Pavel Tsatsouline and Christopher Sommer (#748)

This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited. The episode features segments from episode #55 “Pavel Tsatsouline on the Science of Strength and the Art of Physical Performance” and episode #158 “The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training.”

Please enjoy!

Bios of guests may be found at tim.blog/combo.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep premium mattresses; 1Password easy-to-use and secure password manager for individuals, families, and businesses; and Momentous high-quality supplements.

Transcript for the full Pavel Tsatsouline episode | Transcript for the full Christopher Sommer episode | Transcripts for all episodes

Listen onApple Podcasts

Listen onSpotify

Listen onOvercast

#748: Pavel Tsatsouline and Christopher Sommer

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the best overall mattress of 2025 by Forbes and Wired magazines and best in category by Good Housekeeping, GQ, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders at HelixSleep.com/Tim.

This episode is brought to you by 1Password! I’ve been using 1Password for more than a decade. It’s one of my favorite products, and I’ve made it a requirement for everyone on my team. As data breaches affect everyone, you need 1Password. 1Password combines industry-leading security with award-winning design to bring private, secure, and user-friendly password management to everyone.

It is an award-winning password manager trusted by millions of users and more than 100,000 businesses, from IBM to Slack. It beat out 40 other options to become Wirecutter’s top pick for password managers. Right now, my listeners get a free, 2-week trial at 1password.com/Tim.

This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality creatine! I’ve long benefitted from creatine for athletic and gym performance, and now I’m increasing my daily intake to enjoy the cognitive benefits. A pilot study in Alzheimer’s patients demonstrated that supplementing can increase brain creatine levels in just 8 weeks, improving measures of memory, reasoning, and attention. And a double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that creatine can restore aspects of memory and attention within hours in adults who are sleep deprived. I use Momentous Creatine made with Creapure®, which is sourced from Germany and has the strictest lab standards to ensure it’s at least 99.9% pure. And try Momentous’s Creatine Chews—clean chewable tablets with 1 gram of Creapure® creatine per chew—and their whey protein isolate and magnesium threonate, all of which meet their same, exacting standards. Check out Momentous for yourself and get 35% off your first subscription order with code TIM at LiveMomentous.com/Tim.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SHOW NOTES

[05:10] Notes about this supercombo format.
[06:14] Enter Pavel Tsatsouline.
[06:34] Pavel’s background as a world-class trainer.
[07:07] Considerations while customizing a training regimen.
[09:40] Strength-building principles over equipment.
[10:36] When in doubt, train your grip and your core.
[12:57] How to grease the groove.
[16:08] How not to strengthen the “core.”
[18:53] Approaching training as a practice.
[21:16] Prioritizing strength — the “mother quality of all physical qualities.”
[23:57] The most counter-productive myths about strength training.
[27:14] Pavel’s hypothesis for the science behind hypertrophy.
[28:01] Deadlifts, kettlebells, and the most common mistakes with both.
[29:31] People who exemplify success to Pavel.
[30:09] Calmness is contagious.
[32:31] Enter Christopher Sommer.
[33:23] Defining Gymnastics Strength Training™ (GST).
[37:08] Types of strength that most non-gymnasts will not have.
[41:10] Biggest mistakes made by those who self-teach handstands.
[46:10] Top exercises for identifying weaknesses in strength and mobility.
[56:47] The problem with focusing on muscular fatigue when training.
[1:05:03] What is a pike pulse and why does it matter?
[1:07:45] On kipping pull-ups.
[1:11:16] Identifying solutions to pain.
[1:18:38] The Jefferson curl.
[1:23:06] Why weighted mobility work needs to be approached with a different level of intensity than conditioning work.
[1:28:09] If someone is 35 years old, a former athlete, and has never done gymnastics, what’s a good exercise and what should be avoided?
[1:33:31] 3-5 joint mobility exercises for getting strong.
[1:38:52] Preferred way to work on shoulder extension.
[1:44:40] A good goal for those seeking to improve mobility.
[1:46:15] Yoga handstands vs. gymnastics handstands (aesthetics vs. gold medals).
[1:54:20] Coaches who have impressed Coach Sommer the most.
[1:55:49] The story of Dmitry Bilozerchev and Alexander Alexandrov.
[2:00:36] Differentiating immature athletes from mature athletes.
[2:03:43] Training for success.
[2:08:43] Describing the systematic approach to GST.
[2:16:58] Exercises to avoid for the first six months of GST.
[2:18:27] Breaking down the muscle-up.
[2:23:59] Understanding the purpose of using various grips.
[2:31:28] How Coach Sommer mentally preps athletes for a big competition.
[2:41:13] Questions Coach Sommer would ask a gymnastic coach before sending children off to train with them.
[2:45:36] Questions Coach Sommer would ask a gymnastic coach who trains adults.
[2:47:44] Balancing stretching and training time.
[2:52:52] People who exemplify success to Coach Sommer.
[2:58:16] Most gifted books.
[3:01:04] Morning rituals.
[3:05:02] Coach Sommer’s billboard.
[3:10:12] An ask for the audience and parting thoughts.

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Pavel Tsatsouline:

StrongFirst

Connect with Coach Sommer:

GymnasticBodies.com | Instagram |Facebook

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)

7 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

rachel1

1 year ago

thanks for the info

Scott Colesworthy

Awaken gym in Denver seems to be closed. Any information on those folks?

Amanda

Hey, Tim! Happy anniversary. Your podcast keeps me company at work and in the car. I love the way you think. Your guests are extraordinary and the conversations are always intriguing. You make yourself so known to your listeners. I would like to meet you and have our own conversation. I really would.

Dan

Since Tim is in the dating game, I would recommend the book How Not To Die Alone by Logan Ury. The book is dense with good advice – there is no fluff.

Logan is the Harvard-educated director of relationship science at Hinge (ie exactly the kind of lady Tim wants to date). She does well in interviews, so she would be a great podcast guest.

Juan Edo

The original conversation with Pavel has been played more than any other on my phone. It is superb!!!
Great Content…

Pedrogf

two of my favourite episodes, the ones I’ve taken notes from and came back to study. Great!

John

Pavel’s pompous comment on pop music makes him sound kind of like a jerk: “the stuff in the middle has no right to exist”, especially from someone who’s taste in music is 80s hair metal bands. It made me disregard his opinions and skip the rest of the show.

Last edited 1 year ago by John