Back on the 8th July I began a new and doubtlessly neurotic project about Vikings. It’s an era of history I find really interesting, so I wanted to dedicate a bit of time to incorporating Viking lore into my life.
There was a lot I wanted to do that just didn’t work out – axe throwing (nobody could do it with me), and travel to Scandinavian cities (one-way fares might look tempting, but return fares are a lot dearer and flight times were all over the place) were two.
I did manage to pack a lot in. First, I bought Netflix and started ploughing through their Viking-era content.
Then I worked out loads, usually simultaneously in the lounge, working on chin-ups overhand, chin-ups underhand and dips. I was steadily getting closer to records on these, eventually adding 10 more to my dips record, now standing at 170.
I hit the gym too to work on deadlift, a movement that was a staple in Viking strength training. It’s a movement I’ve rarely practised in recent years, and my record stood at 82.5kg from 2023. I managed to get to 95kg. Deadlifts take a lot of time in a session, carting plates about and fiddling with the locks to keep the plates secure on the bar. I wish I’d trained more gym sessions, really, which would have elongated the project further, taking longer to get through the Netflix shows. But whatever. It wouldn’t have been easy, when you’re only eating twice a day, as Vikings did (dagmal, day meal, and nattmal, night meal). My gym was actually refurbished in the middle of all of this, so some chin up bars and machines are just not there any more. But I could usually get on something.
My weight came down, thankfully, from 79.8kg to 76.3. Annoying that I couldn’t get it any lower, considering I mostly ate soup and bacon and eggs. I tried to just eat twice a day, but it’s so hard being hungry and trying to focus on your job and work out. I snacked on nuts, like Vikings doubtlessly would have, but the chances of them being Aldi chilli peanuts are pretty low, Scandinavian supermarket chain or not.
I started with Vinland Saga, a Japanese animated series about warriors in Denmark travelling to Britain. In the 2 seasons, nobody actually goes to Vinland, modern-day Northern America. Well animated, but backtracks a lot. Very long, confusing and slow. A lot of the characters are based on real-life people who lived hundreds of years apart from each other. Entertaining, but outrageously violent. As was life back then. There’s a very depressing slavery arc in the second season.
Norsemen was as funny as having your village invaded by beserkers. I lasted 20 minutes.
Zack Snyder’s Twilight of the Gods was a great animated series featuring mythical, almost god-like characters taking on demons and suchlike. Far superior to the director’s Watchmen adaptation.
Vikings Valhalla retreaded familiar Viking storylines – alliances formed between Viking tribes, and between the Anglo Saxon kings and queens, which are usually hugely unstable and involve people getting their throats cut in the process. Leif Erikson is the central subject in this series, whose claim to fame was discovering North America… something he – like the characters of Vinland Saga - doesn’t do in the existing 3 seasons. He does, however, hang out in Corfu for a bit. Fun, but generic.
I also listened to a part of this You’re Dead to Me podcast, first aired on Radio 4, about Viking women and their largely equal role in their culture – fighting alongside their male counterpart and doing a similar amount of chores to the men. Very interesting.
Lastly, I bought Robert Eggers’ Viking epic The Northman on DVD. Incredible movie. Watched that, then again with commentary track, then all the extras. Fascinating stuff.
And that marked the end of the project. Look at this beard I grew.
2-month viking beard after a trim. Tried to get the norse back and sides look.
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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) August 28, 2025 at 6:56 PM
