The Way of the Vikings
by Lars Magnar Enoksen

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The philosophy of Viking-wrestling
But you can not always meet force by force, sometimes you have to evade or sidestep an enemy attack before you can have the advantage. The Vikings had their own way of training their intuition that made them able to adapt to any kind of fighting-style – and they did foster this skill by developing a special Martial Art called “Glíma”.

In Glíma the Vikings believed that they had invented a perfect training ground to foster courage, endurance, strength and valiantly behaviour. This style of Viking-wrestling (Glíma) is still one of the best ways to train your fighting-spirit and to get a good feeling for when it is the right moment to go to the attack. It also teaches the art of evading, so that you always can use your opponents attack to your own advantage. But even more, it teaches you that a victory over an inferior opponent means nothing and gives you no honour. But if you can conquer a stronger opponent – then all glory is yours.

A short introduction to what Glíma is all about
If you are engaged in a Glíma-fight, you must have the courage to stand face to face against your opponent and accept the fact that you never know what the outcome of the fight will be. The only thing you know for sure, is that the person who seizes the opportunity will be victorious.

The Glíma-fighters always wrestle from an upright position of proud posture. (The upright position also enables you to do almost the same techniques with weapons in hand.) It is considered as cowardly behaviour if a wrestler stands still with his back bent, his feet wide apart and the seat out. This is one of the reasons that Glíma-wrestler is not allowed to stand still, both fighters must be in constant movement. To make the fighters wrestle at the same conditions, they each have the same grip to start with and it is not allowed to change this grip in the fight. The upright position and the constant movement with the feet also equalizes an advantage of strength and makes the opponent more open for an attack. But of course it also makes yourself equally vulnerable for an attack.

A Glíma-fight is very strenuous because you have to be on the alert all the time. If you let go of your concentration for a fraction of a second – you will quickly find yourself laying on the ground. In Glíma you have to be relaxed in your body if you want to surprise your opponent and throw him to the ground. It also saves your strength and makes it more easy to evade your opponents attack. In other words – you would have the best advantage in becoming a good Glíma-wrestler if you are able to stay cool (and have a relaxed body and an alert intuitive mind) in the heat of the fight.