This video blog explains the strategy and purpose behind HIIT. This example shows Kim Rodes progressing through a sequence of kettlebell swings, battle ropes, and ball slams. This routine is more appropriate for advanced Shield-maiden training, but the movements can be broken down into more manageable pieces if necessary. 

Study and incorporate lifestyle characteristics from our ancient ancestors and a culture characterized by the healthiest, fittest, strongest, and likely most empowered women the earth has ever known. Shield Maiden Life features a Scandinavian-based lifestyle optimization program based on the lives of the female warrior Shield-maidens of Norse legend.

Iceland is an island nation populated by 364,000 persons of Scandinavian descent. Female athletes from Iceland like Katrín Davíðsdóttir and Sara Sigmundsdóttir, (left to right) dominate International Crossfit games. Don't worry; you can't reach their level of musculature and strength and become the best female athletes in the world overnight. You CAN choose your ideal, work toward it, and maintain it where you are comfortable.

How does a nation with about the same population as Bakersfield, California, produce the world's most physically accomplished and mentally tough athletes? They inherited...

Viking era men and women had few if any adversaries that they could not dominate. They profited from a near-perfect balance of nutrition, mindset, occupation, and training. Physically they were robust and powerful.

Vikings were farmers first, and their physical strength and stamina profited from meeting the challenges of a tough existence in a challenging, sometimes brutal environment. They worked and trained to develop power and strength in the area of their bodies they referred to as their “battle Chassis.” It’s interesting to me how the foundational elements of fitness have come full circle. The muscle groups Vikings once referred to as their battle chassis are known to 21st-century fitness enthusiasts as their core.

Viking men and Shield-maidens were formidable and usually superior warriors because they could handle their weapons AND had the “rear end” to back it up. We’ll train all other elements of fitness as well to ensure that you get...

An article published in the Guardian; Oct. 24, 2016, entitled “Why Iceland is the best place in the world to be a woman” provides historical clues for the creation of the Shield-maiden mindset. “For centuries, this seafaring nation’s women stayed at home as their husbands traversed the oceans. Without men at home, women played the roles of farmer, hunter, architect, builder. They managed household finances and were crucial to the country’s ability to prosper.” Viking women were fierce and fiercely independent. Women in Viking times enjoyed more rights and freedom than women of perhaps any other culture and likely more rights and freedoms than women in many present-day societies. There is evidence that women accompanied men on these excursions, possibly as Shield-Maidens. 

Kittie Bernott writes in her Feb. 25 issue of the Shield Maiden’s Sanctum: the human spirit paints a picture of the shieldmaiden as a woman who cared about honor,...

Studying healthy, physically dominant cultures' lifestyle characteristics provides valuable insight into improving human performance and enhancing 21st-century wellness. Research reveals strong historical and forensic evidence that Scandinavians were some seriously fit and healthy people during the Viking age. I (Wayne Coolidge) also know from 40 years of study and research in biology and health sciences that diet and nutritional status are always the dominant factors in determining individual's and populations' health and wellness status.

Science has taught me that the food you eat has about an 80% influence on how your genes are expressed. This process is called epigenetics. Learn why the Scandinavian diet, especially when combined with elements of other ancestral diet plans like Paleo and Mediterranean, create a near-perfect eating plan and result in positive genetic expression. Not only will you learn why these diet practices are superior, but you will learn how to...