"One More Rep" Mentality is Bad for Longevity w/Pavel Tsatsouline | Joe Rogan

In fact, this is one of the very important points in that Soviet coaches would make that do not force adaptation. David Riggard, Riggard is probably the greatest weightlifter of all times. So he has over 60 world records in several weight classes and just unbelievable athlete. So he just made a point that do not force the strength development. Do not force mass development. That's another problem. It's possible to build muscle fast, but it's not going to necessarily be a very quality muscle. So yes, take your time. And this is interesting enough, Joe. This is what old timers understood. I'm a fan of books by old time strong man. Not all of them, of course, but some of them are just remarkable. Earl Litterman, he was an American strong man and educator. He wrote a book back in 1925 called The Seekers of Strength. And it's an awesome book. So you read this book and if you follow the directions in this book from 1925, you will get far superior results and from most pop fitness and strength programs. Because people who had some sense, some common sense, they were able to again observe what's going on. They were not driven by some slogan, oh, one more rep, whatever. Yeah. The one more rep thing is a, it's very embraced here in America, you know, with the meatheads, which are my people. The thing about it is that you think that mental toughness is going to push you past your limits or what your perceived limits are and that that's where the real strength happens. That's where the real growth takes place. That's a very valid point for you mentally, not physically. Mentally, but periodically. This is a very important point. You have to push the body to the limit whether in competition or some other manner. But for a short period of time and not too often. That's very important. You know who Ronnie Coleman is, right? Yeah. You know, Ronnie Coleman, who was Mr. Olympia just at one point in time, one of the most impressive and spectacular physiques on earth, is now so injured from all of his incredible lifts. He was known for lifting enormous, enormous amounts of weight. And I mean, I think when they asked him about if we do anything different, because I think he's had, I hope I'm not wrong, but I think more than 11 back surgeries over the last few years. He's essentially herniated every single disc in his back. And a series of back operations has left him walking with crutches and, you know, it's bad. But this is the result of this sort of mindset of a champion, you know, that he was... Joe, pardon me. I'm going to interrupt you for a second. The champion has that mindset on the platform. The champion, whenever the champion is in the gym, he or she is going to approach this as a working man, pretty much. This is the plan, this is what I do. So you will find that absolutely in sports, you have to be extremely tough. And you have to model some of that in training as well, but in a very, very careful timed manner. Yeah. So for instance, top lifters, top power lifters, they max twice a year at the Nationals and at the Worlds. Meanwhile, they train hard, they push themselves to do everything right, but they do not try to squeeze out one extra rep. It just simply will not work. It does not work. I remember having conversation with Andy Bolden. Andy is the first man to downlift a thousand pounds. And just speak to a soccer athlete. If you watch Andy pull in competition, it's just unbelievable. It's a thing of beauty. And I just, Andy was telling me how some lifters he has seen that would just simply try to hang with others, better lifters in the gym and try to repeat exactly what they do. And that's what happens after that. Nothing good happens from that. You have to be tough when it's time. In the gym, you have to do the plan. And like for example, let's talk about heavy lifting, just heavy singles, let's say. If I'm sure everybody who listens to your program has at what point of their life decided to up their bench press by going to a maximum once a week, I'm sure everybody has. I have, you have, everybody has. So how long did it last? Typically six weeks for a beginner and an advanced lifter might tolerate two or three weeks. And that's about it. So for whatever reasons, after that, you know, your nervous system starts burning out, your endocrine system can't keep up and that's it. So for that reason, before the competition, you might take like a 90% single double or something like that. And if you look at the longevity of power lifters, and if you look at longevity of the weight lifters of the Soviet school, it's very impressive. I'll give you one great example. So, well, David Rigard himself, who was the champion around, you know, in the 70s. So he is way, he's probably pushing 70 right now, you know, lives in a farm, works in the farm, but he's doing great, very healthy. But his coach, that's, that's an even more interesting story. Rudolf Blückfelder, he was probably the oldest to win the Olympics in weightlifting. He was 36. And he worked in the mines in daytime and then trained hard. So Blückfelder, ethnically, so ethnically he's German. So one of the Germans living in the Soviet Union. And eventually when the Soviet Union fell apart, Blückfelder immigrated to Germany. And so a journalist came to visit him. And so here's this really spry looking guy pulling around in the garden. And the journalist is asking, pardon me, sir, I speak to your dad. So here's this guy who is almost 90 years old, who still looks about 30 years younger, who still does jump squats with 90 kilos for sets of 10. And this is an example. So heavy weights don't have the same longevity. But that has more, that does not have anything to do with the training system that has to do with the fact this train you put in your system by eating so much, just not so good. But these guys have longevity. If you also look at the power lifters, most successful power lifters, American power lifters, Eddie Cohn competed for, if I'm not mistaken, about 30 years at the highest level. From a very lightweight class to much heavier one. And he stayed super healthy throughout. He maybe had one injury. And Eddie right now, you always have after retirement is very, very healthy. So you will find that the mentality of saving this eye of the tiger for when it matters, as opposed to treating every training day as a competition, that makes a big difference for performance and for longevity. It just battles the mindset of always do more, always push harder, always give your all, leave everything in the gym. This is the mindset that people have been sort of indoctrinated into. Sure. That they think that hard work is what really matters. Hard work does matter, but hard work can come in a lot of different, it can manifest itself differently. Would that approach have worked with a guy like Ronnie Coleman? Because he's a bodybuilder. So bodybuilders, obviously you're not talking about competition in the sense of being able to lift a lot of weight. You're talking about just mass, acquiring mass. Well, you know, the bodybuilders from the older era, like Franco Colombo, very sad that Dr. Colombo passed recently, but he was an exceptionally strong man, a very healthy man. He died swimming. Yeah, but also it was a hard issue that has nothing to do with lifting. So he was very healthy and very strong till the end. And if you look at the guys of that generation, they're doing great. And if you look at other bodybuilders, power lift, let's say bodybuilders who have some kind of a power bodybuilding approach, these guys have been around longer as well. If you look at the old timers, again, Dave Draper, these guys, oh, Clarence Bass, you know Clarence Bass? Sure. Super shredded. Clarence is a friend of mine and Clarence is, well, let's put it this way. He's not a spring chicken, but he's got an absolutely spectacular physique. He's still staying very strong. Are there recent pictures of him? He's very disciplined. Yeah. How old is he now? He's got to be in the 70s, right? Or pushing 80 possibly. Yeah. Yeah. There he is. Yep, that's Clarence. He's awesome. That guy's awesome. That is crazy. That picture of him lifting his shirt up with this complete grandpa face and just super jackpotty. That guy's incredible. Yeah, that's- He knows how to push himself when you need to push himself. Yeah. Well, he's very, very intelligent, that guy. But all top athletes and lifters are very intelligent. There are some flukes, but they don't last long. Right. I see what you're saying. Yeah, for longevity, you sort of have to have that sort of intelligent approach. So do you think a guy like Ronnie Coleman would have been able to achieve the mass and the size and the way he was built with a different strategy? I can speculate. I don't know, but I can speculate. But if you look at the muscle mass that have been achieved by heavyweight power lifters, like Kurt Kowalski. Look up that guy. Kurt Kowalski. Kowalski K-A-R-W-O-S-K-I. So if you see that type of development achieved by heavyweight power lifters, then I don't see why not. And bodybuilders have their own additional techniques. They still have to do their stuff or their separation and whatever it is that you do. But I think there's a very good chance that he would have. And if you look at the successful power, like Michael Hearn, for example, that's a very strong guy. He's a power bodybuilder. There we go. Here's Kowalski right there. Jesus Christ. Look at the size of that fucking guy. Yeah, he looks like a body, but look at the size of his legs. That is ridiculous. Yeah. And that guy just would not fool around with peck whatever deck and what have you. Peck deck? Yeah. You say that disdainfully. What do you want me to say? What do you want me to say? What do you want me to say? Was there a lot of people who don't understand what's wrong with it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.