Brews, Barbells, Badassery, and Bohurt

It has been a while since I have home brewed. After moving to North Carolina, time just got away from me. Then I bought a keggerator and my life was filled with great  kegs of beer I could easily buy without having to waste a half day making my brew. Then a GoRuck Tough buddy donated his entire homebrew supplies to me on top of my mountain of gear I had to make all grain. I couldn't turn it down, and I sure wasn't about to just let it go to waste. So, after a major garage renovation, I had room to store my gear and I finally decided to dust off my old recipes and make something new. This batch will be an experiment as I am changing my tried and true recipe to something a little lighter and should have a simpler finish. Most of my melomels have a silky finish and very high alcohol volume. This should be around the right alcohol volume and hopefully has the lighter, fresher finish. I have made many different versions of mead. My preference of course is always to the s

Oh... So you think you are the Strongest Knight do ya'? Well yeah, so come and prove me wrong! So, the idea of the strongest knight is something I have been talking with fellow strength athletes who also compete in the sport of armored combat/bohurt. It is to be a friendly, and honorable, fellowship of men and women who truly aspire to be the best of the best. So, basically it is an open competition whereby combining strength, and deeds of arms. Not only do you have to be strong comparatively, you also have to beat the current strongest knight in a battle of three duels agreed upon between the competitors. The current strongest knight can never turn down an open challenge of a qualified competitor. To qualify, you must have a Wilks Score greater than 300. This is a score given to based upon the lifts of bench, squat, and deadlift as it compares to your body-weight. If the 130 pound fighter (male of female) can achieve the score, they have earned the right to challenge the

Picture from New World Cup 2017 “We’re teaching our players: Sleep is a weapon.” — Sam Ramsden, Dir. of Player Health and Performance, Seattle Seahawks   I first really started to pay attention to sleeping after one of my favorite professional strongman competitors talked about how he uses a CPAP machine. He went on to say it helped him recover faster, and get much more quality sleep. As you get stronger, specifically powerlifting or strength training, your neck gets thicker. This could lead to sleep problems by obstructing the airflow you need as you sleep. Others like myself fall into the category of just bad genetics whereby the mouth and the nasal cavities are formed in such a way to be the perfect storm for sleep apnea. It didn't help that I was also overweight   Sleep is an important component of maintaining your health and performance. For Bohurt athletes in particular, proper sleep is a weapon in their arsenal for overall success.  Worcester Effigy,

You have to be an athlete in the sport of Bohurt/Armored Combat/Steel Fighting/Deeds of Arms ath·lete ˈaTHˌlēt/ noun noun: athlete ; plural noun: athletes a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise. If you cannot watch the video, here is the audio: Having been in the martial arts my whole life, competing in full contact kickboxing, and your normal tournament style martial arts, one thing rings true. The better the athlete, the better the practitioner of the martial art.  Considering complex movements, strikes, speed, techniques, patterns, being able to close distances are all something someone can learn. Being a better athlete is simply makes all of these things easier. Not that an athlete will master every nuance of a particular art right from the beginning, they will however have a distinct advantage over those of equal background but have lessor athleticism. As an older fighter (about to