Thor Catches Loki

The love/hate relationship between the God of Thunder and the God of Mischief is nothing new and brings a lot of metaphors to how we see our relationships in our lives with people. This however, is a lot more Epic even though there's still mystery behind the world of the Vikings and their Legendary Myths and Gods. We also are legendary for having a love/hate relationships with ourselves.

If you have seen any of the Marvel films involving Thor & Loki, it shows that even though there's bitterness, there's still light within the brothers of Asgard (even though Loki is adopted and was born to the Frost Giants). They are polar opposites in just about every way but their opposition is what is the yin and yang of the world, a balance between good and evil and even though we hate to admit it, without Loki or the likes of him, the world would be out of whack. You can't be victorious or a failure without an obstacle, you can't strategize in war without conflict and you certainly can't have god without the devil (the demons within that we face everyday and battle).

In fitness, it's the battle of getting fit or strong or flexible and battling the constant changes our world raves on us but we conquer or set goals to keep ourselves from ever going back to where we were before. It's Muscle vs. Fat and much like Thor & Loki, we need both to survive, one cannot exist without the other yet we keep pushing or inevertantly putting on more of one or the other.

One exercise that depicts the battle of Thor and Loki is an exercise that needs one implement heavy enough that when you work it, you're finding out you're working more than just what it's said to do. In this case, we will use a sledgehammer, another tool anyone can add to their arsenal of becoming incredibly powerful. The best sledgehammers you can find are at strongergrip.com. This exercise I learned from Strongman and Myth enthusiast Kevin Wikse called Thor Catches Loki where you take a heavy object (Mace or Sledgehammer would be do) and start working your hands up and down for a minute or more and you're gripping and catching the implement as fast as you can without putting it down. Think of this exercise as a similar thing to when you were a kid and played baseball with your buddies and one captain tried to grip upward until it reached the top to see who got to bat first.

This exercise will test your Grip Strength, Agility, Coordination, Reflexes in the Hands and Core Strength. The longer you go, the more brutal it gets and if you have a heavy one (25 or more lbs), you won't be having soft hands for long. 5 Minutes of working up and down will feel like forever but that's the gold standard of working this exercise. I made a video where I use Big Bertha (My 59 lb Epic Sledgehammer) where I do this exercise in a Horse Stance (talk about building crazy leg strength) and go for about a minute or so before putting it down. Although a demo, I felt so many muscles in that moment that everything was just on fire. It is no joke.

It can actually be a fun exercise if you use your imagination and pretend your hands are Thor & Loki (or other Rivals that resemble the Gods like Zeus vs. Cronos, Jesus vs. Satan, Shiva Vs. Kali) whatever works for you use that to make the exercise more interesting. It's a constant battle until the fall of the world (putting the heavy object down) comes to an end. It puts things in perspective and you learn not just testing your grip skills and speed but you're learning what it takes to keep the world going until the battle is won or lost and it revitalizes itself again to bring balance.