Praise for Pavel's The Naked Warrior

"How many times have we seen someone perform a skill that appears to be magical? How many people do we know, or know of, who seem to be able to naturally do things that we can't do? The temptation is to shrug our shoulders and acknowledge their natural abilities, talents, and other inborn gifts. That is, until someone calls it. Until that someone can observe it, break it down, and describe it to the rest of us in a way that makes it possible for us to reproduce the 'magic'. That someone is Pavel. In his book, The Naked Warrior, Pavel presents us with a clear system for building a strong body that can perform acts of useful strength, the kind of strength that men have always needed to win when winning meant living another day.

Pavel is a racehorse who cannot only tell you exactly why a racehorse runs fast, but how you too can run like the racehorse. Pavel is a racehorse who can 'call it'. And he calls it in The Naked Warrior."
—Steve Maxwell, MS, RKC Sr., Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Maxercise.com

"Pavel, of all your books, I like this one the best. The program is very simple and very effective. Perfect for the military. At the same time, you put a lot of effort/detail into describing different aspects of the program. No doubt, the years of having to deal with people attempting to complicate something simple motivated you there. In fact, it is the part of the book I like best. You can go back through the book many times and still get new perspectives on something like GTG from the different stories/descriptions."
—Nick Nibler, CrossFitNorth.com

"The Naked Warrior is outstanding as a complement to Pavel's other books or standing alone. The 'Grease the Groove' section alone makes this book worth owning. I have read articles on this concept, but The Naked Warrior explained it so well and in great detail. It also echoed what I have learned during my martial arts training: consistency and intensity are better than marathon workouts that leave you exhausted with sloppy technique.

For martial artists and practitioners of police defensive tactics the two featured exercises in The Naked Warrior will greatly enhance striking and kicking. The One-Arm Pushup and the One-Legged Squat (Pistol) are the closest thing to actually striking and kicking that strength training has to offer.

For martial artists who don't wish to weight train or just don't have the time The Naked Warrior program is the way to go to enhance strength.

Those who do weight train will want to include the Naked Warrior program into their training as well since the benefit is great while time, cost and convenience are non-factors.

The 'byproduct' of the high tension concepts outlined in this book is the martial artist will learn more about the use of muscle tension in motion than he will during the majority of martial arts training.

Tension, in it's proper degree and application is of paramount importance, it is not only a factor in strength, but in speed and endurance as well. The section on Power Breathing explains the relation between strength and breathing like most martial art instructors don't or cannot.

There is finally a scientific explanation on many of the breathing exercises and techniques that abound. As is stated in the book, 'strength is a technique.' You can practice martial skills without the information offered in The Naked Warrior, but you risk not operating at full potential."
—George Demetriou, Modern Warrior Defensive Tactics Institute, NYC

"Pavel... your sections on tension and breathing de-mystify the concept of 'centering'. Many practitioners of Oriental arts emphasize the mental path to power generation. The majority of Westerners cannot relate to that. You have made it a physical skill and described it in such a way that anyone can practice it and readily improve... This book, as with The Russian Kettlebell Challenge... will catch like fire in the tactical community."
—Name withheld, Instructor, Counter Assault Team, US Secret Service

"This book has caused me to completely re-evaluate the way I look at calisthenics... Education is a wonderful thing and in this book you have most certainly educated me, as you will educate thousands... The great detail you include works, as I often receive a great deal of e-mail asking for more detail. Even those of us who have cranked out hundreds of thousands of reps in various drills don't really know what we are doing at a micro level. The detail allows us to scrutinize our performance and make adjustments to improve performance.

As for the spec ops warrior, this is great! There are so many times when you are unable to bring weights with you and you have to rely on cals to get you through.

This new learning on cals allows us in the field to still train for great strength with only our bodies and that's like money in the bank! For example, I am going on a 10 day trip with no weights and I will most certainly do The Naked Warrior workout while I am gone! I can't wait to get started!

The Naked Warrior is a must for anyone who trains people with cals! While it's great for your own use, you can help others improve dramatically by knowing what to look for and what to suggest to improve their technique.
—SSgt. Nate Morrison, USAF, Pararescue Combatives Course Project Manager

"Pavel, just finished your new book The Naked Warrior. This book, more than any other, has cleared up many concepts that I thought I was already 100% clear on such as G.T.G, strength and skill. For years I have told people that at one point conditioning and skill become the same thing if you condition yourself correctly. Unfortunately, most do not. You have done a great job explaining that point in this book. Even if someone had no intentions of using the two excellent exercises outlined in the book they could still benefit greatly from its content. When Jeff Martone was at my house I showed him boxes full of books/tapes I have collected from other authors. There is only one reason they are in the basement and not on the book shelf... That is Pavel Tsatsouline."
—Steve Baccari, co-author of Power behind the Punch: Kettlebell Conditioning for Boxers

"Pavel, I have grown to expect exceptional strength training information from you. The Naked Warrior exceeded my expectations. It is simply OUTSTANDING!!! I am very impressed with your attention to details on the exercises. You asked if they are excessively detailed. I would say that they are exceptionally detailed! The POWER is in the DETAILS!.. Congratulations on another tremendous product!"
—Brad Johnson

"As a diehard weightlifting competitor throughout the past 40 years, I at first viewed the bodyweight-only approach of THE NAKED WARRIOR with some trepidation. Imagine my surprise when discovering Pavel Tsatsouline's latest work stresses real STRENGTH TRAINING, employment of a limited amount of key major muscle group movements, and a high intensity, low rep format! Indeed, by deriving the best features of proven power building programs from all weightlifting disciplines, gymnastics, martial arts, and other "heavy" exercise modes, Mr. Tsatsouline has redefined strength-conditioning for the 21st century!

Recently retired from 32 years in public education, I used to agonize over the archaic athletic training which was witnessed on a daily basis; coaches simply led their charges through hours of mind-numbing, ineffective calisthenics, "tradition" since centuries before. Now, Pavel's research can yield a much more condensed, result- producing package. The NAKED WARRIOR routine has the potential to save teams huge blocks of much needed time, will not drain their athletes' energy, and saves from any strain on the usual tight budget - no new equipment, definitely no assembly required!!!"
—John McKean, six time All-Round Weightlifting World Champion

"If I was stuck on a desert island (or somewhere else with no access to weights) I'd hope that Pavel Tsatsouline would be there to help keep me in shape. With The Naked Warrior, Pavel has moved the art of exercise without weights to a new level. I like both the exercises he has selected and the approach he advocates for training on them. Now, whether you have weights or not, there is no reason not to get into top shape!"
—Arthur Drechsler, author "The Weightlifting Encyclopedia"

"The NAKED WARRIOR is one of Pavel's best work yet!!! I find that Pavel's easy to understand, no nonsense approach in the NAKED WARRIOR will help one become the best they can be. In addition, the tools Pavel explains in the NAKED WARRIOR will help my Olympic style weight lifters gain the core strength they need to put additional kg on their totals. Thanks Pavel for such a great work!! "
—Mike Burgener, Sr international weightlifting coach

"I have had knee pain for 3 years. I had a consult a year and half ago with an orthopod who believed my right knee lateral meniscus was torn and that is why my knee pain was so prominent. I have always believed that it was more functional than structural (whether injured or not) and thus I did not go for the scope surgery.

I started pistols in September before I left with the team for the World Cup (I am fitness coach for Rugby Canada - well was until new coach is announced in a week), just a few a day maybe total volume of say 6-8 3-4 x per week. Yes it's small volume. Now, I am absolutely pain free and can flex my right knee with 100% effort and get no pain. One day around Christmas, I was doing a set of 2 pistols with 20 lbs and I heard a snap. The tendon had lengthened. I thought I was shot, I could not walk the rest of the day. The day after, no pain, what had happened is I had restored my knee function. Thank you the Pistol. They truly are unreal. Just for the record, I worked up to a full pistol performing progressive lowering onto different height chairs/boxes, working within the pain free ROM."
—David Smit, M.Sc., CSCS, NRG Fitness, Victoria, Canada
Dragon Door Forum 01-22-04

"I wanted to test GTG. So, I put my little(15 years) overweight, very weak brother on PTP until he could do 1 pull up. After a very sort while on PTP he could do 1 pull up, then I put him on GTG format work. Two sets of 1 pull up every day slowly raising the volume..etc. Well, to make a long story short my little bro tested himself yesterday, and hit 13 consecutive pulls. He achieved this with a very haphazard and lazy workout schedule(GTG)and he's still raising in numbers. My conclusion? GTG works"
—Peterwolf
Dragon Door Forum 01-9-04
 

Editor's note: GTG is short for "Grease the Groove"—a powerful strength-gain method explained in detail in The Naked Warrior.

"The Naked Warrior is a great book, Pavel you have outdone yourself again. It is very easy to read and contains so much valuable information that it should be brought by every high school throughout the world to give the youth of today and tomorrow a good foundation of strength. If you don't have this book do yourself a favor and buy it.

Using the principles that are contained in this book i have been able to up my max pull up strength to almost a 200% bodyweight pull up, i am only a small guy but i think Bruce Lee had less sinews than what i have now.
—Simon Forsyth RKC, Australia
Dragon Door Forum 01-23-04

"I agree with Simon - put it in all the high schools. My experience after reading Naked Warrior: you know that very first rep of a pull-up ladder, when you seem to "fly-up" with no effort? Well after reading Naked Warrior that very first rep felt like I was standing on a platform that elevated me!"
—pete in aus
Dragon Door Forum 01-23-04

"Since downloading the e-book, I've gone from doing half one arm presses and iso holds to doing 3 perfect form one armers in about a week and a half, and the same for pistols, GTG is amazing… I'm enjoying the simplicity of this workout, and it complements my yoga practice perfect which i currently do about an hour to an hour and half a day of."
—Vaughan
Dragon Door Forum 12-15-03