By Daily Press staff
Pavel Tsatsouline, Master of Sports, is a former physical training instructor for the Soviet Special Forces, currently a subject matter expert to the U.S. Marine Corps, the National Nuclear Security Administration/U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Secret Service.
Once a nationally ranked kettlebell lifter in the USSR, today Pavel leads the Russian kettlebell invasion in the U.S. Power by Pavel, Inc. spreads kettlebell propaganda through print and Tactical Strength, Inc. which “explains it manually” in workshops.
It all started in 1998 with Pavel’s subversive article, “Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes,” in MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes. 2001 was the year of the kettlebell. Dragon Door published Pavel’s “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge” and forged the first U.S.-made Russian style cast iron kettlebell. RKC, the first ket-tlebell instructor course on American soil, kicked off. Finally Pavel, a kettle-bell in his hand, was voted the “Hot Trainer” by Rolling Stone.
In the words of one of the most respected names in the strength world Dr. Randall Strossen, “… Pavel Tsatsouline will always reign as the modern king of kettlebells since it was he who popularized them to the point where you could almost found a country filled with his converts …”
A “kettlebell,” or “girya” in Russian, is a traditional Russian cast iron weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle. It’s known by some strength builders as the ultimate tool for extreme all-round fitness.
The kettlebell first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704. So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia that any strong man or weightlifter was referred to as a “girevik,” or “a kettlebell man.”
“Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as ket-tlebell athletics,” reported Russian magazine Hercules in 1913.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 21, 2005. Read the original PDF.