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.

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.

Only a few days after our last workout, the CrassFit crew reassembled for another workout this Tuesday. This time, we were greater in numbers – Rainer, Peter, Jozy and me attended. Special kudos to Peter who attended in spite of the fact that he just arrived from his stay at Munich – this is real determination!

A bit clueless about the workout structure, we used something that seemed somehow logical: We splitted the effort into three blocks:

• Pulling Power
• Leg Work
• Pushing Power

After a bit of warm-up (I have done countless repetitions with the kettlebells prior to the arrival of every attendee), we started with the first part:

Pre-Fatigue

For the pulling power part, we used the good old rope. None of us has used the rope recently so it was quite a challenge to climb up. For those who were unable to climb up (including me, with time), we did body rows on the rope. In total, we did six rounds of climbing up the rope – until we could not go on.

We finished the pulling part with towel pull-ups. Here I experienced something rare: I was physically unable to get a grip on the towel – my grip strength was so fatigued that I barely could hold myself onto it. We really did everything we could to give our very last piece of power (with the exception of Peter who somehow seems to have too much strength ).

Metabolic Conditioning

Leg work is predestined to act as metabolic conditioning part of the workout. There are no exercises which challenge the cardiovascular system more than leg-centric ones: Squats, burpees, lunges, deadlifts and the like.

We did three rounds of:

• 10 + 10 Swings 16 kg (unilateral or bilateral, even double kettlebell if possible)
• 10 + 10 High Pulls (same here)
• 10 Squats (double kettlebell, with the exception of Jozy)
• approx. 200 Meter running (double that distance for the last round)

The waiting queue was a bit of a hindrance for this workout – if we were to do this in a consecutive manner, it would have gone beyond our capabilities to perform further – running for distance after leg work is tremendously fatiguing, if bearable at all.

Post-Fatigue

As we were starting to feel cold, we kept the third part sweet and short. We again did three rounds of:

• 5 + 5 Military Press 16 kg
• 5 Dips on the Jungle Gym (substituted with static holds or high-rep push-ups)

Done! None of us were feeling like this was too light for a workout. It was exhausting and would have even been a killer if the metabolic conditioning hadn’t had the waiting times. Next time, we’re going to optimize queues (I should be capable of doing so, as a software engineer ).

Train on and stay strong!
Simon

Good evening and welcome to the world of chill!

Our climate has opted to skip autumn and flowed from late summer directly into pre-winter conditions. But cold conditions are not enough to stop us from working out (we even did a training camp at Dominik‘s premises last winter amid a snow storm – no problem at all!). The advantage of working out in the cold is that the temperature itself is little of a problem, as your body is challenged constantly and thereby warmed from within.

Nontheless, it is of great importance that you keep your workouts short in the cold season – especially the rest pause between sets and exercise blocks should be minimized as you cool out almost immediately and thereby are likely to catch a cold. Opt for a workout that is of short duration but of high intensity.

For this workout, I did likewise. The core of the workout is a system that I read about on Testosterone Muscle, authored by (who else ) Dan John: The Litvinov Workout. Hammer thrower gold medalist Sergey Litvinov has a very distinct training pattern: He combines heavy basic exercises with sprint intervals. This type of workout is very short yet extremely intense and therefore more than suited for our timely needs.

We therefore did:

Warm-Up

Pre-Fatigue

5 + 5 Push Press 24 kg Kettlebell
3 x Rope Climb
- 3 rounds

5 + 5 (or 3 + 3) Turkish Get-Up 16 kg Kettlebell as finisher.

The pre-fatigue training targeted the upper body musculature, as it would not be challenged too much in the upcoming Litvinov circuit. We did a pushing exercise, a pulling exercise and (to my knowledge) the best abdominal exercise – the get-up. Needless to say that this part of the workout was very intense already – just try to read it from Peter’s mimics. The foremost problem with the exercises was the lack of grip strength we were able to show – if you have no feeling whatsoever in your hands, climbing is an utter struggle.

Peter was the only one attending (besides me) this time. Dominik and Rainer didn’t make it and Harald will be in Graz for studying for quite some more time.

Metabolic Conditioning

Litvinov Circuit
Front Squat (16 + 24 kg Kettlebell), 8-15 reps
400 meter sprint (including a hill sprint)
3 rounds

The Litvinov circuit is not to be underestimated! I tried to do the number of squats prescribed but utterly failed by doing 6-5-3 squats in the respective rounds – it simply was impossible to accomplish more than that, despite slow running on my side. Not only fatigue is a factor in metabolic conditioning training, nausea is another critical one. The degree by which I was feeling nauseous during the second sprint already was close to the edge of being bearable. Still, this is what gets you further and nothing else

Post-Fatigue

Kettlebell Complex of

• Clean
• Military Press
• Front Squat

5 repetitions, 3 rounds, using one 16 kg kettlebell

The post-fatigue training was incorporated as the Litvinov circuit is intense but still we somehow felt like it was not enough – the capability of the body to come back is tremendous. Three rounds of this light-weight complex was a good finisher to use up the last reserves

Ironic: After the completion of our workout, the feeling in our hands had returned. We were able to perform better rope climbs after the workout than at its start.

I am very much looking forward to the next workout. Dominik has revealed a hard nut to crack as the next workout suggestion

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

Yesterday we went for another great CrassFit workout. After a short break of one week without workout (attendees were either sick or had no time – I wouldn’t go for it all alone, did kettlebell complexes instead ) we got into gears just fine.

Unfortunately, Harald and Dominik were absent, for good reasons: Harald is back to Graz and Dominik occupied with heavy manual labor – so it was only Rainer, me and Peter.

We did the following workout:

Pre-Fatigue

5 x 5 Frog Jumps uphill
5 + 5 Turkish Get-Up (with water bottle or 16 kg kettlebell, according to level of expertise)
5 x 2 Lengths rope climbing

For the frog jumps, it is especially important to gain momentum with the right arm work. Look at how Peter is doing the jumps and what impressive horizontal leaps he can take. This is due to long training (he is an active track & field athlete). Lead the arms from down below up and forward and time the movement of the hands with the movement of the feet to achieve maximum leaps.

The Turkish get-up is one of the best exercises to train your abdominal strength but also one of the most dangerous. I highly recommend that you start training it using no weight at all. Start to add resistance only when you have learned the technique! It is important that the shoulder is resting in its socket and the arms are straightened toward the sky – and the look is always facing the hand reaching out of the clouds.

Start slowly and always part the movement into steps. Watch Peter’s form – he is doing great!

Finally, the rope climbing was the first exercise I couldn’t film due to the darkness – I will make sure that I take a good source of light with me in future to enable video capture also amid night hours.

Metabolic Conditioning

5 rounds of:
5 L-pull-ups (easier variation: tucked in knees)
16 Lunge walks
10 L-push-ups
200 meter running

The darkness and other circumstances prevented us from documenting this one. To explain the L-pull-up and the L-push-up, I will provide videos.

The L-pull-up works abdominals as well as the back and arms – it is a lot harder than a regular pull-up. Tucked in knees are the easier version that I used, due to the inability to perform an exercise this hard.

Watch this video at 3:00. Here you see a variation of a push-up with legs up the wall. This is how the starting position of a L-push-up looks like – from there on, it is like a handstand push-up: Descend like you are to ram your head into the ground and push yourself up again. Any wall or elevated platform is fine for doing this – just keep in mind to have a right angle between legs and torso.

We shortened the run a bit due to the circumstances and used it for regeneration issues. In total, this was the easiest workout of the CrassFit series up to date and will be remembered as such. The preparation was suboptimal and will be augmented next time.

I am looking forward to next week’s workout. It will be a major test for metabolic and muscular endurance, I guarantee Hopefully, with good lighting assistance to be able to capture it properly.

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

A novity introduces the coverage of this week’s CrassFit workout – a video introduction. Kudos to Dominik for filming the introduction.

This week’s workout was suggested by Dominik and inspired by strength coach legend Dan John. We did:

Pre-Fatigue

3 rounds of
Double Kettlebell Complex (2 x 16 kg): Clean, Push Press, Front Squat, 5 repetitions
2 repetitions rope climbing

Metabolic Conditioning

5 rounds of
15 Overhead squat with wooden pole
200 meter run

The workout was short and strenuous – I still feel it two days afterwards. The overhead squats are amongst the best exercises to train the whole body in union. Use a wide grip on the pole and try to do this workout – it looks easier than it is. The hardest part is to sustain form even in a state of fatigue. This workout is not aimed at muscular but at systemic failure. If you are short in cardiovascular endurance, take breaks to assure proper form. Remember that even if your weight is a wooden pole only; act as if it was heavier. If you tend to use bad form with a heavy weight, overhead squats cannot be performed. They are an exercise that requires absolute correctness in form.

Enjoy this workout and post your thoughts and experiences in comments!

Train on and stay strong
Simon

Due to the heat of the day, we postponed our CrassFit workout today from the scheduled start of 6 PM to 7:30 PM, which turned out to be a great idea – otherwise, the heat of the summer day would have melted us away!

This time, we settled for a more ‘humane’ workout than last time. Dominik couldn’t attend this time, sadly, so it was just me, Peter and his sister Josi.

We did (NOVICE level in brackets)

Pre-Fatigue

3 rounds of

5 Double-Kettlebell Front-Squat + Jerk (2 x 16 kg) (5 Kettlebell Front Squat 8 kg)

5 Dips (either bar or rings) (Dip support hold x 5)

2 x ~2m rope climbing (5 body rows)

Main workout

I decided to call it “Dauerwurst” (German classification for sausage like salami), after its inventor Wursti, a fellow from Muscle Corps who equipped me with training routines last year and the long duration of the workout (for a circuit trial).

5 rounds of

15 Burpees (10-15 Burpees with push-up progressions instead of push-up)

15 Body rows (15 Body rows)

20 Kettlebell swings 16 kg (20 Kettlebell sumo high-pull 8kg)

20 Russian twist 8 kg Kettlebell (20 Russian twist with water bottle)

20 Jumping jacks

Post-Fatigue

Walking lunges + overhead press with 16 kg Kettlebell (same with 8 kg Kettlebell)

We did a great job getting to our limits and beyond – systemic failure is the goal of this workout, so make sure that you do not go for muscular failure – the body rows are especially dangerous to go too far. Give yourself some leeway with them and go for the highest anaerobic workload you can manage.

Have fun working out and post your experiences in comments. We did not time this workout – the core workout should be about 25 minutes if done properly.

Peter will be away the next two weeks and head for Canada, so expect at least Dominik and me the next two weeks for workout coverage!

Train on and stay strong!

Simon

Light rain could not stop us from performing at our very best at this second CrassFit meeting.

The workout routine:

Pre-Fatigue

Hill Sprint
Clean + Squat x 5 ( 2 x 16 kg Kettlebell )
Double Rope Climb
Dips x 5

Main Workout

“Joachim”
8 Burpees
4 + 4 Push Press (16 kg Kettlebell)
8 Pull-Ups
8 Swings (16 kg Kettlebell)

Post-Fatigue

Zac Even-Esh Circle #1 + #2

#1:
Clean + Push Press + Walk (extended arms) + Push Press x 5
Rack Position Walk + Squat x 5
Farmer’s Walk + Rows x 5 + Push-Up x 5

#2:
Push-Up explosive + Clean + Squat + Push Press x 5
+ Circle #1

—

We all felt pretty much wasted after this extremely intense workout session. This is nothing like anything I have experienced before – the finisher was almost too much. For me – at least – it was beyond my limits.

Watch the video footage of the finishing exercises:

Zac Even-Esh Circle #1 – GMX Video

Zac Even-Esh Circle #2 – GMX Video

Zac Even-Esh Circle #2 – GMX Video

Zac Even-Esh Circle #2 Dominik – GMX Video

Ropes are excellent tools to train with. I started off with a rope, 7 meters in length and 35 mm in diameter, only to hang it onto the branch of one of the trees on the edge of the forest near my house. Although rope climbing is an excellent way to train the whole body, the possibilities to train with the rope are not merely limited to climbing only.

Tara Scott is one of the prime reasons I first became interested in training with ropes, along with her mentor Dr. Rocannon MacGregor . Their blogs Coach Tara and Primal Nature Play are a must read for people interested in natural training – although I am not a dedicated follower of their ideas, they are a inspiration. Look out for posts about rope training. As for the rope training itself, I got into gears after a workshop with Dominik Feischl, whose blog is also highly recommended for all readers who understand German.

Versatility

Ropes can be used in various forms. While they pose a great tool to climb up to (with or without the help of the legs), they also create incredible ballistic and gravitational forces when swung or moved otherwise using momentum. The rope is a training utility that renders training fun while staying extremely effective nontheless – regardless of how you train using the rope, it always turns out to be great investment in your whole body development!

The following exercises are some few out of the vast pool of those possible.

Rope climbing

Rope climbing is the most obvious choice available. Just find yourself something to hang the rope on to, fasten it and start the climbing fun! In contrast to what most people think, ropes do not have to be hung high above ground level to become an effective tool for climbing. Interval climbs of short ropes are a tremendous exercise to strengthen your grip and pulling power – just try to sustain three to four rounds on a rope of approximately 2 meters height – good luck!

Short Rope Climbing – GMX Video

Seilklettern – GMX Video

Rope Pull-Ups

The rope challenges your grip strength – if you easily do a set of pull-ups on a normal pull-up bar you will find a set of pull-ups on the rope to be a hard task to do at first but you will gradually adapt to the more challenging grip on the rope. The less the diameter of the rope, the harder the task. I recommend ropes with diameters between 25 and 35 mm, the thicker, the easier – I am still sticking to the thickest one.

Power Rope

The power rope is an exercise which is very much fun to watch from the side – the rope lining is spinning like a helix, something you do not notice too much when doing the exercise yourself. Hold your upper arms firm and work the forearms only with this exercise. If you can go on 30 seconds without fatiguing: Congratulations! – this exercise is much harder than it looks like and very well suited to be done in circuits. Highly recommended!

In addition to the health benefits I noticed that this exercise works like a magnet when done outdoors and with people nearby. It just looks so much fun that everyone wants to have a try – and quickly find out that it is very challenging in nature!

Power Rope – GMX Video

Rope Swings

Want to feel just like a cowboy? Then do so. Take an appropiate part of the rope and swing it above your head – the longer the rope piece is, the larger the gravitational force working against you. You will feel it everywhere in your body that it has to work hard in order to sustain its stability.

Short Rope Swings

For the short rope swings you will need a shorter rope, length up to five meters. Like with the normal rope swings, swing the rope around above your head – switching hands. The advantage of this exercise is that you can vary the swing gradually in height as you go by – from above head height down to waist height – just be sure not to touch the ground with the rope. Progress with increasing the rope’s length.

Coach Tara writes about this exercise in this blog article. Be sure to read it thoroughly!

Rope Pulling/Dragging

To utilize the rope further, attach an object of varying weight and size to one end of the rope and then go about either pulling the object towards yourself with the power of your muscles or dragging the object along for either a distance or time. With both pulls and drags, you can incorporate intervals of pulling/dragging and sprinting on the other end of the rope’s reach. Three to four rounds and you should be more than well done!

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The rope is one of the exercise utilities I was most surprised to get to know better. Normally I used to climb up the rope as the only exercise I would do but since I took the rope with me on a weekend camp with my group of teenagers I found out that the usages of a rope are tremendously versatile. I will incorporate this great training tool further in my nature trainings and am sure that both the fun and effectivity of my workouts will increase thereby.

Profit from training with ropes as well – go and purchase one. For European customers, the Seilerei Sammt is a great place to go to – places for purchases from that States will follow.

Have fun doing so!

Live the fun,
Simon