MY CALISTHENICS, HANDSTAND & MOVEMENT JOURNEY

My journey with movement and bodyweight strength training started in 2012. It was about the same time as I started university, so in more than one way, this was a clean slate, a new beginning. I feel obliged to mention that I was not new to the concept of strength training, nor was I a stranger to informal kinds of acrobatics. For a few years before this, I could have been categorised as the average gym goer, inconsistently showing up at the local gym for bench pressing. Since growing up I always had a thing for jumping around the back yard, flipping, cliff diving and from 10 years old I spent most my time skateboarding until I finished high school. During my last year at high school I also found a community for tricking (informal kind of acrobatics performing kicks, flips and tricks).  

As I started university, my skateboarding career slowly faded as I struggled with injuries. Going to the gym was boring and repetitive and I needed a new challenge. At some point I came across a YouTube video of some guy doing human flags, handstand pushups and other crazy manoeuvres with his body. I was mesmerised! How had I not seen this before? It felt like I found something I had been looking for my whole life without knowing it and I was instantly hooked. I spent countless hours doing online research – How to learn human flag, how to learn back lever, handstand and one arm pullups. I started searching for articles on how to gain strength in general and tried applying these principles to my own training. I started following the big names in calisthenics, street workout and gymnastic strength on YouTube, I joined various forums and I trained as hard and as smart as I could.

At this time bodyweight strength training and calisthenics was not really a thing, not in Norway at least. I was the weird guy in the corner of the gym trying to do handstands and other weird stuff. All the time put into research and training was however about to pay off.

Within my first year of training I had learned to do muscle ups and back levers and could do about 20 seconds of handstand and a couple of free standing handstand pushups. I also met a group of people practicing street workout (a competitive form of calisthenics) and finally found a community where I belonged.

For the next couple of years my progress continued. I started competing and by 2015 I was the Norwegian champion. I also started developing my own style and expression combining my new found love for hand balancing, power and acrobatics. The tables turned and people started coming over to me at the gym and training parks curious and impressed.

As time passed more people started showing interest in this kind of training. To meet this demand and to promote the sport that I had found to love, I started a student union. The idea was to create an arena where like minded people could meet up and where people could come to learn. I would spend the next few years developing and fine tuning this arena as well as my own coaching. At the same time I traveled the world competing in both Europe and Asia and kept feeding my passion and developing my own style.

I met alot of great people along the way and together we turned the new founded union into something beautiful. A place where people came to explore movement of all sorts, to get strong and to meet like minded people. This is what I want to recreate, only bigger and virtual and ten thousand times more inclusive, this is the concept of Berg Movement.

As my eagerness for competing has slowly faded, my passion for exploring movement has kept growing. Now I look in any direction for inspiration and I find it in the weirdest of places. I want to share this passion and everything I learned throughout the years. I am far from finished exploring, but I want to light up the way to whatever I have achieved.

Berg Movement

This is the part of the story where Berg Movement comes in. The past few years I have experimented with different forms of online teaching - from live streams, privates, videos courses, pre-recorded classes and the list goes on.

After extensively testing out different formats to present my coaching, I have finally found a way that I believe to be the most efficient way in terms of scalability, individual adjustability and affordability.

As this journey has just began, the Berg Movement App is now live with individually adjustable programs and workout, where the students are responsible themselves for actually choosing their path, but extensive resources makes sure it is as easy and efficient as possible.

The app, with programs and workouts for all levels and goals and 100s of exercise progressions with video descriptions and form cues, paired with an online community forum and available video tutorials for additional insight. This is how I believe my ideas, strategies and experience can best be shared.

Check out some of the apps content:

I want this to be available to anyone, which is why discounts and scholarships has been introduced to have a fairly priced product that takes into account the life situation of potential students - it is not a secret that everyone is not blessed with the same opportunities and this should not be an hindrance.

Developing an app, the programs, producing videos and content is however both time consuming and expensive, which is why I am also counting on those that can afford the priced subscription plans.

As this is all still a new concept, it is something I am dedicate to and I am extremely excited to see where it will take me and whoever chooses to tag along.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Movement Made

My passion for solid, useful and multifunctional clothes and equipment has become a big part of my life - movement and training is my life. This lifestyle includes a lot of travelling, and I really enjoy to freely roam around, go to the mountains, or a remote place without being tied down to a particular place for work and for training. I have found a way to maintain my workout routines and reach for new goals even when I ‘m in the middle of nowhere. No one could offer me the perfect solution, so I made my own. My solution was Movement Made - minimalistic and sustainable apparel and equipment. At the time of writing (July 8, 2023), we’ve finally launched the pre orders!

Movement Made - made for life

Movement Made consist of sustainable minimalistic movement essentials - natural and environment friendly. All materials are sourced from certified places and all clothes are 100 % biodegradable, even the stretch material!

The products are mainly based on my philosophy and experiences as a mover and coach, but I've also teamed up with some of the best movers around the world to ensure that every little detail is perfect.