The Naked Warrior

I discovered The Naked Warrior almost one year into the rehabilitation of a spiral-fractured femur. I had no fitness investment in my life before the wreck, and I spent five months on a walker afterward. I had used the pulley machines at a local gym in my rehab -- which likely saved the use of my leg -- but I had reached a plateau. I could walk, but I stumbled over things. I was unstable and unbalanced and frustrated.The Naked Warrior principle is that we should be able to train and thrive with a minimum number of simple exercises and no special equipment. I was completely unable to do the exercises presented in The Naked Warrior. Ridiculous one-armed, one-legged levitation stuff for gymnasts and wrestlers... What piqued my interest was that no one at my gym could do them either, but this author of roughly my age and body type was phenomenally strong, balanced, flexible, and functional. I weaned off the machines and began to move my own body around. I declined my pushups further each week. I committed to squats and inclined one-armed pushups on every trip to the bathroom. The Groove was Greased.Trading machines for my own weight and balance, my entire body has become taut and lean. Within two months, I acheived Cossack squats on my rebuilt leg. Now I do them many times a day. At three months, I've just completed Pistol squats on my healthy leg and am feeling out the motions on my injured leg. It's not ready yet, but I am aware of how close I am. My balance, my pain, my flexibility, my limits are now intimately familiar. I am guiding my own therapy, treating my own pain, and stronger and more flexible than 20 years ago. I haven't even mastered the actual exercises in the book yet! The principles of tension and balance and simplicity have changed my life. I use a 25lb dumbbell and a pullup bar. The rest is just me, and it works.

No words can accurately convey the depth of my appreciation for Pavel and the light he has cast of Russian strength and health systems. In expanding our understanding of GTG, and applying high-tension strength techniques to empty-hand drills, he's deepened and broadened the path between world-class performance and the average individual who wants to increase strength and fitness. This information is worth its weight in gold. Expensive? Compared to what? I defy you to match Pavel's clarity and practicality at a lower price. Money is gone once you spend it. Knowledge is forever.

This book teaches two exercises, single leg pistol squats and one arm push-ups. What makes it a "ten" is that Pavel explains how to recruit other muscles to amplify the strength of the muscles I expected to do these movements. I could already do pistol squats before I got this book, but I could not do one arm pushups. The improvement was immediate. I did my first one arm pushups in less than 1 week after getting this book.

In the Naked Warrior Pavel lays out a clear and precise path to being stronger. Tension, pressurization and all of the techniques in NW will make you stronger right now and continue making you stronger as you consistently practice the techniques.The one arm push-up and the pistol provide for a great strength workout wherever you are.This is your definitive guide to strength and it applies to any exercise you choose, whether bodyweight, kettlebell, barbell, stone or sandbag.

To comrades seeking liberation from modern gyms, the Naked Warrior is a must-have tactical manual. It's the AK-47 of bodyweight training, with an elegant simplicity that belies a brutal effectiveness. At midnight Friday, I teased out my first proper form one-armed-one legged pushup. Thus ended four and half wobbly months of work on the core of the system: the one-legged squat and one armed pushup. Along the way came strange, rapid gains in both moves, culminating in personal records I didn't think were possible. At 35, I wasn't in bad shape: yoga, grappling, weights. But the weights brought a string of imbalance and injuries once I took the strength to the mat. Hence dragondoor and pavel. The payoff has been great. Improvement in balance. Brain, muscles, and nervous system all got better acquainted. Snappier, yet more fluid movements. Better endurance. Better concentration, posture and more energy during work. Importantly, fewer of those minor aches, pains, and strains that come with contact sports. In terms of caveats, I don't know how someone like, say, Opera singer Pavarotti would fare. One strong, but large-bellied friend was too heavy to do a proper one armed pushup. For such comrades, however, there are options in the book. Some internet gripers have also taken swipes at Pavel's "Evil Russian," schtick, (which I personnally find amusing). To me, the writing is a bonus. Packaging science into pithy, often funny, bullet point training protocols is as hard as a one-armed pushup. Others complain Pavel's ideas come from basic gymnastics, Yoga, or the martial arts. Who cares ? He's boiled down oceans of information into idiot-proof routines anyone can follow. Give the Naked Warrior a road test. At $39, its gotta be the cheapest portable gyms around.