Confessions of an Icelandic Viking (Hjortur's diary)

You bring the heads of conquered kings to my city steps. You insult my queen. You threaten my people with slavery and death. Oh, I've chosen my words carefully, Persian. Perhaps you should have done the same!

This is Blasphemy! This is madness!!

Thanks! And congratulations on your shiny, new Mod position! I think they made a good choice   I'm sure you'll prove me right!

Anywho, I've been really busy this week, Monday and Tuesday I was working from 7AM to 1-3AM (yeah, that's 18-20 hours with about 3 hours of sleep). I got in some stuff though. So here's my workouts of the week! they are probably not 100% accurate as they are all by memory.

Monday - Chest Supersets (I got a 2 hours break in between so I used it. Same did not happen on tues)

Long warm-up. Really long. I had very little time so this was a very rushed workout.

Bench press - 90kg*fail+fail

Superset 1
Bench Press - 85kg*1, 70kg*3+3
Flyes - 10kg*12+12+12

Superset 2
Incline BP - 50kg*6+5+5
Incline flyes - 8kg*8+6+5

Superset 3
Hip Push-ups - 11+10+10
Ultra-wide Push-ups - 9+8+7

Superset 4
Depth Push-ups - 12+12+11 (hint of cheating...)
Flyes - 8kg*4+8+8 (not hard enough on first, no cheating involved in any of them though)
DB Press - 8kg*8+4+4 (cheated on first, was fair in the end)

So yeah, I tried maxing out at 90 but I failed... But just you wait  .

Wednesday - Competition (fun story!)
Soooooo I was gonna do back+legs in a really difficult workout, I was gonna count deadlifts as a lower back+Glutes exercise and skip squats (can't do DL+Squats on the same day... That's Blasphemy... That's madness!) So I started out doing Deadlifts - 110kg*8. No grip problems, felt really nice, I figured I could do 3*8 with 110 no problem. Anyways! Robbi, a pretty buffed and strong guy, a year younger than me challenges me to a competition of strength! And I foolishly accept xD So here's how it was, he first challenged me to a Deadlift, then I can challange him to a competition, and so on... So here's the comp stats!

Dead-lifts (Robbi Challenges)
Hjörtur
120 Success
130 Success
135 Success (new strapless personal best!)
140 Fail
140 Fail (bar got up slightly, but couldn't go all the way)
Robbi
------
140 Success

Hjörtur 0 - 1 Robbi

Pull-ups (Hjörtur Challenges)
Hjörtur
5 Success
10 Success
12, can't do more (no swinging or jerking, but slightly faster than usual)
Robbi
5 success
10 Success
I tell him to go all the way down and all the way up next time...
6, can't do more

Hjörtur 1 - 1 Robbi

Kettle-bell hold (Robbi Challenges) (hold a 10kg kettle-bell straight out in front of you, going below 90° disqualifies

We both hold on for about 2-3 minutes (I think) And eventually Robbi gives up

Hjörtur 2 - 1

Dips (Hjörtur Challenges)
Robbi
6,
Hjörtur
Stops counting at 20, and stops out of boredom in the 40-ish range

Hjörtur 3 - 1 Robbi

Bench Press (Robbi Challenges)

Hjörtur
70 Success
80 Success
90 Success (WOOHOO!!!)
95 Success (That bar got up REALLY REALLY slow... Increased my bench max by 10kg!)
100 quits (I know I can't do it yet xD)
Robbi
-----
100 Success

Hjörtur 3 - 2 Robbi

Hjörtur Wins!

New Bench Press Max, and a new strapless dead-lift Max. Pretty happy with that! I did two sets of 8 pull-ups at the end of the workout so I could count it as a back workout.

Thursday - Legs Drop-sets

Hack Squats - 90kg*3+3+3 (Grip gave out every time. The putting something under your feet tip worked great for Rúnar though)

Dropset 1 - Leg Extensions
Weight             68kg     54kg     34kg
1st set              10         8          8
2nd set              8          8          4
3rd set              8          4          8

Dropset 2 - Leg Curls (this is the only exercise I don't remember the stats on... this is aproximate)
Weight           66kg     47kg     32kg
1st set              4          4          8
2nd set              4         4          8
3rd set              4          4          8

Didn't do calves because they closed the gym. She was nice enough to keep it open longer for us on Monday though. I like her =). No doubt about it, strict form this time and Rúnar has A LOT stronger feet than I do. I got stronger arms though xD

Friday - Arms Triceps+Biceps combos

Dips - bodyweight+22,5kg*12+12+10 (AWESOME!!!! I'm loving the dips!)
Incline curls - 15kg*4, 12,5kg*6+8 (harder than I thought)

Triceps cable pull-downs - 25kg*12+8+10
Hammer Curls - 12,5kg*10+8+8

Overhead triceps extensions - 22,5kg*10+8+7
Reverse Curls (barbell) - 20kg*8+8+8

First time I do arms at the gym, I really missed cable pull-down! They're my favorite triceps exercise after dips. I Hate kickbacks... They have a silly feel to them and I never feel like I've found the right weight... Either too low or I feel like I'm cheating on the way up.. And when I don't have a mirror I'm never sure if I'm doing them right.

Awesome week if you ask me! New Bench and Dead-lift maxes, I'm happy  

I'll stop working so much next week, school is starting again and I'm quitting this tiresome job. But I just got a new job (so now I'm in three jobs) delivering the newspaper. It requires getting up early and it's about 30-60 minutes of jogging! took me 50 today, but I had to read every single house address. I always knew the best routine from when I had a side-job with the post office, but I should be faster tomorrow since I remember the houses (27 papers). Great Cardio!! I'll be getting even leaner soon  .

Hehe, well done looks like your hard work is paying off

You should, it's the best! Strength tests are much better done this way than along with your workouts like I normally do. the gradual increase of 5-10kg each time doing only 1-3 reps each time, starting with weight you know you can easily handle makes for a great warm up, and since you only do 1 rep you don't exhaust yourself, which both means you can try for the next weight quicker, and you're better suited to spot your competitor.

Try finding somebody about your level of strength and fitness or slightly better. It makes you aim higher to do the best you can. It's much more motivating to compete with somebody, because it pushes you to do THE BEST you possibly can, not just reach your goal (I was only gonna try for 90, but I ended up getting 95). I'm going to do it again when I try for the 100kg goal, probably in 1-2 months.

We had like 5 spectators btw   they'd finished their workouts so they enjoyed the show. Jónas and Helgi also tried competing, but weren't up to par. Jónas has a massive DL though   He's 15 years old and pulls 130kg! And he's only just getting started (I'm more so impressed because of how thin and small he looks. Looks can be deceiving)

And yes, it's really paying off, and I couldn't be happier with the results! I've upped my bench max by about 30kg in the last 6 months. A lot of it was increased technique, but even more of it was increased strength. I never would've thought I'd be benching 95 at this point when I started out!

 will it work? xD

those bastards......

yup Rubens way to do it is really good. I personally focus my hatred on the bar itself