Our GOKAR™ training system combines ancient knowledge from the viking era and ahead with our own research into functional training. The training uses your own body weight and a stick to challenge yourself on strength, mobility, coordination, balance and explosivity. Hopefully we will be able to give you cheap, fun and versatile training with roots!
We have a documented movement culture including dance in Norway 6.000 years back. From 800 BC we have petroglyphs and bronze sculptures enhancing the acrobatic skills as well. Through the viking era we have several visual and text based sources to how they practised their movement skills to be able to survive the wild oceans and being outnumbered at the battle field. We even have descriptions from the training used by viking soldiers of the emperor of Constantinopel 1070 years ago, among them king Harald Hardada, which became a leader of that league, famous for his athletic skills.
A direct descendent of him 27 generations later choreographer and halling dancer Hallgrim Hansegård has been collecting knowledge from a numberous of sources on the movement culture of the vikings. Hansegård is also head of the Talent Norway program FRIKAR X for professional movement artists and part of the olympic high performance hub of Norway. He has also collected knowledge on movement from his many collaborations around the world, for instance on Chinese kung fu temples, Indian yoga gurus, Brazilian capoeiristas, African dancers etc. Physical workshops and this online academy is a way for him to share the knowledge from the past and give it new life.
We have divided the exercises in three groups: 1) Legs and butt, 2) Torso, 3) Shoulders, neck and arms. This division might help you create your own circle practises putting together the exercises you prefer.
GOKAR™ is a registred and protected trademark. If you wish to become a certified teacher of our system, you are welcome to contact us on trond@frikar.com
Lessons
An introduction video to the GOKAR™ training system.
Combination classes are free on facebook.com/frikar
AGILE: We warm up the upper body! Twirling is a good exercise for waming upp the core, shoulders, back and handwrists. Bend your knees a bit and let your body avoid to be hit by the stick by moving your hip and torso. The harder the fist, the more flexible your shoulders will get. Might be challenging for your coordination, but practise slowly until you get there.
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STEADY: We warm up the lower body. Balancing on rolling stick is really good for switching on the sensory apparatus of you ankles and feet, all the way up to your brain. Especially the feet and legs get ready by doing this task.
AGILE & SMART: Have you ever jumped between the rails of a railway? It's a fun game I grew up with. (Make sure you never do it while there is traffick.) To balance on two rolling sticks crossing the legs is super training for your coordination and sensory apparatus. Good warm up before jumping and lifting.
STEADY & SMART: Giant on towers is a fun game. The towers should have the lenth of a thumb. Staning towers make it extra difficult and you need to be precise. I advice you to use shoes to avoid pain. Horizontal towers gives another form of balance training and gives room for adjustments in your footwork.
AGILE, STEADY & SMART: "The hunter" is a very fun game for balance, coordination and flexibility. You walk in 8 around two sticks without releasing or changing the grip.
STRONG & STEADY: Then we are seriously firing up the body! The lynx trap is maybe the most important exercise for my leg strength and ability to dance halling. It's a controlled movment which might help you prevent knee injury. But you should avoid going deeper then your ability and plan a progress on it.
This exercise is much easier to do on flat foot then on toe, and it might be good to start on flat foot. NB: If you feel pains in your knees avoid going deep enough to feel that pain.
STEADY, STRONG & SMART: To balance a spear on your foot, finger or forehead is a game i grew up with at my sheep farm. We used rakes or scythes in the breaks when harvesting. A good tip is to look at your stick straight in front of you. Avoid looking down. Adjust as early as possible to keep the adjustments small. Sink down in your hip and stay grounded. This is good strength training for you leg. Let it burn!
STRONG & AGILE: Milking the bear is an old tradition from Valdres. I don't know about anybody which has made it straight forward in tailors pose. So it's normally solved by leaning toward one of the sides. When you stand on your feet you have succeeded. But you might also roll forward like a crow. It's fun, but I didn't want to distroy the wireless sender on my back :)
A good warm up for the most heavy leg exercises.
STRONG, STEADY & AGILE: This is a “killer” for the thighs! In addition to train the thigh strenth you need some turnout in your hip when raising over the stick. If I had more turnout I would do this task with parallell sticks. This exercise forces you to be precise!
STRONG & EXPLOSIVE: Jumping fences with or without a stick is a fun exercise for explosivity. Without the stick you might pull out your sock a little bit in the beginning to get a feel of it. Look ahead, not down. That makes you spend your power better.
STEADY & SMART: Then we practise the core! A small motoric gokar game with small twists with your handwrists is important for balancing the stick. Minor adjustments in the core makes the difference. How long do you manage on your right and left hand?
STEADY, STRONG & AGILE: Fun game where we need to reduce the inner clock and take time. Avoid abrupt movements, especially when you sit down. Good core treining on your way down and up from lying position.
AGILE, STEADY & SMART: To thread the needle is an old gokar game from Valdres. But you might also find it on different spots around the world. During the first covid-19 lockdown it became a winner on social media challanges.
This is a good task for mobility in your whole body, especially relevant if you don't have time for the other exercises.
AGILE, STEADY, STRONG & SMART: "Smette mjuke" or "Avoiding the spear" is one of the funnest challenges from my childhood. Her you get to use your whole body, also the oblique abs and your side.
AGILE, STRONG, STEADY & SMART: Bending steel is one of the most difficult moves from the halling dance. Support from a stick makes it much available for most practicioners. And you don't need to go deeper then you want to!
A very good task to activate the whole back. You might learn much about your body through this gokar game.
STRONG & AGILE: This is a challenge which takes abs and flexibility. Very fun on parties! And maybe you can find the strength of odin?
In Voluspá 149 Odin sings after hanging from the three of life, Yggdrasil, for nine nights:
Þat kann ek it fjórða:
ef mér fyrðar bera
bönd að boglimum,
svá ek gel,
at ek ganga má,
sprettr mér af fótum fjöturr,
en af höndum haft.
A fourth I know: if men make fast
in chains the joints of my limbs,
when I sing that song which shall set me free,
spring the fetters from hands and feet.
STRONG & AGILE: To jump over a fence is a much used gokar game from old times. The most explosive guys could jump over two fences in one jump. They also jumped from one horse load with grass over a horse and landing on the next load in the winter time. Gunnar at Lidarende is said to be able to jump his whole height in armour during the viking era.
This task is a good abs training for acrobats. One of the best exercises for core. You don't need to lift your legs if you don't manage yet.
STRONG & AGILE: Dragon twist is a fantastic exercise for core training in all directions. This can be done with multiple repetition in the same direction before turning around. For the best output please avoid using elbows and hands at the floor.
AGILE, STRONG, STEADY & SMART: I've put together a little combo of dragon twist, backwards roll and headstanding with spear. A good way of getting to know your body better. And a fantastic core training! Ascending to headstand need a strong core which you might achieve with "Sneaking over the fence".
AGILE & SMART: Coiling rope is a good mobility training especially for the shoulders. It also takes a bit of coordination.
AGILE & SMART: To thread the spear is a variation of coiling the rope.
STRONG & STEADY: To build tower is a fun way of training pushups in a way that challenges the core even more.
STRONG & STEADY: Pushups on stick cross gives them a new dimension. Take time and try to reduce the amount of contacts with the floor.
STRONG: Spear press is a nice task for stability in your shoulders. A simular move is used a lot my phisioterapeuts with elastics for rehab of the shoulders. The stick gives you more honest feed back from the gravity which makes it easier to adjust. Very useful against loose shoulder joints.
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STRONG & STEADY: Throwing spears is a super core training for abs, side, back, breast and the shoulders. The oblique, off-centre movement challenges your stability.
The longer distanse between the staff and feet, the harder. The lower you hold the lower hand, the harder.
STRONG & STEADY: The climber is a good biceps and core training. Make sure the stick stands steady, f.ex. on a yoga mat or carpet or against a wall.
STRONG & STEADY: Spear plank is an awesome exercise for your upper body. The straighter body, the better effect.
STRONG & STEADY: Ratatoskr is a nice introduction to handstand, which gives you more relevant training then balancing towards a wall. Good for core, space awareness and specific training for fingers, handwrists and shoulders.
A variant is to do this with the head at the ground. Then you may lift the legs with the stick over yourself to build a tower.
Another variant is to do pushups down to the head and up again. It's a great strength training for your triceps and stability.
Ratatoskr is the squirrel from the norse mythology which runs up to the three of life Yggdrasil to the eagle and down to the snake Nidhogg to exchange information.
STEADY & EXPLOSIVE: The warrior is like the roundhouse kick in the halling dance, without anything to hit. This was actually the way I learnt to land the roundhouse kick with both legs contemporarily in my childhood.
This gokar game is a bit advanced and it's crucial to avoid sliding. To do it on grass kicking some brances of a tree is really fun training. Try to get your movement around your stick, which will give you more stability and height. The stick in the film is especially made to avoid sliding. FRIKAR kan deliver sets of these sticks. Have a good training session!
The subription goes on until you quit it.