The
Norse are known for violence and pillaging, but their culture was so
much more. Even before they could pillage, they had to spend days or
weeks sailing to the place where they did the pillaging. The Norse
people were in fact craftsmen, explorers & farmers. They built a
democracy, and made beautiful carvings. All of these things are
endeavors that involve patience and deferred rewards. Fitness should be
the same way.
 |
| The Norse did the paddling before the pillaging |
The
Norse are known for violence and pillaging, but their culture was so
much more. Even before they could pillage, they had to spend days or
weeks sailing to the place where they did the pillaging. The Norse
people were in fact craftsmen, explorers & farmers. They built a
democracy, and made beautiful carvings. All of these things are
endeavors that involve patience and deferred rewards. Fitness should be
the same way.
Fitness isn’t about immediacy
It
seems to me that many Americans, especially those in the younger
generations, tend to want everything to be immediate. I mean I get
it,Gen X, the Millenials, and Gen Z are all the generations that grew up
with the internet & fast food. We’re used to being able to find
anything we want to know or purchase very quickly and easily. We’re
also used to computers that can process mega amounts of data in the
blink of an eye. In my mind all of that makes us impatient, and even
more likely to look for the magic pill. These generations want
immediate results, and in many parts of life we get those immediate
results.
The
thing is that real fitness isn’t built overnight, and there is no magic
pill or workout. Whether your goal is to be an elite level powerlifter
or weightlifter, a games level crosffiter, or just look like a cover
model, none of these things happen overnight, and they most certainly
don’t happen in 1 workout. In all of these ventures there is no
substitute for time. Sure genetics play a HUGE role in all of these
pursuits, but genetics only can get you so far. If you truly want to be
elite you’re going to have to train hard, but more importantly you’re
going to have to be consistent.
Start with 1000 and subtract
Elite
level athletes have been practicing their sport for years. So, let’s
take a look at what 5 years of training looks like… Say you’re a
powerlifter, and you train 4 times a week with 2 weeks off per year for
rest and holidays. That means if you never miss a session you’re
training 200 times per year. Over the course of 5 years you have the
potential for 1000 training sessions! Now let’s start doing some
subtraction… What about those days you decide to skip the gym to go to
happy hour. Do that 2 times per month, and you’ve cost yourself 120
training sessions in 5 years. I bet 120 training session could overcome
a lot of genetic difference. Now let’s say you decide you’re going to
go balls-out every damn time so you can catch that dude who’s got a few
hundred sessions on you, and you end up injured. Say you end up out of
action with a moderate injury (1 week out) twice per year, and over that
5 year span you have two major injuries (1 month out). Now you just
dropped from a potential of 880 sessions to around 808 sessions! And
that’s not even considering any injuries that keep you out longer than 1
month. The hole is getting deeper!
Be A Viking Grinder
 |
| A fair maiden is not an excuse to miss training |
It
turns out that the best approach to fitness is similar to the Norse
approach to life. They were a people who invested time today, for a pay
off tomorrow. They did lots and lots of boring tedious and non-sexy
work, just to get the seemingly singular pay off at the end. Not to
mention the fact that they did all of this in some of the toughest
climates in the world! These guys were GRINDERS!
Just
the way the northern European farmer couldn’t skip out on the crops
because some maiden (or viking bro) came a calling, we shouldn’t skip
out on the day’s training. I mean everyone want Viking arms, but they
don’t want to put in the work!
Similarly,
the Norse men would make delicate carvings out of wood and bones that
took weeks or even months to complete. In the fitness world we can
equate this to every day not being the day to test our 1RM bench press.
Bro! There are times to train and there are times to test, but the
tests should be a very small part of what you do. They should only come
after lots of hard work. Moments of fury follow long periods of hard
work!
No comments:
Post a Comment