Workout Routine

Nearly ten weeks ago, things started to stabilize a fair bit in my life. I found myself with the drive once again to set out on finding my fitness. For those of you who have been following the blog for a while, you will know that I am very big on balance. As a warrior, you can only be at your best when mind, body, and spirit are in balance and strong. I spent about two years where none of these were strong and everything was out of whack. Thankfully, in April I was able to start finding myself again. I came back to my blog to get my mind and spirit on track, and I started working out every morning to get my body back to fighting fit.

When I began the workouts, I was really concerned; I have always been a decently active person, but the last two years had seen me at my absolute worst. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew the most important thing was to just get started. I was more than a little bit scared that I wouldn't be able to do almost any exercise at all, and I wasn't too far from the truth. Thankfully, I chose to start off slow and let myself build up. The first two days, all I did was basic cardio and strength building (literally the Cardiio app on my iPhone). After that, I added Warclubs and 10lb curls. I have been focused more on endurance across the board rather than strength training, so all my working out has been based on repetition of low weight, or body weight exercises.

While I was prepared for how far off I had been, I was surprised at how good it felt to start again and how quickly my body responded to the workouts, and I was able to increase my counts for almost everything daily. After ten weeks, I’m feeling amazing. Consistency and discipline were the most important to me, which is why I’ve waited so long to write this post. I didn't want to write it and then abandon the work out a short while later.

Time for brutal honesty: I missed 5 of my workouts completely, and 6 times I had to replace the normal workout with something else because of life circumstances. The days that I had to replace the normal workout, I did laps in the pool while I was playing with my kids to make sure I stayed active and kept the muscles aware that things needed to be done.

Cardiio
A few years ago, my wife introduced me to a pretty awesome little app called Cardiio: it’s a handy program that takes your pulse either through your finger or facial scan, and it includes a seven minute workout routine that you can follow along. It’s comprised of 12 exercises for 30 seconds each, with 10 seconds of rest between each one. The routine is pretty full body, and it helps by being short enough to cram into even a busy day.

• Jumping Jacks
• Wall Sit
• Push-Ups
• Crunches
• Step Ups
• Squats
• Plank
• Tricep Dip
• High Knees
• Lunges
• Rotational Push-Ups
• Side Plank

Most of the exercises were pretty easy for me, even being out of shape. The only things that gave me a hard time were the push-ups, rotational push-ups, and side planks. My first day, I failed to even do a single clean push up in the thirty seconds; I had to bring myself down to the ground to be able to get up again. By the end of the first week, I was doing 3, and as of today I’m doing 8 without any problems. Rotational push-ups, for those who may not know, are push-ups where once you get to the top you swing one arm out and up, then come back down to complete the push up; then on the next push up you do the other arm. When I started, I couldn’t do any, but at the end of eight weeks I am able to do three. It’s a bit difficult because it’s just about the last exercise, so I’m good and tired by the time I get there. I believe that's also the reason the side planks are so hard as well, but I am not yet successfully completing those.

I am looking forward to continue growing stronger in each of the exercises over the coming weeks. Once I get to the point where all 12 are easy, or at least reasonable, my plan is to stop using the app and move to one minute for each of these 12 as I am I doing with the other portions of my work out.

War clubs

Indian War Clubs have always been a favourite exercise tool for me, ever since a good friend introduced me to them years ago. This is a strength building exercise that also increases mobility throughout the range rather than the very limited motions you get with most strength exercises. I have found that warclubs also translate well to SCA because of the fact that in addition to normal warclub drills, you can also do SCA drills with them. I added them to my work out after a week of the Cardiio and Curls, which allowed me to continue building upper body strength and start working on the muscle memory that is used in SCA combat. My current war club routine is three exercises for one minute each.

• Alternating Windmills (Also Called Backstroke and Front Stroke)
• Two Hand Internal Rotation Circle
• Pell Drills

My Pell drill is simple enough: just a combination of 4 strikes as I step forward. In one minute, I throw just over 100. Right now, I’m focusing more on footwork and technique than speed. The strikes are serving shot, offside, and then left handed serving shot, left handed offside.

Currently I am using 1lb clubs because it’s what I’ve got, but I’m looking to upgrade to 5lb clubs in the not too distant future. I also want to add another exercise when I upgrade, possibly forward swings or external rotations. I had some shoulder injuries a few years back so my right shoulder is weak; I’ve heard it said that war clubs help strengthen the rotator cuff, which is another reason I am using them.

Curls
Simple enough gym favourite, I am doing alternating curls with a 10lb dumbbell for one minute. Again the goal is more endurance and form rather than strength training. I need my body to be conditioned to long periods of activity rather than maxing out on short sets of max weight. The curls have been easy enough, and I am hoping to acquire some 15lb or 20lb dumbells over the coming months to upgrade this workout as well.

Suicide Sprints

This is my least favourite of the exercises on my current list. They’re exhausting and I feel like I’m about to die when I’m done. For those who may not know, a suicide sprint is a running exercise in which you run to a mark, then run back to start, then to a farther mark, then back to start, then to an even farther mark and back to start. In my case, the marks are at 6yd intervals making the farthest mark at 18yds. Currently I am running the course 3 times, which leads to a total of 216yds. My current run time is around 1:35 seconds.

These sprints help you build explosive energy and acceleration. The hope is that I’ll be able to translate that into closing distance quickly in tourneys, and run on the war field when

needed. Thus far, it gets my heart rate up and hopefully gets me used to bursts of activity.

Conclusion

What are my next steps? I want to continue growing the workout. Right now the total workout is about 21 minutes, which is good for maintaining my current shape, but I am wildly out of shape and I need to get much better. This week, I’m starting a new job which is going to change my routine, and it has also opened up a gym I can use. This means I’ll be getting to work with heavier weights, and most importantly, add my favourite exercise: rowing. In a few months, I’ll check in on my work out and how I am feeling, and we can see what progress has been made.

This past weekend, I got in armour and just about died after just 11 passes. I couldn’t even lift my arms; I’ve never felt so out of shape in the SCA before. I’m hoping it was just the heat and the length of time that has passed since my last time in armour. Because of the change in my schedule from the new job, I will have weekends free after three years, which should allow me to get into armour and attend practice at least twice a month now.

What do you do for workouts? Got any suggestions for how I can improve

Update on my Armour

All right my friends, it’s time once again to get caught up on what I am wearing when I fight. At events, I spend most of my visible time on the field, so the most important thing is to maintain my period presence while out there. I also need to be able to move and fight in such a way that I am not getting my teeth kicked in, like when I first started and my leather breastplate was binding me up terribly.

Over the years, I have made some major changes to my armour kit, and I think right now I’m as close I can be without some serious financial investments.

Helm

I have been using the same helm for about six years now. It isn't a particularly period looking helmet, but since the only extant helms from my time period wouldn't pass the safety requirements, I am ok with this. My helm is essentially the unloved child of a spangenhelm and a barbute, with the t-slit filled in with a really cool face mask pattern. It has weathered the last six years really well with only some dents and rust. I'd like to think my maintenance routine has helped with that. I wipe it down with WD-40 after every use, and clean the rust off of it around once a month. The only change I would do to it at this time is a new chinstrap, since the current setup doesn’t work great with my beard.

I don't see myself changing or replacing my helm anytime soon. It does its job, it looks good, and it was a gift from my wife.

Kidney Belt

About a year and a half ago, I ditched my zoombang. It had worked wonders for me for about 5 years, but through use and washing, several of the pads had exploded or just moved, and the maintenance was just too much to keep up on. Under the suggestion of my knight, I switched to a kidney belt. This is a piece that isn't strictly period for the Viking Age, but it was used by the Celts and we have some statue evidence for it. The term usually used for these thick belts was a warbelt. It is reasonable (although there is no proof) for a well-travelled Norseman to have worn a celtic piece of armour.

This is an example of needing some sort of chest armour, and the armour used in period doesn’t work for SCA combat. In period, an Ulfhednar would have worn no armour, and a wealthy Viking might have worn chainmail. This doesn’t meet the requirements for our combat, as we need rigid protection for the floating ribs and kidneys. Options that might have also been used by a Viking of this time period could be a leather breastplate, a kilbanion (Varangian Lamellar), or something similar. There just isn't very much evidence for rigid upper body armour at the time. For me, the warbelt is comfortable, easy to maintain, and keeps me from overheating in the Trimarian summers.

Gorget

There has been absolutely no change in my gorget since i started in the SCA. It’s nice, simple leather gorget with a snap closure. Gorgets aren't really period for 10c, but they are required for the SCA and not really visible under my helmet. This one was a gift from a friend and has served me really well.

Legs

When last I was blogging, I was using Valkyrie Forge knee cops, and some football pads for my legs. It worked all right, but made it a pain in the butt to armour down in the event that I wanted to do something else in the day. This came to a head at Gulf Wars 2018, when I decided I wanted to fight rapier and heavy: changing out of my heavy kit with the old legs would have taken too long, and wearing them while doing rapier would likely have caused me to miss blows. In swoops my lady wife to the rescue by gifting me a set of plastic articulated legs from Valkyrie Forge. The legs themselves work great; I have only had one minor issue with them, which is that sometimes when I take a blow the articulation blows through,

though it’s easily correctable with a blow in the other direction.

The real issue that I have had with the new armour is that when my wife bought them, she also bought a c-belt made of cotton (possibly canvas). The first belt we got, the buckle broke after the first day of use. The guys at the Valkyrie Forge tent were quick to replace it, but they had run out of belts in my size. They gave me a bigger one, and my wife made me some new holes in the belt so it would fit; it would’ve been a perfect solution if the belt didn't stretch so much once it got wet. I don't know if the stretching is unique to their design or if it's just an issue of fabric c-belts as a whole.

Arms

My purchase of one of my favourite pieces of armour, my Torvaldr bazubands, was entirely accidental. These things are absolutely amazing. Really nice craftsmanship and heavy-duty leather, so there is no way I am getting hurt through them.

Arm protection is another one of those grey areas for early period armour: we know that metal bazubands existed in the Middle East, and we know that the Varangians used splint legs and possibly arms. The issue is that if they had any sort of leather protection, none survived, and in our images of the time we don’t see any in the details. This leaves us to pick either things that are close in appearance or close in period. I think leather bazubands are a great middle ground. They don't blatantly look like metal armour which would be out of period, but they are sturdy enough to keep me fully safe.

Gauntlets

Those of you who have read my other blog posts know that I hate cup hilts: they don't fit in anyway, shape, or form with my persona. I also fight two axe in most tourneys, which means my gauntlets get a ton of use, though even my warshield is strapped to use a gauntlet when I am behind it, which makes it easier to switch between styles as needed.

When I first started out fighting, I had some leather gauntlets which had some issues with sizing and staying in place. At my first war, I switched over to some KISS gauntlets by Bokalo which have served me very well. I have considered painting them black so that they stand out less, but thus far I have seen no reason to. In pictures of my fighting, I don't think they are too bad. Let me know what you guys think down in the comments.

Now that you’ve seen my armour, let me know what you think! Show me your kits, I'd love to see what other people do to get around the minimal armour that Vikings in general and Ulfhednar in specific wore!