Product Description
Regain the Buoyant Flexibility of a Young Child While Maximizing Your Power and Strength Discover how to develop extreme range strength, the true key to injury prevention. Learn the complete Joint Mobility Training Program, a Russian system for improving your joints1 health, even when damaged by arthritis. o Discover Russia1s most advanced method of Plyometric Flexibility Training speed-specific flexibility. Discover how to display maximal flexibility without … More >>
I have been practicing martial arts for over 12 years, and have learned many, many ways of trying to gain flexibility.
I found this book to be very interesting and entertaining, and the basic concepts presented are fairly simple to understand. With some searching you can verify that Pavel’s methodologies are basically sound, but he rightly emphasizes that improper application of his methods can be dangerous.
If someone that’s in reasonable physical condition with decent flexibility was given this book, they’d probably do fine, and maybe realize some awesome improvements. This is definitely not the book for a sedentary person with poor flexibility or a history of joint injuries.
Pavel’s later book “Relax Into Stretch” is a much better purchase, because he basically took this material, made it less dangerous, and introduced a somewhat more structured method of gradual progression that is more appropriate for a wider range of people. The “Relax Into Stretch” video is also a simple, easy-to-follow tape that allows you to see exactly how Pavel performs these stretches.
Pavel’s greatest failure with this book was introducing some excellent concepts while failing to provide sufficient scientific explanation and references for the intellectual while providing insufficient caution or structure to the beginner.
For a far better and more affordable guide on safe and surprisingly effective stretching, check out Kit Laughlin’s “Stretching & Flexibility” and “Overcoming Neck & Back Pain” – these are phenomenal books for all levels of knowledge and ability, are far safer, and offer a much wider range of options for overcoming particular areas you may have difficulties with.
Rating: 2 / 5
“Beyond Stretching” is a quite revolutionary book about flexebility and stretching. Its diveded into three main chapters. First, a teoretical and initial part about flexibility and typical misconceptions. Second, a practical part that easy describes each stretching methode. Third, a picture part that shows all the different stretching exercises and tells you how to practice them.
This book offer plenty of new informations about its topic. New and extremely effective techniques like Plyometric,Pneumomuscular and Shutdown Threshold stretching are clearly described. The traditional static or relaxed stretching methode is, in this book, considered as an ineffective way to stretch. The author claims that warming up is unnatural and stretching twice a week is sufficient to develop flexebility. By using the methodes that is shown in this book, you will gain astonishing results with even small amounts of stretching. That is a great benefit!
Learn: How to develop optimal flexibility in a fraction of the time you spend stretching today . How to do splits and high kicks even if you are old! How to achieve great strength without bulky and big muscles. How to avoid injuries. How to stop feeling like the Tin Man when you wake up in the morning. How to increase the blood flow in the joints and keep their surfaces smooth and painfree. How to use the three new,revolutionary and effective stretching systems.
I regard “Beyond Stretching” as an amazing book, with a new point of view on stretching and flexibility. I am a dancer and martial artist, so I have read plenty of books about stretching but this book was different. Becuase the text sometimes can be a bit confusing to understand; I read the book more than once. But, because this book offer so many new and useful tips and advices, it is worth every penny.
Are you searching for a new and effective stretching methode? Which can be as seldom as twice a week, and done without any sweat warm up, and gives impressive flexibility and strength? If your answer is “yes” , you should purchase this “Beyond Stretching” immediately!
Rating: 5 / 5
Pavel’s stretching protocol should be considered the first, last, and only choice for athletes, full-contact fighters, and sedentary folks alike for achieving maximum results in minimal time. This system actually teaches you how to reset the neuro-muscular control of your muscles! No kidding, by following the specialized methods in this book, even an untrained, middle aged man can achieve FULL SPLITS in less than half a year… fighters will learn specialized kicking drils and “dynamic flexibility” drills that greatly improve the velocity and destructive power of your kicks while at the same time protecting the knee ligaments from injury – even if you miss a full-power kick! Using these techniques I got incredible results in under a week. Pavel teaches how to achieve extreme range strength(vital for preventing injuries)and how to manipulate your “feedback loop” to increase your functional strength. This book also details sport-specific flexibility and strength principles of “accentuation”, which dramatically increase performance in the movements essential to your chosen sport. My punches and kicks got an immediate boost in sharpness and power and my joints actually feel good afterwards. Pavel’s system does not stress ligaments or tendons and therefore does not produce the weak, rag-doll looseness that conventional western relaxed stretching produces. It is a no-delayed gratification deal. You will also learn how much flexibility you actually need for a given athletic pursuit, and what to do if you already have the “rag-doll” problem (i.e., how to fix overflexibility), and how to tailor your reflexes for maximum performance! As if that weren’t enough, Pavel teaches why warmups are actually counterproductive and how to display maximum flexibility “cold”! Also, SIXTY illustrated drills are provided to speed you on your way to dynamic, powerful, flexibility in motion – perfect for the fighter, athlete, and even those with joint problems! I am shocked and amazed at the quality of the results that his training methods have produced for me. And in so little time! There is something here for everyone, and I give this book (and all Pavel’s books) my highest recommendation. Truly, a masterpiece that belongs in every athlete’s collection.
Rating: 5 / 5
First the bad news. This is not Pavel’s best book. It could be better illustrated, and a little clearer in presentation. Then why the five stars you might ask? Nobody else does it better.
For those of you who don’t know by now, Pavel Tsatsouline is probably the best authority on physical training in the English speaking world. He has taken his training and education from the Soviet Union as a University student and member/trainer of the Red Army’s Special Forces and parlayed that into a career as an author, military advisor (now for the U.S.), and trainer for various law enforcement and government security agencies.
In all of his books, Pavel shatters the western myths about various forms of exercise, and imparts us with the knowledge and techniques developed in the formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe (Ironically, many of these techniques originated in the West but were forgotten or ignored over here).
In this book, Pavel teaches us the true nature of flexibility, and how to gain it. It is not, as most people assume, a book on how to “stretch” one’s muscles. It does, however, teach us how to re-gain full joint mobility through simple exercises, and increase muscle flexibility by strengthening our muscles in their extreme range. Want to perform full splits in 3 to 6 months? This book will show you how, and help you become more injury resistant in the process.
Pavel has since divided the material in this book into two books, “Super Joints” and “Relax into Stretch”, and has expanded the material in each and made them more “user-friendly” with new illustrations and explanations. However, I like this book because it explains ALL of the different types of flexibility and the methods for gaining it. You can always get one of the new books if you want more information on one area.
I know of no other English language source for the useful information that Pavel provides in his books. Beyond Stretching, although imperfect, is the definitive text for flexibility training.
ADDENDUM JULY 3RD 2002. I have continuously used the material in Beyond Stretching since I bought it two years ago, and I will always use this useful material. I had forgotten how I had to read and re-read some of the material on various isometric streches and muscle and tendon structure to understand it, but that may be due to my limited intellect. Regardless, I ultimately understood and put to use this material, and I have yet to find another source for either the information or the methods. This is still the best book on flexibility.
Rating: 5 / 5
If you’ve been following the received Western wisdom about stretching and flexibility (stretch easily and slowly, stretch before strength and technical workouts, etc.), you’ve been had. You also probably haven’t made any progress, because those methods are based on faulty assumptions and are wrong, wrong, wrong.
Pavel’s book explains the physiology of stretching and tells you why Western methods don’t yield results. It covers dynamic, plyometric, and isometric stretching and explains why they are (for most purposes) superior alternatives to the static stretching preached in the West.
I’d never seen this information before and it certainly came as a revelation. Before reading it, I had found traditional stretching so fruitless that I’d given up on it altogether. The information here is sound and is presented in a lively, iconoclastic style and has definitely helped me. Unfortunately, though, the book could have used heavier editing. The organization is often confusing, and Pavel sometimes makes a joke where a detailed explanation would be more appropriate.
For the same core of information, Tom Kurz’s “Stretching Scientifically” (which I found afterwards) is a better place to start. That said, you may still want to pick up Pavel’s book — it has good information scattered throughout, and is genuinely entertaining.
Rating: 3 / 5