The Secret Norwegian Training Method for Better Endurance

0:03Eivind Vold. Eivind Vold. Eivind Vold. Yeah. That's a strong name. Your story is an amazing one and it came to our attention through the untapped athlete challenge that we've been talking about. I think your first reaction to it when you saw one of the posts, I think somebody tagged you in it or you came across one of our posts on Instagram. And I believe you said that they were rookie numbers. uh we then looked into you and you uh can bench 162 and a half kilos and run a 239 marathon all after fighting cancer and extensive chemotherapy that that to me as soon as i saw you i was like we have to talk to this guy like those numbers alone are incredible feats of achievement and they're so far ahead of you know the the untapped athlete parameter um and you've got kind of both in the locker maybe not right now to to that level but i'd love to talk to you about that i believe that you could be our first okay untapped athlete and i'm really excited just to hear about i i thought where because you changed the name right it's it's now an untapped athlete not my friends were starting to call me the apex well the apex you can have whatever nickname you like i don't think legally we can use it i think it's more sarcastically meant speaking right but uh but i was getting used to it yeah well there's no reason for you to change it in your own words what are your greatest athletic achievements so what you know just for people who are unfamiliar with your story online what what are your right yeah biggest data points yeah so so i am um i'm not a runner or nor i am i a lifter or like a strength um uh strength athlete at all i used to do kayaking professionally you're the only person i've ever met who's not a runner who's run a 239 marathon and who can lift 162 kilos and not be a lifter 239 marathon was my first first ever marathon i've never ran competitively but you know it's it's a side effect of what i've been doing as a kayaker of course and i have to put this out there as well because i think that if you're looking for a sport with the most apex athletes or untapped athletes, I promise you it's kayaking and I'll back it up.

2:35Guys, order a kayak. It is a combination of strength and endurance, right? So that's what we're working on. And asking me about my achievements, I became European champion. So I have that in my belt. and kayaking kayaking yeah and i have four four world uh championship uh medals bronze medals though yeah but you know i i did pretty well there's a long story to it um can you just for the layman just explain like what a kayaking event is like what distance do you cover is it is it like a sprint are you a sprinter are they more long distance like what is it yeah so i used to perform best on the long distance 5000 meter.

3:23I even did pretty well on the 30 kilometer distance. 30 kilometers? Yes. Kayaking? Yes. This is both sides. You're not in a boat with other people doing one side? Not a canoe, but you can do crew. Like I used to race together with my brother, who's also, I think he has a more inspiring story than me. We can get into it if you're like. Yeah. Yeah. So you do the Olympic disciplines or the world championship disciplines is everything from 200 meter to 30 K. Okay. And I was pretty versatile. So I was pretty fast and I was pretty in and so I could, and even in the long distance, you have to sprint at the end and position yourself in the start.

4:14So it's, it needs a lot of explosive power. What sort of heart rate zone do you find you would be in over the course of like a 5k kayak so i'm trying to figure out how similar to running it is like obviously it's a completely different thing i understand but would you be in thresholds for much of that or are you kind of zone three and it's more of a physical workout upper body workout or where does your heart rate go to so you would be at max heart rate uh like but a little bit up and down. So running, if you're running a 5k, you would sort of pace it to your average pace from the beginning. Right?

4:54Yeah. With kayaking, especially if it's a mass start, like if you're doing just the 5k alone, you would pace it on your threshold, right? Or like your average pace. But with a mass start, you just have to go all out from the beginning, like full. and so you build up a lot of um lactate yeah just the first minute like a lot like let's say 20 millimole after a couple minutes which is a lot of people would would just they wouldn't be able to stand with the 20 millimole right how does it how long does a 5k in a kayak take uh about 20 minutes so similar to an okay runner i suppose so you're traveling pretty fast in the kayak.

5:43Yeah. You're doing four minute kilometers in the kayak. Yeah. It's absolutely insane. But even like a thousand meter, you could do like the world record is maybe 320 for a thousand meter. Yeah. So yeah, you must be completely flat out. So when you find that you get big heavy lactic acid buildup, how do you work through that? Is that just experience? Earlier today, even we were chatting to Seb Ko, who you probably won't know, he's an English guy. old school he was a kind of 800 meter champion in in the 70s you know and he um he was talking about lactic build-up and how to deal with it best because obviously over the 800 meters it's quite intense from the very beginning and you know it's not quite a max effort and there is some strategy to it but it is you know largely to do with how your body processes oxygen so you would have had and probably still do have a huge VO2 max.

6:39And, you know, you need that as a kind of, as a runner as well, as you know. So you're so conditioned to kayaking, which of course is, you know, monster strain, cardiovascular strain, but also great use of oxygen, lactic acid buildup, and the ability to handle lactic acid in your muscles whilst continuing to push into threshold. Obviously a big muscular load as well. And then you find yourself in a gym and you can just bench 162 kilos. So are you saying that you don't regularly go to the gym and lift weights or bench press? So you wouldn't be bench pressing like three times a week consistently?

7:23No, I wouldn't. But we train a lot of persistent training. with the kayaking and depending on what distance you're focusing on, right? There are sprinters, 200 meter guys that can lift. I know a lot of these guys, they lift more than 200 kilos in the bench press, right? They can do pull-ups with 100 kilos between their legs. But then again, they... Who the fuck are these people? Yeah, I'll show you some pictures. Can they run a sub 250 marathon? My guess is no. Okay. orders been restored no no they can't i think like combination endurance strength i i think even in the kayaking world i would be pretty good

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10:34I've never heard of anyone who can do a pull-up with 100 kgs on them. Yeah, yeah. Repping pull-ups or just one pull-up? No, that's probably one. That's probably one. Did you know that the majority of men can't do one pull-up? Did you know that? I didn't. You know, I'm... No, no, no, genuinely. I think we should find it as well. I think it's only something like, it's something crazy. Like one in 50 ,000 men can do 10 proper pull-ups or something like that. Like genuinely, can we chat GPT that? Not that chat GPT is the be all and end all, but can somebody find out? Like it's, to be able to do a pull-up, we should add a pull-up to the...

11:15Maybe you should, maybe you should. 70 % of men can't. Do one pull-up. Do one pull-up. Yeah. Only 30 % of men can do one pull-up with no weight. That 100 kilo thing is a joke. And they can run 100 meters in what? I don't know. And they can bench 200 kilos. I don't know about 200 kilos. But they're not awful with endurance because they still have to do a lot of their aerobic work. You know, just to get the water feeling, you have to do aerobic work. But as far as... It's not like, you know, sprint runners. Yeah. They... my impression is that they can't even do like walk to the office or, you know, because they'll ruin their explosive fibers.

11:56So it's not like that. They still have some aerobic base, even if they're really explosive and strong. So would these guys look at you and think you're weak? It's different qualities, right? I have the combination. So my endurance is a lot stronger than the sprinters, right? and and even the 200k you know it's extreme i'm not saying that everyone can do it but i think there's a um deviation it's like it's a high percentage of of uh apex athletes or the combination of strength and endurance you find a lot of them in the sport of kayaking i have tons of friends that have been noticing your your challenge and like yeah he can do it he can do he can do it it's like uh but you know what caught my attention was the fact that you know i was going through cancer and all this and and uh i started take i think right now after cancer of course i'm i'm a much lower level than i used to be before cancer like endurance maybe not the bench press because that became a thing but but uh it's not as fun going back to sport where you know you're at the lower level uh but then i took up a little bit of running because i still could make some progression there and that's that's how i like uh yeah signed up for uh for the marathon and and just just so your first your first marathon you did 239 i was challenged uh to do a charity uh a fundraiser uh for new york marathon um and then i was like a bit like i didn't care too much I tried to prepare well, but the approach to training for running, you have to be so much more careful because you get so easily injured.

13:54You can't put in the hours like you do in other sports that I'm familiar with, like kayaking or skiing. So you have to be careful. I injured myself, so I didn't run much before. the, um, maybe I put in some long, long runs like a month before New York. So I did 244. And then I surprised myself. I didn't expect to be that fast. So a few weeks later I ran Valencia, which is a fast track, right? And I did 239. So I was pretty happy with that. And, and all of that was within the same year as, you know, being in hospital with heavy, heavy chemo, chemo, getting back my hair and doing the bench press and everything.

14:39It's a crazy story in many ways. And I'm sure you have other questions as well. But if you want, we can get deeper into it because it's a really inspiring story. Well, I'd love to hear it, of course. Yeah. But I mean, would you just quickly before we do, would you say that your level of hybrid athleticism with your strength and your stamina across long distance are you do you think it's very rare so are you do you believe that you would be very competitive as one of the world's best hybrid athletes or not um yes i i do know that it's it's rare yeah i do know you know the sport that i've really been dedicating myself to is is kayaking although i was pretty good in it's also very technical start kayaking by the way yeah so you watch out because but maybe i'm even better in this you know hybrid uh athlete thing even though i haven't really i think tried well i'm not comparing us as athletes because you're in a different league to me but like i ran a 257 in yeah i'm very on also not much training like i've only ever done six seven weeks of a block yeah yeah and like you know you hear of people who do that's what we all say we all say yeah we weren't prepared no no no i'm not saying i wasn't prepared i i tried for that time right but i'm just saying it i'd be i'd be interested in what a six or seven month training block looked like for me but i'd be even more interested to know what that looks like for you right because you've done a 239 in this big bench on no real prep really you said you prepared for like a month right that's nothing like most people wouldn't see a month as a specific running right so but i still did a lot of uh paddling and paddling kayaking okay yeah all right i was about to say paddle boarding's surely not yeah because like you know i i did a lot of kayaking and um and also a lot of the norwegians at least they do for cross training during winter winter training right cross country ski yes and it's we need to just it's a really really good um um like building the foundation it's a really good aerobic exercise let's hear your let's go deeper into your story right okay yeah yeah so

17:15So, yeah, okay, let's take it from the beginning. So I grew up with two brothers. I'm the middle. So my older brother, he's, have you heard of Norseman? Yeah. You know about it? I know what Norseman is. Yeah. So some people, they say it's like the toughest triathlon or the toughest Ironman. It's an Ironman, but it's in far harsher conditions, right? Harsher conditions and up a mountain, like a steep mountain. You jump off the boat to begin with. Exactly. Very cold water. Yeah. It's my friend has done North Smith. Right. Right. Yeah. So my older brother, he held the track record for seven years, I think.

17:52North Smith. Yeah. Yeah. So he was a good athlete. And my younger brother was a kayaker as me and probably more talented. So we were doing the double before. um uh this is back in 2019 we were training for the tokyo olympics right and my younger brother he he had won the world cup twice the same that season i came second both the times right so he was he was really fit really fit and um two weeks before the olympic qualifier he is diagnosed with leukemia. So it's just like the whole Olympic campaign is just is gone, right? And he is told that I have to do chemo for two and a half years. The chemo doesn't work.

18:47He's like, last option, we have to do bone marrow transplant. My older brother ends up saving him by giving him the bone marrow. And luckily he was a match. I wasn't a match. I couldn't give it to him. And so he, and there's so many things he's doing while, while undergoing this cancer treatment. And he was looking like a ghost. And, you know, he did his whole university degree. he's an engineer while like 150 uh progression uh of the normal progression yeah while sitting in isolation with iv chemo and morphine then bone man transplant they say that it's the it's it's the toughest hardest medical treatment there is right right so you really just destroys your body.

19:48It's a reset of the whole system. And the thing is, the Olympics was postponed because of COVID. There's like one spot in the European quota left the same year as the Olympics. So, okay, let's try to go for it. He recovered from the... It was one year past his treatment And we were one second from winning. But we missed it. And the guy and Gary both they won and the guy sitting there, he also got the silver in the Olympics, right? This one year of his crazy treatment. And then there's a and we win a few medals in between, like we continue training and racing. And then there's another Olympic year, 24, right?

20:42And I discovered this lump on my tie and I discovered it's a cancerous tumor. So then it was my turn, right?

20:57Yes, it's such a crazy story. And, you know, to back it up with, you know, the whole kayaking and the apex athlete to just prove to you um the fitness you gain from from kayaking you're familiar with um with ski erg yeah you know yeah you know what it's and nordic like nordic skiing is huge in norway we have the best the best athletes in nordic skiing and were you about to say that the ski erg is a great exercise it's um oh yeah it's perfect upper body endurance i think it's a good measure that a lot of people can relate to the thing about kayaking is that it's a very niche that is extremely niche you know ask me you don't know nothing about it people like people on the street they know nothing about kayaking i think these are things running you know lifting weights even ski erg is something that people can relate more to right and there's this he's probably the best long distance skier in the world he held the world record on the ski erg and just like your brother no no this is the best long distance skier yeah in norway or in the world in the he's norwegian he held the world record in the ski erg and just like a sunday evening my my my brother is like yeah i'm just gonna try this uh and he beats the world record just like that it's like on the ski erg so yeah it's just it's just what was he going after so was it like what was the distance for the ski erg that was longest in one hour okay but later he also can't imagine ski erging for an hour like yeah it's heavy it's heavy and I think the record has been broken later as well he beat the record in the 5000 meter I think he could do any any distance to be honest but it's not what he's training for you know he's still training for kayaking so and we also compare ourselves a lot to the rowers right and and I remember the the Norwegian Olympic team the rowers they had like 10 I think 10 athletes in the Olympics some they had a good team and my brother like chose this national championship rowing or in rowing or like He hadn't prepared anything.

23:33He just, first attempt, he shows up and he wins the whole, in their own sport, you know, he wins the whole thing. How big is your brother? Yeah, he's quite a big man. He's two meters, but very like slender. He's still like, you know, he's not massive in that way, but he's tall. Two meters. Yeah, yeah, almost like in 98, 99, something like that. Yes. So he's a big man. Of course, it's an advantage. Is that six foot six or something? Yeah. Lovely. Yeah. Is he a big blonde thing as well? Are you all blonde? No, I'm more blonde than him. Okay. But I actually, I'm stronger than him in the bench press.

24:19There we go. Now we're talking. That's important. And what about your oldest brother? Is he athletic? Yeah. He held the track record for the Norseman, right? Oh, yeah. Oh my God. All three of you are like complete animals. Do you think all three of you could do the untapped? Could all three of you run a 250 and bench one 10 for 10? So my older brother is definitely able to run. He is much better runner than me. Much better. But he, you know, he was... He probably... Maybe he can do... He's... I'm not sure. He could definitely train to do a 10 for 110. My younger brother is weaker at running. He's a bit too big, I think.

25:09I think we do need to kind of rethink how many... I think the 50 number is well wrong, right? If there's basically three contenders in the same family in Norway, we need to look at kayaking, I think, and rowing. There's something going on in Norway. What's happening in Norway? Is there something in the water? You know, I have been getting comments that the Norwegians aren't allowed to participate in this challenge. Well, because it's too easy. Should we have a Norwegian version? Maybe. We are getting a little bit spoiled. I think with the Winter Olympics now, they're doing so we have so many amazing athletes in Norway at the moment it's um you know I think I've been a decent I've I haven't really you know taken it to the Olympic podium or anything like that but but I I guess I have some qualities that are a little bit of an outlier and my brothers as well but there's so you know you just get in the shadow of all the like amazing athletes in and there's this is this is uh kind of fun as well because it i don't think um i don't think a lot of people understand the complexity of building strength and endurance at the same time right well this is the kind of point right so i wanted to talk to you about this yes because for you it seems almost unintentional you were a kayaker which builds both things right like I think I'm not saying that you don't train like that intentionally I'm sure you do but you know having coming from a sport which builds both is obviously a very welcome advantage to hybrid athleticism and there's most people have to yeah well it would benefit most people to choose like a lane if you want to be an amazing runner lifting big heavy weights three four times a week isn't helpful if you want to be really strong and big and muscular running all the time isn't helpful.

27:11So, you know, it's, it's, it's amazing. And it's also a really interesting thought process for, for me in these games to consider athletes like you who come from a sport that does both, because I hadn't really thought of that. I've always seen them as kind of two separate things.

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29:32And there are other sports as well, you know, that folks on both there, there's this just to, to prove like the, the complexity of doing both. Right. So there's this quote from, um, Marcus Root. So, so, um, he won the Olympic gold for Norway in the Decathlon event in, in Paris, Paris Olympics. And he said exactly this, you know, obviously his 1500 meter is his worst discipline. And he said that, ah, he would be able to run a good 1500 meter if he didn't push 160 in the bench. Right. So that it says, you know, even one of the most probably most versatile athletes in the world. He's the Olympic champion, Deket.

30:22He's saying exactly that, you know. He can't do the longer distance run because he's... And I have to add, I have to add with a little wink. You know what's coming? What? No, no. Because I can run faster than him in the 1500 meter and I can manage more than him. Okay, perfect. But I'm not Olympic champion. Well, you need to work on the other eight. What I love about this episode is you know we we came up with like a little concept just just like on the spot a bit of fun type thing no thought went into it and then all of a sudden it created this buzz and then all of a sudden i you know i'm reading your comment thinking oh my god this guy had cancer and like he can do it easily like what the hell and now you're here and it's it's cool it's great to be interviewing somebody that came across the untapped games like authentically right like we haven't gone out to find you.

31:14We've found each other in the process. It's really interesting. I love it. And by the way, we've had quite a few confirmed people now that have sent in evidence of who can do both. Can I, like if we were to build like a sporting contest for people who can do both, would you participate? Yeah. You know, I love racing. It's what I always did. Now I have an office job, but I can't stay away. Even when I was doing chemo, I was like, ah, but should I do this ski race or whatever? You know, I knew I wasn't, I was like feeling dead or whatever, but I just couldn't stay away. Did you at any point, did you at any point when you had cancer feel like you may die?

32:04Or did you always feel in somewhat in control of it? But I think I managed to keep my spirits very high most of the time. And especially because my brother has gone through it and probably even more, you know, he was on the reach of, you know, it was very, very serious with him. And you sort of gone through it a little bit before it was heavy for me facing his cancer, I think. But I did face I did face the thought of, you know, not having this ability to be fit again or do be active or like any really face it. Taking that for granted your whole life, you just see what what's important. And this is also one of the things I did the surgery and then I was told like, you have to do this chemo, this heavy chemo for half a year as well.

33:03And there was this record paddling or kayaking across from Denmark to Norway that I really dreamt of doing doing this you know all about this doing this extreme stunts it doesn't help for fitness right it's you're not uh improving your performance by doing this if it's something else but um so the day before before starting chemo i i i did the crossing from from denmark to norway and and did the did the record there so this is something you know you just in that moment um you just focus and you just do whatever like really inspires you and and i guess you're more than with you you can just put everything else aside and i think that's that's the sort of thing that really gets me going and that i want to do if if uh there's no tomorrow how long is the is the kayak and what was kind of going through your mind so it's the day before you start chemo um and you it was yeah maybe two days so it's uh i remember if i did it on the friday and we started chemo monday or something yes but but you i assume you were kind of alone with your thoughts a lot about your health at that time yeah yeah for sure and um um it's it's not like crazy over days days and days but it's a long effort it's like 130 kilometer open ocean crossing it's cool i like the longer stuff i think i think the kind of longer slower stuff it is an interesting measure of absolutely of your mind more than anything absolutely um and you know it's i know you i know you've done some crazy stuff and that is really and inspiring.

35:01So, um, yes. And, um, I do as well, you know, it's, if you get into these things at the later age, I think it's really hard to, to really perform at these shorter events where you need, you need some build or adaptation of your body that you only can build through childhood. Yeah. Uh, I think it's impossible to really, you know, become a really, really good marathon runner if you start at age 25 or whatever. But these extreme things, it's... You can build on later in life. There's quite a few examples of athletes, endurance athletes over very long distances who've built their kind of best performances in their 40s.

35:50You know, because they are just more experienced, they have a better understanding of themselves and their limits. Just to quickly, I haven't been able to get my mind off the ski erg, just quickly because it's still here. Can I just get rid of that? Would you advise that people throw things like moments of ski erging into workouts? Is the ski erg something that you think is really beneficial? I want to ask you about building both strength and endurance, right? Obviously, lots of us don't have the benefit of having kayaked for many years. So if you're looking to be both fast over long distances with great cardiovascular health and strong, you know, my advice prior to talking to you would have been, you know, run, do long distance, slow, do some speed work at a track and lift weights and be really consistent and do it all.

36:44You know, would ski erging be of benefit there as well? Yes. So there are a few things that builds that upper body endurance in the same way, I think. But it depends what you want to accomplish, really. I think it's a really good crossover from kayaking because it's basically the same muscle group. And skier is not the same as ski, you know, actually skiing on snow, you would use your legs much more as well, right? This is just double pulling. Yeah. So it's cardiovascular, but also arms, right? Arms mostly, triceps and shoulders. Yeah, it's a lot of core and upper body endurance, but it really depends on what you want to accomplish.

37:28I don't think, personally, I don't think that running is the best aerobic training you can do to build systemic capacity. I think something like cross-country skiing might be one of the best because you can't put in the volume with running. Like even the best runners, they don't have a lot of training volume compared to the best cyclists or, you know, skiers or rowers or so it's

38:05to just build like full systemic fitness as a cardio exercise, I wouldn't probably say that running is the best option. It's really hard impact. But a combination, you know? Yeah. A combination of a lot of things, yeah. Do you just lift weights? So what does a typical training week look like to you now? so like you know Monday to Sunday you know if you're going to go and train you're in Norway what are you doing? Yeah now I have a full time job and you know I also try to run a few businesses on the side so I don't have the capacity to like really dedicate myself to just You look very fit and healthy Thank you So I'm just wondering what you do you know Yes, but I'm still probably, you know, sailing a little bit on what I used to do.

39:11Because what I used to do, we're going on training camps, or we would do like three, even four sessions a day. Sometimes that would be all we did, right? Eating, sleeping, you know, training and to just keep the level. And I think you don't need to put in that much effort. you can train a lot less but to really level up you have to put in a lot of hours again but now maybe I do for you with your full-time job now yeah where you're not prioritizing training you're just you're just you're working and you're building businesses what do you run like if you had to run them if you had to run the London marathon next weekend next weekend what are you what are you what are you what are you running it you can't do much in a week but i would definitely try you just get tired if you really but no okay so i would usually try to do one or two gym like weight training uh one or two a week um and um a trend pretty versatile uh with my endurance training if it's if it's kayaking or if i'm really preparing for some let's say i'm preparing for running right maybe do like 50 60 k's a week two when i was younger i would put in much higher intensity but i feel i'm i can't do that anymore i will just be slower how old are you now i'm 32 yeah wow yeah you're all right jesus yeah well are you over it already have you passed it What do you mean?

40:53You're prime. Are you over? I have probably passed it, but I think, you know, as I'm at an age where most athletes, a lot of athletes probably peak. Yeah. Right. But since I was going through cancer, it's a major setback. So I have to sort of accept the fact that I'm probably over it, as you say. I love, I love the, what I love the most about this conversation is that like, this is almost like you can, you can do the untapped athlete stuff and it's kind of, uh, it's a like, I'm done with sport thing. It's kind of like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm still at being, you can do it right without really trying is what I mean.

41:38Like, and like you can get to your 250 in a few weeks, like next week, maybe not. I don't know. Could you run a 250 next week maybe maybe yes maybe yeah all right i think and you've not ran at all in the yeah i run a little bit i run a little bit yeah i ran this morning okay okay so so so you can do that and i'm assuming you can bench 110 for 10 no i i actually did i think i'm better in the bench now I think last week I did my last set. I did 11 times 130.

42:14But that's when I got the... I know. So what you're saying is... So maybe I can do... It's chicken shit easy and that you needn't bother. But that's what I was saying because I posted this actually on social media, the 11 times 130. Okay. 11 times 130 is a joke. like that's that's insane i can do 130 for one i can do 140 for but my butt is off the bench and and you know i haven't really okay yeah as long as your back's flat you can i'm getting so much hate because of that so i'll try to adjust i'll just say i appreciate the feedback i'm getting i'll try to adjust and do it properly i've never learned to to do to you know i don't know how to i think your ass being off the bench all right isn't it i'm fucked if it's not i know that so many people have their ass off the bench but yeah if you're gonna do a proper bench pressing competition you're supposed to be flat yeah i i never learned it properly i just go by instinct yeah get the push the thing up get it up okay right so okay so you're doing 130 for 10 on a good day i because this was the last set i i think maybe i can do 15 on uh if i just do one set What do you weigh?

43:32No, maybe 85, maybe in the morning. 85? I weigh more than that. You're heavier than that, surely. No, in the morning. 85?

43:46So I'm currently 87, but I have just been on holiday. So I'd be about, I walk around at 85. How tall are you? are you 6 '3 or 6 '4? yeah 6 '3 okay so how many reps of 85 could you do on the bench do you reckon? 85 kilos? yeah

44:12100? I don't know 100? 100? what in one go? you think you could do 100 times your body weight? I don't know I reckon I reckon I could do... That's comparable to push-ups, right? No, no. Push-ups is lighter. So I reckon I could do a body weight on the bench. I reckon I can maybe do 20. I'll take it back, 100. I have no idea. I could do 20, maybe. Okay. Maybe. Okay. Which I'm told is quite good. But I imagine you can do a lot more. I have no idea. Maybe I can't do 100. 100 would be something to see. Yeah. What else can you do? Let's just find out what else you can do. Are you crazy? can you do mental amounts of push-ups?

44:57Can you like proper push-ups? How many in a single set? Yes, but with a little bit of adaptation I think I can do. I remember I was 13. We had the school gym test and that was the school record. I did 205. but he's 13 what is going on what is this when I was 13 I was so fat but I didn't stop I ate 204 donuts like when I was 13 my teacher said that's enough you know I didn't he's like okay that's enough 204 I think it was 205 or something something like that yes and I was injured once with I had broke my thumb or something and I remember to get a, you know, the best grade. I do think you have to do 50.

45:54So I did it on the one hand. This is so much fun. Like, we're only just getting into, like, the fun stuff. Like, what else can you do? There's so many things that I'm really not like. What about pull-ups? Yeah, I'm pretty decent, I think. I would have thought you were, yeah. How many pull-ups can you do? This is crazy. It depends on what form you, you know, but. Yeah, just getting your chin. I don't care how you do it really. Just getting your chin to the bar. Like you can do all the messing around with your leg stuff. I don't really give a shit. Yeah. Well, not like, not Mark Wahlberg ones. Like they suck.

46:34Like you ever see him pretending to do pull ups? Not really. Have you seen that? Can you pull that up as a clip? All these things, you know, you have to, if you, if you adapt a little bit, like say you spend one month to adapting you know for maximum pull-up reps yeah um then um maybe i can do 100. i i think now last time i did it i did uh three times 30. three sets of 30. yes it's mad like i think he's this complete specimen and your brother by the sounds things is also an animal yes he's he's strongly like you in the bench press for some reason he's bigger than me but for some reason i'm i'm stronger in the but pulling what like pulling machines i mean it's like he's just without without preparing he's doing the ski or like uh you know yeah yeah so I thought you meant pulling like tractors and stuff.

47:36No, not like that. But no, he's, of course, there are people much, much more powerful than him, like strong men, stuff like that. He's still an endurance athlete. Yeah, yeah. So he could do like one hour efforts or 20 minutes efforts, pure aerobic, but just producing what's like. Can you do one arm pull-ups? I don't think I can. Really? Finally. Okay, thank God. I'm not sure but I see these climbers and stuff and I'm nowhere near that we interviewed Alex Honnold do you know who that is? the free solo guy oh yes and he can like he can dead hang using like just his fingertips for like minutes that's insane yeah it is yeah some of the climbers they have incredible like grip and pull strength the world is full of exciting and interesting athletes isn't it?

48:29yeah it's amazing yeah so there's like There's a couple of things I want to ask you. So we got a bunch of messages from people in Texas saying like, everyone can do this. It's a culture. Yeah. So literally, we had a few messages going like, I don't know anyone that can't do this. Right. I was just assuming that that was rubbish and that it was just some dude saying that. Like, I'm getting the general vibe that quite a few Norwegians perhaps could do this. like there are potentially three in your own family um like when you look at things like cross-country skiing and things that are kind of normal in in Norway that lots of people participate in that would be very niche for us all of which um would lead to kind of enhanced vo2 max for example so just higher levels of fitness um like are you just normal there like at your desk job would like everyone at the coffee machine kind of just be like you or are you like very very athletic there or would you look around and like insurance brokerages are just full of like ex-Olympians or what's the deal who says Halloween only lasts one day.

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51:28No, no, no. I wouldn't be in normal. But there are people, of course, that are active. But I don't know if my colleagues even know what I'm up to. You're like Batman. I'm a little bit like Batman. Just like you do it at night. Under the cover of darkness. I don't know. I don't think my colleagues are aware of what I'm up to. I'm a power system engineer. You're a power system. Full stop, I think. I think it's amazing. So hang on. So also you're like a modest person. So like your friends. I really don't feel modest telling you all this. Not today. But that's the thing with the Texans, right? Because Americans are very loud.

52:17Like, and I've been dating an American. It's like, sometimes you just... Do you really believe this yourself, you know? You're going to have a chance to do all these Texans in soon, right? So we're going to have... And my money's on you and your brother, potentially. we need to get him in as well. So don't worry, when we get these loud Texans over here, Norwegians are, I think they have a reputation of being much more humble and you know, there's something called Janteloven in Norway that you shouldn't think that you're better than anyone or like so. We have that as well obviously. So when I posted the video.

53:03Well, I think it's healthy actually to feel that you're good at stuff. Sometimes there are things that I like about them. I feel shit at everything. Just so you know. I'm going to pull out of everything, I think. You have amazing achievements at so many arenas, right? No, I'm kind of joking. I think it's remarkable that your colleagues wouldn't know that you are like crazy strong and crazy fast like that it's it's like having like wolverine in the office and not knowing about it i'd hate that imagine like imagine if like one of us in here was just like a complete beast but we didn't know it'd be a shame you should tell everyone

53:54like i dread to think what would happen if someone like tried to steal your watch you'd like turn them inside out or something nah i don't know i don't know uh maybe i'm more uh loud in other parts of you know my communities or friend groups right it's uh uh i'm probably not the most humble Norwegian you've met or you gotta meet okay my my brother my younger brother which is, I think he's quite an amazing person. And he is extremely humble. Like, he wouldn't tell you anything if you wouldn't ask him specifically. Did you do this? Oh, yeah. By the way, for those that don't know what the Norseman is, like competing in and finishing the Norseman makes you a monstrous animal.

54:46And your brother won it, right? Yeah, yeah. and he the record was just beaten like last year or something yeah you better come out of retirement yeah he needs to get back into it yeah now he has two kids and you know it's doing what you do with kids and you know I don't have any kids and then it's you know easier to just be but I have a fourth kid on the way yeah yeah congrats by the way that's that's impressive that's that's probably more that's That's what my brother says as well. That's the hardest thing. I don't know what's more impressive, right? Winning the Norseman or traveling via St. Martin in Paris with three children on Air France specifically.

55:33Yeah. It sucked. Like, I mean, I don't even mind saying. Air France is shit. Like, it's fucking terrible. Really moody as well. They love saying no to everything. I get it out there. No. You get it out there. Yeah. I can't relate. I can't really. I'm sorry. But I support you. Thank you. Thanks very much. And I am aware that winning the Norseman is harder. And actually, it wasn't that bad. It's just like, I hate not sleep. Do you sleep well? Do you have lovely long sleep? No, I really struggle with sleep. Do you? Yes. How can you do all these awesome things and not sleep well? You're like a complete anomaly.

56:11I think it's part of, it's with ADHD. So I was, it's not like a big deal, but I was diagnosed as a kid and it comes with that. And I think certain things that you're interested in or you want to like, you're able to really just focus on it and be a little bit obsessed as well, you know. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, but the sleep is definitely as when I was really trying to become the best in the world as a kayaker, it was something I struggled a lot. It's probably one of my weaknesses. So my brothers are much better sleepers for sure. I'm glad we found a weakness, finally. Mate, it was great to have you on the show.

57:03thanks so much for flying over and uh and uh yeah if i'm if i'm ever in norway which i will be by the way so i have a very close friend who lives in norway really we're gonna see him we're gonna we're gonna go and do some uh uh some cross-country skiing he wants to do and some cycling uh so i said that we would go for you know four or five days yeah i'll give you a call when we're there i i have no idea where or if it's close to you this is kind of like when people come over from America and they go, oh, hey, I'm in Manchester. Like, do you want to have lunch? It's like, no, I live in London. Like, you know, so I have no idea if you're four hours away or not, but I'll give you a call.

57:39Do it. Yes. I would love to take you out kayaking or skiing or whatever. I'd love to go kayaking. Well, I'm now obsessed with kayaking. So, you know, that's my thing. That's good.

57:58Hiiierey!