#8
Stars and Stripes
December 12, 2001
Fitness expert who trained Russians for Afghanistan pushes Marines to their max
By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau
Pacific edition

CAMP FOSTER — A Soviet martial arts expert is showing Marines in Okinawa how exhaustion, hunger and pain are just getting to the good stuff.

Pavel Tsatouline, a former Soviet special forces sergeant, is helping the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program on Okinawa and pushing the limits on Marine Corps hand-to-hand combat training. But his ideas for more effective workouts aren’t found in gyms.

"I teach how to dip deep into your reserves and perform at a 100 percent even when you are exhausted, sleep deprived, hungry and hurt," Tsatsouline said. "The Marine instructors I trained in Quantico immediately added five to seven repetitions to their push-up ‘max’ with the help of so-called ‘high-tension techniques.’ "

Tsatsouline’s methods teach Marines to maximize the power they exert.

Recently, he taught Marine drill instructors at San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot in the Physical Conditioning Platoon, where recruits who aren’t strong enough are brought to standard. The next day, all eight recruits passed the required physical fitness tests to rejoin training.

Tsatouline has taken his methods outside military circles to police special weapons and tactics teams, and the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Security Teams, the men and women who guard the nation’s nuclear supplies.

Tsatsouline’s physical training is drawn from workout techniques he taught to Soviet conscripts in the late-1980s. He later emigrated to the United States and became a citizen.

Tsatsouline’s methods focus on battlefield soldiers, who must perform at peak levels under stress, often without sleep or proper nutrition.

"You have to remember, a Marine has to perform under stress," Tsatsouline said. "That’s where conventional physical training fails you. Three days between workouts fails to condition the body for the constant demands the battlefield places on your body."

Once the techniques for drawing more power from body reserves are mastered, Tsatsouline steps up the training with a heavy emphasis on combat techniques.

"We apply this strength to hand-to-hand combat, climbing, and firearms skills," he said. "Not a new way of holding a rifle or performing a knee strike, but techniques that radically speed up the skill acquisition. Remember, the Soviet special forces had to rely on many conscripts, including myself, and had to produce results within months."

According to Marine Lt. Col. George Bristol, director of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, there are plans for Tsatsouline to travel to several more Marine bases, including those on Okinawa.

"Real fighting is not like the ‘pop’ martial arts," Bristol said from his office in Quantico. "His stuff is so basic and devoid of high-tech gadgetry, it made total sense to me that he advise us on how to train more effectively for hand-to-hand combat."

Bristol said Tsatsouline’s connection to Marines is instantaneous. He said there’s a camaraderie, even thought they spent years training to fight each other. Also, having an expert from outside Marine circles is a hit with martial arts instructors he’s training.

"My son has a saying," Bristol said. "It’s called, ‘the mystery of the new dude.’ We have a guy from a completely different background who’s reinforcing the same techniques we’re preaching."

Tsatsouline, in his late 30s, is particularly engaging with the Marines he trains, Bristol added. His own body is an example. Bristol estimates Tsatsouline stands about 5-foot-10 and weighs about 175 pounds.

"Despite his build, he has phenomenal body power," Bristol said. "His strength-to-weight ratio is off the charts. This is a guy, who on the sly, coaches powerlifters.

Bristol said Tsatsouline offered to write a new physical training manual and to continue to train Marines.

And he’s doing it for free.

"I got an e-mail on Sept. 12 from Pavel," Bristol said. "He said based on the events of Sept. 11, he wouldn’t take any money for what he’s doing."