Simple & Sinister, the book, is well written and presents the material in a clear, concise and lively manner. As a 20-year veteran of the martial arts, I am someone used to breaking down movements to their finest points and understand the true power in any movement is in the details and cues. I am often frustrated by the typical exercise books that show the start and end position and say, do this. By contrast, Pavel's teaching style refreshing. His text is both spartan and comprehensive and goes into enough detail to allow the reader to really understand the techniques.
Simple & Sinister, the workout, just plain works. The program is short and refreshing but is densely packed with hard work. I found I could squeeze it in different parts of the day and not miss a beat. Once you get into it, you can motor through it in less than 25 minutes, day-in, day-out. I also found that it did not spike my appetite like more aggressive programs often do, so my weight stayed where I wanted it to be without feeling hungry or having to worry about my consumption.
I am a 40-year-old desk jockey who has been doing various forms of resistance training for the past 10 years or so with limited results, and kettlebells for about a six months previous to Simple & Sinister.
I did Simple & Sinister for 8 weeks. I started with a 20kg for all movements... [today] I am well on my way to the "Simple" goal (all 32kg, 100 swings/min, 10 Get-up/10min). I put on some muscle, especially my back, and felt a lot more solid through the mid-section...
To me and others who like variety, it is a great training plan that helped me plug some gaps in my tension and strength and was a nice break from more aggressive training programs.
One of the benefits of this plan for variety junkies is that you cannot screw this up or mask lack of progress in variety, because there is none; the results just come...
My wife is 6 months in on the program... She is a mom, career woman, runner, martial artist and this is the first strength program that she has been able to plug into, stick with in a very long time. The convenience of such and effective workout in your living room has got her hooked.
