maintainingother body parts (those that are eithero v e rg rown or re l a t i v e l yoverpowering and need to be re d u c e din size). One can do that byi n c reasing the frequency and intensityof the exercise to targeted body part s ,while maintaining lower frequency of

e x e rcise ton o n t a rgeted body part s .

As noted, cycling between days of lowand high protein consumption may help thebody redesign itself. Low-protein days arelikely to trigger the mechanism that inhibitsactive muscle breakdown, thereby forc i n gthe body to dig into its protein pool fro mless active muscles, shifting protein from theless active to the more active muscles. Thisp rocess maintains and increases the size ofactive muscles while decreasing the size ofless active muscles.

F i n a l l y, on high-protein days, the body islikely to take advantage of the increase inp rotein utilization potential (due to thep receding low-protein days) and there f o remaximize protein assimilation. This canresult in increased muscle mass. Muscle

shifting—the process that facilitates protein shifting from onemuscle to another—may help individuals correct bodyp ro p o rtion and symmetry, thereby improving both aesthetics andp e rf o rm a n c e .

5 9

Dragon Door PublicationsP.O. Box 1097West Chester, OH 45071

P r e s o rted StandardU.S. POSTAGE PA ID

D RAGO ND O O RPUBL I CAT I O NS, IN C ,

THINK ANDGROW STRONG!

MaximumMuscleMinimum FatThe Science of PhysicalPerformanceBy Ori Hofmekler With Marc Salzman

# B 27 $ 3 4 . 9 5Paperback 180 pages 8.5" x 11"

What you think—you become. Knowledge is power. When it comes to changingyour body, do you really know what to think?

Cutting through the confusion of claims, beliefs and pseudo-science that bedevilsmodern bodybuilding, bestselling fitness author, Ori Hofmekler, reveals the untoldsecrets behind guaranteed muscle gain—and guaranteed fat loss.

N o w, for the first time, you can unlock your true physical potential—byunderstanding the fundamental biological principles of physical transformation.

Once you own this wisdom, you will be the master of your body.

Dramatic newresearch reveals h ow you can:

• Engage three secret "metabolicwizards"—to banish stubborn fat forever

• Reengineer your body at the cellularlevel—and design a dream physique

• Ta ke charge of your hormonesnaturally—for rapid muscle gain andf a s ter fat loss

• Master the art of "anabolic cycling"—forg r e a ter strength and enhanced libido

• "Release the beast"—and trigger yourinner survival power

• Ta ke advantage of hunger—to stimulateg r o wth and boost your brain power

• Shatter training plate a u s — a n dexperience a quantum leap in yourphysical development

D i s c over: • H ow to turn on your anabolic switch—a n d

optimize muscle growth

• The cellular science behind muscle gain andfat loss

• H ow to use your own fat to build morem u s c l e —and other surprising secrets of modernb i o - s c i e n c e

• What you really need to know to harness thefull power of human growth and ste r o i dhormones

• H ow to develop "super muscle"—a musclepacked with unprecedented power ands t r e n gth

• "Muscle shifting"—a potent new way toredesign your body

• H ow to make insulin your friend—in the racefor more muscle and less fat

• The scientific support behind the ancientwisdom of controlled undereating andov e r e a t i n g—releasing your "inner beast" tobecome a metabolic powerhouse