ANOTHER Viking Month

Time for a new Viking project

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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 7:55 PM

Back in June / July 2023 I tried out a couple of Viking-themed projects, first an attempt to learn as much as I could about that era of history and a family lineage connection to it, then a practical attempt to eat and work out like a 9th-century Norseman. See the theory and practical write-ups on the blog. I grew a massive beard, ate a load of vegetable stew and worked out focussing on rowing and deadlifts, as it’s considered these are staples of Viking workout regimen. 

By the end of the project, I still couldn’t fit into my suit trousers and I still had Viking themed shows on my Netflix watchlist. Vikings Valhalla and 7 Kings Must Die had remained untouched. 

Then Netflix changed their service so you couldn’t have more than one account on the same email, if they were in different houses. As it was my sister’s Netflix, that was the end of my digital freeloading. 

Back in August last year, I wrote out another list of tasks, this time to do before turning 43. I’ve so far done 3 of these: I got back into the suit trousers (briefly), I did Veganuary, and I learned nunchucks. 

Next up: another Viking project. 

This time the focus is on the workouts that Vikings would have done: the chin-ups, dips, rowing and deadlifts. Let’s see if I can beat any records on these. Pump class and circuit class have the kind of movements that Norsemen would have been practising (minus the hardcore dance music). Sauna and steam were popular with Vikings, having originated in Scandinavia hundreds of years earlier. 

I’ll also eat how they ate – "dagmal" (day meal) and "nattmal" (night meal) were a Norseman’s 2 daily feasts. I have the Eat Like a Viking cookbook by Craig Brooks, with traditional millenia-old recipes. I cooked a couple in ‘23. 

It’s also time to buy my own Netflix and hammer through some more historical Viking content while working out. The aim is to get back down to 72.2kg again (I’m currently 79.8). 

It would also be great to get out to some of the other Scandinavian capitals. Copenhagen was great last year. Stockholm looks like the next location for Viking museums and other culture. If I do this for a month, the deadline would be way past my birthday anyway, so instead let’s just do it until I exhaust the Viking content on Netflix. 

I just have to buy an account now...