SHW Powerlifter Donnie Thompson on Kettlebell Training



S

Steve Freides

Guest
In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the AAU
meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.

There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If anyone
wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:

http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t

The two-page interview starts on page 68.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 
On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the AAU
>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>
>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If anyone
>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>
>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>
>-S-
>http://www.kbnj.com


I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
You might want to after reading the interview.


Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3

WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS

WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP


Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
accomplishments in powerlifting.

Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small school
called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I’d always
wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know, best
lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.

I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL’s player
strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into Arena
Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
’88 to ’93.

After ’93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew and
grew and after six years, I sold it. I’d had enough of the health club
business and I’d been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave everything.

In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn powerlifting.
He told me I was way too thin. I’d kept my body weight down—I think I
weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.

I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power down
to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
through a lot of stress with work. I’ve lifted at five weight classes,
and I’ve pretty much won something in each.

So I couldn’t gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
and better, and I started really picking up right around the time when
I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training partner.
He still runs it and he enjoys it.

Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be number
one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time in
2002, as a super heavyweight.

I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not fall
back on anything.

I was in such pain that I couldn’t walk. I remember being on the
kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
when you weigh that much and you can’t walk, it’s pretty hard. You’re
like a turtle with no legs.

For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and belt.

Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
He’d say, "You ought to try them. I’ve been doing them for the last
couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
them.

We ordered them, but they weren’t going to arrive before we left for
the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better here.
I’m missing this meet because my back’s out." I told him that I
deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight. He
got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I’m going to
teach you some unorthodox things that I’m not responsible for. Do you
understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and stuff,
everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
help my back get better.

Those sessions with Pavel were
the best half-hours I’ve spent
learning from anyone

At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
took second place in his weight class, got on the winner’s
podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
the bench.

Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
wasn’t sure what they would do for my upper body. He
said they probably wouldn’t help my bench, but they’d
help my back.

My back is still tricky. If I wasn’t doing kettlebells, it
would go out about five times a year. It’d be a five-toseven
day thing where I’m walking kind of crooked. But
that hasn’t happened since I’ve been on kettlebells.


Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
needed them strong. They hit glutes
were I needed them strong. And
they do a tremendous amount of ab
work. I’m not sure most people
understand how much ab work
kettlebells do. They are very
beneficial.


I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
never weighed that much in my life and I didn’t even
know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
smaller.

But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
body, and I couldn’t get that with conventional weights.

DD: Interesting!

D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.

DD: Which exercises did that for you?

D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I’ll do single-line
kettlebells.

Then I’ll take 72s and go double. I’ll do pull-throughs
with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I’ve got
to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
I did them the day before something, my glutes and
hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
deadlift. I use the 72s for that.

Then I’ll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I’ll hold
static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
count, and do a set of three to five. Or I’ll hold them out
here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
over, bring them down, or I’ll have them here, and bring
them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
to get through it.


Marc and I will tell you the same
thing, because we are pretty much
at the same level of powerlifting:
We honestly have not seen anything
that 100% transferred over to a
sport like kettlebells. I mean there
is nothing about KBs that doesn’t
transfer over to powerlifting.


I’m happy, because now I have something that I can do
when I’m done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
way into my twilight years.

I’m tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
them, because those little iron balls, they are
indestructible. It’s like finding a treasure or something.

Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
your reward is to do a harder task. But I’ll keep doing
them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.

I’ve got a large group in South Carolina that has been
doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
work to my gym, because I don’t have my own set for the
gym yet. And if I don’t bring them, everybody’s mad.
"How come you didn’t bring those kettlebells from
work?"

We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
doubles.

DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
you?

D.T.: It’s been exciting to do stuff that I haven’t done in
so long. I haven’t been out in a field like that barefooted,
training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It’s
really fun!

Also, being around people with different backgrounds
is nice, because I’m only exposed to top-level powerlifters
right now. It’s nice for a change to see the regular world
out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
That transition will happen in one or two years.

As a strength coach for football
players that specialize in offensive
and defensive line, the key is
kettlebells. My kids train with
bands and chains and stuff, but
when we put the kettlebells on top
of that, you are talking about a
turbo-type of training. In four to
five years, these kids are going to
be dominating their opponents.
They’ll dominate to the point where
other teams are afraid to play them.



That’s my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
to have to change in big-time college football and in the
NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
coming into the business now.

I went to my hometown college, USC in South
Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
haven’t done this since the 1980s. Now that’s a crying
shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
they’ve been around forever.

They’re a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
sled pulling, and we’d add kettlebell work on top of that.
I’d go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don’t care if
Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
going to break into this, and then everybody’s going to
wonder how it’s happening.

Just like Pavel said, "It’s growing. Kettlebells are just
growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
pioneered it.

You can contact Donnie at
[email protected]
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the AAU
>>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>>
>>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If
>>anyone
>>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>>
>>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>>
>>-S-
>>http://www.kbnj.com

>
> I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
> In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
> to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
> those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
> You might want to after reading the interview.
>
>
> Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3
>
> WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
> DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
> FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS
>
> WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
> KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
>
>
> Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
> accomplishments in powerlifting.
>
> Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
> started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small school
> called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
> playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I'd always
> wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know, best
> lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.
>
> I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL's player
> strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
> three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into Arena
> Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
> '88 to '93.
>
> After '93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew and
> grew and after six years, I sold it. I'd had enough of the health club
> business and I'd been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave everything.
>
> In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
> pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn powerlifting.
> He told me I was way too thin. I'd kept my body weight down-I think I
> weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.
>
> I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
> twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power down
> to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
> through a lot of stress with work. I've lifted at five weight classes,
> and I've pretty much won something in each.
>
> So I couldn't gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
> and better, and I started really picking up right around the time when
> I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training partner.
> He still runs it and he enjoys it.
>
> Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
> the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be number
> one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time in
> 2002, as a super heavyweight.
>
> I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
> which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
> 2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
> and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
> and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
> came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not fall
> back on anything.
>
> I was in such pain that I couldn't walk. I remember being on the
> kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
> when you weigh that much and you can't walk, it's pretty hard. You're
> like a turtle with no legs.
>
> For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
> Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
> went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
> there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and belt.
>
> Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
> track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
> He'd say, "You ought to try them. I've been doing them for the last
> couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
> said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
> them.
>
> We ordered them, but they weren't going to arrive before we left for
> the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better here.
> I'm missing this meet because my back's out." I told him that I
> deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight. He
> got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I'm going to
> teach you some unorthodox things that I'm not responsible for. Do you
> understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and stuff,
> everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
> help my back get better.
>
> Those sessions with Pavel were
> the best half-hours I've spent
> learning from anyone
>
> At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
> took second place in his weight class, got on the winner's
> podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
> just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
> experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
> the bench.
>
> Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
> started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
> wasn't sure what they would do for my upper body. He
> said they probably wouldn't help my bench, but they'd
> help my back.
>
> My back is still tricky. If I wasn't doing kettlebells, it
> would go out about five times a year. It'd be a five-toseven
> day thing where I'm walking kind of crooked. But
> that hasn't happened since I've been on kettlebells.
>
>
> Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
> needed them strong. They hit glutes
> were I needed them strong. And
> they do a tremendous amount of ab
> work. I'm not sure most people
> understand how much ab work
> kettlebells do. They are very
> beneficial.
>
>
> I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
> and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
> In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
> explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
> at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
> never weighed that much in my life and I didn't even
> know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
> smaller.
>
> But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
> body, and I couldn't get that with conventional weights.
>
> DD: Interesting!
>
> D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
> the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.
>
> DD: Which exercises did that for you?
>
> D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
> swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
> middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
> kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I'll do single-line
> kettlebells.
>
> Then I'll take 72s and go double. I'll do pull-throughs
> with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I've got
> to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
> I did them the day before something, my glutes and
> hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
> my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
> the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
> the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
> deadlift. I use the 72s for that.
>
> Then I'll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
> ****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
> a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I'll hold
> static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
> count, and do a set of three to five. Or I'll hold them out
> here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
> over, bring them down, or I'll have them here, and bring
> them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
> It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
> to get through it.
>
>
> Marc and I will tell you the same
> thing, because we are pretty much
> at the same level of powerlifting:
> We honestly have not seen anything
> that 100% transferred over to a
> sport like kettlebells. I mean there
> is nothing about KBs that doesn't
> transfer over to powerlifting.
>
>
> I'm happy, because now I have something that I can do
> when I'm done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
> way into my twilight years.
>
> I'm tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
> KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
> them, because those little iron balls, they are
> indestructible. It's like finding a treasure or something.
>
> Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
> your reward is to do a harder task. But I'll keep doing
> them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.
>
> I've got a large group in South Carolina that has been
> doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
> work to my gym, because I don't have my own set for the
> gym yet. And if I don't bring them, everybody's mad.
> "How come you didn't bring those kettlebells from
> work?"
>
> We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
> doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
> everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
> doubles.
>
> DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
> you?
>
> D.T.: It's been exciting to do stuff that I haven't done in
> so long. I haven't been out in a field like that barefooted,
> training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It's
> really fun!
>
> Also, being around people with different backgrounds
> is nice, because I'm only exposed to top-level powerlifters
> right now. It's nice for a change to see the regular world
> out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
> the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
> biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
> want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
> That transition will happen in one or two years.
>
> As a strength coach for football
> players that specialize in offensive
> and defensive line, the key is
> kettlebells. My kids train with
> bands and chains and stuff, but
> when we put the kettlebells on top
> of that, you are talking about a
> turbo-type of training. In four to
> five years, these kids are going to
> be dominating their opponents.
> They'll dominate to the point where
> other teams are afraid to play them.
>
>
>
> That's my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
> to have to change in big-time college football and in the
> NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
> coming into the business now.
>
> I went to my hometown college, USC in South
> Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
> strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
> haven't done this since the 1980s. Now that's a crying
> shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
> they've been around forever.
>
> They're a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
> discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
> another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
> would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
> sled pulling, and we'd add kettlebell work on top of that.
> I'd go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don't care if
> Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
> their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
> going to break into this, and then everybody's going to
> wonder how it's happening.
>
> Just like Pavel said, "It's growing. Kettlebells are just
> growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
> Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
> pioneered it.
>
> You can contact Donnie at
> [email protected]


What did you use to get the text out of the PDF, if I may ask? I
haven't figured out a way to do that?

TIA.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 
On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 20:58:41 -0500, "Steve Freides"
<[email protected]> wrote:

><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:p[email protected]...
>> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the AAU
>>>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>>>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>>>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>>>
>>>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>>>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If
>>>anyone
>>>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>>>
>>>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>>>
>>>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>>>
>>>-S-
>>>http://www.kbnj.com

>>
>> I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
>> In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
>> to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
>> those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
>> You might want to after reading the interview.
>>
>>
>> Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3
>>
>> WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
>> DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
>> FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS
>>
>> WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
>> KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
>>
>>
>> Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
>> accomplishments in powerlifting.
>>
>> Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
>> started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small school
>> called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
>> playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I'd always
>> wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know, best
>> lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.
>>
>> I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL's player
>> strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
>> three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into Arena
>> Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
>> '88 to '93.
>>
>> After '93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew and
>> grew and after six years, I sold it. I'd had enough of the health club
>> business and I'd been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave everything.
>>
>> In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
>> pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn powerlifting.
>> He told me I was way too thin. I'd kept my body weight down-I think I
>> weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.
>>
>> I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
>> twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power down
>> to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
>> through a lot of stress with work. I've lifted at five weight classes,
>> and I've pretty much won something in each.
>>
>> So I couldn't gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
>> and better, and I started really picking up right around the time when
>> I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training partner.
>> He still runs it and he enjoys it.
>>
>> Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
>> the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be number
>> one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time in
>> 2002, as a super heavyweight.
>>
>> I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
>> which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
>> 2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
>> and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
>> and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
>> came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not fall
>> back on anything.
>>
>> I was in such pain that I couldn't walk. I remember being on the
>> kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
>> when you weigh that much and you can't walk, it's pretty hard. You're
>> like a turtle with no legs.
>>
>> For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
>> Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
>> went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
>> there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and belt.
>>
>> Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
>> track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
>> He'd say, "You ought to try them. I've been doing them for the last
>> couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
>> said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
>> them.
>>
>> We ordered them, but they weren't going to arrive before we left for
>> the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better here.
>> I'm missing this meet because my back's out." I told him that I
>> deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight. He
>> got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I'm going to
>> teach you some unorthodox things that I'm not responsible for. Do you
>> understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and stuff,
>> everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
>> help my back get better.
>>
>> Those sessions with Pavel were
>> the best half-hours I've spent
>> learning from anyone
>>
>> At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
>> took second place in his weight class, got on the winner's
>> podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
>> just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
>> experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
>> the bench.
>>
>> Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
>> started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
>> wasn't sure what they would do for my upper body. He
>> said they probably wouldn't help my bench, but they'd
>> help my back.
>>
>> My back is still tricky. If I wasn't doing kettlebells, it
>> would go out about five times a year. It'd be a five-toseven
>> day thing where I'm walking kind of crooked. But
>> that hasn't happened since I've been on kettlebells.
>>
>>
>> Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
>> needed them strong. They hit glutes
>> were I needed them strong. And
>> they do a tremendous amount of ab
>> work. I'm not sure most people
>> understand how much ab work
>> kettlebells do. They are very
>> beneficial.
>>
>>
>> I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
>> and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
>> In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
>> explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
>> at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
>> never weighed that much in my life and I didn't even
>> know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
>> smaller.
>>
>> But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
>> body, and I couldn't get that with conventional weights.
>>
>> DD: Interesting!
>>
>> D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
>> the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.
>>
>> DD: Which exercises did that for you?
>>
>> D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
>> swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
>> middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
>> kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I'll do single-line
>> kettlebells.
>>
>> Then I'll take 72s and go double. I'll do pull-throughs
>> with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I've got
>> to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
>> I did them the day before something, my glutes and
>> hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
>> my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
>> the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
>> the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
>> deadlift. I use the 72s for that.
>>
>> Then I'll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
>> ****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
>> a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I'll hold
>> static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
>> count, and do a set of three to five. Or I'll hold them out
>> here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
>> over, bring them down, or I'll have them here, and bring
>> them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
>> It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
>> to get through it.
>>
>>
>> Marc and I will tell you the same
>> thing, because we are pretty much
>> at the same level of powerlifting:
>> We honestly have not seen anything
>> that 100% transferred over to a
>> sport like kettlebells. I mean there
>> is nothing about KBs that doesn't
>> transfer over to powerlifting.
>>
>>
>> I'm happy, because now I have something that I can do
>> when I'm done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
>> way into my twilight years.
>>
>> I'm tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
>> KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
>> them, because those little iron balls, they are
>> indestructible. It's like finding a treasure or something.
>>
>> Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
>> your reward is to do a harder task. But I'll keep doing
>> them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.
>>
>> I've got a large group in South Carolina that has been
>> doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
>> work to my gym, because I don't have my own set for the
>> gym yet. And if I don't bring them, everybody's mad.
>> "How come you didn't bring those kettlebells from
>> work?"
>>
>> We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
>> doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
>> everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
>> doubles.
>>
>> DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
>> you?
>>
>> D.T.: It's been exciting to do stuff that I haven't done in
>> so long. I haven't been out in a field like that barefooted,
>> training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It's
>> really fun!
>>
>> Also, being around people with different backgrounds
>> is nice, because I'm only exposed to top-level powerlifters
>> right now. It's nice for a change to see the regular world
>> out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
>> the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
>> biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
>> want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
>> That transition will happen in one or two years.
>>
>> As a strength coach for football
>> players that specialize in offensive
>> and defensive line, the key is
>> kettlebells. My kids train with
>> bands and chains and stuff, but
>> when we put the kettlebells on top
>> of that, you are talking about a
>> turbo-type of training. In four to
>> five years, these kids are going to
>> be dominating their opponents.
>> They'll dominate to the point where
>> other teams are afraid to play them.
>>
>>
>>
>> That's my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
>> to have to change in big-time college football and in the
>> NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
>> coming into the business now.
>>
>> I went to my hometown college, USC in South
>> Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
>> strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
>> haven't done this since the 1980s. Now that's a crying
>> shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
>> they've been around forever.
>>
>> They're a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
>> discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
>> another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
>> would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
>> sled pulling, and we'd add kettlebell work on top of that.
>> I'd go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don't care if
>> Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
>> their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
>> going to break into this, and then everybody's going to
>> wonder how it's happening.
>>
>> Just like Pavel said, "It's growing. Kettlebells are just
>> growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
>> Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
>> pioneered it.
>>
>> You can contact Donnie at
>> [email protected]

>
>What did you use to get the text out of the PDF, if I may ask? I
>haven't figured out a way to do that?
>
>TIA.
>
>-S-
>http://www.kbnj.com



T Select Text ->Drag to select -> Copy To Clipboard/Paste
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 20:58:41 -0500, "Steve Freides"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>><[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:p[email protected]...
>>> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the
>>>>AAU
>>>>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>>>>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>>>>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>>>>
>>>>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>>>>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If
>>>>anyone
>>>>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>>>>
>>>>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>>>>
>>>>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>>>>
>>>>-S-
>>>>http://www.kbnj.com
>>>
>>> I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
>>> In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
>>> to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
>>> those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
>>> You might want to after reading the interview.
>>>
>>>
>>> Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3
>>>
>>> WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
>>> DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
>>> FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS
>>>
>>> WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
>>> KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
>>>
>>>
>>> Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
>>> accomplishments in powerlifting.
>>>
>>> Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
>>> started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small
>>> school
>>> called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
>>> playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I'd always
>>> wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know,
>>> best
>>> lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.
>>>
>>> I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL's player
>>> strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
>>> three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into
>>> Arena
>>> Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
>>> '88 to '93.
>>>
>>> After '93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew
>>> and
>>> grew and after six years, I sold it. I'd had enough of the health
>>> club
>>> business and I'd been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave
>>> everything.
>>>
>>> In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
>>> pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn
>>> powerlifting.
>>> He told me I was way too thin. I'd kept my body weight down-I think
>>> I
>>> weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.
>>>
>>> I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
>>> twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power
>>> down
>>> to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
>>> through a lot of stress with work. I've lifted at five weight
>>> classes,
>>> and I've pretty much won something in each.
>>>
>>> So I couldn't gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
>>> and better, and I started really picking up right around the time
>>> when
>>> I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training
>>> partner.
>>> He still runs it and he enjoys it.
>>>
>>> Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
>>> the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be
>>> number
>>> one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time
>>> in
>>> 2002, as a super heavyweight.
>>>
>>> I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
>>> which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
>>> 2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
>>> and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
>>> and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
>>> came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not
>>> fall
>>> back on anything.
>>>
>>> I was in such pain that I couldn't walk. I remember being on the
>>> kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
>>> when you weigh that much and you can't walk, it's pretty hard.
>>> You're
>>> like a turtle with no legs.
>>>
>>> For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
>>> Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
>>> went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
>>> there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and
>>> belt.
>>>
>>> Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
>>> track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
>>> He'd say, "You ought to try them. I've been doing them for the last
>>> couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
>>> said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
>>> them.
>>>
>>> We ordered them, but they weren't going to arrive before we left for
>>> the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better
>>> here.
>>> I'm missing this meet because my back's out." I told him that I
>>> deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight.
>>> He
>>> got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I'm going to
>>> teach you some unorthodox things that I'm not responsible for. Do
>>> you
>>> understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and
>>> stuff,
>>> everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
>>> help my back get better.
>>>
>>> Those sessions with Pavel were
>>> the best half-hours I've spent
>>> learning from anyone
>>>
>>> At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
>>> took second place in his weight class, got on the winner's
>>> podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
>>> just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
>>> experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
>>> the bench.
>>>
>>> Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
>>> started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
>>> wasn't sure what they would do for my upper body. He
>>> said they probably wouldn't help my bench, but they'd
>>> help my back.
>>>
>>> My back is still tricky. If I wasn't doing kettlebells, it
>>> would go out about five times a year. It'd be a five-toseven
>>> day thing where I'm walking kind of crooked. But
>>> that hasn't happened since I've been on kettlebells.
>>>
>>>
>>> Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
>>> needed them strong. They hit glutes
>>> were I needed them strong. And
>>> they do a tremendous amount of ab
>>> work. I'm not sure most people
>>> understand how much ab work
>>> kettlebells do. They are very
>>> beneficial.
>>>
>>>
>>> I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
>>> and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
>>> In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
>>> explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
>>> at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
>>> never weighed that much in my life and I didn't even
>>> know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
>>> smaller.
>>>
>>> But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
>>> body, and I couldn't get that with conventional weights.
>>>
>>> DD: Interesting!
>>>
>>> D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
>>> the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.
>>>
>>> DD: Which exercises did that for you?
>>>
>>> D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
>>> swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
>>> middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
>>> kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I'll do single-line
>>> kettlebells.
>>>
>>> Then I'll take 72s and go double. I'll do pull-throughs
>>> with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I've got
>>> to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
>>> I did them the day before something, my glutes and
>>> hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
>>> my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
>>> the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
>>> the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
>>> deadlift. I use the 72s for that.
>>>
>>> Then I'll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
>>> ****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
>>> a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I'll hold
>>> static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
>>> count, and do a set of three to five. Or I'll hold them out
>>> here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
>>> over, bring them down, or I'll have them here, and bring
>>> them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
>>> It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
>>> to get through it.
>>>
>>>
>>> Marc and I will tell you the same
>>> thing, because we are pretty much
>>> at the same level of powerlifting:
>>> We honestly have not seen anything
>>> that 100% transferred over to a
>>> sport like kettlebells. I mean there
>>> is nothing about KBs that doesn't
>>> transfer over to powerlifting.
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm happy, because now I have something that I can do
>>> when I'm done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
>>> way into my twilight years.
>>>
>>> I'm tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
>>> KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
>>> them, because those little iron balls, they are
>>> indestructible. It's like finding a treasure or something.
>>>
>>> Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
>>> your reward is to do a harder task. But I'll keep doing
>>> them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.
>>>
>>> I've got a large group in South Carolina that has been
>>> doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
>>> work to my gym, because I don't have my own set for the
>>> gym yet. And if I don't bring them, everybody's mad.
>>> "How come you didn't bring those kettlebells from
>>> work?"
>>>
>>> We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
>>> doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
>>> everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
>>> doubles.
>>>
>>> DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
>>> you?
>>>
>>> D.T.: It's been exciting to do stuff that I haven't done in
>>> so long. I haven't been out in a field like that barefooted,
>>> training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It's
>>> really fun!
>>>
>>> Also, being around people with different backgrounds
>>> is nice, because I'm only exposed to top-level powerlifters
>>> right now. It's nice for a change to see the regular world
>>> out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
>>> the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
>>> biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
>>> want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
>>> That transition will happen in one or two years.
>>>
>>> As a strength coach for football
>>> players that specialize in offensive
>>> and defensive line, the key is
>>> kettlebells. My kids train with
>>> bands and chains and stuff, but
>>> when we put the kettlebells on top
>>> of that, you are talking about a
>>> turbo-type of training. In four to
>>> five years, these kids are going to
>>> be dominating their opponents.
>>> They'll dominate to the point where
>>> other teams are afraid to play them.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> That's my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
>>> to have to change in big-time college football and in the
>>> NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
>>> coming into the business now.
>>>
>>> I went to my hometown college, USC in South
>>> Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
>>> strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
>>> haven't done this since the 1980s. Now that's a crying
>>> shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
>>> they've been around forever.
>>>
>>> They're a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
>>> discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
>>> another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
>>> would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
>>> sled pulling, and we'd add kettlebell work on top of that.
>>> I'd go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don't care if
>>> Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
>>> their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
>>> going to break into this, and then everybody's going to
>>> wonder how it's happening.
>>>
>>> Just like Pavel said, "It's growing. Kettlebells are just
>>> growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
>>> Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
>>> pioneered it.
>>>
>>> You can contact Donnie at
>>> [email protected]

>>
>>What did you use to get the text out of the PDF, if I may ask? I
>>haven't figured out a way to do that?
>>
>>TIA.
>>
>>-S-
>>http://www.kbnj.com

>
>
> T Select Text ->Drag to select -> Copy To Clipboard/Paste


Ah, it's the first of those steps I didn't know about. Thanks much.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 20:58:41 -0500, "Steve Freides"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>><[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:p[email protected]...
>>> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the
>>>>AAU
>>>>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>>>>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>>>>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>>>>
>>>>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>>>>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If
>>>>anyone
>>>>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>>>>
>>>>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>>>>
>>>>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>>>>
>>>>-S-
>>>>http://www.kbnj.com
>>>
>>> I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
>>> In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
>>> to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
>>> those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
>>> You might want to after reading the interview.
>>>
>>>
>>> Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3
>>>
>>> WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
>>> DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
>>> FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS
>>>
>>> WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
>>> KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
>>>
>>>
>>> Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
>>> accomplishments in powerlifting.
>>>
>>> Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
>>> started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small
>>> school
>>> called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
>>> playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I'd always
>>> wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know,
>>> best
>>> lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.
>>>
>>> I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL's player
>>> strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
>>> three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into
>>> Arena
>>> Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
>>> '88 to '93.
>>>
>>> After '93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew
>>> and
>>> grew and after six years, I sold it. I'd had enough of the health
>>> club
>>> business and I'd been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave
>>> everything.
>>>
>>> In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
>>> pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn
>>> powerlifting.
>>> He told me I was way too thin. I'd kept my body weight down-I think
>>> I
>>> weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.
>>>
>>> I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
>>> twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power
>>> down
>>> to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
>>> through a lot of stress with work. I've lifted at five weight
>>> classes,
>>> and I've pretty much won something in each.
>>>
>>> So I couldn't gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
>>> and better, and I started really picking up right around the time
>>> when
>>> I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training
>>> partner.
>>> He still runs it and he enjoys it.
>>>
>>> Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
>>> the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be
>>> number
>>> one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time
>>> in
>>> 2002, as a super heavyweight.
>>>
>>> I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
>>> which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
>>> 2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
>>> and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
>>> and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
>>> came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not
>>> fall
>>> back on anything.
>>>
>>> I was in such pain that I couldn't walk. I remember being on the
>>> kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
>>> when you weigh that much and you can't walk, it's pretty hard.
>>> You're
>>> like a turtle with no legs.
>>>
>>> For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
>>> Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
>>> went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
>>> there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and
>>> belt.
>>>
>>> Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
>>> track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
>>> He'd say, "You ought to try them. I've been doing them for the last
>>> couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
>>> said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
>>> them.
>>>
>>> We ordered them, but they weren't going to arrive before we left for
>>> the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better
>>> here.
>>> I'm missing this meet because my back's out." I told him that I
>>> deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight.
>>> He
>>> got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I'm going to
>>> teach you some unorthodox things that I'm not responsible for. Do
>>> you
>>> understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and
>>> stuff,
>>> everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
>>> help my back get better.
>>>
>>> Those sessions with Pavel were
>>> the best half-hours I've spent
>>> learning from anyone
>>>
>>> At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
>>> took second place in his weight class, got on the winner's
>>> podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
>>> just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
>>> experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
>>> the bench.
>>>
>>> Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
>>> started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
>>> wasn't sure what they would do for my upper body. He
>>> said they probably wouldn't help my bench, but they'd
>>> help my back.
>>>
>>> My back is still tricky. If I wasn't doing kettlebells, it
>>> would go out about five times a year. It'd be a five-toseven
>>> day thing where I'm walking kind of crooked. But
>>> that hasn't happened since I've been on kettlebells.
>>>
>>>
>>> Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
>>> needed them strong. They hit glutes
>>> were I needed them strong. And
>>> they do a tremendous amount of ab
>>> work. I'm not sure most people
>>> understand how much ab work
>>> kettlebells do. They are very
>>> beneficial.
>>>
>>>
>>> I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
>>> and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
>>> In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
>>> explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
>>> at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
>>> never weighed that much in my life and I didn't even
>>> know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
>>> smaller.
>>>
>>> But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
>>> body, and I couldn't get that with conventional weights.
>>>
>>> DD: Interesting!
>>>
>>> D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
>>> the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.
>>>
>>> DD: Which exercises did that for you?
>>>
>>> D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
>>> swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
>>> middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
>>> kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I'll do single-line
>>> kettlebells.
>>>
>>> Then I'll take 72s and go double. I'll do pull-throughs
>>> with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I've got
>>> to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
>>> I did them the day before something, my glutes and
>>> hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
>>> my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
>>> the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
>>> the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
>>> deadlift. I use the 72s for that.
>>>
>>> Then I'll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
>>> ****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
>>> a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I'll hold
>>> static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
>>> count, and do a set of three to five. Or I'll hold them out
>>> here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
>>> over, bring them down, or I'll have them here, and bring
>>> them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
>>> It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
>>> to get through it.
>>>
>>>
>>> Marc and I will tell you the same
>>> thing, because we are pretty much
>>> at the same level of powerlifting:
>>> We honestly have not seen anything
>>> that 100% transferred over to a
>>> sport like kettlebells. I mean there
>>> is nothing about KBs that doesn't
>>> transfer over to powerlifting.
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm happy, because now I have something that I can do
>>> when I'm done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
>>> way into my twilight years.
>>>
>>> I'm tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
>>> KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
>>> them, because those little iron balls, they are
>>> indestructible. It's like finding a treasure or something.
>>>
>>> Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
>>> your reward is to do a harder task. But I'll keep doing
>>> them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.
>>>
>>> I've got a large group in South Carolina that has been
>>> doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
>>> work to my gym, because I don't have my own set for the
>>> gym yet. And if I don't bring them, everybody's mad.
>>> "How come you didn't bring those kettlebells from
>>> work?"
>>>
>>> We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
>>> doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
>>> everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
>>> doubles.
>>>
>>> DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
>>> you?
>>>
>>> D.T.: It's been exciting to do stuff that I haven't done in
>>> so long. I haven't been out in a field like that barefooted,
>>> training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It's
>>> really fun!
>>>
>>> Also, being around people with different backgrounds
>>> is nice, because I'm only exposed to top-level powerlifters
>>> right now. It's nice for a change to see the regular world
>>> out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
>>> the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
>>> biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
>>> want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
>>> That transition will happen in one or two years.
>>>
>>> As a strength coach for football
>>> players that specialize in offensive
>>> and defensive line, the key is
>>> kettlebells. My kids train with
>>> bands and chains and stuff, but
>>> when we put the kettlebells on top
>>> of that, you are talking about a
>>> turbo-type of training. In four to
>>> five years, these kids are going to
>>> be dominating their opponents.
>>> They'll dominate to the point where
>>> other teams are afraid to play them.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> That's my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
>>> to have to change in big-time college football and in the
>>> NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
>>> coming into the business now.
>>>
>>> I went to my hometown college, USC in South
>>> Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
>>> strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
>>> haven't done this since the 1980s. Now that's a crying
>>> shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
>>> they've been around forever.
>>>
>>> They're a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
>>> discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
>>> another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
>>> would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
>>> sled pulling, and we'd add kettlebell work on top of that.
>>> I'd go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don't care if
>>> Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
>>> their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
>>> going to break into this, and then everybody's going to
>>> wonder how it's happening.
>>>
>>> Just like Pavel said, "It's growing. Kettlebells are just
>>> growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
>>> Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
>>> pioneered it.
>>>
>>> You can contact Donnie at
>>> [email protected]

>>
>>What did you use to get the text out of the PDF, if I may ask? I
>>haven't figured out a way to do that?
>>
>>TIA.
>>
>>-S-
>>http://www.kbnj.com

>
>
> T Select Text ->Drag to select -> Copy To Clipboard/Paste


Ah, it's the first of those steps I didn't know about. Thanks much.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 
Tiny Ballerina


On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 20:58:41 -0500, "Steve Freides"
<[email protected]> wrote:

><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:p[email protected]...
>> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:43:59 -0500, "Steve Freides"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>In the current issue of Powerlifting USA (I got a free copy at the AAU
>>>meet last weekend), there is a piece about SHW Donnie Thompson, who
>>>credits his kettlebell training with a lot of his recent lifting
>>>success. He even got himself certified as an instructor.
>>>
>>>There's also an interview with him in the Fall, 2005 "Hard Style"
>>>catalogue from DragonDoor with a lot of the same information. If
>>>anyone
>>>wants to read the DragonDoor piece in PDF format, go here:
>>>
>>>http://tinyurl.com/c6o6t
>>>
>>>The two-page interview starts on page 68.
>>>
>>>-S-
>>>http://www.kbnj.com

>>
>> I thought I'd make it easier for people to get to this.
>> In my opinion, the entire catalog (articles + advertisements) is fun
>> to read, but not everyone would agree. So here's the interview for
>> those of you who don't want to browse through the catalog right now.
>> You might want to after reading the interview.
>>
>>
>> Fall 2005 www.hard-style.com Vol. 2, No. 3
>>
>> WORLD SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT POWERLIFTING CHAMPION,
>> DONNIE THOMPSON, SEES KETTLEBELLS AS KEY
>> FOR GAINING PERFORMANCE EDGE IN ALL SPORTS
>>
>> WE INTERVIEWED DONNIE THOMPSON AT THE APRIL 2005 RUSSIAN
>> KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION WORKSHOP
>>
>>
>> Dragon Door: Tell me about your athletic background, and your
>> accomplishments in powerlifting.
>>
>> Donnie Thompson: I got into football during my senior year, when I
>> started public high school. Then I got a scholarship to a small school
>> called Shepherd College. In my junior year of college I started
>> playing pretty good. I became a center, which is what I'd always
>> wanted to be. My senior year I made all of the awards, you know, best
>> lineman, All-Conference and a Conference title.
>>
>> I went into the NFL after that. I got to play in the NFL's player
>> strike in 1987. I played for Tampa Bay. We played for five weeks in
>> three games and then they cut us off. Then my agent got me into Arena
>> Football in 1988. I started in New England and played six years from
>> '88 to '93.
>>
>> After '93, I decided to stop playing and start my own gym. It grew and
>> grew and after six years, I sold it. I'd had enough of the health club
>> business and I'd been giving 110% to it, you know? I gave everything.
>>
>> In 1998, I went to find Louis Simmons, of Westside Barbell. I made a
>> pilgrimage out there for nine days and decided to learn powerlifting.
>> He told me I was way too thin. I'd kept my body weight down-I think I
>> weighed 257 lbs. when I met him.
>>
>> I started pulling a sled, and doing bands and chains. I was training
>> twice a day and I ended up dropping more weight. A burst of power down
>> to a 220-lb. weight class. I was way underweight, and I was going
>> through a lot of stress with work. I've lifted at five weight classes,
>> and I've pretty much won something in each.
>>
>> So I couldn't gain weight; I was very lean. But I was getting better
>> and better, and I started really picking up right around the time when
>> I finally sold my gym. I sold it to Marc Bartley, my training partner.
>> He still runs it and he enjoys it.
>>
>> Marc started training with me and a few others, but Marc and I were
>> the only ones that lasted. My goal from the beginning was to be number
>> one. So I kept going and finally I totaled 2,400 lbs. my first time in
>> 2002, as a super heavyweight.
>>
>> I also placed second at my first pro meet at the Show of Strength,
>> which starred Gary Frank, the strongest guy in the world. Then in
>> 2003, I had a really rough year. I tore my hamstring in two places,
>> and my knees got really bad from that tear. But I worked through it
>> and managed to qualify for an Arnold. Then, when the Arnold
>> came, I hurt my back. I almost quit. But I set up my life to not fall
>> back on anything.
>>
>> I was in such pain that I couldn't walk. I remember being on the
>> kitchen floor for three hours. I weighed 355 lbs. at the time, and
>> when you weigh that much and you can't walk, it's pretty hard. You're
>> like a turtle with no legs.
>>
>> For 2004, I finally came back and I was stronger than ever. At the
>> Show of Strength, I placed second with a total of 2,551 lbs. Then, I
>> went to the Arnold Classic again for the WPO Championships. It was
>> there that I won first place for the super heavyweight title and belt.
>>
>> Anyway, Mr. Haney, my friend in Columbia, SC and the former
>> track-and-field star at USC, kept preaching these kettlebells to me.
>> He'd say, "You ought to try them. I've been doing them for the last
>> couple of years now." His back was really bad, and he
>> said that they were relieving his pain. So I decided to look into
>> them.
>>
>> We ordered them, but they weren't going to arrive before we left for
>> the Arnold. So I went to Pavel and I said, "I need to get better here.
>> I'm missing this meet because my back's out." I told him that I
>> deadlifted 804 at my last meet, and that I was a super heavyweight. He
>> got all excited. He pulled me aside and he told me, "I'm going to
>> teach you some unorthodox things that I'm not responsible for. Do you
>> understand?" I said, "The way I train with bands and chains and stuff,
>> everything is unorthodox!" So he showed me some things that would
>> help my back get better.
>>
>> Those sessions with Pavel were
>> the best half-hours I've spent
>> learning from anyone
>>
>> At the Arnold, I sat and watched backstage while Spud
>> took second place in his weight class, got on the winner's
>> podium and got his check and his medal. I was back there
>> just helping them. It was awful. It was the most awful
>> experience. I was happy for him, but no one likes to sit on
>> the bench.
>>
>> Our kettlebells came in the week we got back. We
>> started using them and I quickly adapted to them. Pavel
>> wasn't sure what they would do for my upper body. He
>> said they probably wouldn't help my bench, but they'd
>> help my back.
>>
>> My back is still tricky. If I wasn't doing kettlebells, it
>> would go out about five times a year. It'd be a five-toseven
>> day thing where I'm walking kind of crooked. But
>> that hasn't happened since I've been on kettlebells.
>>
>>
>> Kettlebells hit hamstrings where I
>> needed them strong. They hit glutes
>> were I needed them strong. And
>> they do a tremendous amount of ab
>> work. I'm not sure most people
>> understand how much ab work
>> kettlebells do. They are very
>> beneficial.
>>
>>
>> I kept with single movements for a couple of months,
>> and then I ordered enough KBs so we have doubles now.
>> In Hard-Style Magazine, there was an article that
>> explained how I pulled 832 at. . .I weighed 384 lbs. I was
>> at like, 176 kilos when I weighed in. Ridiculous! I had
>> never weighed that much in my life and I didn't even
>> know that I weighed that much, because my waist is
>> smaller.
>>
>> But the kettlebells put so much mass on my upper
>> body, and I couldn't get that with conventional weights.
>>
>> DD: Interesting!
>>
>> D.T.: Yeah. My shoulders were weak all of my life, but
>> the kettlebells helped me put on mass immediately.
>>
>> DD: Which exercises did that for you?
>>
>> D.T.: Well, I do a myriad of exercises. I did a lot of
>> swings from the side, not just in the middle. Because the
>> middle, for me, is a lot of lower body. And I do dual
>> kettlebells, or with the 88-kilo, I'll do single-line
>> kettlebells.
>>
>> Then I'll take 72s and go double. I'll do pull-throughs
>> with my legs, and that really gets my lower body. I've got
>> to be careful with those. I do them after I squat, because if
>> I did them the day before something, my glutes and
>> hamstrings would be too sore to actually squat. Some of
>> my other powerlifter friends were sore for five or six days
>> the first time they tried double-kettlebell swings between
>> the legs. Then I do the outside, and then I make my
>> deadlift. I use the 72s for that.
>>
>> Then I'll have two upper-body days. A lot of snatches,
>> ****** presses, and bottoms-up presses. It really has made
>> a difference in my shoulders. As for deltoid work, I'll hold
>> static kettlebells like this, plopped over my arms for a ten
>> count, and do a set of three to five. Or I'll hold them out
>> here, and then bring them back up and then flip them
>> over, bring them down, or I'll have them here, and bring
>> them back up, then flip them over and bring them down.
>> It takes about an hour and a half for a small group of us
>> to get through it.
>>
>>
>> Marc and I will tell you the same
>> thing, because we are pretty much
>> at the same level of powerlifting:
>> We honestly have not seen anything
>> that 100% transferred over to a
>> sport like kettlebells. I mean there
>> is nothing about KBs that doesn't
>> transfer over to powerlifting.
>>
>>
>> I'm happy, because now I have something that I can do
>> when I'm done powerlifting. I can do kettlebells all the
>> way into my twilight years.
>>
>> I'm tickled to death about that and I only have to buy
>> KBs one time! [Laughter] Nothing is going to happen to
>> them, because those little iron balls, they are
>> indestructible. It's like finding a treasure or something.
>>
>> Kettlebells will never be easy. When you get stronger,
>> your reward is to do a harder task. But I'll keep doing
>> them to stay ahead of my powerlifting competition.
>>
>> I've got a large group in South Carolina that has been
>> doing kettlebells. I have to bring the KBs from where I
>> work to my gym, because I don't have my own set for the
>> gym yet. And if I don't bring them, everybody's mad.
>> "How come you didn't bring those kettlebells from
>> work?"
>>
>> We are all going to do doubles for powerlifting. The
>> doubles have been the best thing for a load. Mostly,
>> everything is doubles. I teach single arm, but for me, I do
>> doubles.
>>
>> DD: Excellent! So how has the certification been for
>> you?
>>
>> D.T.: It's been exciting to do stuff that I haven't done in
>> so long. I haven't been out in a field like that barefooted,
>> training. Not since football practice ten years ago. It's
>> really fun!
>>
>> Also, being around people with different backgrounds
>> is nice, because I'm only exposed to top-level powerlifters
>> right now. It's nice for a change to see the regular world
>> out there. Seeing people with basic needs, who represent
>> the kind of clients that we teach kettlebells to. But my
>> biggest reason for coming out here and doing this is that I
>> want to be a strength coach after my powerlifting career.
>> That transition will happen in one or two years.
>>
>> As a strength coach for football
>> players that specialize in offensive
>> and defensive line, the key is
>> kettlebells. My kids train with
>> bands and chains and stuff, but
>> when we put the kettlebells on top
>> of that, you are talking about a
>> turbo-type of training. In four to
>> five years, these kids are going to
>> be dominating their opponents.
>> They'll dominate to the point where
>> other teams are afraid to play them.
>>
>>
>>
>> That's my goal. Because the strength coaches are going
>> to have to change in big-time college football and in the
>> NFL, because we are on the way up. People like me are
>> coming into the business now.
>>
>> I went to my hometown college, USC in South
>> Carolina. In the state paper, they showed how the
>> strength coach has the team doing full squats. They
>> haven't done this since the 1980s. Now that's a crying
>> shame! But how do you discover full squats? I mean,
>> they've been around forever.
>>
>> They're a major S.E.C. football team that is just now
>> discovering full squats? I would love to be a coach in
>> another S.E.C. school that plays them, because my kids
>> would have been doing squats with bands, box squats,
>> sled pulling, and we'd add kettlebell work on top of that.
>> I'd go to South Carolina licking my chops. I don't care if
>> Steve Spurrier is the coach or not. My guys would kill
>> their guys! We are coming. We are on the way! We are
>> going to break into this, and then everybody's going to
>> wonder how it's happening.
>>
>> Just like Pavel said, "It's growing. Kettlebells are just
>> growing." He was the first. Your organization, Dragon
>> Door, was the first organization to push this ahead. You
>> pioneered it.
>>
>> You can contact Donnie at
>> [email protected]

>
>What did you use to get the text out of the PDF, if I may ask? I
>haven't figured out a way to do that?
>
>TIA.
>
>-S-
>http://www.kbnj.com
>
 
Dear Sir/Madam,

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>
> We can offer you high quality footwear, such as slippers, sandals,
> sport shoes, fashion shoes, skate shoes, etc, showing with new styles
> and reasonably priced. If you are a buyer or an agent who is
> specialized in this products, please feel free to contact us.
>

ROWOO INDUSTRIAL LIMITED
http://www.RowooShoes.com
Manufacture Slippers,Sandals,Shoes in china,Chinese Exporter Factory
 
Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> We can offer you high quality footwear, such as slippers, sandals,
> sport shoes, fashion shoes, skate shoes, etc, showing with new styles
> and reasonably priced. If you are a buyer or an agent who is
> specialized in this products, please feel free to contact us.
>

ROWOO INDUSTRIAL LIMITED
http://www.RowooShoes.com
Manufacture Slippers,Sandals,Shoes in china,Chinese Exporter Factory
 
Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> We can offer you high quality footwear, such as slippers, sandals,
> sport shoes, fashion shoes, skate shoes, etc, showing with new styles
> and reasonably priced. If you are a buyer or an agent who is
> specialized in this products, please feel free to contact us.
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ROWOO INDUSTRIAL LIMITED
http://www.RowooShoes.com
Manufacture Slippers,Sandals,Shoes in china,Chinese Exporter Factory