Brews, Barbells, Badassery, and Bohurt

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...

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 (abou...

So, you are still sticking with this 'medieval fighting' thing? Well, good! But realize that the only easy day was yesterday whippersnapper and it is time to step up your game. You cannot expect to perform better just because you bought armor and you get together a few times a month to hit each other. More importantly, you have to take a careful look at what you suck at and OWN THAT SHIT. We all have things that we are great at. Rarely in the gym do I see guys or gals focusing on weaknesses. It is always focusing on what you are comfortable with. Runners will run, lifters will lift weights, yogi's will yoga, and then you have those weird super-set guys who run around with weighted vests, screaming, and doing high reps of everything in this weird cycle of whatever. One thing that I am sure most people fall short in is in Conditioning and Recovery. Conditioning is basically getting your body physically fit with a regimen of exercises. What does that mean for us? Well, ...

I am one of those guys who does well when he had a big, gnarly, audacious goal to train for. This training cycle everything has been focused on preparing for Battle of Nations in Barcelona, Spain. Countries from around the world will be sending their best team to armor up and do battle at La Monumental which looks like the Colosseum from the movie Gladiator.  For me, I am fighting on the 'Royal Team' or better known as the 21 versus 21. I take pride that I am representing Team USA abroad, and I am doing everything I can to make sure I am bring my very best for myself and my team. My coach Steve Slama and 10th Legion Fitness has updated my programming to some crazy hybrid workouts. He is creating me into a physical monster so I can deliver crazy hurt bombs upon my opponents, have agility and mobility, and the stamina to keep standing when your lungs scream for reprieve. With his programming, I have hit all new personal bests in bench and deadlift while my squats are ...

Bearded Awesomeness Two weeks post International Tournament of Chivalry and things are really ramping up. I have started to move my training from body weight focused back to getting under the bar. I haven't done any power-lifting for several months during this training cycle. Getting back under the bar this week, I was still able to hit 545 pounds for two reps on my squat. To me, there is nothing better than throwing iron around and meeting the challenge of making gains. While strength isn't everything in Knight Fights, for guys my size who won't be as fast or mobile in the list, it does allow us to the ability to hit hard and stand our ground. One of the big take aways from ITOC was that grappling is important, but furious striking combined with focused areas to strike gave the Russian team and other top teams and advantage. For the last two training weekends, we have combined the training concepts shared by the Iron Phoenix team, with the some of the ideas being sh...

Modern Day Knights Class I developed and started teaching a new program. Having a masters rank in Feng Xiao Zhang Kung Fu, and Sun Do Won Tae Kwon Do, and have a love for Western Martial arts (14th and 15 century); I created a program that mixes all my interests into one fun and effective self defense system. It truly is a fun class and has become very exciting as I am seeing new kids joining the program and having a blast doing it. Students will learn all the same great self defense and weaponless fighting techniques of most Eastern martial arts combined with the Western martial arts of longsword, dagger, polearm, and other fun Medieval Weapons. Kids will get physically fit, learn effective self defenses, learn to grapple and fight from the ground, and how to use a sword and many other weapons effectively. Our current website is:  Tactical Kung Fu and MMA I teach at Tactical Kung Fu and MMA in Durham, NC. It has the best training facilities in the Durham area and...