00:00:00As we grow older, there is a loss of type 2 muscle fibers, the fast twitch fibers.
00:00:05So you have to train heavy or you have to train fast if you want to stay young.
00:00:10The barbell, if you just love heavy stuff, it's awesome. The barbell is not forgiving.
00:00:14So let's say that one of your shoulders is jacked up. It's just not very forgiving.
00:00:18So this is where the kettlebell comes in.
00:00:19Maybe this is a good time to discuss the benefits of kettlebells versus let's say barbells or body.
00:00:26Sure. That's a very good conversation. That's a question people ask often.
00:00:30Right.
00:00:30So I would name these as three top modalities for people.
00:00:33Yes, there's some other additional things, dumbbells and whatever, but usually they're secondary.
00:00:37So what are the respective benefits of these different modalities?
00:00:43The body weight is obviously accessible. It's with you no matter where you go.
00:00:47But interestingly enough, the body weight requires the most coaching.
00:00:51So you have to, it's very subtle. Like for example, if you look at developing something, the gym is
00:00:56called the hollow position. It takes a lot of coaching. To perform correct, even pull-up or
00:01:00push-up, it's a lot of work. One-legged squat, so on and so forth. So it's great, but it just takes
00:01:06more time, more investment. Also, the downside of the body weight would be you can't really train
00:01:12your lower back effectively. And whatever you do, back extensions, other stuff, neck bridges,
00:01:16it's not going to do it for your back. It just won't. So body weight, great modality, but with
00:01:21these limitations. The barbell, if you just love heavy stuff, it's awesome.
00:01:26And it's just psychologically, it's extremely satisfying, a heavy deadlift, let's say,
00:01:30for some people, not for all. Then if you're looking for to maximize your muscle mass,
00:01:35nobody has come up yet with anything other than the barbell. So you start doing some repetition,
00:01:41deadlift squats, so on. So that's another reason. The problem with the barbell, first of all, is the
00:01:47learning curve. It takes some time to learn it correctly. It's not easy to master it,
00:01:52and it takes a lot of instruction. In addition, the barbell is not forgiving. So let's say that
00:01:58one of your shoulders is jacked up. It's just not very forgiving. Because you just have to adjust
00:02:04yourself to the bar as opposed to make the implement adjust yourself. So this is where the kettlebell
00:02:09comes in. First of all, the kettlebell, because it moves freely, it adjusts to your body, to your
00:02:14physiology, to your anatomy, I should say. So it works, it works quite well. Then the offset center
00:02:20gravity, that's just tremendous thing for your back, I'm sorry, for your shoulder. So the positions
00:02:25you put your shoulder in, you cannot do with anything else. But, and you obviously have the
00:02:29get up, which is an amazing exercise. Cannot do it as well with other implements. But the ballistics,
00:02:35that's another unique benefit of the kettlebell, swings and snatches, exercises like that. The
00:02:42benefits of these exercises are many. So first of all, ballistic loading obviously is part of sports,
00:02:48and it's a part of life. And oftentimes, it's hard to do it safely. Go ahead, start jumping.
00:02:55Like before somebody starts jumping correctly, jumping off boxes, and so on and so forth,
00:03:02just even, you know, hopping across the floor. It requires some coaching, it requires getting
00:03:08some strength, it requires addressing some dysfunction, so on and so forth. The kettlebell
00:03:14swing, for example, it's so many hard men with high mileage who are really banged up in so many
00:03:21different ways. Their backs, their knees, their hips, they're able to do swings safely. That's
00:03:26just remarkable. And the ballistic contraction is very important. So you have to run, you have
00:03:32to jump, you have to do things like that. But it goes beyond that for your health, for your
00:03:37longevity. So as we grow older, there's a loss of type two muscle fibers. So the strong ones,
00:03:46the fast twitch fibers. And there are several problems with that. First of all, they're
00:03:49metabolically needed for the body to be healthy, to process sugar, so on, so on, so forth. Second is to
00:03:57deal with real life situations. You know, like it's very unfortunate, some old person trips and
00:04:02breaks a hip. It's terrible. And oftentimes the reason is just weakness. And we need these fast
00:04:08fibers because whenever you trip, you have this reflexive contraction, these fibers go online
00:04:15first. So if you don't have them anymore, you got massive problems, right? So another reason is in
00:04:24type two fibers, there is a mitochondrial degeneration takes place as you grow older,
00:04:29much faster than others. And if you don't take care of that, it's also that's aging.
00:04:34So you've got to train this type two fibers. And there are only two ways to train type two fibers.
00:04:39It's heavy or fast. So there's no third way. So whenever people try to do some sort of a super slow
00:04:47this or Pilates that whatever, it's not going to do it. So you have to train heavy. We have to train
00:04:54fast if you want to stay young. So are you completely against that kind of super slow
00:05:00training? Not at all, but for totally different reasons. There is, well, obviously one reason is
00:05:07possibly somebody's injured, right? Another reason is to develop your type one endurance fibers,
00:05:14hypertrophy for these fibers. Why would you want to do that? Well, first of all, type one fibers,
00:05:21the downside of these fibers is they contract slower. So obviously, that's a downside for
00:05:26some sports for some activities. But they're also more efficient, which means it's plus for other
00:05:32sports, right? By building your type one fibers, you automatically get more endurance in addition
00:05:37to muscle mass and strength too. So super slow work is good for that. But it has to be done correctly.
00:05:45The proper methods were developed by Russian professor Victor Silianov. The duration of a set
00:05:53is 30 to 60 seconds. So for example, if you were to do a squat, you go down below parallel,
00:06:04but not to the point where you're sitting on your calves and come up just a little above parallel
00:06:09and below again. So just that most unpleasant, the most painful area. If you're doing, let's say,
00:06:16push-ups for your chest, for example, you would almost brush the deck with your chest,
00:06:24come up about halfway and come back down. And the speed is very slow. So there's no momentum at all.
00:06:32Normally, when people train in this manner, bodybuilders and others, they just want to get
00:06:36more burn possible. And by the way, the burn is awful. And in this particular case, you want to
00:06:41train close to failure. In this particular case, that's just a muscular training. That's not strength
00:06:46training per se. So they try to run from one set to the next. So they'll do that, let's say that 30
00:06:52seconds set, then they will just, you know, rest for 30 seconds to do it again, completely hammer themselves.
00:06:57The problem with that is even though we do not know the exact mechanisms of muscle growth, we do know
00:07:06that some lactic acid is needed, but too much lactic acid is destructive. After this kind of set,
00:07:14you have to rest for five to ten minutes. And it sounds for people, it's a very hard mental thing
00:07:19to do. So here I am going for this massive burn and I have to wait for five to ten minutes.
00:07:26But it's very simple. You introduce another exercise in between. So train twice a week, five to
00:07:33five to ten sets on the heavy day, eventually once you build up to it. And about one to three sets in
00:07:41a light day. So for rowing, for wrestling, for bodybuilding, for some people who cannot do anything
00:07:49else. So that's a good protocol.