Photos: Samsara and Camina Conmigo athletes
You are designed for high performance. Your DNA bears the blueprint of ancestors who were ultrarunners, climbers and fighters. You are an heir to their athletic inheritance. You are stronger than you think!
But we get it, modern life can stifle the athlete in you. It can leave you short on time and high on injuries, feeling too old, too early.
From everyday moms and dads, to elite athletes – we exist to help you reclaim your innate athleticism! Let’s go!
Holistic Approach
The body is not a sum of individual parts, it’s an integrated biological organism. Our training method leaves you feeling agile, athletic and youthful. Every program can be adjusted to fit the time and space you have available.
Fascia-Based
Strength is more than muscles. Our fascia-driven approach enhances your movement awareness, your elasticity and coordination. Start feeling stronger and more athletic from day 1.
We Flex With You
Train at home, or take it to the gym. Our minimal equipment approach is highly adaptable to the constraints of your life, at home or on the road. Our Plans and Programs are designed to be leveled up or down based on your time and level.
Lifelong
Make training a habit, not a grind. Our method is designed to accompany you through every stage of life, from injury to high performance, and provide a lifelong journey to athletic growth. Our athletes report feeling better at 60, than they did at 30!
Our urge to roam, climb mountains, and do hard things is woven into our DNA. As a biological specimen we are designed by our environment.
Our athletic abilities are a result of our interaction with nature. Not just in our lifetime – but throughout our evolutionary journey.
In this five-part series, we explore the science and evolution of human movement and what it has to tell us about training today.
Training Plans
Start your journey with an individual training plan or video program, which are all scalable to a wide range of levels. These are yours for life. Start whenever you want and repeat them as many times as you’d like.
Basecamp Subscription
Unlimited access to the entire Samsara Method—from the initial assessments to the extensive video library—along with every video program and training plan we offer. Play a guided workout circuit or build your own.
Athlete Team
Where everyday humans and Olympians both strive to become the best athletes they can be. Our formula? Custom training plans tailored to your life, an accessible team of coaches, and a supportive athlete community.
Enjoy 50% off our Winter Athlete IQ Video Program.
Athlete IQ is a pillar of our full-spectrum training method. Designed to improve your biomechanics, coordination, and elasticity, the guided video series is an excellent compliment to strength and aerobic training, no matter what type of athlete you are or where you are along your athletic journey.
Use code “get-started-training-2023” at checkout.
Z is a lifelong athlete and student of the human body. His passion for training stems from his connection to the mountains—and desire to go bigger and higher.
When he began training for mountain endurance events in 2005, he hired his own coach. After three dedicated years of work, Z qualified for the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Team, and represented the U.S. at the World Championships in Switzerland.
Z’s experience of training for the World Championships highlighted just how adaptable the body was, how much control humans have over their physiology, and how an understanding of human biology can give an athlete the tools to transform their performance. If the aerobic engine was so responsive to training, what other systems could be trained, and how?
In the 19 years that have followed, Z has pursued the study of human physiology through the lens of modern science, ancient martial arts, and human evolution. It is his constant pursuit of a deeper understanding of the human system that fuels the Samsara Method.
Follow coach Z @zahanbillimoria
Shannon O’Grady is a food-loving nutrition nerd with two ‘spirited’ children, an ever-supporting husband and quite a few animals. Currently the CPO/COO for Gnarly Nutrition, her job combines her interests in nutrition, sports and education.
Her love for moving her body started with running and evolved into all things endurance, especially if mountains were involved. She discovered jiu jitsu at 38 and became obsessed with how the martial art combined flexibility, strength, whole body movement and strategy. Six and a half years later, she’s a brown belt and still enamored with the sport, which has proven to be simultaneously humbling and empowering.
Jiu Jitsu has now become a family affair with her husband and both of her kids now training, but they also climb, hike and ski together…the ‘together’ part being what’s most important. She has her doctorate in Biology from the University of Utah and came on as a Nutrition Consultant for Samsara in 2022.
Iain Kuo (pronounced “ian”) is a coach, personal trainer, and mountain athlete based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. After exploring a number of other life paths and careers over the years, Iain finally allowed his never-ending passion for the mountains to guide him into a role where he makes a living by helping others maximize their athletic potential, return to sport after injury, and live out their dreams in the great outdoors.
Iain works as a coach with Samsara and as a rehab specialist with a sports chiropractic office in Jackson, where he lives with his partner Kira (who skis faster than Iain) and their cat Teddy the Tiger (who is totally the boss of Iain). Outside of helping clients get pain-free and improve their performance, Iain can be found backcountry skiing, ice climbing, rock climbing, hiking, mountaineering, camping, and exploring the vast wilderness of the Tetons.
Since leaving a desk in New York City and embracing his passion for the mountains, Iain has skied from above 6,000 meters on three continents, and has been lucky to climb, ski, and photograph expeditions in the Tetons, the Cascades, Alaska, Patagonia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, the Himalaya of Nepal, and the Wind River Range of Wyoming. He loves traveling, exploring new cultures, and sharing those experiences with people and athletes from all walks of life.
Iain has completed Samsara’s Foundations of Athleticism course for coaches, and is also a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Functional Strength Coach. Iain graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015.
Andrew came to Samsara as a member of the athlete team in 2021. A relative latecomer to organized training, he understands viscerally the incredible changes generated by a full-spectrum training habit. As a busy dad, he also knows how hard it can be to fit training into life.
His goal as a coach is to give people the tools they need to hone their athleticism through movement, habit-building and play. Andrew lives in Seattle with his partner and their two fantastic kids. He spends the snowy months as a ski guide and avalanche educator.
Andrew’s athletic journey is a testament to the human body’s incredible adaptability. When he started backcountry skiing in his mid 20s, he was kicking a pack-a-day smoking habit. By his mid 30s, he was still an overweight, sedentary weekend warrior. At 40, unable to resist the snowy mountains, Andrew abandoned a city job to pursue a career in the wild. Now well into his 40s, he is stronger, fitter, and more athletic than he’s ever been.
Andrew came to Samsara for the coaching and stayed for the community. He believes traditional training is often a lonely pursuit and what makes Samsara so different is that the athlete team is a tightly knit, diverse crew with whom it is his privilege to share the joys and challenges of training and life.
Michelino’s spirit of adventure and passion for endurance have led him to many podium finishes and FKT’s on some of the United States’ most grueling trails. As a member of the Global North Face Trail Running Team Michelino has competed at the highest level of trail and ultra running around the world. He is one of two men to have victories at the 3 most challenging and competitive mountain 50k’s in the United States. Winning the Broken Arrow Skyrace, Speedgoat 50k, and two time champion of The Rut 50k, he has proven to be one of the strongest mountain runners in the United States.
His interest in helping other athletes achieve their own breakout moments led Michelino to The Samsara Method. He has completed Foundations of Athleticism twice (once in 2022, and once in 2023. Michelino works as a member of the core Samsara coaching staff working with the Athlete Team. If you want to level up your running, integrate effective strength & mobility for running into your training, you can book a 1:1 consultation with Michelino right here.
