OUTDATED Get fit for combat with Viking Sword and Shield!

Hello friends of viking style combat. Since we're all in lockdown again I thought I would put out some exercises and drills to get you fit for combat with vikings sword and shield. If you're already fit I want to make sure that you stay in shape. For these exercises you will at least need some small weights. You can use a weight call for the shield or a broomstick for the sword but of course you can use your actual sword and shield for the exercise. The sword should not be heavier than 1.3 kilo and the shield should not be much heavier than 3 to 3.5 kilo. These exercises do not aim to make you bulky or let you lift a lot of heavy weight but the body adapts to the stress you put them through and so you should train in the same way that the combat looks like. This means when you normally train for one hour, six rounds, five minutes then you should do the exercises in the same manner. The repetition for the body weight exercises will range around 12. There will be exercises where you even do 30 to 50 repetitions if you're fit enough for it. So if 100% would be you're completely exhausted and your muscles are sore then you should aim for 75% performance here in these exercises. It's better to train three times a week than just one or maximum two and you're sore for three days in a row. So the drills are not actually meant to teach you tactics or techniques in open combat but should give you a good feeling how to move sword and shield together with your body. The exercises as I already said will be with small weights in the range of the weapons or will be with your body weight. Of course if you have any problems with your tendons, your joints then you should consult your physician and ask if this program is something for you. You should stay tuned till the end of the video where I will show you the most efficient but also the most exhausting exercise for the shields. Before we start with the exercises let's have a look how the weight load is normally distributed across the muscle groups. I use this scar in one-on-one combat when the enemy is still one step away to be able to strike to my head. The knees are slightly bent and the upper body is leaning forward. Be sure to have a straight back and push your hip a little bit backward. Here the right foot is forward to increase the weapon range. The hand holding the shield is on shoulder's height though the shield protects my head against incoming strikes but it is open sideways so it does not obstruct my vision. Although your legs and arms will move a lot during the combat you should maintain this general body posture. This means the lower back, the shoulders delta muscles and the biceps will be most exhausted from this workload. My workout focuses on this muscle groups but we will also train your thighs and your underarm. At the beginning you should improve your precision and take care of a clean execution of the exercises and drills. Only then you should increase speed and duration of the workout. So this drill should warm you up a little bit, get into the guard I just showed you and start to strike to the head of your opponent from the left and from the right. The hip is not so much involved in this. It should mainly train your shoulders and your arms. When you drive your sword hand forward the shield should accompany the forward movement. Since the viking swords miss an extended cross guard the shield is doing the job of protecting your hand. And of course if you have no sword and shield available you can use the deadly stick and the curl to imitate the sword and shield movement and you can use anything else which have a similar weight distribution. In the second exercise we will include some footwork. Get into the guard and hold your sword at the level of the hip. Perform a half step by pushing your front leg forward and let the rear leg follow. Perform a second half step by launching your front leg forward with the help of your rear leg. At the same time thrust to the imaginary face of your opponent. The third drill is very similar to the first one but it's a bit more difficult. Get into the first guard and start by striking from the right side to the opponent's head. Then perform a passing step with the left leg in a diagonally forward manner and let the right foot follow to its new rear position. At the same time push or fold your shield sidewards in the same manner you would open a sliding door so that the face of the shield points to your right. Afterwards align your body to the opposition of your opponent and then strike from left to his face. The last drill is only for advanced fighters. It's a so-called zwerchhau. To perform this hau place your hand above your head and the tip of the sword should point behind you. From this position rotate at first your hip, then your upper body, then the elbow and finally your wrist as far right as possible without feeling any discomfort in your joints. To zwerchhau to the left rotate each of the joints in the same order to your left. Speed and power are key for this hau but if you are unfamiliar with the movement execute it slowly at the beginning. Enough with the drills, let us get to the exercises. We start with the classical squat to improve explosive movement during the combat. Execute the upward movement as fast as possible while you can do the downward movement a bit slower. Straighten your back, push out your ass and your knees shouldn't tower about your toes. At the beginning you may not get so far down but you will get lower and lower with time. In the next exercise we make some simple biceps curls. Of course the biceps is important to hold up the shield but it is also important to explosively lift the shield to protect your head after you block the strike to your leg. The upper arm and the elbow should be locked in place and only the underarm is moving upwards and downwards. You can lower the shield as far as possible without applying any force. You can bend your knees and lean a little bit forward to already strengthen your posture. Avoid forward movement of the hip or backward movement of the upper body. You should at least be able to do 30 repetitions three times with the weight of your shield before you go to a higher weight. As before lift the shield or the curl as explosively upwards as possible while you can maintain a clean performance. Execute the downward movement slowly and try to resist gravity pulling down the shield. Next one are planks. They are great to improve your core strength. You should be able to do the planks at least three times for one minute. In the next exercise we are strengthening our upper underarm. If you're using coals or something else just grip them at the end. Arms should be locked in place and only the hand should move upward. Again you should aim for at least three times 30 repetitions. To strengthen the lower underarm grab some weight or the curls. Fix the elbow in position at the side of your body and lift your hand while the curl is horizontal to the ground. To fight for longer time with bent knees and a lower point of balance is quite exhausting. To strengthen your thighs we will lean against a wall or a door in a sitting position. The upper and lower leg should be perpendicular to each other. Aim for at least one minute per run. Push-ups should be in every workout. Get down to the ground and place your hands in a shoulder-wide distance to each other. You can perform the push-up on your fist which can strengthen your wrist but it's also more exhausting. Keep your body in a straight line and lower it slowly to the ground. Push yourself up as explosive as possible while maintaining a clean execution of the exercise. If you're not strong enough for horizontal push-ups yet you can do them on a higher object. In this way there is less weight load on your arm. And now to the exercise i promised you at the beginning. This one will greatly improve your shield handling during combat but it's also the most exhausting for the shoulder delta muscle and probably your lower back. I got this exercise from Roland Vasseja who proposed it in one of his videos. It really helped me to improve my shield gain. Grab your shield or your curl and get into the first guard. The handling will be easier if you place your thumb on the grip. Perform the first part as if you would smash the shield edge into the face of your opponent while the tip of the handle should point upwards. In the second part you try to overbind the weapon and shield of your opponent. Push your shield with the face forward so the handle points to the shoulder of your opponent on the same side. If you use the curl you should move it in the same way you would move the shield grip. You should aim for at least 15 repetitions of each part three times. My friends i hope you sweat as much as i do. This is the end of my small collections of exercises and drills. I hope you enjoyed the video. If you have any questions regarding strength training, endurance training or diet feel free to put them in the comments. I try to answer them and if i can't i will direct you to someone who knows stuff about that. Thanks a lot for watching and if you still have energy available i can recommend you this little finisher.