The Naturtraining Crew

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.

GRRRRRRAAAAAW!!!

Like the year before, Dominik Feischl invited a limited audience to his winter training camp. The objective was clear: Train hard, train often, train outside!

After a few weather-wise disappointing days to end the year, winter had returned just with the second of January 2010 – to welcome us in the region of the Hausruckviertel in Upper Austria, where Dominik’s underground strength gym is situated.

After a short greeting sequence with the six fellow athletes attending the camp (our instructors Dominik and Charly not counted in), we started off our journey with a light jog from the warm changing rooms down to Dominik’s gym. I knew most of the Athletes before – like Thomas, a fellow from the muscle-corps.de-forums, where I participate, Harald, a fellow CrassFit-Attendee and expert Kettlebell- and mental trainer or Gregor and Bossk, who I knew from the Gorilla training in Summer 2009.

Further warm-up-sessions were installed in form of Burpees and a game: Catch a piece of fabric from the person currently holding it. It was like being a child once again – just that we were all grown-up men and this was not only grass but snow below us, rendering it a struggle to sprint.

After come-back, the first of the three following parts started off officially:

1. Climbing Power with Karl “Charly” Humer
2. (Body) Weight Workout Challenge with Dominik Feischl
3. Forest Trail Run + Workout with Dominik Feischl

1. Climbing Power

Charly is an expert at getting past poles and ropes like a monkey. We trained to attain this skill as well. A horizontal rope was our first challenge – climb past it, without letting go or ever touching the ground. This exercise is a challenge indeed – as you have to climb upwards towards the end of the rope, where your power is already nearing its end. After that, we climbed from pole to pole on a self-built horizontal ladder. To progress further, the next part had to be done with one arm only. We were assigned in groups of two and handed a brick – which we had on to our partner and vice versa – while switching arms. As if this wouldn’t have been hard enough, the next challenge was to do this as a group – with the objective to not ever let go of the bar while the brick is in movement. I have to admit that I was not able to hold out that long – static holding assignments are tremendously hard on your arms and core.

Short résumé:

1. Horizontal Rope Climbing
2. Horizontal Ladder Climbing
3. Handing over Bricks in Pairs
4. Handing over Bricks as Group

2. (Body) Weight Workout Challenge

With our upper body already worn out by the intense climbing experience, Dominik proceeded and handed us a piece of paper with exercise instructions, reading this:

• 30 trap bar deadlifts (70 kg load)
• 20 to 30 tire flips (with an approx. 145 kg tire)
• Farmer’s walk carrying a 70 kg tire, three times approx. 50 meters
• 30 elevated ring push-ups
• 100 sledgehammer smashes (approx. 10 kg sledgehammer)
• 50 “Around the World”, using a Bulgarian bag, weighing approx. 13 kg
• Crawling down and up (in reverse) stairs three times (“Stairs of Death”)

With every line I had to swallow harder – the sheer volume of the circuit training prescribed here felt overwhelming – just as expected from someone like Dominik. We went through explanations of every exercise and then started off – everyone starting at different stations (as for me, I started with the infamous “Stairs of Death” – an exercise that looks neat but is a real killer for your coordination and especially core stability).

I can’t put my finger on the fact how long it took me in particular to finish off each and every station on the schedule. Some felt easier to accomplish, others seemingly impossible and especially the “Around the World” puzzled me until the end – it seems I have never been any good when it comes to coordination. The last exercise – the tire flip – has been a team effort of me and Thomas, as we both lacked the strength to do it alone – and we did great, from my perspective. In the end, the dominating feeling was fatigue – my body already revolted against the workload I was forcing onto it, but still I resisted – since I knew the longest part was yet to come.

3. Forest Trail Run + Workout

In succession of the circuit training we set off for a light jog towards the forests of Thomasroith, we were about to roam. The first few meters downhill were the only ones we saw for the next hour: It was all uphill from here. We started off with a jog upwards but transitioned the pace into a stiff walk – since running was all too much, due to the steepness of the terrain. Thomas had some issues with the challenge, but here the sense of togetherness kicked in I particularly enjoyed at this event: No one was left behind, if just he showed the will to carry on and to never let go.

The way upwards was commenced with a sequence of carrying each other upwards and two sets of extremely intense hill sprints. I felt like fading out after each of the set – sometimes I think that I am a madmen to participate in events like this one . Upwards we go – still. Pauses were utilized wisely – for instance to do several sets of push-ups on our fists or pick up a heavy wooden log from the sideway, soaked in the water from the rain of the last few days. We used these logs as training tools – the heavier ones were paired up, cleaned, squatted and even pressed overhead – the lighter ones were natural barbells for numerous exercises – even overhead squats and pistols (!) were tried out utilizing them. Probably the highlight was the rope pull-up-ladder we did on the swing at the hut up on the hill – where visitors were constantly going in and out and staring at us in disbelief – a unique feeling to be amongst those primal fighters on their way up to the top. Our best athletes set out to finish a pull-up ladder up to ten repetitions, with Dominik finishing the workout with a mind-blowing 20 repetition set on the rope – most probably the hardest two-handed variation of the pull-up. The only problem with the rope pull ups was the long waiting time between sets – and therefore the cool-off of the whole body – which is undesirable. Harald also wrote about the fact that the gloves were freezing over the course of a few minutes – I have to agree, towards the end, their inflexibility made them less and less useful. The top of the hill was reached soon thereafter and truly – we all felt like being “Kings of the Hill” – rightfully so.

We concluded the workout day with a light jog downhill – still in great mood and talking about interesting topics. In total we were in constant motion for about 1h45’ – a tremendous amount of time that passed by oh so quickly.

Short résumé:

1. Uphill jog
2. Carrying each other uphill
3. Hill sprint x 2
4. Push-ups x 2
5. Picking up a heavy log in pairs and utilizing it
6. Pull-up ladder on the rope: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
7. Picking up lighter logs and utilizing them
8. Hilltop sprint
9. Downhill jog

[---]

A hot shower came in handy after these hours of powering oneself out amidst nature, through the coldness of winter and snowstorms. The atmosphere has been beyond words. To me, the highlight was the feeling of running through the woods, accompanied by the freezing wind and snowflakes and nonetheless working on one’s max with natural barbells – but there have been countless great moments that I will keep as cherished memories.

A highly important part of the day surely was the trip to the inn and the eating – and it was funny as well, with almost everyone of us ordering the same dish at last: Ham and eggs as an appetizer and grilled meat with vegetables (some of us also ordered French fries) as main dish – and a hot tea to warm oneself up. It had become deep winter in the small villages of the Hausruckviertel – the way we wanted it to be (although I was not well-prepared for a journey through snowy streets with a car that sports unfit tires for the purpose…).

An important question to myself is: What did I take with me from this event? The list probably looks like this:

• Great talks with like-minded people. There just is no replacement for company that has the same goals as you – it is a unstoppable force that bears great power – more than the sum of its parts could ever be
• Input for new workout schedules that were previously unknown to me
• Reflection on my own training and life philosophy both by talking to others about it and listening to their philosophies. It’s safe to say that all the characters of the attendees were uniquely inspiring
• First hand information about experiences with steroids. People who have taken them know and it’s amazing to listen to what they can say – no bragging about achievements and no cover on the shortcomings they experienced. Just the truth and thereby another reason never to use them
• New contact information for workouts throughout the German-speaking area
• Information about further seminars taking place in 2010
• Muscle soreness, of course

Also, it is important to look at what I have done wrong and have to change in future:

• I have broken with my eating pattern this distinct day and decided on a light breakfast. The ongoing latent sickness I carried with me is an undesirable result of that. Never experiment on day zero!
• I have too drunk too few water so that I had to cut down performance due to dehydration halfway through the forest trail. This should not have been an issue. Drinking to little feels terrible – it’s like your blood is gradually becoming more and more tough
• My car was most probably unfit to the street conditions. Check your means of travelling before you set out!
• In training, I have let too many distracting thoughts disturb my actions and thereby lessen the overall performance I could show. The mental aspect of training sure is the most important

Still, I have done a lot of things right, such as:

• Becoming stronger of the course of the last six months
• Being rested before such a torturous event
• Compiling a check-list of what to take with me the day before the event
• Picking a time frame for travelling to the chosen destination that allows minor glitches to occur without coming too late
• Showing companionship to my fellows – especially towards those who struggle to keep up the pace.

In summary, it is an experience that I recommend to everyone – at whichever level he or she may be at this precise moment. Dominik’s events are something, where you can only win – you cannot lose. It is not a competition, we’re pulling off here – it’s not about who is better. It’s about training together and motivating one another to jump over one’s shadow and do what one hasn’t ever done before. It is a growth experience, both bodily and mentally and in that a valuable piece of experience.

Surely, there will be more seminars at Dominik’s. Just visit his blog from time to time to stay informed. I hope we will see you there anytime soon

As an appetizer: The highlights of the session, compiled by Dominik.

Train on and stay strong
Simon

Just before the christmas holidays are nearing their end, we set out for one more CrassFit training session. Harald will have moved back to Graz to continue studying the next day, so we decided to do one last workout together.

Dominik (who had a day off), Peter (returned from Sweden), Harald and I were present to accept Dominik’s challenge for an extremely heavy exercise collection.

Warm-Up

We did bodyweight movements with a focus on hindu squats as a warm-up. As I was a wee bit too late, so I missed out on the 100-repetition set the others did but set out to do at least a 50-repetion set as a small compensation. The warm-up was concluded with a jog from the parking space to the playground, where we usually do our workouts.

Pre-Fatigue

The pre-fatigue exercise today was split into two parts. The first challenged the upper and the second the lower body.

1. Rope pull-up pyramid: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 repetitions (49 total)
2. Kettlebell front squat pyramid: 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1 repetitions (41 total)

First we did a pull-up pyramid on the rope – starting with one repetition, up to seven repetitions (or how much one is able to do – as for me, my maximum are five and a half repetitions). In total we ideally did 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 repetitions – 49 repetitions in total, what a volume! I had to struggle to keep pace – rope pull-ups are an amazing exercise. The main problem with them is the grip, when it is cold. Although it initially hurts, its useful to pick up some snow and to rub it in-between your hands – the grip becomes better instantly.

To target our lower body, we jogged back to the parking space, packed out our gear (in this case: two 20 kg and two 24 kg competition kettlebells) and started a pyramid of double kettlebell clean + front squat. In total we did 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1 (= 41 total) repetitions with the weight we could just handle. I started off with the two 24 kg kettlebells but went for the 20 kg ones from the 5 repetition set onwards.

I feel that a front squat pyramid is mostly a mental thing. The exercise itself is so overwhelmingly hard to accomplish – the clean is sucking out your power, as it requires explosive movement and the squat consumes all there is left – that it soon feels simply unbearable to even continue. During the peak set of the pyramid (9 repetitions), I was feeling as if I had to give up after six repetitions – when Harry kicked in and gave me back my focus. He had me focus on the next repetition only – and it somehow worked. A perfect clean followed by a perfect squat – and nine repetitions were done in no time. Kudos to Harry – I feel he is a great motivator, when it comes to seeing a heavy set through.

Metabolic Conditioning

Not really a metabolic conditioning workout today, as we were so sucked dry from power from the pre-fatigue part already. We actually did two rounds of:

1. Kettlebell complex: 5 Swings L + R, 5 Cleans L + R, 5 Military- or Push-Presses L + R, 5 High Pulls L + R
2. 10 Explosive push-ups

… and proceeded onwards to the finisher.

Post-Fatigue

The workout was concluded by an alternative version of sled dragging. As the normal dragging turned out to be too easy (with another attendee as living weight attached), we did pull-throughs and rows with the sled to make this especially hard on the whole body. After the sled had returned to its starting position, we called the workout a close.

Thereafter, we had a good sip of the bottle of raw milk I brought with me, waved goodbye – most probably to see each other again next week. Harry will be with us by the time of the next holidays, for sure .

Satisfied with the workout, the four of us.

I recommend that you just try out the pre-fatigue part of our workout – especially the Clean + Front Squat pyramid. I feel that this compound exercise is a workout of itself. We had a good talk about how top coaches like Dan John are convinced that you do not need more than two 32 kg kettlebells to have a tremendously challenging workout – even for someone who usually lifts weights a lot heavier (like a powerlifter or Olympic weightlifter). Just take two heavy kettlebells and try the Clean + Front Squat exercise combination. It humbles each and every athlete, I am convinced.

Train on and stay strong!
Simon