Exercise.com is privileged to have users from all over the world! It’s exciting for us to be able to share these user stories with our community to get to know each other, even our friends all the way over in Norway.
This week’s user story is on Exercise.com PRO User: SBN! He currently has a site rank of 97 and an A- on his fitness report card. Keep up the hard work!
Please share little about your background and where you’re from.
Born in 1976 and bred in southern Norway, I started touring Europe with the theatre group Stella Polaris (physical/medieval circus) when I was 16.
By the age of 28, I had gained so much experience in bodywork, pedagogics, and the workings of mind/body that I decided to pursue a career in training and therapy.
After a few years of studying, I set up shop from home and started working with clients. Blending bodywork, shiatsu, qigong and strength training,
I worked on developing a truly comprehensive way of teaching and understanding the ways of the body related to mind. I’ve been working as a stage-fight instructor, PE teacher and physical communication coach too.
These days I am a 36-year-old trainer and coach working out of the studio Smart Trening and as a freelance consultant. I work with all kinds of clients from kids to moms to athletes and have about 100-120 appointments per month.
Building my reputation as a coach, I have gained some attention from the national media lately, and I’m working hard to establish myself as an original trainer with a healthy blend of rock’n’roll and zen in my approach.
I have a new international website coming up too since I’ve started getting online clients abroad. My other life interests include my wife and two kids, playing music, organic gardening, and various art projects.
Who/what got you started with working out? How long have you been working out consistently?
Growing up my heroes were Tarzan, Geronimo, and Bruce Lee, so I regularly challenged death while climbing, running and fighting around town. I think they call it parkour these days. 😉
Then in the theatre, there was the daily regimen of running, acrobatics, juggling, and dance, and that really got me started on consistent training.
In my teens, I also trained Kung fu, taijiquan, and capoeira, and I had a talent for sprinting and climbing. At 19 I began lifting weights in the army, out of boredom.
I put on 35 pounds in eight months without any instruction or outside influence. I didn’t have the internet in those days.
After the army, my new muscles waned away pretty fast on a steady diet of working around the clock with the theatre again. Constant heavy doses of acrobatics, running and little food took me back to my normal, “climber’s” physique.
This made me realize that carrying a lot of extra muscle has its cost, both on budget and energy.
With my super-fast metabolism (and the fact that I can’t sit still), I decided that my training would have to be directed towards optimal function, rather than optimal looks.
That sent me searching for inspiration, which I found in Pavel Tsatsouline, Eugene Sandow, Mike Mahler, Sergey Rachinsky, Barnard Mcfadden, the MovNat movement, gymnastics, etc.
What are your current workout goals?
Gymnastics, especially rings. Front lever pull-ups. Getting my snatch and jerk numbers up for next year’s kettlebell championship. Correcting structural imbalances in my hips. Attaining satori while doing high-rep snatches ;-).
Being built the way I am, I tend to do more bodyweight oriented stuff, so I have a secondary goal of adding more strength to the big lifts.
I really enjoy the Olympic lifts, but they will have to wait in line behind the kettlebells for a while now.
What’s your favorite style of training?![]()
Playground and MovNat style is close to my heart because it makes me feel like a boy and it keeps everything real and functional for me. Samurai style, always being ready, hehehe.
I like to train in sub-optimal conditions like pullups in trees, sprinting on uneven surfaces or working out in the snow. I love kettlebell training for its complex simplicity.
Martial arts, yoga, and qigong are a constant thread in my training. Flow-drills inspired by capoeira.
I like to just go out and improvise sometimes, just play really hard. When lifting weights I like it simple, like work hard at a couple of lifts for 90 minutes, so EDT and Russian bear are protocols I have used a lot.
How often do you like to change up your workouts?
Every four to six weeks, with an easy transition week in between.
What’s your least-favorite way to exercise?
On machines in front of tv-screens. On anything with more moving parts than a reverse hyper machine or a barbell. I like it simple so I can focus on synesthetic performance.
I like being in “the zone” when I train, so I’m not too fond of distractions like TV or music I didn’t pick myself. If you find me in a commercial gym, it’s in the old-school garage, listening to Bach.
I’m not too much of a long-distance runner either.
Haven’t been running longer than the 100 meter in 20 years. I tested my 3k time this year and came in at 00:10:00 so I attribute that to my kettlebell training and HIIT.
Do you get into supplements at all?
I’m into superfoods and herbs, so in a way, yes. Sun Warrior, Body Ecology, Big Tree, Hyperion and Dragon Herbs are my favorites. But this stuff is taken as food rather than supplements.
I’m affiliated with a webshop (Nyta.no) that carries these brands in Norway. I have my own herbalist (Lasse Jellum) that makes custom blends for me too – really powerful stuff.
What’s your favorite post-workout meal?
Almond milk, Warrior Blend protein, Big Tree palm sugar and cacao, blueberries and custom herbs.
What’s the best fitness advice you’ve been given?
Be like water – Bruce Lee.
Finally, give us an interesting fact about yourself to remember you by!
I’m known as the monkey king after a performance I toured with many years ago. I played the classic Chinese hero who is an anarchistic, humorous and powerful character. I kind of use him as a mold for myself…
Exercise.com would like to thank PRO User: SBN for sharing with our community! It’s motivating to see users from around the globe joining together to encourage each other on their fitness journey!
If you have a user story you’d like to share with the Exercise.com Community, let us know! We aren’t just looking for dramatic before and after results, but we want to hear what your fitness journey has been like, and where you’re headed.