2.Slay the Lernean Hydra
6. Slay the Stymphalean birds
7. Capture the Cretan bull
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes
9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon
11. Steal the Apples of Hesperides
12. Capture and bring back Cerberus
This one is not an easy task so beware:
2. Slay the Lernean Hydra
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| Paramount pictures from the movie Hercules |
The second labor of Hercules was to kill the Lernean Hydra. From the murky waters of the swamps near a place called Lerna, the hydra would rise up and terrorize the countryside. A monstrous serpent with nine heads, the hydra attacked with poisonous venom. Nor was this beast easy prey, for one of the nine heads was immortal and therefore indestructible.
Hercules set off to hunt the nine-headed menace, but he did not go alone. His trusty nephew, Iolaus, was by his side. Iolaus, who shared many adventures with Hercules, accompanied him on many of the twelve labors. Legend has it that Iolaus won a victory in chariot racing at the Olympics and he is often depicted as Hercules' charioteer. So, the pair drove to Lerna and by the springs of Amymone, they discovered the lair of the loathsome hydra.
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| Modern view of Lerna photo courtesy: Athanasios Angelopoulos |
First, Hercules lured the coily creature from the safety of its den by shooting flaming arrows at it. Once the hydra emerged, Hercules seized it. The monster was not so easily overcome, though, for it wound one of its coils around Hercules' foot and made it impossible for the hero to escape. With his club, Hercules attacked the many heads of the hydra, but as soon as he smashed one head, two more would burst forth in its place! To make matters worse, the hydra had a friend of its own: a huge crab began biting the trapped foot of Hercules. Quickly disposing of this nuisance, most likely with a swift bash of his club, Hercules called on Iolaus to help him out of this tricky situation.
Each time Hercules bashed one of the hydra's heads, Iolaus held a torch to the headless tendons of the neck. The flames prevented the growth of replacement heads, and finally, Hercules had the better of the beast. Once he had removed and destroyed the eight mortal heads, Hercules chopped off the ninth, immortal head. This he buried at the side of the road leading from Lerna to Elaeus, and for good measure, he covered it with a heavy rock. As for the rest of the hapless hydra, Hercules slit open the corpse and dipped his arrows in the venomous blood.
The theme of this labor is to tackle and incredible difficult thing. To persevere when more problems arise and succeed.
My labor:
Not all of Herakles/Hercules his labors will be physically themed, this one however I devised an incredible tough workout. If you want to try and slay the beast, go ahead and let me know if you liked it. I advise not to take a very heavy weight because you'll be doing lots of reps and your muscles will feel like exploded at the end. If you are unable to hold the weight in active rest any longer, then secure the weight for a second of two and continue where you stopped.
Warming up:
15 minutes of jogging
Bench press:
You take a lighter weight and perform 9 sets for each head. Your reps in a set grow with 2x after each phase of active rest (10 seconds of holding the weight up).
This means:
1 rep - 10 seconds of active rest (weight in the highest position above your chest) , 2 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 3 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 4 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 5 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 6 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 7 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 8 reps - 10 seconds of active rest, 9 reps - 2 minute break. (From this moment I will call these Hydra reps)
And this for 9 sets
Squat:
Hydra way 9 sets
Active rest: (weight resting on your shoulders in the highest position of the exercise)
Deadlift:
Reverse Hydra way 9 sets - So you start with 9 reps and build your way to 1. Once you've done all these reps the Hydra is considered to be defeated.
Active rest: (weight from the ground with your posture standing upright)
Going home / cooldown
10 minutes of jogging
Let me know if you liked this workout in the comment section, it can be a killer but hey, when you feel the gym you will feel pumped and you'll have performed another labour.
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