Thanks!!!!

I don't use kettlebells and Pavel doesn't follow the Warrior Diet. Doing the Warrior Diet doesn't necessarily mean that you have to eat nothing all day and then just one meal at night. It mainly emphasizes the point that it is okay to let yourself get hungry during the day by eating less during the day. This is a good way to burn fat calories because there aren't excessive food calories for your body to use for energy. Working out in the afternoon amplifies this effect. Then you eat a large portion of your calories after your workout, when your body absorbs them the best. It is a great way to stay lean while maintaining muscle mass. It isn't the only approach that works, but it works well. One other thing, you don't have to eat "Warrior" like every day. Ori says just do it on days that make sense. I eat like this probably 2-3 days a week and it works well.

Rusty

Do you use kettlebells?

Does Pavel Tsatsouline follow the warrior diet? ( This sounds absurd and stupid )

No…he charges for this info…and it is worth the price.

Rusty

Bruce Lee's philosophies are still more advanced than typical mainstream fitness books. Amazing stuff!

Glad my explanation made sense!

Rusty

I actually read "The Art of Expressing the Human Body" by Bruce Lee and there was some references to strong muscle contractions, but not laid out as clearly or as focused as you have. It's funny how after reading this post and now your answer that the information in that book kinda clicks. Cool.

That makes sense. The heavy weight is just designed to generate strong muscle contractions. It is the strong muscle contractions that create the tone, not the actual weight itself. At some point you will stick to the same weight and just move it slower or you learn how to contract the muscles harder with that same amount of weight. An alternative is to switch up the lift to a slightly different version of the same lift, if you feel you have mastered a lift.

Rusty

Or is it a case that once you have reached the level of tone you want that you just maintain? Is that possible if you need to keep your nervous system devloped?

Not sure if that made sense.

I've seen people build pretty impressive physiques using kettlebells…not too muscular and very toned. They are extremely effective in helping people get that lean and toned look. That being said, I would never use kettlebells, because of a past spinal injury I have. If I didn't have this pre-existing injury, I would probably own a couple and do kettlebell workouts for a period of time each year, just to mix things up. I wouldn't do them year round, because I enjoy hitting a variety of lifts…plus I like to work my chest which is nearly impossible to do with kettlebells.

The one downside of using kettlebells, is their potential to "Thicken the waist" a bit. It is pure muscle gained around the core, so it is very functional muscle…but nonetheless many people do add a bit of thickness there.

Hope that helps!

Rusty

Funny you mention Bruce Lee…Pavel mentions him a bunch in his book. Also read the comment above. This is just a small piece of wisdom from the book.

Rusty

Here is where Pavel's ideas are really exciting. You are actually using weight as an easier way to get strong contractions in the muscle. He says it is possible to use much lighter weights and get strong contractions, you just have to purposely contract the muscle's hard.

Here is what is crazy…he says you can get stronger without ever lifting heavy by "pretending like the weight is heavy" and lifting at a slow pace and building tension just as if the weight is heavy. If someone had joint problems, this would be the way to get toned while lifting light weights.

He actually recommends warming up like this. So here is what I do for a bench press if I want to end up hitting a few sets of 225 for reps of 3-5 (I don't go heavier than that these days).

1) I will lift 135 at exactly the same pace I would do for 225 and try to imitate the tension I would feel. Even though the weight feels light, I don't throw it up and down like a piston for a bunch of reps. I do 135 for 3 reps.

2) Then I'll do the same with 185. I'll pretend like the weight is 225 and lift it at that pace with that same level of tension.

3) Then I do it with 205…remember I could probably hit it for over 12, but I'm sticking to 3 reps…just like my main work sets.

What happens is that 225 feels lighter for some reason. It isn't a shock to my system, because my other sets felt almost the same to my muscles. It is REALLY crazy stuff!

If someone wanted to lift using light weights, I would still stick to lower weights…I would just move the weights like they are heavier and squeeze the hell out of the muscles. The other approach works too, but high reps always seem to give me more of a pumped look instead of an angular lean look.

Hope that makes sense!

Rusty

I will probably try to track down this book.

Nice Post!

This kind of workout gets badmouthed all the time, but the people who badmouth it often say their reason is that there is no such thing as tone. But if this boards' community ackowledges tone exists… therefore…

Is it really necessary to lift a heavy weight in order to acheive tone? Can't you acheive tone more safely by contacting the muscle a number of times using a small weight? You won't get much size at all, though you'd get a little perhaps from building more blood vessels, but your muscles should remain 'tense' and therefore toned if you do this regularly. Any thoughts?