A while back, one of my journal suggestions was to design a superhero logo to represent yourself. I wrote about it.

Well, I need to amend that post now. See, I have a new one.

I have had an idea in my head for a while now for a new tattoo. Something kicking around up in the noggin for a couple years now. As I’ve gotten back into reading regularly, and still plugging along in the powerlifting career 30 years on now, I wanted something to represent both. I wanted to represent two kinds of power–physical and mental. Strength and knowledge. I have been thinking of something along the lines of a guy doing a deep squat with a barbell loaded up with books instead of weights. Squatting deep with heavy weight is something I have always taken pride in because of the work I put into it.

Then we bought a new house last year. I finally got the space to do the garage gym I’ve always wanted. We have spent the last year building it out. We have replaced a lot of the used equipment I bought back in 2010 when I started the basement gym at the old house. I still say I have the nicest squat rack in Fairfield, including the commercial gyms.

I started calling the gym Asgard Athletica. I think of it as a sister gym to my training buddies Luke and Bridget Ahlfield’s Midgard Barbell Club.

So my tattoo idea morphed into a gym logo idea, with a viking twist. I wanted to play on the Norse mythology somehow. The mental image was as far as I had gotten though. I can’t draw a stick figure with a ruler. My superpower is making words appear on a screen.

Then I went to Wisconsin to cheer on Luke in the Official Strongman Games. There I met Elvis of Anime Fitness Alliance. He had a booth set up with merchandise. He has found a great niche of combining fitness and anime themes into fun designs for shirts, hats, posters and such. Check out his website. I liked his stuff. I talked to him briefly that first day of the competition and added him on instagram. Looking at his stuff that night, I thought he would be perfect to pull of my vision in my head. So, I went back the next day and asked about commissions.

Talking to him, I even got the itch to get back into anime. I watched several back in the day, which is now more than 20 years ago. I subscribed to Crunchyroll that weekend. I’ve pretty much only been watching anime the last two months. I have some catching up to do.

I also knew I wanted to watch Vinland Saga before reaching out about the logo. It is Japanese anime, but set in the middle ages viking world. I thought it could be a perfect marriage for the style i was looking for. Turns out, I was right.

So shortly after the new year, I reached out to Elvis with my idea. We have been going back and forth with it for the last three weeks. I gave him the rough idea and and even sent him some gym pics. He sent some sketches. I would give more ideas, he would send changes. We started with black and white drawings, and finished with color artwork.

I got the final results this morning. And…

he nailed it.

Ladies and gentlemen: the Asgard Athletica logo.

The character this is based on loved to fight. Not because he was angry at others, but as a test of himself. For me, it is a reminder to fight. Not others. I haven’t done that in a while. But to fight my demons. We all have something we can fight: self-doubt, desires, complacency, worthiness, whatever. Find your fight, and fight it. My escapes are weights and books. These are also my tools. Get stronger, learn things, grow wiser. The drinking horn is a reminder to enjoy yourself too. There are times to relax and have fun. Find that balance. I have a bar in the garage gym, after all.

So yeah, I’m ready to take Asgard Athletica to new levels.

Thanks to Elvis at Anime Fitness Alliance. He might have been the only one in the world to pull this off the way I wanted it. How many anime-loving fitness nerds this talented willing to do this can there be on this rock? I’m guessing one, and I just happened to stumble into his booth one day.