How To Train Your Body Like An Ancient Warrior!
Remember the scene in “Conan The Barbarian” when a young Conan, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was forced to push this giant wheel all day long to build up his body in preparation for his future as a deadly warrior?
Well, although they didn’t have “steroid cocktails” to aid them back then, ancient warriors like the Vikings, Spartans, and Romans actually DID train in these ways…and with a PURPOSE!
Men of these days whose job it was to protect the clan…defeat enemies…or take new lands by force…were “career warriors” and their sole job was to FIGHT.
But not just to “fight”…they had to be BETTER at fighting than the men they traded blows with or they wouldn’t live to fight the next day.
For victory, they had to be in peak physical condition that required their muscles to be both STRONG and also operate for peak ENDURANCE in order to wear heavy armor, walk for long distances to the battlefield, and STILL be able to wield a heavy weapon over and over again to take on the advancing hordes of enemy combatants.
In a modern age where “endurance” and “muscle” are considered laughable if used in the same sentence, it isn’t easy to find information on how to accomplish both, eh?
So how DID they train?Well I’ll tell you something, there were…
- No split routines with “Chest on Monday – Back on Wednesday – etc.”…
- No “6-pack abs”…
- No “Ultimate Home Gym” gizmos…
- And these guys trained for FUNCTION…not the BEACH!
As I get older, I’m understanding a whole lot more about “function” and how to train my body in a way that will not only help me build and maintain muscle…but ALSO allow me to continue to “move” like I did in my 20’s and 30’s.
So I’ve been doing some mean research into different training methods that I’ve always thought were just for “knuckle-draggers”. Turns out, these “functional” exercises work pretty damn good for STRENGTH, POWER, ENDURANCE, and yes…even some SIZE gains!
Here are some examples:
Sandbag Carry:
Ahhh…brings me back to my days in the Army! 
A quick trip to Home Depot or your local beach is all you need to get some sand and fill up an old duffle bag with anywhere from 40 to 300 lbs!
Place it over your shoulder like you’re rescuing Zena the Warrior Princess from a band of blood-thirsty barbarians and feel muscles you never thought existed.
Keg Training:
Now, I have to warn you…
It kind of defeats the purpose of your “warmup” for this exercise is to EMPTY the keg of beer before using it for training!
But either full or empty, kegs are a GREAT training aid for building thick, strong shoulders and upper back.
Sledge Hammer Slams:
Here’s where you can REALLY pretend you’re a warrior on the battlefield! Grab a heavy sledgehammer and start wacking an old rubber tire like it’s the head of a Viking invader!
You’ll start feeling the burn VERY soon into the exercise. Just keep switching sides to work both shoulders, arms, back, and core.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the ways you can add this type of training to your routine.
And trust me…I’m no “Master” of these methods by any stretch of the imagination! I’m just picking them up myself!
I got these from a friend of mine who is launching a new program NEXT WEEK that’s completely built around the “training” methods of ALL of the ancient warrior civilizations.
He and his training partner call it “Hybrid Muscle Training” (www.HybridMuscleTraining.com)
This week, they’re revealing more of these training methods in a series of short VIDEOS that explain how to implement this training into your workouts to not only achieve the PHYSIQUE of an ancient warrior…
…but the sheer POWER and STRENGTH!
I’m having a blast with the workouts and I know you will too!
Go and sign up for the videos now at www.HybridMuscleTraining.com so you can see all of them this week!
I look forward to hearing about how you like the training!
Another practical everyday exercise is splitting fire wood with a 6, 8, or 10 pound splitting maul. It is somewhat like swinging a sledge hammer at a tire but you also have to bend and pick up the large blocks of wood, stack the fire wood and keep swinging that maul. It is a much more practical use of your energy. I can speak from experience this way the fire wood warm you twice.
To add to what Dale is saying: toss your logs around like cabers for an afternoon then split them the next afternoon…
how do know someone out in one blow….just asking
“how do know someone out in one blow….just asking”
Comment by Leanne
I’m guessing you mean knock…’cause if you want to know someone in one blow…
Any way, try to aim just below the ear, right behind the jaw. There’s a pressure point there that when hit will knock someone out. It doesn’t even have to be hit very hard(look at UFC fights, they barely get tapped there and they’re out). I’m sure a small girl can knock out a big guy if she hits him right.
The pressure point you are seeking is called the Mandibular Angle (Hypoglossal Nerve, Vagus nerve and Glossopharyngeal Nerve) The 3 nerves run together behind the Mandible at the base of the ear lobe. The strike should be directed between the Mastoid and the Mandible, at the base of the ear lobe, toward the center of the head, directed with a slight angle toward the nose. The expected effects will be medium to high intensity pain, immediate signs of submission and pobable cessation of all intentional motor activity. WARNING: If the person to which this tactic was applied does not recover withing 1 to 2 minutes call 911.
Training for purpose? Try this one! Take a 75 pound boulder and boat it out about fifty yards from shore in 6 ft of water. Take a deep breath and go under, pick the boulder and carry it to shore. Hint: Try it from 25 yards first. Move up in weight slowly. You’ll find muscles you never knew you had.
I would like some training to gain muscle and speed on legs, not only to run with good speed, but to improve impact power with kicks.
The cross-fit program is exceptionally good at overall muscle development while only utilizing commonly found items, if necessary. It helps build speed, stamina (cardiovascular AND muscular), and power. I haven’t incorporated it into my everyday workout yet, but I’m slowly progressing towards it.
Like any program, though, you can only get out of it what you put into it.
Great tips as always, but could you cool it on the viking smashing i kinda decend from them. Thank you
I love hybrid training. I just took the 30 pound dog and ran 3 flights of up the stairs and down the stairs with her on my Trapezius muscle or Bicep, 1 min break do it again 4 times, it made me pant like a dog when I finished. All the muscles were being worked just like 30 pounds of heavy armor.
In the future I will pull/push a first semi then tractor tire up and down in rolling hills with a harness. Load the tire onto ATV. Pull it off and flip the tire. Pull the semi or tractor tire for 400 feet and push the tire for 400 feet. Or drag the snow-mobile across 0.5 acres to the opposite angle of the field and push it across the same distance
i am curious about sprints