Think yourself fitter with the Viking Workout. Well, if it’s good enough for Nicole Scherzinger…
Scherzy’s trainer tells us how your goal body is just a case of mind over muffin top
Half the battle behind getting fit is getting off the sofa in the first place. Enter Svava Sigbertsdottir. Her signature Viking Method is the secret weapon behind the toned abs of Nicole Scherzinger, Suki Waterhouse and Amanda Holden, and she believes training your mind is as crucial as training your body. “Your inner state is vitally important,” she says. “Most training methods leave this part out, which is unbelievable. They all approach you from the outside in, and that’s why so many give up. You have to come from the inside out.” Her method is designed to get your head in the perfect place to motivate you to train harder. So, get ready for your own personal pep talk…
1 THE PAST IS IRRELEVANT TO VIKINGS
So what if your previous attempts to get fit didn’t work out? That doesn’t mean they won’t work now. It doesn’t matter where you’re starting from, or if you’re starting for the tenth time. It doesn’t matter if you failed before, or if you failed ten times before. The only thing that matters is what you are going to do now to make it matter.
2 VIKINGS TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY
You need to stop blaming other people for where you are with your body and fitness. As long as you do that, nothing will change, because you’re saying you are not in control. As soon as you turn the finger round to yourself and say, “I did this,” then you can do something about it.
3 VIKINGS ARE NOT OK WITH NOT BEING OK
If you’re in an unhappy place and want to take yourself to a better place, you can’t keep doing the same actions – and inactions – you have been doing. You might say that making that change is hard, but it’s not. What is hard is to continuously stay in a place where you are not OK.
4 VIKINGS ARE LIMITLESS
The limitations you have stem from the beliefs you have about yourself and your abilities – and these are made up. Stop saying, “This is just who I am and I have always been this way,” and say, “I am who I choose to be. I am in control of everything that I am and do.” You’ll realise you have no limitations.
5 VIKINGS DO NOT LET SOCIAL MEDIA DECIDE THEIR WORTH
Never approach your fitness from a place of lack – especially when not you, but the outside world, is telling you what you lack. You will never find self-contentment this way, because you are letting others decide where your self-value lies. Approach your fitness from a place of adding – you are adding power, strength, stamina, resilience, confidence and wellbeing.
6 VIKINGS NEVER COMPARE THEMSELVES
If you’re basing your confidence on looking like someone else, who is built in a completely different way, you will always be unhappy. Stop believing you need to be a copy of someone else and focus on being a better you.
7 VIKINGS HAVE STAMINA
It’s easy to complain about being unhappy, then do nothing to change it. Instead, when it gets tough, keep going. Turn your stamina on. Stop being so invested in believing that you are weak.
8 VIKINGS ARE NOT NEGATIVE
“I don’t feel like it”, “I feel like I will fail”, “I feel I can’t do it”… do not let your negative feelings stop you from reaching your goals. No matter how you feel, go for it. Because with every step you take closer to your goal, the more those feelings will leave you.
Ready to sweat? Svava is sharing four of her favourite moves to get you started. “Every exercise in the Viking Method has a purpose,” she says. “There are no ‘filler’ exercises, no time wasters. Each one is there for a great reason and is highly beneficial.” Do all four exercises in a row, completing four sets with 30-60 seconds rest between sets. You can sign up to Svava’s Viking Method, from £39.99 for a six-week program, at or go along to her classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at
KNEELING KICK