Visiting One of Exxentric’s Most… Eccentric Users!

September 28, 2021

This anniversary year, CEO Fredrik Correa decides to leave his comfort zone and explore his training limits, learning from one of the most creative users of the #ExxentricFam, Stefan Östling. Here, Fredrik shares his extraordinary experience – and you can even watch it in the video below.

There are many reasons why I decided to visit Stefan Östling.

Firstly because the past two years have been unspeakably challenging for everyone and visiting friends and close relatives was basically a threat to our well-being and theirs. So, with restrictions starting to slowly ease up and life slowly starting to go back to normality, we decided it was time for us to leave the office and meet one of the most intriguing and creative users of our Exxentric family.

Secondly, this year marks our 10 year anniversary. As we turn 10, we look back and realize how far we’ve come and how much we’ve built. Looking ahead of us, we strive to become more eager and determined in our strength mission and move further away from our comfort zones. Looking forward, we want to explore new things, test our limits and strengthen our bond with the #ExxentricFam.

Not long ago I left my comfort zone, in two aspects. While chatting with Stefan back and forth about training and his inventions my interest in meeting Stefan in person grew. After a long time of semi-lockdown, I left our comfortable Stockholm office and went on a road trip. I was going 200 km south of Stockholm to meet one of our users and a fantastic member of our #ExxentricFam, Stefan Östling. I also knew he would take me far out of my comfort zone when it comes to training.

“Even a small stimulus can give quite a lot of adaptation if it’s targeting an underdeveloped capacity”

There are many reasons to leave your comfort zone and try new things. Like many others I usually preach ‘master the basics’ but doing something new or unfamiliar is beneficial too. Challenging yourself with a new task or exercise can give you the energy to come back into your normal routine by changing things up for a while. Regarding physical challenges and training, even a small stimulus can give quite a lot of adaptation if it’s targeting an underdeveloped capacity. Also, doing something you normally don’t do or didn’t think you could do can create a rewarding feeling of achievement.

Normally, I train for powerlifting. which, to put it in short, is about technique and strength in three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. I practice these lifts over and over again, often for hours, with many sets, fairly long rest, heavy loads, and few reps. Since the sport is about lifting a barbell I do use a barbell a lot in my training. I do however also use flywheel training, both for the main lifts but also for accessory lifts and to strengthen weak points. Flywheel training for me in powerlifting offers safe and high overload I can’t possibly achieve using weights. It makes my training more efficient and saves training time. It helps me strengthen the whole range of motion and it helps me stay fairly injury-free during a long time of intensive training and competition.

“Wherever I am on the strength training spectrum, Stefan is on the other end”

Stefan Östling is not about that, at all. If you see him on Instagram he is this genius and inventive user of ours that designed his own setup with a wooden rack and does all of these different exercises, much more associated with motions like sprinting, cutting, and jumping than your typical lifts. He usually hammers his kBox really intensely with low inertia, high intensity and he doesn’t seem to rest a lot, just about the opposite of my own training. He takes his friends and family through highly intensive circuits using all kinds of tools including flywheels. Wherever I am on the strength training spectrum, Stefan is on the other end.

Since our start 10 years ago we have received a lot of feedback and inspiration from our users and many of our products are based directly on customer feedback, for example, a larger platform (kBox4Pro), feedback system (kMeter), an entry-level device (kBox4 Active), an accessory for rotational movements (Rotational Sling), higher inertia range (Advanced Flywheel Knob), a device for horizontal actions (kPulley) and so on…

Anyway, what better way to get this feedback than to get it in person, try something new, and get challenged at the same time. Maybe this meeting we had will translate into a new product in the future? While writing this, it is pretty clear to me that I survived our meeting, however, there was a time during that day I wasn’t so sure I would…

Now, I’m happily back working on my powerlifting routine again. This day with Stefan did however give me a lot of inspiration for other things I plan to do incorporate more in my training in the future. Thank you, Stefan!

Now, check out how my visit went in the video below and give me your thoughts on his work!

Stay tuned for more anniversary celebrations!