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.

On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, Peter and I met to pull off yet another intense workout. This time I chose a very simplistic yet effective Quick Death-style workout, due to pressing time on Peter’s side.

After a thorough warm-up, we simply did the following:

Metabolic Conditioning

• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 1 Burpee
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 2 Burpees
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 3 Burpees
• …
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 9 Burpees
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 10 Burpees
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 9 Burpees
• …
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 3 Burpees
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 2 Burpees
• 10 Kettlebell Swings (unilateral)
• 1 Burpee

The workout was inspired by a challenge proposed in the Fighter Fitness forums.

This workout has a total workload of 190 Kettlebell Swings and 100 Burpees, which is a tremendous lot. We opted to do this with a 16 kg Kettlebell. Simply adjust the weight to your level of physical ability.

Descending up the pyramid turned out to be the easy part of the workout – the descend back down is a harsh field where you have to battle the overwhelming fatigue that is trying to conquer your body. I have not done any metabolic work for several months and therefore struggled a lot with the high intensity sustained over a longer period of time. I felt like strangled and had a hard time catching my breath. I do not recommend this workout to beginners. Please become comfortable with the 100-Burpee-Challenge (which is simply doing 100 Burpees for time) beforehand.

Peter finished the workout in 16’00”. It took me 18’15” to do likewise – I had to incorporate longer breaks down the pyramid due to the aforementioned fatigue symptoms.

This workout seems to be a great tool to maximize work capacity and suitable to be its benchmark, amongst other workouts. Because of its layout (Swings favour stronger and larger athletes, Burpees lighter ones), this workout allows a fair comparison between athletes – an important factor of competition. The source of inspiration for this workout already holds benchmarks that will take its time to best – like Rosch‘s performance to pull this workout off with a 24 kg Kettlebell (unilateral (!)) in an amazing time of 14’11”.

Plenty reason to get going

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

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.

Back from hibernation mode. Against all odds, it took us another two months to give CrassFit another shot. I have to say that the winter has been long and harsh here in Austria and – with the exception of the Winter Training Camp in Thomasroith – Trainings have neither been very productive or enjoyable for me throughout the last few months.

With the advent of spring, things slowly begin to change again and it’s perfectly fitting to restart the initiative.

Rainer, Jozy, Peter and I assembled at our Donaulände meeting point – only to find this back then deserted place rather crowded with people of all ages – from kids to grannies. Higher temperatures lead to an increased rate of activity amongst our contemporaries – a good thing to see

Albeit being absent, Dominik Feischl provided us with a tremendous workout to ultimately wake our bones and muscles from hibernation. We did the following:

Pre-Fatigue

3 Rounds of:

• Jungle Gym Pull-Ups (all out)
• 15 Push-Ups with elevated feet
• 10 Double Kettlebell Front Squats (2 x 16 kg)

Struggling with this one relentlessly pointed out the weaknesses that have emerged through extensive absence of hard training.

Metabolic Conditioning

3 Rounds of:

• 10 Kettlebell Swings (16 kg)
• 200 Meter Sprint
• 10 + 10 Kettlebell Cleans (16 kg)
• 200 Meter Sprint

Unfit to match the requirements of such a strenuous workout after the long winter break, our lungs and legs were shattered by the intensity created by this bout. 200 Meters seem like a lot of distance to cover when your legs are tired and yearning for rest.

As if it would not have been enough, we added a Quick Death-style post-fatigue exercise:

Post-Fatigue

The infamous Leg Matrix:

• 24 Full Squats
• 12 + 12 Lunges
• 24 Split Jumps
• 24 Jump Squats

The result: A lactate-infested lower body.

We finished with a bit of toying on the Jungle Gym and a towel and called it a day. With a few days between the workout and the coverage I can report of a deep muscle soreness from Saturday to Monday – the result and price of getting back into gears.

A price I am more than willing to pay

Train on and stay strong!

Simon

P.S.: A great thank you towards my CrassFit training partners. There have been little incidents I have enjoyed as much as this little training session. Physical activity at this level of intensity really ups your spirits

We’re back from a long break. We either trained abroad, were sick or not motivated enough to train – which applies to me in particular. With today’s training I consider myself back

After a long drive to Linz, battling myself through snow-covered roads amid the cold Mühlviertel winter landscape, I picked up Peter. We almost instantly decided not to train at our usual place – somewhere nearby would suit us better. Peter suggested the stairs in the house he lives in. A great idea!

The house has a total of twelve floors, all of which were utilized today.

We did the following:

• Crawling up the stairs backwards (six floors)
• Utilizing jump variations (six floors
• Crawling back down (three floors)
• More jump variations (nine floors)
• Stair sprint (twelve floors at once)
• Lunges (twelve floors at once)
• Farmer’s walk up the stairs (most stairs with either 48 or 40 kilogram, one floor with 88 kg of additional weight)

We finished the workout with some back exercises (either stiff leg deadlifts or rows) to give our back the proper portion of work in the end.

[---]

I have to say that I am amazed! Crawling up some stairs is a tremendous workout for the whole body – I already feel my shoulders and core aching. The sprint upward was a killer for the legs in terms of systemic workload, the lunges and weighted walks were a test of muscular endurance.

Overall the training showed that you do not need much to train properly. Stairs are everywhere – and usually not frequented well. During our workout, we did not run into one single person. All of them were taking the elevator instead – a pity, when you think of the possible health benefits of taking the stairs instead of the elevator. For those who sit all day, this is a welcoming way of exercising a little every day. If you want to take it further: Climb up the stairs instead

Thanks to Peter for another great workout!

Onward to continuing next week – hopefully!

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 .

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

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

After being a group of five last week, this week’s workout saw only Peter and me coming – all the others had plenty of reasons to excuse themselves.

This workout came about without real planning, so we were going to work on the basics instead of handling fancy exercises. Peter has finally gotten his own 24 kg Kettlebell, so we based our workout mainly about this tool which still is a tremendous challenge for both of us.

After toying around a while with the Kettlebells (double Kettlebell work is tremendously challenging – I thought it to be easier, going even as far as thinking about doing metabolic conditioning work with it), we decided on a workout. The final result was:

Metabolic Conditioning

3 rounds of

24 kg Kettlebell Complex

• Push press
• One-armed swing
• One-armed high-pull
• Clean
• Squat

5 repetitions each, left + right

Each round was complemented with a approx. 200-meter-run.

This workout turned out to be a lot harder than I initially thought and I turned out to do a downwards ladder of 5-4-3 repetitions for the respective rounds, which was challenge enough. Peter was braver than me and completed the full five repetitions for each round. What proved hard to accomplish for me was maintaining the grip. I have to admit that my second and third round were shadowed with an extremely high frequency of resting the Kettlebell on the round – which defies the purpose of training with complexes, which is maintaining the grip throughout exercise execution.

Post-Fatigue

Peter came up with the idea of the ‘Man-Maker’. This is a complex consisting of:

• Push-up on the Kettlebells
• Renegade row on both sides
• Double clean
• Squat

Three rounds of five repetitions each were planned. I again reduced the number of repetitions due to pain and fatigue, Peter did the whole amount. This exercise is especially challenging for the abdominal section of the body. Doing the renegade rows, it’s the wrong question to ask which muscles of the body currently are working – the right question would be: Which ones of them aren’t working? This exercise feels just like the whole body being under tension. In this respect, I’d like to compare renegade rows with turkish get-ups.

The workout was completed with a few sets of push-ups plus renegade rows as finisher, before we packed our things and started the way home.

Lessons I learned from the workout today are the following

• A towel is an elementary piece of equipment – you can never know how much you will sweat
• A second pack of clothes also is a good idea if you have a long way home – especially for the upper body, which is usually soaked in sweat and cold
• Take something to eat with you for post-workout nutrition. I favor bananas for the job – as for protein, this is a good field of usage for protein powders – as they are easily transportable in a shaker. Add water and drink it.
• It is essential to train your grip strength. The grip is the first thing that lets loose and limits your abilities.

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

Whenever either time is scarce or your hunger for a extremely intense workout is impossible to satisfy, training with complexes is the right thing to do. We did lots of complexes with kettlebells during the last few workouts – but this workout surpassed the experiences we gathered up to now.

For this workout session, our CrassFit crew has gathered in complete – with the exception of Harald, who is working out with Till Sukopp this weekend. I, Dominik, Rainer, Peter and his sister Jozy – we did our best.

First off the facts:

Warm-up

Carrying the equipment to the place of the workout Farmer’s walk for half a kilometer with lots of weight is fine for a workout

Pre-Fatigue

4 rounds of

• 8 repetitions handstand push-up (assisted)
• 8 repetitions towel pull-up

If the prescribed repetitions could not be achieved, the maximum in repetitions was the goal. For those who had a hard time doing (assisted) handstand push-ups, they were substituted with push-ups with elevated legs.

Metabolic Conditioning

3 rounds of the following barbell complex

• Bent over row
• Clean
• Military Press
• Front Squat
• Back Squat
• Good Morning

8 repetitions per exercise

The experience of such a workout is bar description. At each and every point you either approach muscular or grip failure – although normally the grip is the element that fatigues earlier. It was a real relief that we could ‘rest’ the barbell from the back squats on – otherwise, the load would have been too much of a challenge.

We adapted the load to the strength and endurance level we could sustain. Rainer and me, we used 20 kg of weight, Peter 40 kg and Dominik stunning 50 kg, which were operated in a machine-like accuracy and speed. Impressive! Jozy started with 20 kg and did a reduced workout – which is perfectly alright. It’s important that you sustain a distinct workload that fits to your abilities in order to progress.

Post-Fatigue

Kettlebell complex work

• 10 one-handed swings (each side)
• 10 snatches (each side)
• 10 cleans (each side)
• 10 overhead presses (each side)
• 10 forward lunges
• 10 both-handed swings
• 5 snatches (each side)

Focus was on work for time with a specific load – a skill that we already trained with the barbell complexes. Jozy used a small dumbbell, Peter, me and Rainer used the 16 kg kettlebell and Dominik challenged himself with my green monster (24 kg).

Here, the grip also is the limiting factor – next to the fatigue that limits what is possible over time.

Finisher

As we were not destroyed yet ( ), Dominik decided on a finisher exercise: Farmer’s walk! We did circles around a sandbox – for those challenging themselves with 2 x 24 kg (kettlebells), 2 rounds were assigned (Jozy did 2 rounds with 2 x 16 kg), those who went for 2 x 40 kg (16 + 24 kg kettlebell per hand), one round was sufficient. I personally did one round for two times (sets) with 80 kg of load – a new personal best

Now we were really done – and had our problems carrying the weights back to our cars. No wonder I felt extremely tired this evening and went to bed relatively early.

Conclusio

What a great workout! All of us enjoyed it and we learned a lot from it – and hopefully progress in power and endurance by doing workouts like this one



Dancers in the dark



Dancers in the dark




























Breathe in – work out.



Our dancer in the dark :)










Instructions

Sometimes, we all have to take time off. Sometimes there is just no way around it.

This applies as well to our CrassFit initiative. Due to the circumstances, we took two weeks off before starting again. Dominik proposed the following workout already two weeks ago, so I was longing to finally do it – together with Peter, who accompanied me.

For this workout, we changed locations. The Freinberg park is great to train in summer, but as it gets dark it is hard to do the work there, as you are confronted with absolute darkness. Our new location is a playground on the Donaulände, next to the Urfahrmarkt-Gelände. Darkness is no problem here – the lights of the city provide light enough to see what one has to see.

Pre-Fatigue

After our last kettlebell-workouts, we put the focus on increasing pressing power for the overhead press. One of the best exercises to achieve this is the Sots press – an overhead press from the bottom squat position. While this sounds not much different to a regular press, it is a magnitude more difficult.

We did the following:

3 rounds of

• 1-2-3 repetition ladder of clean, squat + sots press with 16 kg kettlebell (left + right)
• 10 marine dips (on the Jungle Gym)

I struggled a lot with both Sots press and dips, due to my time off (I was sick once during the last two weeks) – more than two presses were impossible to do and I did no more than one dip – the others were excentrical only. I supplemented the set with push-ups to make up for the missed dips.

The Sots press is a lot about technique, I had to learn. One time they worked well, another time I struggled with even one repetition. It all is a matter of experience, I am convinced.

Metabolic Conditioning

4 rounds of
Sprint (approx. 100 meters)
10 + 10 Snatches 16 kg kettlebell
5 Burpees
6 Towel Pull-Ups

The met-con was especially hard to do after an already intense pre-fatigue workout. Doing snatches after sprinting are a delicate matter: You have to watch your technique tightly or you lose your form – and risk injuries. Towel pull-ups are a killer finisher – the grip is already exhausted and yet you have to pull your body up. Here is where you can go beyond your own limits.

A finisher was not necessary after this workout – we already had enough.

On to another great workout next week – I am still feeling it, although it’s Saturday already.

Train on and stay strong
Simon