The Unofficial Dragondoor.com FAQ

The Dragon Door Discussion Site

These are the unofficial FAQs for exercise and diet techniques discussed on the message board at www.dragondoor.com

Please keep in mind that the documents referenced in these FAQs are posts on the dragondoor site from the past. If these items do not answer your questions, create a new post on the board so everyone can see your question. If you feel you can add a response to a particular topic that would help future FAQ readers, please do so.

• For the latest news, click here.
• For more about my personal fitness journey see below.
• Catalog of Pavel Tsatsouline's fitness books, videos, and equipment.

Thanks,

Vic

Frequently Asked Questions on the Dragondoor.com message board

• Acronyms used on the board  
• Abdominal Training
• Clubbell® Circular Strength Training™
• Diet  
• Increasing grip strength  
• Kettlebells
• Martial Arts  
• Pain questions  
• Power to the People  
• Should I buy the book or the video?  
• Rapid Response SWAT and Martial Power training series  
• Women's training

Latest news:

*** 1/16/06 ***

- An absolutely killer deal is going on right NOW for kettlebell strength training related products. I've seriously never seen an offer like this before related to kettlebells:

*** 1/9/04 ***

- DVD version of More Russian Kettlebell Challenges ready for pre-order by end of January..

*** 1/3/04 ***

- New kettlebell-clubbell-circular-strength training FAQ site is up and running.

*** 10/19/03 ***

- Work is progressing on a new kettlebell-clubbell-circular-strength training FAQ site.

*** 8/20/03 ***

- My ebook "The Last 10 Pounds" is finally done and ready for download!!

*** 6/30/03 ***

- Redesigned the Netflix Queue page so that you can now actually see the movie descriptions, categories, selections, etc.

*** 6/4/03 ***

- Replaced search engine with a much improved version.
- Removed frames from home page and most visited sub-pages.
- Popunder now limited to first page visited per day.
- Added random testimonials to kettlebell, abdominal exercise, martial arts, and combat conditioning FAQ pages.

*** 5/8/03 ***

- Added review of the new kettlebell DVD from Dragon Door.

*** 4/28/03 ***

- FINALLY!! THE FIRST "PAVELIZED" DVD FROM DRAGONDOOR.COM: THE RUSSIAN KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE!

*** 3/29/03 ***

- As far as KB work, I am now up to 50 combined 1 hand swing with the 54lb KB, and 3 Sots presses on each side with the 36lb version.

*** 3/20/03 ***

- UPDATE: I'm currently at about 9% body fat. At the end of January I was at 13%. I achieved this through a combination of kettlebells, olympic lifting, standard bodybuilding routines, walking, and karate. I cycled through these methods on a 2 week basis, with only karate being the consistent thread. I found tracking what I eat to be critical to the process. If you would like more details, drop me an email.

I can clean a 54lb kettlebell 10X, one-arm swing it 15X, snatch it 6X, and windmill in the upper position 5X. (These are all per side). I have also managed to do 1 Sots press per side with a 36lb kettlebell.

*** 1/30/03 ***

- Adding links to all FAQ pages to bottom of all pages for easier site navigation.

*** 1/28/03 ***

- Updated the Martial Arts page.

- Updated the Abdominal Training FAQ page.

- More updates to the Rapid Response/Martial Power FAQ page. Added reviews and opinions of the Martial Power video set.
 

*** 1/14/03 ***

- Dragondoor releases NEW 10 video set: Martial Power! Pavel training Special Ops forces for 2 days on how to increase speed, power, and strength in life or death conditions.

- Updated the SWAT FAQ page to reflect the addition of Martial Power.
 

*** 1/3/03 ***

- Added new FAQ due to growing popularity of Clubbells®: Clubbell® Circular Strength Training™ FAQ page 
 

*** 12/13/02 ***

- Dragondoor releases NEW advanced kettlebell training video: More Russian Kettlebell Challenges!
 

*** 12/11/02 ***

- New personal record: 275lb deadlift! :-)
 

*** 10/18/02 ***

- Updates throughout the website, adding information to the kettlebell and abdominal pages.

- Updated the Images page.
 

*** 9/17/02 ***

- Updated the website to make it easier to read and navigate.

*** 8/24/02 ***

- Updated the catalog page, added the "Rapid Response" SWAT training series as well as "From Russia with Tough Love", the kettlebell training book/video for women.

- Updated the workout history section below.

- I've started a 12 week Kettlebell cycle in which I'm tracking my workouts, what I eat, weight, bodyfat, and waist size. I had my wife take a "before" photo on August 2nd, and I'll be posting the before and after photos and stats when I'm done. I started with the following measurements:

Weight: 158lbs
Fat: 13% (I know, I know)
Waist: 33 (Yikes!)

**** 7/9/02 ***

- Updated the catalog page, made it easier to navigate.

*** 6/26/02 ***

- I've created a catalog page listing the majority of Pavel's products.

*** 6/19/02 ***

There have been posts on the board concerning DVDs. I have complete faith that it will only be a matter oftime before the wise comrades at Dragon Door offer Pavel's awesome videos in DVD format. (My humble opinion only, of course)

For those of you who own DVD players and are suffering the dishonor of renting at Blockbuster, please allow me to recommend an alternative: Netflix.com.

I have been using their service for almost 3 years and I haven't been to Blockbuster in all that time. They have over 11,500 titles, free shipping, no due dates, and no late fees! Excellent service and turnaround time. If I put a DVD in the mail on Monday, I usually get the next title in my queue on Wednesday. They have a free trial, so check it out. I promise you that if you try it you will be hooked. :-)

If anyone is interested, here is my workout history:

I started out with Body-for-Life in May of 2000 and completed the 12 week program, losing 10lbs of fat and adding 10lbs of lean mass. My before and after photos are here. Charts of my body composition progress over 2 consecutive 12 week challenges are here.

I started using Pavel Tsatsouline's PTP and RKC methods in April of 2001, after having attended one of his workshops. My goals had changed from getting "big and ripped" (adding more weight to my frame) to getting "strong and ripped" (staying at my same overall bodyweight while lowering body fat). At the same time I started the NHE diet, and after about a month and a half switched over to a modified version of the Warrior Diet (or Animalbolics), which seemed to work very well for me. Here is my progress since changing over from typical bodybuilding workouts and diets (as of August 2001). I had spinal fusion surgery in December of 2001, so had to lay off of working out for a while. UPDATE: I'm currently at 9% body fat. At the end of January I was at 13%. I achieved this through a combination of kettlebells, Olympic lifting, standard bodybuilding routines, walking, and karate. I cycled through these methods on a bi-weekly basis, with only karate being the consistent thread. Updated photos are here. If you would like more details, drop me an email.