Viking Tactics.

  

I know what you are thinking, what do Vikings have to do with Bear Strength? Well the Vikings were warriors. They were strong, and they were capable. They possessed great strength and had to be physically capable of all the heavy duty jobs of sailing a ship, as well as the rigors of hand to hand combat. Viking Tactics is also a company that makes many kinda of weapons and I just found it to be a cool name. If it's good enough for the producers of firearms, then it's good enough for the producers of athletes.  This workout is in keeping with our numbers greater than five theme like our last workout. Don't be expecting a workout based on 8 or 9 though. Too much of any one thing would just be bland right?

    Viking Tactics is meant to tax your strength, it is supposed to be grudging and difficult. If you are flying through the rounds in this workout, you should increase your KB weight. Unlike the past two circuit style numeric workouts we will be performing an interval workout today. Interval workouts are quite possibly the most effective tool for developing overall fitness. They are longer than slow strength oriented lifts, and shorter than long cardio events like runs or big, long circuits. The provision of a 1 minute rest between rounds allows for higher performance in each round. Creating an environment where the athlete can perform many rounds at a better pace and with greater strength.

Viking Tactics

7 Rounds

1 Minute rest between rounds.

50lb KB standard for Cleans, 35lb standard for Snatches.

14 KB Squat Cleans (Alternating hands with a swing between reps to switch hands.)
40m Sprint
7 R Hand KB Snatches
7 L Hand KB Snatches
7 Bar Dips
7 L-Hang Pull Ups (With allowable stiff leg swing, no kipping!)

The Squat Clean motion used in this workout can be very difficult to teach beginning comrades, so take it easy with the weight initially and perfect the form first! The proper cadence would be clean, squat, swing/switch, clean, squat, etc. It should be one fluid motion throughout all 14 reps. Make sure the hand holding the Kb stays tight and close to the sternum in the rack position at the top of the clean. Always squat with the weight on the heels, making sure you consciously keep you knees OUT, no knee buckling! Reach back with your hips while looking straight ahead. Also focus on keeping your chest up, and stomach tight. The squat is an extremely strong motion when performed correctly. In order for reps to count the femur must be below parallel with the ground at the bottom of the squat. No half ass quarter squats. There is no need to rush the Squat Clean, but moving smoothly and efficiently through the motion will get you through the required number of reps quickest, without sacrificing form.

    Another new motion for our comrades is the L-Hang Pull Up. This motion is typically performed from a dead hang, with no kipping or swinging at all. The real departure from a normal pull up is the fact that the legs are held at a 90 degree angle from the body, with knees locked. Pointing you toes will also help reinforce the mental connection with keeping your legs straight, knees locked. Now in our case we allow a swing to initialize the rep. This means that the athlete can swing their legs back then forward and up to generate some upward momentum in the pull up. The only rule here is that the legs must remain straight! And the knees must remain locked! No kipping motion in the hips. Just a smooth swing of the legs upward into the L-Hang position. Once the legs reach an angle of 90 degrees or less, they cannot fall back below 90 degrees until the rep is complete and the athlete has lowered their body back into the dead hang position. This is a very good abdominal and midline stability movement. When used in a workout like this the sheer number of reps will likely leave your abs quite sore. And this is not even mentioning the pull up! It will be somewhere between a kip and a deadhang, challenging your lats a bit more than a normal kip.

    I think the rest of the movements should be pretty familiar by now. Even a bit beaten to death, but hey, what works works. If crunches worked we would replace snatches or swings with them sometime, but they suck so we will keep on snatching and swinging. If that doesn't suit you then put on your spandex get back to jazzercise. If it does, then follow us to Bear Strength!