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“To excel at sport you need a combination of sport-specific movement and well-timed athleticism. Every mainstream sport has carefully developed drills for rehearsing sport-specific movement. How to train athleticism—the thread that connects all elite performance—is a harder question to answer. And that’s the Samsara journey.”
— ZAHAN BILLIMORIA, FOUNDER OF THE SAMSARA EXPERIENCE
I was born in London to Indian parents, and I didn’t discover the mountains until my family moved to Switzerland. Climbing the high peaks became the passion that shaped my ambitions and my training.
And then, at the age of 23, I had a climbing accident that nearly ended my career.
Like many setbacks, it was a golden opportunity. Since climbing was off the table while my body healed, I found a new wilderness experience in running and the study of steady-state endurance training.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve experienced podium finishes, international expeditions, world championship endurance events, and first descents. I’m an average athlete with an extraordinary hunger and drive for high performance.
Today I split my time between working as a UIAGM Mountain Guide, pursuing my own passion for climbing and adventure, big mountain skiing and working as an athletic coach. My work has been featured in Outside Magazine, the Financial Times, Forbes Magazine, and numerous Teton Gravity Research (TGR) films. I have trained JSOC Delta Force Teams, RedBull Global Athletes, and the leading freeskiers in the world through TGR and Patagonia.
From deep diving into the mysteries of the mountain environment to exploring the enigmas of human performance— this is the Samsara Experience.
And now I develop training programs and coach teams of athletes to reach the limits of their own athletic potential. I’m here to share a method that helps ordinary people experience extraordinary human performance—wherever they take it.
Zahan has long been a mentor to me as a mountain guide so when the time came for me to seek coaching to improve my climbing ability, the choice was obvious. He understands the physical and mental demands I face in my personal climbing and skiing, at work, and in my education as a mountain guide.
– Aaron D., Big Mountain Snowboarder/Climber, Mountain Guide
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
When it comes to training, there are two types of athletes: those who squeeze lemons and those who make the juice. If you’re banging out reps to fatigue, sweating your way through sprint repeats, you are definitely squeezing lemons. But are you making the juice? Are you moving the needle?
Training isn’t measured in what you did, but in what you become. It’s the outcome that matters. Training isn’t about what’s in the session. It’s about the performance that follows it. We aren’t here to squeeze lemons, we’re here to make the juice.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
If the study of human biology tells us one thing, it’s that humans are built for high performance. We are the most finely crafted biological specimens on planet earth, designed to be explosive, athletic, and capable of incredible feats of endurance and strength.
Modern life can thwart our progress and detach us from our own physiology. Our ultimate purpose is to return to who you were designed to be—powerful, long-lasting, and athletic. That’s the journey to a better life experience.
Our philosophy is simple: If technology doesn’t enhance the biological process, it distracts from it.
At Samsara, we are students of human biology first and coaches second. This means we don’t pick at the buffet table of exercise. We don’t follow every fad or plug you into every gadget. We distill the physiology of high performance into training strategies that improve the way you perform and shape the way you live.
We adapt training to life—because training serves life. We believe training has to be net-positive; it must contribute more than it detracts. When training becomes a burden, a source of guilt, or a trigger for shame, there is a mismatch between the training and the life of an athlete.
And that’s not the point.
We are partners on your athletic journey, we help keep you going when you need it most—and adjust the training when life calls for it. The ultimate goal of training is to build a body that supports lifelong adventure, reduces what’s off-limits, and continually defeats your age.
From split-second agility to all day adventure, experiencing the full capacity of every energy system—phospho-creatine, glycolytic, aerobic—is the joy of being human. We train athletes across the energy system spectrum and integrate the training strategies required for peak performance.
As you grow as a Samsara athlete, you will gain awareness and learn to manipulate the ‘volume controls’ of your own strength, endurance, and movement. You’ll become an independent thinker in charge of your own journey as a biologically adaptable organism.
We are here to enhance every dimension of human performance through a full spectrum approach—training and rest, coaching and physical therapy, strength and endurance.
– Zahan Billimoria, Founder and Coach
Experience Samsara
Force production at full capacity
Strength is the foundation of performance. Every athletic move we make is a proportion of our maximal strength. When we move the strength needle, we move every needle.
From the first move to the last go, we will help you smash your strength ceiling.
Power, or ‘speed strength’ is how rapidly we can reach our peak force. Unlike traditional programs that grind athletes down with moderate force, and high reps- we build true explosive power that transforms your sport performance.
Aerobic efficiency for near endless energy
Endurance is the currency of adventure and the gateway to some of life’s finest moments. We build endurance because humans are designed to go the distance.
Our method is built on time-tested research that reflects the science of metabolic efficiency. Whether you’re an ultra runner, a ski alpinist or an MMA fighter, the anatomy changes, but the physiology remains the same. We are here to help you build it.
Reclaim your innate athleticism
Where strength can be measured and endurance can be quantified, Athlete IQ is the invisible thread that connects individual fitness qualities to real-world performance. It is the ability to interpret terrain, to visualize the sequence before it happens, and to react seamlessly, effortlessly, and intuitively.
More than strength and endurance, the never-ending development of Athlete IQ is at the heart of the Samsara Experience and the journey of every athlete.
Play the long game for a life full of adventure
From the role of technology in training to the importance of setting realistic expectations and a life/training balance, Samsara is more than workouts and training logs. We are your guides in the ultimate adventure—the lifelong pursuit of high-performance.
And because the brain is powerful, we also have to be careful in how we program it. Guilt is not a guide. Setbacks are not defeat. We motivate with a net positive approach, celebrating efforts, progress, and performance. This is the journey mindset.
“Every athlete has a next level and a new dimension of performance within them. We’ll help you find it.”
“Every athlete deserves to explore the edges of human potential through movement.”
Mountain Athlete | Writer | Inspiring Others to Explore Outdoors
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