HEAVY & TALL CALISTHENICS FREESTYLE | Interview with Simon Imhäuser | Athlete Insider Podcast #68

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because the thing about for example freestyle that i i enjoy so much about daniel license what really  shocked me was his size like when you're big person doing things there's so much energyyogurt welcome to the athlete insider podcast by GORNATION my name is phil and today's guest  is somebody i was looking forward to for a long time somebody who shocked and surprised everybody  at the fibo competition a few weeks ago what can i say nordic champion swedish champion with  only 19 years old and he's 86 kg heavy so i'm super looking forward to this interviews thanks  that you take the time simon imholzer thank you so much i'm extremely happy to be here  i'm also really happy that you take the time we received a lot of quality questions from the  community and we have uh like interesting topics that we can talk about first of all how are you  doing these days how was the fibo competition for you i'm great i'm great uh you know the  feeble competition was like it was insane for me uh the first competition i've been on where the  the level on the athletes it's so high and um yeah just being in the hour by being surrounded by  so many great people it's extremely inspiring uh so my training and workouts after fibo  has probably been the best ones for me ever uh so yeah they definitely had a good influence on me  that's cool that's super cool like when i remember when uh did we meet first time or  when did i see you first time uh performing it was uh 2019 at the beast of the bars competition in  in stockholm sweden at the fitness festival um and like back then it was already really  mind-blowing because um you were like really new to the sport like really really fresh um  and i remember you winning the competition uh you did first place against like dan rosenberg and tom  rosenberg which was uh extremely extremely crazy um yeah this was the first time i saw you and  back then how long did you did you do calisthenics in street workout roughly two years and  that's maybe the thing like i was super underdog in that competition and the same was with actually  the fibo now it's like people don't expect you to deliver anything and since i didn't have the  pressure i think that's one of the reasons i actually managed to win it because i i didn't  have the pressure that i had to perform anything so i just like i just i just did what i usually do  that's super crazy and so yeah like this for the fibo um what like what did you think when you're  like you did the qualification super nice round was really safe entry in my opinion into that  uh top uh top 16 um but like then your first battle was against daniel christophe uh who's like  current world champion what were your thoughts when when it was announced well to be honest i  like the moment i heard his name i was like okay i'm done like i already know i was gonna lose it  uh but like before i went to the competition we always spoke about like it would be so awesome to  be in the battle against him and i was just happy to be honest that i got to battle him  and that's probably why i delivered on that battle as well like i was super happy with my performance  and like landed the things i wanted to land  and then yes it was unlucky that his level is so so high but yeah super happy to battle against him  yeah i can imagine yeah like i i also i didn't know how to react because i was on the one hand  i was really i i had the same thought that it will be really really really difficult even like  nothing is impossible in calisthenics like everybody can fail even even daniel so um but  still i was like what was said in one eye and uh happy on in the other because uh the battle would  be insane but um yeah i i mean it was a great battle and uh you did uh your the things that  you planned yeah right um so you did like the the front flip combo for example on the p-bars which  also went viral on instagram by the way um yeah so um maybe overall yeah overall i was super happy  like it didn't even matter that i lost because i i know i didn't stand a chance at that point uh so  you know just being happy to be in the moment to be honest yeah and maybe it was kind of the  same mindset then if you had like not the big pressure or like not depression exactly and  uh just being like in sweden no one knows about like athletes in sweden so just being on in the  fibo only people only know maybe maybe instagram and so on and that i'm a grenacion athlete but  overall most people didn't know who i was and uh just having that in mind is a good way it might  been a good thought like no one expected to do anything so you might just show them what you got  true yeah because i mean we talked about it before the fibo competition like um in the  past you only participated in in sweden and the nordic countries this was your only area of like  competing as a professional athlete um and now it was the first first competition outside of this uh  yeah the nordic countries yeah so it was just huge being there and before i went to the competition i  was like thinking about not going because i in my mind i'm still like this small athlete that  doesn't really belong on the big stage and uh you know it's probably the people around me pushing me  to compete but i'm super happy i went and like you get so much from being on big competitions  just meeting other people and motivation wise as well and being inspired so definitely going to  compete more outside of sweden that's cool can you maybe tell us a little about your the mindset that  um you had to develop to participate i mean it's also infl you're also influenced by the great  surrounding that you have with daniel with malin with dana like you have a really close family like  a strong community there in sweden but like how did you develop and how did you come over your  fear that you're the small guy you know like the not the small physical guy but small like athlete  unexperienced athlete on the stage yeah i mean i'm be as a person i always try to be very humble and  never really brag about like the level i am at uh so daniel does the work for me always promoting me  but they are the ones like pushing me and telling me like yeah you are  good enough uh and the thing about and they also remind me like what i've done like the competition  i've been that like i do what i do usually don't fail as much either and yeah they just make me  settle and like believe you can you can achieve at every competition and even though you have like  high people that you're battling against uh it doesn't really matter if you win or lose  or just being there is gonna make you a much greater athlete and um yeah i'm really happy  i got people around me though because on your own it's really hard to take these first steps  and yeah that's pretty much it somebody also asked um do you have a like a coach or a mentor  that's also an interesting question daniel i would definitely say is my like i see him as a coach  he yeah me and him we do like my schedule together uh but like motivational wise and  uh yeah inspiring his uh like he and molly they always follow me so they were in germany  motivation thing and they're pushing me and yeah they've always been like big supporters so  definitely see them as my coaches that's cool if you have to say like um as a as a coach for  freestyle what's the what's the most important thing is it the mindset thing or do do they  teach you a lot of about technique or like what's the most important thing probably mindset because  maybe two years ago i started doing tricks that they'd never done no and at that point it's  like they know also it's all about mindsets like you gotta see the tricks before you go  on the bar and do them and yeah they also pushed me because sometimes i have the  um the thing where i when i feared to do something i kind of let it go there was a period where  i had a 540 struggle and so what happened is like i had like four months where i didn't do  no five word attempts and at those points they like okay come on just do some attempts at least  and uh so in that sense they just motivate me to try things and sometimes techniques as well like  they can see when i'm doing something if even though they can't do the trick themselves they see  that something's wrong so yeah they they motivate and like help me in many areas that's super cool  you said that it's important to see the move before you before you can do it and that you see  yourself doing it can you explain that more like why is that important uh like both in dynamics and  in in statics i would say so if like sometimes what i do before competing or doing a new trick  i just listen to some motivational speeches or like some calm music and like if you close your  eyes and you can still really see yourself doing the trick like in almost like a dream  so if you can see yourself doing the move your body automatically adapts to it um so one one  big mode that i've been struggling with and landing like on and off is the frontline regret  and when i land it i can truly it's when i can see myself doing it uh  and the same with static sometimes like you can look at someone doing a plunge or a front lever  and you get hyped and you can see yourself like okay i can feel the  front level before doing it like those attempts are probably one of the best ones  uh because already before you go up to the bar you to some extent already already have done it  so yeah that's what i've been meaning by seeing the trick like  if you can't imagine yourself doing it it's definitely possible wow interesting like uh  for me it sounds like visualization uh and uh also some kind of meditation even though meditation  meditation off for a lot of people sounds really spiritual etc but it's also like  kind of meditation um interesting sometimes it's uh it's false in the beginning when i started off  i i looked at daniel license and this big app it's doing both freestyle but mostly statics in the  beginning so i could lay in my bed late at night watching them doing the aesthetics and i'm like  man i gotta try it uh go up feel like i can do it trying to planche and just boom falling down  straight up but most of the times it it helps definitely does cool  uh you also said a few minutes ago that you like that you rarely fail and it's also something that  that was interesting for me like you had to at the people you had to put away all the mats  um because even like already because of your height i guess yeah um but you also  seemed really confident uh confident that you won't fall can you tell us more how you achieve  this security that that safety at the bar yeah like when i always we always train with mats so  before comps and things like i never take them away like training with without mats  but the thing is that like competition is almost always about planning your combos  so you can lose so many points by doing stupid choices uh for example i never do combos that i  like that i'm unsure of uh and some people may say like yeah but you did this combo  one year ago you should switch up something new but like for me it's all about landing  and the holding statics as well is something that some people stress with  and it's really easy to do it in the competition but if you're holding the statics and doing  everything right you're gonna get the high combination points and so on  uh so for me it's always been about rather being a little bit safe but landing everything and making  it clean instead of really pushing for these big moves where there's a high probability of failingdefinitely makes sense and it's also something that you see a lot of strong athletes do at  the competition that they try like a crazy crazy move yeah um and then they fail and i  can imagine that failing is like a really really big thing like mindset wise in a competition when  you're under time pressure that's also one thing i always have i always have one combo  where if i fail something i don't go back to the combat i was planning to do so i just grab  the bar and do a combo that automatically like automatically i know what to do like i've done  it so many times so i don't have to think about the fail and like okay but what should i do next  that's something really good to have so you're not afraid of failing and also  when you've done the trick so many times you can feel if you're gonna catch it or not  so in the fiber for example i was planning on doing a triple 360. but when i did the double i  felt like no it doesn't feel right so instead of doing a triple i i just i settled with a double  360. and i don't think anyone noticed it but i think it was a good choice like it ain't worth it  true so yeah you also have to be like you have to take decisions really quickly and listen to your  body and listen like be aware of the flow that you're in exactly because you've done the trick  so many times like you know if it feels right or not so and that's the thing about doing things  that you're confident about because you know before you're gonna fail if you're gonna fail  so and that's like that's a it's a good thing to have wow wow that's super cool like in  these 10 15 minutes already so much competition advice like um yeah super super interesting um  let's switch back a few years can you tell us how you got into the sport how was your like  what sport did you do before street workout can you tell us take us in your journey big journey  yeah uh i've always been a swimmer uh did swimming for yeah at least 10 years um and then um  i i've always enjoyed it still do it today uh not as much though maybe sometimes like two times a  month maximum but more like a relaxing way because i enjoyed but there was a period where i wanted to  start going to the gym because of the physique like to build a great body and so i hit the gym  for roughly one year and i don't know exactly when but i started doing handstand attempts  and just doing it against the wall and nothing to do with calisthenics really it was just i wanted  the handstand skill and um i did that for probably half a year and then i switched gym and that's  where my big journey started because at this gym i had a personal trainer by the name of yemi langley  and he saw that i was training handstand and at that time almost no one at the gym did it  so we got to get like uh we started working out with each other and he taught me and showed me  like how much the calisthenics world was like i thought it was just handstand he showed me  the front lever and i i was super impressed and then the planche for it was impossible  and then it took me to extreme fabric and where uh and it is the place we're doing freestyle now  and uh yeah he he showed me the whole team like maul and daniel dan and all these people uh and  at that time that that really blew my mind like seeing them doing the freestyle was was insane  uh and after that like i started training with all these people and they've been trained at that time  like at least four years i think or roughly so they had a lot of experience and i think that's  also why i evolved pretty pretty quick because they know what worked and also what didn't workso yeah in the gym have you been like like have you been super strong like uh was it super easy  like i don't know yeah that's one thing as well i i do believe i got good genes like  i've always had it pretty easy to build mass and always been like yeah a little like the stronger  yeah one of the strongest in like the classes even when i was younger and didn't really work out i've  always been a little bit bigger and i definitely think that helped and also motivational-wise  it didn't take that long before i started seeing like results physically as well and  yeah motivation is pretty much key it doesn't really matter what makes you  motivated but as long as you have something that it definitely gives the workouts forwardwhat was the the main reason that you started calisthenics off like is it the the community or  was it to build like an even better physique like what's the what was the main reason  i in the beginning like to be honest i i was getting kind of bored of just lifting weights  and when i i didn't really see like the potential in it like lifting weights all i could see was  yeah getting a better body but then i looked at the calisthenics athletes and i like okay  they had great bodies so i might just do that as well if i'm only looking for a great body but like  then when i saw how much was involved in the calisthenics community uh like  there was i was sold directly so i always trained front lever and clenched and  freestyle as well and enjoyed every workout when i went to the gym like sometimes i had to just  push myself i didn't i wasn't really motivated to work out but when when i started calisthenics  there was so many things i wanted to learn and it made me like i really wanted to work out  every day i had to stop myself like to really take a rest day that's the hardest part sure  yeah even in the beginning like you're progressing so quick like for at least like a lot of people  and it's so hard not to over train and to like uh because the joints need time in the beginning and  they don't grow as much as quick as your biceps for example um yeah i also think like  i've always like worked out in some way and the when i was swimming i  we trained like five or six times a week so my body has always been  used to working out and there's a lot of like back muscles involved in swimming  and it made me like the freestyle you need back muscles and like front lever as well a lot of back  so i started progressing pretty fast in these areas and that i think that also is like the  reason why i stuck around um because i saw results pretty quick and yeah results are always  like great motivate great motivation to see that you're actually getting something out of it sure  so first goal was the handstand if i'm if i'm correct  um can you tell us like uh how long did it take to to unlock the the handstand and what was next  uh the handstand i i started grinding on my own uh on the gym so it was long time ago  but i can't really remember how long it took but i got a pretty good handstand like over one year  maybe around one year i trained it and um but at the time i had been training like the gym  for one year so i i definitely think that helped me because i did a lot of shoulder  exercises as well so but yeah roughly one year for the handstand and then when i i  started doing some handstand push-ups as well uh against the wall and just training for that  and i think it was because i saw it on youtube or something like that but then when i started  training on the new new gym uh with the email uh he like he showed me there were so many things  and the front level was one move that i was strong in from the beginning like in the planche i had  struggled with like tuck planche uh whereas the front lever like i could see myself doing it  so the front lever was the move i started putting most timing and it was the next one i unlockednice did you think in the beginning that you would become that strong like did you ever think  of becoming a professional calisthenics athlete no definitely not like that's the thing that's  probably evolved the most is like the mindset that it's possible uh especially when you started  training you you started off with attack planche and attack attack of everything basically and  that was hard uh and then you progress to the next step and that's also hard like doing straddle or  advanced tuck and stuff uh so def when i started off no i had no clue i was gonna be here today  and did you ever think like that your height is uh is something that can hold you back at all  from from performing at a high level level like that's all that's a huge area because i think many  tall people see it as a disadvantage and like to be honest sometimes it's gonna take a little bit  longer time to learn a few things and sometimes i feel bad for the joints when i do freestyle but  i've always when i started training i was always surrounded by pretty tall people and  i think that helped me a lot because i never saw it as a disadvantage because like and i  thought like yeah it would be much easier if i was shorter or lighter and so i definitely think  it's the mindset that you believe it's the size that's going to stop you even though like yeah  it might be to some extent but if you're thinking about it too much i think it's going to stop you  so yeah i had to erase that for yeah and like sweden and also the the the nordic  countries in like there the people are taller than usual right yeah yeah one of the tallest  we got some like steroids food or something yeah i don't know but uh yeah i mean uh it's it's good  i think it's really important we also had like a few people in the in the interim um when we asked  for for your questions and they told us like that they were like a few they demotivated people like  uh really uh saying yeah i'm close to giving up uh on my plant or on my front lever and um do  you have like maybe some advice that you can share um to somebody who is tall and heavy uh like you  like when it comes to training wise i think it's you gotta find a way that is like funny to work  out with and like you gotta enjoy the workouts so i've always done training with resistance band  because it's given me the opportunity to really feel how it is to be in a plane's plane position  even if i like i can't hold it but the resistance band makes me feel like i'm doing it  and also like it's gonna take some time to to get these moves and even like if you are a big person  like i'm telling you it's definitely worth the grind because when you finally get this move it's  going to look so damn dope because the thing about for example freestyle that i i enjoy so much about  daniel license it's like he's a great athlete and the things he does is insane uh but what really  shocked me was his size like when you're a big person doing things there's so much energy uh and  yeah it's so like when you even though it's hard to get there uh it's so worth it  and uh sometimes like sometimes you gotta have to go less of motivation and uh during the like  some extents you're gonna have discipline uh maybe for the majority of the time like  if you're disciplined for the periods when you're not motivated um there's gonna be points where you  get motivation like you're gonna have you're gonna see results um even if like planche up front they  are big moves and takes time uh i definitely also recommend switching up the workouts  uh if you're feeling like you're just like digging a hole and not getting anywhere so sometimes i can  like if i'm really not feeling for a workout i can switch it up and maybe like do a gym workout  just to get some pump or like do exercises that also help even though they're not like they're  indirectly helping uh so maybe like shoulder press or something uh just for the handstand like a  shoulder is always a shoulder so if you're working it out it's gonna help you in other areas as well  so switching up the workout and like really enjoying the workout is my my main  advice cool thanks for sharing and like as you said like the the the work is harder but the  reward like the harder the work the bigger the reward afterwards when you unlock it and i i  mean like the recognition and the um all the i don't know the the impressed looks like you get  at the fibo that you get at the like piece of the bars event like this is i guess it's like a  um just the return and the payback of all the hard work and going the extra mile because i  also think that's like the the high level athletes like we always see them as a little bit shorter  and i think if more people are going to get involved like the mixture of tall the high big  small like when we get more yeah more a greater variety of people like i think more people gonna  be motivated as well because if you only see like okay this is the typical person that's at the  highest level like okay i'm already done like i don't i don't look like him or her or anyone so uh  yeah i definitely feel like if more peop big people gonna start training calisthenics and  more people gonna come to the top and more people are going to get motivated as well  so i believe it's just because the sport is kind of small  the the lead level is dominated by a certain type of person and the more people the more diversity  people like you bring into this world the more people we're gonna attract and um yeah  true question that also came from the community um what's your opinion about weight categories  and in freestyle do you sometimes feel that there should be weight categories like  yeah to be honest yes i mean if you're looking at the the big spores like boxing and stuff like that  like they always have weight classes and because there's always going to be privileges with being  big and there's going to be like downsides as well and therefore like the biggest competitions  i think should be different classes uh whether it's weight yeah i mean weight is probably bigger  than the height but yeah i think there should be weight classes so and like what i see is  that the sport is currently like too small and that's what you also said that the big  competitions should have that but like for a small competition it's really hard like it's even harder  for a lot of competitions i know that they can't get enough enough female athletes already except  for for all weight classes to participate and then uh like um they are happy when one  category is full you know like yeah we we did it and and if you would that's if you would split  that now into uh three or four weight categories damn that's uh that's like that would be hard um  but as you said like the big competitions um that would be a big step i think as well so definitely  something the sport is gonna like work towards uh because it's so understandable it can't be done at  every competition then you're gonna have like two people in each category doesn't make sense so yeahyeah interesting um can you tell us uh your planche journey so i would also be super super  interested in how it went like um when when did you start like what were the first exercises  were you already that heavy uh when you started working out or did you first unlock the plunge  and then bulk up your weight can you tell us as much in as much detail as you canso i started off at pretty much 70 kilograms and that was after i like had almost two years of  gym workout so the first exercise that i did with the planche was of course tuck planche  because at the time i i was watching a lot of youtube videos like tutorials and seeing people  progress as attack bench was something that almost everyone recommends so i did that one  and then i started off by doing a little bit of leans as well  and then i also combined it since i was a gym lad from the beginning i combined like  okay so this one takes a lot of core strength and shoulders uh so i usually did a planche workout  i started off with tuck planche and doing my body weights and then i would end the workout  by doing some gym workouts for the shoulders and i love the handstand at the time as well  so almost every workout i started off by doing some handstand attempts and probably  a few handstand push-ups uh along the way as well uh and then it came to like a period where  like i wanted to be in the position and that's where i started like using resistance band  because i could like take my attack planche to almost straddle bench with a bigger band of course  but it was really easy to see progress as well because you could hold it for five seconds and a  few weeks later you had a much smaller resistance band but had it for the same period of timeand after that i i started like enjoying this workout so much i stopped doing the gym  the gym stuff and uh my my main things that i did was probably like attack  attack plans push-ups without resistance span and then i started doing straddle push-ups  with resistance band i did a lot of holes with resistance bands common theme here and  the full when i had like straddle pinch for roughly five seconds without the resistance band  uh i started training the full bench and when i did so i started a lot of races um so negative uh  negative straddle and uh full uh full-fledged negatives as well even though it was  really hard and the leans has also been something i've always been improving on  because in the beginning like my the form on my leans were absolutely trashed and you  get so much advice from yeah the reason i got good was because i trained with great people  like marlin daniel and emily they they know a lot uh so they gave me a lot of exercises well that  had worked for them and so they corrected my liens and in general what i had to think aboutbut yeah i think that's my journey i still upon this they think planche planches like it's hard  uh in in bad days when you're feeling weak i can roughly hold the full bench like  the front lever is another thing i i can always like hold three seconds at least  but the planche is still struggling soyeah still working a lot on the flange nice and you still train with resistance bands what  i saw like in your story or you did some full planche to a straddle planche push-ups like um  uh with resistance bands in your in your backyard um so yeah always when people ask me like if i  have an advice i always tell them like liens is number one because it's you can do it right away  uh and number two is resistance band like it's just a great way to keep a steady repetition or  steady hold like in the beginning of the workout i usually start with like a lightweight resistance  band uh and i always try to have like minimum four repetitions uh or at least like five seconds hold  when i'm doing things but then towards the end of the workout i i'm of course gonna be more tired so  sometimes i switch up the resistance band to a stronger one so i can keep these repetitions  and it does work for me so i give it as an advice and people can try it out even though  it's different from people but i enjoy it that's cool like when you talk about  um the the time that you like the time under tension or the time you hold like an exercise  is there like a rule of thumb that you can give um how you train do you like in your aesthetic  sets do you go to the maximum in every hold or do you always have like one or two seconds in reserve  like how do you how do you structure it uh almost always doing it till to failure almost always but  since i'm doing it with resistance band that's i don't know it feels better for the body like even  though i maximize my repetitions in for example front lever pull ups i try to do at least five  and on the six i might might feel like i'm not gonna make it the whole way uh to the top and then  then i stop there because i'm not gonna do this like okay repetitions uh so i always  try to have like good form on the reps which also means that i'm to some extent pushing  myself to limit but not exactly where i'm like absolutely sore in the muscles so repetitions  wise i always try to do around five and when it comes to the holes is almost five seconds as wellokay like when we talk about uh structuring and programming can you tell us your current uh split  like workout split that you have for the week um i in the beginning of the week i got one main  front lever workout uh and that includes doing one more front lever it includes pull ups  front low collapse and the holes in general wide front lever so it's a worker just  basically getting stronger for the front the next day i got planche and that also includes small  this holes getting stronger for that one then i got a rest day and then we have freestyle in the  middle of the week and i almost always do like one and a half hour freestyle and when i'm starting  to feel the hands and all that i go on and do handstands almost always handstands when i'm tired  and then after that i got a split workout so i do pretty much my favorite uh my favorite front lever  exercises and my favorite bench exercises the combination  and then i also got one day where i do only handstand variations and especially a lot of  one on training at the moment and then i combine it with doing core strength as a dragon flags and  things that will benefit me and then i got another freestyle session at the end of the week  so two three stars and uh about two times a week i try and clench and frontline wow cool  um so overall how many workouts is this per week is this six six workouts okay and how  long does one session uh last uh statics is uh about one and a half or two hours  and uh the freestyle we're usually at the place for yeah two to three hours  but when we're there there's a lot of people so we we talk a lot and it's not really working out  maybe two hours of work work out okay and uh like somebody also asked for your favorite exercise  um for for planche and for shoulder strength maybe um do you have like a i don't know one  two three exercise that you can share for planche and for for front lever both yeah for the plunge  i always begin the workout with doing doing it with my own body weight and that includes doing  push-ups is the one that i'm putting a lot of focus on now so i always start with doing clinch  push-ups um and after that i go on to do holds and this especially with different variations  uh i'm not very flexible in the wrist though so i always do it on p bars but different variations  with p bars and doing holes and then in the end of the workout i usually do things that i can like  change the tension and so for example the leans if i'm feeling tired i just don't lean as much  but that's something i do at the end and also i do use dumbbells especially in my maltese  progress and in clench as i pretty much lay on the floor and use numbers to strengthen the shoulders  and that one has worked a lot very very very well for me so that's my main bench  and for the front lever i do the same pull-ups it's one that i've been focusing on  focusing a lot on so pull-ups with resistance bands  and i believe it it helps me a lot if you're doing a pull-up you're like you're in the front lower  position as well in the bottom and through the whole workout so i always start with it  and uh then i do one arm uh front lever holes uh also with resistance band uh because yeah  pull ups and the one arm is like two main goals and i want to have with the front lever  um and besides that front lever race this is also one that i've been doing for a long  time and feel a good connection with and yeah i think those are like my main oneslike when you say one arm i have to share one story um i like i don't remember who it was it's  not even important but i heard uh like uh some people talk at the fibo and they said like oh well  who's this simon like i've never heard of him before and um they said like uh if he  would uh be able because i remember at the people you didn't do a one-armed front lever  and uh these people said like if he would if he would have done like a one-on front lever or if he  would be able to do a one-on-front lever i think he would easily like not easily but he would be  able to uh to beat daniels and uh like and then a few days later i i thought about it i had it  in the back of my head but i think i didn't see you consciously doing a one-arm front lever and  then like when i saw you doing it i don't know if it was a pose or story uh but i thought yeah damn  uh there there there it is so um yeah that's uh i've got a lot of people writing to me like  you gotta post more about your one arm because i did it a few like piece of the bars i did it  all right for not the best uh but when it came to this competition like if i'm doing a one arm  i'm only comfortable with starting off with doing a one-arm uh  that's why i'm working on it pretty much now because i want to be able to do it like after  a combination or something like that yeah and uh for the fee but i already had everything planned  and then i was like all right i i have the front lever one arm but i might do it if i feel like it  uh and when i yeah when i've done my combos and on the keyboard for example i was like okay if i feel  strong enough i can switch up the normal front to walmart but at the moment i was i was so tired sookay nice um do you feel that you're currently at your optimal weight or  is is there like a weight drop or loss no drop yeah like uh how is it like i'm missing  the work but do you want to go up in weight or uh uh at the moment i i feel like i got some  extra weight that's unnecessary so like when it comes to my i've added a little bit of running  to my workouts just because i want to drop to around maybe 84 kilograms maybe just  drop a few not not that much at all but i don't believe i'm gonna be much more heavy than this  so it depends if i will a lot of muscle the muscles the the mass is going to come as well  but at the moment i'm trying to drop like a few kilograms but nothing hugeokay interesting because i was already thinking like 90 kg would be  insane like but i can imagine there's also the sweet spot like uh between uh yeah  i don't know 90 kg sounds crazy but i think it's like it's too much but yeah before i  forget it i have to ask you how how tall are you because this is also something it will be  everywhere in the comments otherwise yeah uh 185 centimeters so pretty tall as well  so that's the thing about the mass like i haven't stopped growing yet like since four years ago when  i started off at 72 kilograms roughly i've always been like going up and based off the bars i was  around 80 kilograms i think or something a little bit over and now i might i peaked at 86 so  the thing is that i'm not seeing a stop yet so i might just keep on going but yeah but are you also  growing in height still no not that much okay okay yeah really uh fascinating um another question uh  yeah like what's your favorite workout equipment you already told us i think one or two times maybe  10 times about the resistance bands but uh like um what what is your like the the equipment the  next one is probably pee bars for sure i i don't know how many papers i got but there's a lot  and especially now i got all the ones from grenache grenacion so i pretty much got one for  all the different scenarios so i i don't know i like i like to have them when i'm traveling  uh because it's like i can do the planche and the handstand and yeah it's  it makes it possible to do almost like a full workout just with a set of keyboards  so definitely prefer them cool um do you train with chalk and yeah like if yes then yeah with  with powder chalk or liquid chalk like uh liquid when i'm doing statics for like to get a good grip  uh but when i'm doing freeze that i do prefer the other one because liquid is almost too good  grip for me when i'm doing freeze time and i also have a 10 i i put the bar in almost my fingertips  when i'm doing freeze by freestyle because i i don't know it's just the way i've been training  so i like to have it rather a little bit slippery to be honest than too much grip  and especially if you're doing bigger moves like giants and stuff i i don't want to rip yeah so  makes sense and i can already tell you uh i mean you already saw that fibo but there but there will  also be like chalk blocks and chalk powder uh in the in the near future uh so uh yeah i'm really  looking forward to to send it to you because i we see a lot of uh freestyle athletes preferring um  powder shock because of yeah just a different attributes of it um and for aesthetics like  liquid or like wraps also liquid um is preferred i i think it's really good for the bars as well  for the freeze style because with the liquid it has sometimes it gets stuck on the bar as well  and like either you clean it all the time uh or you rip your hands yeah like no in between true  nice uh yeah pre uh preventing injuries uh that's also an interesting topic because um if you weigh  a lot also there's a lot like a lot of pressure on the joints um how did you like how was your injury  uh history like did you have injuries and if not like how did you prevent them that's the thing  one reason i have progressed so fast is also because i haven't been injured not like in a big  way at least and it's pretty interesting because i'm not the person that does a lot of warm-up and  i don't know like for me to some extent is a little bit magic because i feel like i should be  more injured sometimes so then i it made me think about like my workouts and i definitely think i  haven't injured myself because the workouts are really good adapted for who i am and for example  resistance band and stuff like that has i think it's a soft way to work out the body  and also like knowing when to stop is something that's been hard but  definitely something i learned along the way and when the workers are being like the top notch  for example right now i'm getting more progress than i've done in a long time and i know that this  is the perfect time to take a deload week because when i'm doing when i'm getting so much progress  uh i know it puts a lot of tension in the muscles and the body so i gotta step down at that point  but so learning what signals your body is giving is probably the number one key and of course i'm  i'm warming up the wrist a little bit extra from doing a handstand workout and things  like that and freestyle as well a lot of like that's pretty much the whole body uh warming up  um but overall i think it's adapting the workout to your body  like it shouldn't feel that painful when you're working out okay cool i expected like a secret  uh pill or a secret formula but uh yeah i mean i we have to live with that uh when listening  to your body is also like really important like for a lot of areas and in calisthenics  yeah um what's your goal for the future like what can we expect from you in the in the next month  and maybe also in the in the next years well the next competition that's upcoming is the nationals  and i'm hoping to i think they still got like the number one person from the nationals gets  to participate in the world championship and like the plans for the summer is basically to  compete in the world championship that's it's been a main goal for a while and but since it was in  russia as well before it it already was a little bit of struggle to get there so i really wanted  to feel complete before i went but like this year it really feels like a good opportunity to  compete and also because i met so many athletes at fibo uh like just going there meeting many  people again is just a nice moment so the world championship is like the number one goal uh and  training-wise i just there's a lot of moves i'm training for freestylists a lot more to work on  especially off the field but there's so many so many things i want to learn and in the statics  like my multis power i'm i'm progressing on and that's something i want to get stronger atbut besides that i'm like i don't have any like super big ghost with the training uh but i i  definitely think like there's gonna be a lot of years that are gonna be involved with calisthenics  and uh yeah i'm definitely planning on keep on going for for a while nice that's good to hear  like uh i'm also really looking forward on where the journey will take us uh like and take you so  um yeah um questions also about your diet like uh diet and also supplements um how do you eat  like how important is nutrition for you and how like what's your opinion on supplements  uh well it it varies the the supplements i created is the only one i like take on a regular basis  uh and besides that i'm taking protein powder like that sometimes uh it's not nothing i  take every day um but the creatine is and besides that i i think you get enough from the food eat  and like i've always tried to eat pretty healthy i've never counted calories or things like that  but like you you see if a food is good or bad in some sense so i've always tried to eat healthy  uh even though i'm not that strict and when it comes to sugar i think that's the  the main diet thing that i got now so me and daniel we made the deal till the nationals  no one is allowed to eat sugar like and that includes like candy and things that are obviously  sugary so and it helps me not in like not in the sense of losing weight and things like that but  when it comes to the energy the workouts i i feel so i feel light even though i'm pretty  heavy but i feel light in the workouts and i feel like i got a solid amount of energy throughout  the whole workout uh whereas when i ate sugar back yeah like when i eat love sugar one day the next  day if i'm working out a day it's it's not gonna be that good and i don't know i think it  cutting out the sugar is it's been a huge thing for me so that's the diet part nicereally really interesting um yeah we are slowly coming to an end of the interview um  i'm really really happy about your your time already uh we have like a few quick questions  quick answers at the end of every interview and the first question is what's your favorite food  uh food i would probably say a burger nice burger person awesome are you a dog or a cat person  um i'm more i don't know that's when it's hard i i've had a cat  uh love cats but if i were to buy now one now i would probably have a dog i'm a dog  that's such a common theme like so many athletes say yeah i have a cat but i i'm a dog person okay  yeah anyways good for you so yeah what athletes what athletes inspire you uh  like from the beginning and upon this day it's gonna be danny license like he's been a  huge motivation uh and then of course there's like a lot of athletes that are really good in statics  they got really good dynamics so like on instagram i follow a lot of people that are  definitely inspiring uh but when it comes to the overall like if i were to look at one video to get  insane motivation i would look at the new license so that's the number one  athlete that's definitely been inspiring for a long time cool do you have a favorite skilli would say handstand it's the one i've been doing for a longest time and still do  probably five times a week at least okay just enjoying being upside down  that's cool uh are you more a pull or push person  uh cool the front lever has always been like the the number one uh exercise so i'm planning just a  little bit more struggling but so i gotta choose the the pull nice uh do you have a favorite movieuh it's hard fast and furious has been a lot of action and cars and yeah nice  probably gotta choose this cool um yeah favorite music genre i love like eminem has always been  and then when it comes to freestyle like a lot of music with big drops and bassnice um yeah the best calisthenics event you've been at so far  i think the feedback is definitely a favorite big beast of the bar so two two events that's gonna be  with me for a long time yeah so yeah nice uh what's your message to the calisthenics community  uh well i i definitely hope a lot of big people that have been thinking about  stopping calisthenics because the progress is slow or not feeling like they're gonna they have  a potential in it i really hope they they see me as a like proof that is possible uh because that's  almost the only reason i'm doing all the instagram and stuff because i want to show  people that like it's more than possible like yeah definitely people that are big chinese  huge huge huge potential and in general i hope a lot of more people start with calisthenics  it's like the community is probably one of the best i've ever experienced and um also like the  type of training is like it's just so powerful to be able to do these things with the body like  uh i spoke to a lot of friends before and we discussed is that like you're given one body and  one one brain basically when you're born and like if you learn to control both of them the brain and  the the body like you're basically unstoppable so that's what i've been grinding on like  always trying to learn new things uh and always trying to push the body to new limits and i  definitely think calisthenics is the way to go for both of these areas that's true  wow thanks for sharing how can people get in touch with you uh we will put all the links  in the description but where can they reach you best if they have any questions etc i instagram  is probably the one i look most regular so yeah instagram if someone writes i always um write back  and uh to be honest when people like ask for advice and stuff um i'm not i i'd love to give  advice to be honest i'm i'm not the one to like now buy the schedule or something so if they  have any questions or want an exercise that they should try out or something it's it's just give  it send a message awesome big big thank you uh for taking the time for this interview i really  appreciated it and i really think there was like a lot of useful advice in it and i think a lot  of people got motivation but also knowledge about uh their training and i'm super hyped  now to go train because uh like yeah i'm also like i don't know what it is but it's like um  like it's just so motivating to see somebody def like against all odds you know like against the  the the the physics and like it's so motivating um and i think you have the same feeling when  you see daniels or when you saw daniels perform like years ago but it's like so so motivating  the physique the the performance the uh the the the discipline of sticking with it so  um i'm always like and after this interview specifically i'm motivated to go train um and uh  yeah really big thank you for your time uh thanks for for being a part of the team and uh yeah  thank you for being here letting me speak i'm really happy to get the opportunity  awesome so yeah thank you yeah and thanks also to everybody listening to this till the end it's been  a longer interview and i'm super happy about it because there was like a lot of useful information  in it i think if you liked it give it a thumbs up it helps a lot and yeah if you have any more  questions to simon leave it in the comments and then maybe we'll do a second episode let's see um  after the world world cups uh world championship uh um win like maybe  we'll see i will do a second interview so um yeah all the best and thanks for listening