Steve Maxwell Workshop Day 2

Getting up that day was not easy... I had to figure out the angle of my shoulders which allowed me to pull myself up into the sitting position and how to contract my quads when getting out of my bed without starting to howl like a injured wolf.

Well, I did it. ;-)

After a good breakfast I hit the road and in no-time arrived at the Naturtrainings- center in Thomasroith.

The vibe was even better than the first day altough you could see that everybody had some sore muscles. The outlook of working with Steve and Dominik outside in the sun and having a clue of the information to come gave us the endorphines to forget all about the soreness.

Like the first day we started with Joint Mobility.

I figure the 50minutes we spent doing them saved a lot of my joints and muscles, because considering the kind of work we did plus the volume I´m satisfied with my health- status.

The next topic was "pulling".

This part was hosted by Dominik since he is one of the strongest guys considering pulling power I know.

We talked about the Pullup, a ton of ways to modify the basic version, how to focus this one exercise towards strength, maximum strength, strength endurance, Steve threw in some excellent coaching- and performance- keys and of course we did several challenges at the well known hand- walking- circuit...I am just happy I did not developed any blisters or hurt any tendons... It is simply amazing how strong one can get using only the own bodyweight.

Well... If you pull something you gotta push something.

And we did push ourselves.

Steve took us from the basic pushup with all the important structural keys up to the one- arm- one- leg- pushup.

It was simply amazing to see Steve bang out around 7 one- arm- pushups for demonstration.

The next topic was the pistol.

I´ll be honest, I do not like pistols.

Maybe because I never got the mobility to do one without holding something in front of my body. Maybe because my groin and thigh muscles cramp up when I have to hold the non- working leg out in front when doing them.

But if Coach says they are good for you... Well, there is no way you can argue with that. He´s got the experience. He´s got the performance. That´s it.

So Steve took us from the basic squat to prep- exercises for the pistol to the exercise itself and showed us ways to establish a basic performance level as well as progression- options.

After all this our bodys were allowed to take a few minutes of rest while Steve gave a theory lesson about Mobility, Overreaching and Obertraining as well as Regeneration.

Awesome stuff!!

The final challenge was a 4- circuit- training.

Yeah, 4 different circuits, between 3-5 rounds each circuit which in the end added up to 50minutes of training.

50minutes of Clubbells, MAcebells, Hindu Pushups, Tire Flips, Spartacus Lifts, Log Flips, Rope Climbing, Gracie- Pistols and much, much more...

Man, my whole body was burning after that one...

But...

Yeah...

You guessed right...

We were not allowed to finish...

Right after the end of the circuit we started jogging around the Naturtraining soccer field, only interrupted by shuttle- runs.

Still not being enough, we had to finish strong with a bear crawl over the soccer field to the finishing line, ending one of the greatest athletic experiences I ever had, with one of the greates coaches I know, Steve Maxwell, hosted by one of the strongest and kindest among the people I call my warrior brothers, Dominik Feischl, accompanied by some of the most tough and kind brothers in arms I had yet to meet.

Train hard, train smart and enjoy life!

All the best,

Harry

Steve Maxwell Workshop Day 1

I have to admit… I was quite nervous…

Since I started thinking “I need to lose weight” and searching the internet for helpful advice up to the moment I first heard of Kettlebells, Conditioning for Martial Artists, the moment I got concerned about my health in the long rund and looked up something called Joint Mobility till today where I´m confronted with the challenge to not only balance my own workout regime, fit it into my education in the medical field, my ongoing development as an martial artist and human being but also taking responsibility for the development of others in a save way...Since the first steps until my latest steps, one name always turned up when looking for experts:
Steve Maxwell.


When you are a young guy looking for someone to give you some hints how to design your workouts you are usually looking for the guy with the best performance. (You know, the guy with the biggest pecs in the studio, the dude who´s running faster than everybody else, etc.)

When one is getting a bit older, you realize the guy with the most experience may be the better choice.
(Usually a guy who has done quite some work during his days, who has managed to survive most of it and is still able to get out of bed most of the days without having to hold on to something or calling for his significant other to help with a little push-or-pull)


I consider myself lucky and truly honoured for the opportunity to work with, shed blood under the eyes of and learn from a man like Steve Maxwell.
Not only a man with some 35+ years of experience in teaching(!!) fitness and physical education but also a man with the physical fitness who at the age of 58 (I think) can bang out about 7 one arm pushups just for demonstrating the exercise.
He is the combination of performance and experience.



The first impression was good, everybody was gathering in the "Naturtrainings"- center in Thomasroith, Upper Austria, run by Dominik Feischl( http://www.naturtraining.at/ ) and when Dominik pulled in with his Jeep, Steve got out of the car.
Mhm...A short, kinda old looking guy... Well... No suprises there. ;-)

There was a energy flowing from Steve which made me like him from the beginning... It felt like "Oh you poor young kids, you got no idea what you got yourself into but it´s gonna be ok...At least when we are done.".


The first thing of the day was a short introduction by everybody (name, profession, fitness- background, expectations,...). After that we went straight out into the pouring rain for some Joint Mobility.
Fortunatly we took our time with this warm- up. We got some theory, lots of practice for every joint, chances to tap into a wealth of experience and a great warm-up who really got the energy flowing.
Thanks Coach!
I´m gonna keep practicing those!!


The second major event was the hike up one of the most dreadful hills I know.
Do not get me wrong... It is not very steep, the trees either supply a pleasent shade or, in our case, shelter from the rain, the air is great, the birds sing...
The reason it is dreadful to me? Well, every time I am there Dominik or in this case Steve make us chase the hill up and down, up and down, most of the time only interrupted by pushups, towel pullups (Dominiks speciality) or Bear crawls (Steve really likes those!).
And when I say "chase", I´m talking about sprints... I gotta tell you, 3 rounds of hill sprints on uneven, wet terrain, loose rocks, slippery grass followed by about 100 meters of bear crawl and jogging downhill... You have to dig pretty deep to come up with a better workout.
Like Steve said: "It can be as simple as 20minutes, running and crawling."


Since the hill sprints took us up pretty high on the hill, I knew we where coming close to the cabin up on the top. I was looking forward to it, since the promised us a little rest, a theory- part and some food and hot liquids.
(It was raining hard the whole day and I was looking forward to dry my clothes a bit.)


After some steps Steve assembled us to review the Hill-Sprint- workout and gave us instructions for the next one: partner carries uphill.






If your feet are crying after the sprint... Well you gotta love the carries then. Not only do they show you how much MORE lactic acid can be pumped into your legs, but also how much more your body can produce and send to others parts like the biceps or the forearms.


Still... You can not see me in the video above because me and my partner Gregor ( http://www.strongbodyandmind.de/ ) where to far ahead...Coach actually had to call us back to keep the group together... I consider that a compliment to our performance.







After a lot of different carries we arrived at the cabin, legs wobbling, forearms burning and lungs feeling unable to get enough oxygen out of the awesome, fresh air of those hills.


We all took a seat inside, got some fluids in and ate lunch.





To get some digestion time, Steve took the chance to give a short lecture about goal setting and evaluation, as well as some pointers for some guys and their goals.


Again... It is just awesome when you are working with someone with such an vast knowledge of training, things all of a sudden seem so simple. ( Well, I guess they always are but we tend to make them a bit more complicated each time we look at them...You know what I mean...)








After a fast hike downhill with one stop to do a few pullups and another one to get rid of our shoes and socks to get the feeling in the soles of our feet back, we arrived at the Naturtrainings- center.
Imagine a group of obviously fit guys with one gal, all walking barefoot, soaking wet and dirty walking by the road... I wonder why no one has ever called the police during those training- camps!




After everybody had put their shoes back on and a little rets we got back outside and Steve introduced something I gonna refer to as the "Hindu Workout".
Basically it consists of Hindu Pushups and Squats, exercises with the macebell and clubbells.
I have to admit, when one is doing Hindu Pushups the right way they are turning into a hard exercise. Needless to say I liked them a lot!! ;-)
I will not speak about the timed sets we did with the Hindu Squats...It is an awesome idea but right now the thought alone produces lactic acid in my legs...


After those final exercises, some theoretical background in the ancient wrestlers and martial artists training we called it a day.


We finished the day like every workshop with Dominik at the Naturtrainings- center, with a hot shower and a gathering at a nearby restaurant with a collective dinner, lots of talking and the making of new friends.


On my way home in my car I noticed several things:
My right quad was beginning to tense up, my patellar tendon didn´t like it very much, my lungs felt kind of new since I had pumped a ton of fresh air through them all day and after a few minutes I somehow became mentally calm.
I always notice this when I got a lot to think about and that day I enjoyed the luxury of knowing where all the things to think about were coming from... A day long with people of a certain kind, lead by a man with so much experience I became afraid I would be calm forever...


I slept good that night...

Overhead Press

How technique can make you strong:

Enough said?!

All the best,

Harry

Bodyweight or weights?

If you take a look into several internet- fitness- platforms you will find one topic over and over again:

"I want to get really fit, lose my "musculus gösseri" ( an austrian figure of speech aka beer- belly) and put on about 20lbs of muscle till next month but please not more because all those bodybuilders are so disgusting.
What do you think, should I stick to bodyweight- exercises or use weights to bulk up?"


Well... I won´t talk about the "bulking up".


About the choice of tools:
Why choose?

I just got out of the shower after a workout including both weights and bodyweight- exercises.

After some time, I did a EDT- style- workout again.

For 10min I alternated Suitcase Deadlifts with two 24kg Kettlebells and Jumping Lunges.
Do 10 reps of the first, do 10 reps of the second for the given time.
My legs kinda felt like made of steel... Rock- hard and almost unable to be bent.

After a rest period (I took 10min) the second 10min Set consisted of 3 reps One- arm- Military Presses on each side with the 24kg Bell and 3 Pullups.
Again, do as many sets of perfect form during the give time frame.


I love to combine weights and BWE- stuff in one workout!! It´s a constant challenge for the body, adapting to the different kinds of resistances.


Do not limit yourself to one choice, incorporate the best of all the stuff out there into your world.
(I´m not just talking training, as usual...)


Train hard and enjoy life!!

All the best,
Harry

Half Snatch

A great variation of the conventional Kettlebell Snatch shown by Valery Fedorenko.

Train hard and enjoy life!

All the best,

Harry