Training in The Snow

In the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's the Minnesota Vikings fielded some of the greatest teams in NFL history. From 1968 to 1980, they won 140 games while losing only 58 and finsished 1st in their division an incredible 11 times in that span.

Those teams also had some of the greates players of all time, such as Alan Page
Carl Eller, Gary Larsen and Jim Marshall and a Hall of Fame Coach in Bud Grant. There was certainly no shortage of talent on those teams but I think there was another factor that contribiuted to the Success of those teams.

You see, in those days, there were no indoor practice fields. The toughest players make the toughest teams and practicing year-round outside in the cold Minnesota Winter made some of the toughest men to even step on a football field. Maybe it was the temperature itself, maybe it was breathing the cold air, I just can't say but I do know that things just ain't been the same for the Vikings after they moved inside to the cushy digs of the Metrodome.

I know I've always enjoyed training in cold weather and now that Winter has finally decided to show up, you can too.

Recently I came across these pics of the members of the Korean Special Warfare Command training in the snow in Pyongchang, about 180km (113 miles) east of Seoul. From the looks of things, those aren't guys you would want to mess with.











Train hard.
John Wood