Roughly one year after the initial installment of the Gorilla Camp, an intense one-day seminar on hand walking, rope climbing and all things pulling power (amongst other things) we were welcomed back to Karl “Farmer Karl” Humer‘s greatly extended hand walking and climbing course. 14 attendees were looking forward to an interesting and informative day of intense training amongst friends.

We started things off with a tour through the course. Every station could be tried out to see where one is standing. The stations were:

1. Hand walking across the parallel bars
2. Hand walking using a rope to jump from point to point
3. Regenerative: Sliding over poles using rings
4. Horizontal pegboard climbing
5. Vertical pegboard climbing
6. Rope climbing
7. Hand walking down a ladder
8. Hand walking across wooden sticks
9. Hand walking down a log
10. The Trojan Horse
11. Another ladder

The main portion of the training circulated around these stations. After an initial run-through we did static hold intervals on all implements, dedicated rope climbing and a speed challenge across the three first stations (with Dominik setting a blazingly fast top time just above ten seconds!).

In his article about the seminar (German), my comrade Janis mentioned Dominik and Karl’s outstanding capability to cleverly design workouts. I can only second that opinion. Our legs were challenged with concrete suitcase deadlifts, tire drags, farmer walks, clean and press with a sand bag (which turned out to be utmost uncooperative). Although the emphasis of the seminar still remained on the upper body pulling power, the legs certainly did their part.

The camaraderie was truly enjoyable – everyone pushed his comrades to and beyond their limits. This proves to be the single biggest factor that drives the regulars to ever and ever again show up on Dominik’s seminars. It has become a congregation of friends united with a sameness in attitude and mindset that is rare to be found. The seminars are friendly competitions in and of themselves.

It was very telling that the lunch break (ironically situated at somewhere about 3 p.m.) was partially used to try out new challenges: People were continuing to climb, dragging heavy tires and carrying them back to the start (farmer’s walk). On high spirits, the achievements of people thrive. An impressive display.

It has been great to be a spectator to everyone’s progress. The regulars (Bossk, Gregor, Janis and Thomas) are developing beautifully towards their athletic goals. Thomas has to be mentioned most of all. His development from fat and flaccid to lean and powerful (as the subtitle of Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive reads) is very impressive. He is living proof of the concept that steady commitment is able to fundamentally change the physical constitution of a person. I’m thrilled to see how he develops further.

To me, the seminar meant a reintroduction into training. Prior to this seminar, I have allowed myself to wander off the topic, restraining my physical exertion to short full-body workouts exclusively using the barbell for very little sets per week. Sure, the intensity was high but I became increasingly out of touch with my body and how it functions. The seminar sharpened my focus again. I have now made the decision to mainly work on bodyweight feats of strength in 2011. There’s nothing like it.

Furthermore, the seminar was a great experience for me as a beginner photographer. I learned a lot about positioning and photo design in the course of shooting this event – which was a pleasure as well as a challenge. I’m looking forward to the next installment – for the training, the camaraderie and the great pictures.

A full set of pictures taken of the event can be downloaded here. For full quality copies of photos please contact me.

Update 19.04.2011

The local TV station LT1 produced a feature of the Gorilla Camp. Click here to watch it (German). It captures the spirit of the camp in a very good way.

It’s starting to become a tradition that a certain circle of fitness enthusiasts meets up in the rural outskirts of the Hausruckviertel midwinter. Almost exactly one year after the Naturtraining Winter Camp 2010, Dominik Feischl yet again invites his inner circle of training comrades to gather for an exciting day of training body and mind.

Training amongst friends was the motto of the 2001 Winter Camp. Dominik told us beforehand that there would be relatively little talking and mostly training throughout the next few hours. I arrived at the gym in Ottnang am Hausruck, where the first part of the training session would take place, with a rather problematic precondition: In the morning of the day before, I had to vomit and was struck ill by nausea and headache. With only one day of recovery and practically no food consumed the last 36 hours, I was unsure whether or not I would be able to participate. Eleven other participants would arrive alongside me – including three locals. As Dominik only invited people who have already attended numerous of his prior seminars, I knew everyone: Harald and Mathias from Graz, Thomas from Regensburg (Germany), Gregor and Alex from CrossFit Munich, Peter from Linz, Patrick from Braunau and Janis from Kreuzlingen (Switzerland). The stage was set for an intense day of training.

The training session was split in three parts, like last winter:

• Warm-Up, Climbing and Hand walking at the Gym in Ottnang
• Outdoor training at the Naturtraining centre in Thomasroith
• An outdoor hike up to the Pettenfirst, a local 700 meter hill

Part One: Warm-Up, Climbing and Hand walking at the Gym in Ottnang

Dominik kicked things off with a short joint mobility session – an element he most probably includes in every workout since his face-to-face meet-up with strength & conditioning coach Steve Maxwell. We worked our body from the top of our head down to our toes – in order to avoid injuries before they can occur out of thin air. Karl “Farmer Karl” Humer led us through a dynamic warm up on inverted long benches (“Langbank”, a common piece of gym equipment, a bench with a narrow plank on its flipside), where we threw medicine balls at each other, did partner balance exercises and did jumps – which tremendously worked our ankles and coordination.

We started off with the most power-oriented part of the day where we split into two groups of six and did the following exercises, one person at a time:

• Timed rope climbing intervals
• Rope climbing on two ropes (maximum height)
• ABC pull up style pulls on the rope (static holds in different angles)
• Box jumps on a gym mat staple (up to 1.20 m)
• Hand walking on vertical ladders
• Static hold for maximum time on vertical ladders
• Pull-ups on a difficult implement (a ~10 cm diameter pipe)

For most of us, our pulling power was already wasted at this point. We finished things off in the gym with two circuit-training-style workouts. Number one was a circuit of six stations (done in pairs), 30” work, 15” rest, two rounds:

1. Knee raises on the wall bars
2. Elevated feet push-ups with hands on small softballs
3. Forward lunges
4. Static holds on the rope
5. Elephant walk on a gym mat
6. Jump squats

Number two was a Parkour-inspired circuit involving the following obstacles:

1. Hand walking on the vertical ladder
2. Rolling over a gym mat
3. Climbing along the wall bars
4. Hand walking across the parallel bars
5. Leapfrogging over the vaulting horse
6. Balancing along the long benches
7. Vaulting over the vaulting box

Part Two: Outdoor training at the Naturtraining centre in Thomasroith

After the training in the indoor gym, we transferred to the outdoor Naturtraining centre in Thomasroith – well-known to be the venue of seminars prior. There we got into a short but intense workout program, again split into two groups of six. We did the following challenges:

• Tyre flips (145 kg tyre) and tyre farmer walks (75 kg tyre) around the field (approx. 400m) as a team
• Maximum time static holds on bar
• Sprints with weighted belt
• Sprints with another person holding you back
• Sprints while carrying a boulder
• Sprints while carrying another person
• Hill sprints up and down a snowy slope
• Climbing ‘around’ our training partners
• Hand-walking across a pipe and bars

These challenges all had a competitive character as the teams competed against each other – in a friendly, uplifting way. It drove us to give our best, despite circumstances – which certainly encompasses me and my physical condition on that day.

Part Three: An outdoor hike up to the Pettenfirst

Lastly, we did an outdoor hike up the Pettenfirst, which is around 700 m high which means it is the highest elevation around the Naturtraining centre. Unlike last year, we omitted the training implements while going up the hill – for most of the participants, the body was already exhausted to a certain point so that a regenerative walk came in handy. Still, the pace was stiff for something called active regeneration. Here I first came to notice the ramifications of not having eaten properly for more than one day: My energy levels plummeted dramatically while approaching the summit and I struggled to barely keep up with the pack, with my mind wandering off more and more into a blank state. I was happy to have reached the finishing point after a steep and icy decent – a warm shower and a wholesome dinner thereafter.

After training, we spent more than two hours conversing about training methodologies, our own experiences, how we approach body and mind development and related topics. Like always, I was able to get the most of the day out of this lengthy conversation – I got to know other perspectives and insights new to me, which included:

• Janis pointed out – again – that the weakness of most people lies with their core stability
• Likewise, he emphasized the importance of learning movement patterns over everything else
• Practice what you preach – There seem to be a lot of foul eggs out there in the fitness information industry
• Unless an exercise really feels good it most probably is not done the right way
• The value of baseline cardiovascular endurance is underrated these days
• Pull-ups and push-ups are all about how you work your shoulders
• Strength and training are lifelong journeys – not a quick fix for a year or two

Like last year, I have to ask myself the ever-important question of what I have learned this day. Lessons include:

• When the variety of the exercises undergone improves, there is a better chance to get to know your own strengths and weaknesses (for me, strengths discovered are grip strength and vertical jumps, weaknesses core stability)
• Keeping the right mind-set highly amplifies the possible output. Harald and Mathias practiced going to a happy place in moments of extreme intensity and fatigue. I tried it as well (under guidance of Harald) and it worked wonders for my momentary performance. Coaching key: Keep your face muscles relaxed.
• The competitive edge: Once you enter a surrounding which endorses competition, performance tends to go up unless negative stress makes it go otherwise. Competition amongst friends almost always proves to improve performance without elevating stress levels. This is the value of a good group of training comrades – which I enjoy in the rare occasions Dominik’s seminars offer
• The dark side of the competitive edge: It’s tremendously hard to go back on your performance when your physical state calls out for doing it. I should have limited myself a tad more than I have during the hours of working out, keeping in mind that I still was convalescent.
• Still, I was impressed how much I could achieve – the sickness just overcome did not hinder me to operate almost at my peak level of performance. The moment I decided I could do it, there was little holding me back (physically).
• You have to plan in recovery time after such a session – I have rarely felt so devastated physically like today, the day following the seminar. The body is unwilling to really move and yearning for an ample amount of calories to be ingested. Surely, this stands in direct correlation with the body still recouping from sickness
• On a side note: Write better lists for taking things with me. It was pretty problematic not to have two pairs of socks with me, given my circumstances.

To summarize things, the third Naturtraining Winter Camp has truly lived up to its reputation as being an institution for training enthusiasts. The community spirit has yet to be matched and I have and will always look forward to events like it in the future. Kudos to Dominik and Karl for setting up this tremendous training program – we will see each other again in spring 2011, when the successor of the Gorilla Camp will take place.

Stay strong!
Simon

P.S.: As always, Dominik has a highlight video to offer. Take the time and enjoy it!

P.P.S.: Three pictures I have taken during the first part of the session.

After a pretty long break from attending seminars at Dominik Feischl’s Naturtraining centre in Thomasroith (I missed out on the Steve Maxwell seminar due to financial issues), it was a pleasant comeback for me to attend the Kettlebell seminar which took place on September 18th.

Setting

Dominik Feischl and IKFF Kettlebell instructor Oliver Klettner (whom I already knew from the Wintercamp and the Fighter Fitness Forum) paired up with the intention to deliver a complete introduction into the basics of Kettlebell lifting. A complete total of 15 attendees gathered (Dominik, Oliver and Karl Humer excluded) on a warm and sunny Saturday morning (some of the attendees took home some serious sunburn ) to delve into the now so hyped working with those sphere-shaped weights. The experience level of the attendees varied from total beginners with virtually no experience in Kettlebell lifting to somewhat experienced athletes with more than six months thereof. As I have already attended a Kettlebell seminar back in 2008 at Dominik’s, I was amongst the most experienced Kettlebell lifters but still well aware that I had a lot of work to do to get the technique right.

Preperation

Oliver started the seminar with a two-part warm-up-session. First he targeted our general motor skills by moving in all fundamental directions (forward, backward, sideways and rotational) before he started an extensive joint mobility session with a strong emphasis on hip, shoulder and finger mobility – the three key bodyparts in kettlebell lifting. Most of us already experienced this warm-up as being as challenging as a regular workout due to the fact that mobility training with body parts usually disengaged while working out will lead to a serious sensation of fatigue. As for me, I had to struggle with mobility limitations in the area of my hips as well as my shoulders, where some of the exercises really showed me my limits. I was already in awe about Oliver at that point – his mobility skills are the result of a consistent commitment to something of fundamental importance in training — staying mobile and keeping joints and tendons healthy.

Basics: The Swing

This video gives a pretty good impression of the basic techniques we covered during the seminar. The protagonist is Oliver himself.

Warmed up and mobilized, we started the Kettlebell work with the most important movement in Kettlebell sports: The Kettlebell swing. Every other lift in Kettlebell sports heavily relies on the movement patterns used when performing the Kettlebell swing, so a proper swing is the ideal foundation for excelling in lifting. Oliver taught us the Kettlebell swing in the so-called Fluid Style, which is a style of Kettlebell lifting that emphasizes work capacity — the ability to sustain performance for as long as possible. To achieve this, muscles that are strong but fatigue quickly are taken out of the equation as much as possible and the work is transferred to muscles which can endure longer. When performing the swing, the weak spots are the hands and quads (which fatigue quickly), so the work is transferred to the hips and lower back. We prepared for the swing by doing strict straight-leg deadlifts with the Kettlebell, which require the movement pattern used lateron – pushing back the hips with legs extended to gather tension and then explode forward with the hips to generate power upwards instead of relying to the arms to pull the weight. From there on we progressed to the two-arm-swing and then the more common one-arm-swing. Moving from static to dynamic motion (deadlift –> swing), the downward phase of the swing charges the hips, so that the upward phase is done almost effortlessly. It’s important to straighten the legs as much as possible to maximize the tension generated. The arms are extended at the lower part of the movement (swinging through the legs) and slightly bent at the upper part of the movement (bringing the Kettlebell up to chest height) to alleviate tension and thereby fatigue. The proper grip is also important to sustain good form. Oliver taught us the Hook- or O.K.-Grip, where your thumb and index finger used to form a hook at the horn of the Kettlebell near to you – the other three fingers only slightly grip the bell. Using this grip, the Kettlebell is rotated while swinging – on the upswing, the horns are in horizontal alignment, on the downswing, the horns are in vertical alignment. This helps to avoid a rebound on the lower part of the swing, where the bell rotates further as the hands stop on the lowest point on the swing, stealing momentum and possibly injuring the hands. The non-working-hand also helps out: It follows the movement, generating further momentum. Last but not least, Oliver taught us the right breathing patterns of this exercise — the anatomical breathing (breathing out on the downswing, breathing in on the upswing (where the body is extended)), performance breating (exhaling 50% of lung volume on the downswing, exhaling 50% of lung volume on the ignition of the upswing (to generate more tension), inhaling on the upswing) and paradox breathing (breathing in on the downswing, breathing out on the upswing (generating more tension).

As you can see, the Kettlebell swing is a movement which is complicated in all its details. I truly profited from my experience gathered prior to this seminar, so that I could concentrate on the details rather than the big picture, with which numerous attendees struggled. It takes a lot of repetitions to really get it right.

Basics: The Clean

We started our work on the Kettlebell clean by first getting out rack position right. The rack position – where the Kettlebell is ‘racked’ on chest height – is one of the only places where the athlete can rest in Kettlebell sports as well as the proper emphasis for every overhead lift. The hand is placed near the center of the chest to let enough space open for the Kettlebell to rest without generating force, dragging it down on the side of the torso. Ideally, the Kettlebell is placed on the center of the athlete’s gravity – so that another person can push it down without the athlete struggling to maintain the position. With legs straight, the upper body is leaned back to further center the weight – standing upright, the weight would develop a tendency to fall down to the front when not applying force. The fingers are relaxed — a good rack position strives to take the work away from them.

After working on the rack position, we started to work on the clean. The clean is initiated from the rack position with a slight bump of the side of the chest where the Kettlebell is resting. The weight now drops in a swing-like fashion down and through the legs – with the weight being much closer to the body this time. On the upswing, keeping the bell close to the body saves energy and helps avoiding the bell to crash on the wrists (a sensation every beginner has to endure – I have been amongst them during the whole seminar). A drill that has proven to be helpful came from leading Kettlebell expert Dr. Till Sukopp: Putting a T-Shirt or some grass between your elbow and your body and performing the clean. If done incorrectly, it falls to the ground — the elbows have to sustain contact to the torso. Alternatively, wall cleans can be done to improve the technique – you just clean the weight while walking closer and closer to a wall, without touching the wall with the bell. Another challenge [I could not work out] is spare the hands on the clean – when done incorrectly, cleans quickly wear down the surface of the hand because of the stress on the base of the fingers, where blisters are likely to develop. As time progressed, this problem has become so grave for me, that I was unable to do more than three consecutive cleans per hand on this day. Ideally, the Kettlebell slides forward to the tip of the fingers on the downswing, eliminating the much-dreaded wear.

Basics: The Press

The logical progression from the clean is the press. In the rack position, the body is in the ideal position to put the weight overhead. Using Fluid Style, we tried to put the weight overhead in a straight line as opposed to other strict methods of pressing, where the bell is moved upwards in a curved line. Instructions were comparably easy on the press – take the weight and put it over your head. For me, it proved helpful to be reminded that the shoulder should always stay in its socket – I would always pull my shoulders towards my ear, which is bad for long-term shoulder health. To reduce stress when taking down the Kettlebell, it is advised to go on the tip of your toes in order to reduce the distance the weight has to cover in the descent. Another power saver is keeping your hands in the same position as in the rack position – something most people do wrong the first few times.

From the strict press we moved to the push-press. This movement was easier than the strict press for most people, because it incorporated a leg dip and push most people use anyway (they had to be reminded to leave out the legs when doing strict presses).

Advanced: The Jerk

When the press is 100% an effort of the arms lifting the weight, the push press divides the work equally between arms and legs. The jerk is then a variation of getting the weight overhead with a minimum of arm involvement as they are a lot weaker than the legs. This is achieved by adding a second dip to the first – the weight is accelerated by driving the force through the legs and the hips, which are linked with the working arm in a correct rack position and at the point where the arm would have assist, you dive under the Kettlebell until your arm is fully extended and then stand upright again.

This lift is tricky and the most important thing is to get the timing right to really do all the work with the legs. We did an additional drill with a fixed bar as a bell surrogate to learn the second dip. I found it difficult yet doable and had a good feeling about my virgin jerks.

Advanced: The Snatch

Finally, we progressed to the utmost technical Kettlebell lift, the snatch. Technically, Read more…

Back row: Martin, Thomas, Simon, Gregor, Janis, Vinz, Jo, Alex, Lukas
Front row: Karl, Harald, Peter, Dominik, Christian

April 17, 2010. Dominik Feischl once again calls out for all his “Naturtraining-Warriors” to assemble at a seminar, this time taking place in Obermühlau, near Thomasroith at the residence of his mentor and training partner Karl Humer, best known for his rafter pull-up.

The so far largest gathering of this kind was formed by twelve athletes (Dominik and Karl not counted) who travelled long distance (two athletes from Vorarlberg, one Swiss athlete) to show up. On a sunny spring day, the perfect stage was set for an perfectly enjoyable day packed with intense training.

The seminar was split up into four parts, which we tackled after a warm-up run (including hill sprint and quadropod action) through the beautiful Hausruck spring landscape:

1. Dominik’s Tactical Strength Challenge
2. Climbing with Karl Humer
3. Toying around with tyres
4. Pressing Power and Climbing Challenge

1. Dominik’s Tactical Strength Challenge

Prior to the seminar, Dominik sent out various e-mails, containing the set-up of the Tactical Strength Challenge. Pavel Tsatsouline, inventor of the Tactical Strength Challenge advised him to adapt the set-up of his exercises to the circumstances of the event – with opened the door for a set-up completely different from the original deadlift – pull-up – snatch configuration. We matched our strength and strength endurance skills in the following disciplines:

1. Rope climbing (for distance)
2. Clean & Press a ~38 kg stone (for repetitions)
3. Parcours climbing (for time under tension)
4. Farmer’s Walk with a ~80 kg tyre (for time under tension)

Rope climbing had to be done without using the feet, pressing the stone way allowed any way we could do so, the parcours climbing demanded crossing the parcours at least once (touching a log at the far end of the parcours) and the Farmer’s Walk required constant movement.

Every single participant showed tremendous performance throughout the disciplines. The fighter spirits were high and the respective winners of the disciplines performed remarkably. Christian won the overall contest, placing first in both the Farmer’s Walk (66 seconds) and parcours climbing (~2’23” time under tension) even after dropping back with a mere 7 repetitions of the clean & press. Thomas, Harald and Lukas were very strong with the clean and press (38, 38 and 50 repetitions).

Side note: If he had competed, Dominik would have won the overall event. He outclassed all of us in the disciplines he tried (Farmer’s walk and Rope Climbing).

2. Climbing with Karl Humer

After such a ‘warm up’, things started to get hard when Karl pushed us along his newly extended parcours. Climbing horizontal ladders in various ways and reaching along logs was probably the hardest part of the whole seminar. Karl has installed six lanes that offer various challenges – including what they call the Trojan Horse, a construction featuring bars in different thickness and a stiff ascent as a finisher.

3. Toying around with tyres

After a short break our legs had to work as well. With an already sore upper body, dragging and carrying around tractor tyres was a welcome change of setting, as it mainly focuses on lower body work. We supplemented the tyre work with decent hill sprints, combined with a quadropod descent.

4. Pressing Power and Climbing Challenge

Coming back to the parcours, Karl made us do push-ups in all variations – then supplemented with dips. Following this push-up madness, Karl took out his garden hose and watered the Trojan Horse – making it more difficult to cross, which we had to do. Climbing the diagonal support poles was another difficult task. Lastly, we worked our abs with leg raises – followed by blocking, if you can. One of the last highlights of the training seminar was hanging on the Trojan Horse with tucked feet and karl throwing punches at our abs for a straight fifteen seconds. This sure was a torture that everyone felt for some time after the seminar.

For dessert, we faced another challenge: How fast can you go through the longest lane of the parcours (horizontal ladder + woodstick climbing, Trojan Horse (minus ascent) and support hold walk along the parallel bars)? Peter won this one with a breathtaking time of 17 seconds. Do I have to mention that speed is his skill?

[---]

To commence the event, we went to a nearby inn together and did what we had to do after such a exhaustive day: Eat freely of whatever feels good to our bodies.

Every seminar poses to me the question of “What did I learn?” My answers for this time:

• Janis made me aware of a dysbalance in my balance, stance and power that I have noticed but mostly ignored throughout the last years.
• The core is the weakest part of the body for most athletes. This problem is particularly striking while climbing. A weak core leads to a lack of stability which in course leads to an inefficient technique
• Companionship is by far the most important factor in a training group. People have to fit together well in order to achieve more than they would be able to do individually. I am looking forward to work on this one with my CrassFit comrades in future
• Every athlete has a very different profile of strengths and weaknesses so that every one has the chance to shine in a specific discipline as well as the chance to learn a tremendous lot in others
• Attitude is of utmost importance – your attitude not only partially decides whether or not you will succeed in all challenges
• Harald mentioned that one can only teach things that one has learned three steps down the way. There is no way one can teach the things one has learned just yet
• Kettlebell technique seems to be an issue for most people. Working with kettlebells sure is easy to learn and hard to master
• Dominik and Janis both confirmed from their experiences that most Americans do not care too much about the quality of their nutrition – even strength coaches
• Most of the participants have a reasonable attitude towards nutrition that relies heavily on their experience of what is good for them – experience seems to trump science

Furthermore, I have to congratulate all of my comrades. Some I knew from former seminars, some were new to me. Likewise they shared an utmost uplifting spirit. Some of my observations:

• Janis has a good eye for posture problems in other people. He had just returned from a Underground Strength Coach certification prior to the seminar and I am convinced he will make a greatly positive impact on the people he works with in future
• Thomas has made so much progress that it is hard to believe that he was barely able to perform a pull-up last Winter. He handled the climbing challenges with an ease and grace that is stunning. Hats off!
• Harald has impressed me with his ability to focus. To me, he is prototypical for the calm warrior – I have great respect for him
• Gregor has a most uplifting spirit he carries along with him. On most pictures I see him smiling while he performs at his best. He is one of the athletes I would consider indestructible under normal circumstances
• Peter is a tremendously quick athlete – as expected from a former short distance runner. No wonder he managed to win the speed climbing challenge. His ability to push himself farther is remarkable – it’s like he is unable to experience unbearable pain

Once again, this seminar has proven to be extremely enjoyable while being just as exhaustive. What can be better than a day with like-minded people – training hard, chatting about things that matter to you and have a great time? Few things come to my mind.

I am looking forward to see you at the next seminar held by Dominik. Make sure you don’t miss out if you’re around.

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

P.S.: It’s now Wednesday and I’m still feeling a wee soreness in my forearms, shoulders and back. The sheer training density on this day caused deep muscle fatigue, I guess.