Brews, Barbells, Badassery, and Bohurt

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...

Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves! I had my first EMP (Empire of Medieval Pursuits) experience two weekends ago. It is kind of like SCA but with more in your face full contact fighting. There is still the pageantry, they also include rattan in all their fights. At first I was hesitant, but it was a great experience and an excuse to head south for warmer weather. It was great to see it truly was Conan re-enactment and just cool all around. You can find more information at  Riddle Of Steel First stop was to pick up some fellow passengers from a bus stop here in Durham, NC. Fellow Steel Fighter Orlando Mendez and his wonderful girlfriend took a bus down to Durham and ride with me on the way down to Orlando to keep me sane. I picked them up, and took them to breakfast. We had a few hours to kill before heading off and Orlando got to watch Conan the Barbarian for the first time. I think he should lose some nerd points for never having seen the greatness that which is this mo...

Merry Christmas and Happy Armored New Year pic from  www.skotcher.com So, you have one of those crazy people in your life who like to play with swords and whack each other about in tin cans. Sure, we all know they are crazy. However, putting them in straight jackets and sending them off to some asylum may seem excessive. So, instead of giving in to your inner urges and screaming at them, here are a few ideas for shopping for your modern medieval warrior. One other point of clarification. I make no money suggesting these items. I am doing it so I can continue to hit others as much as possible. Is that too much to ask? 1. Forged Foam HMB starter set ($140). No matter what league you fight in, having a soft-kit training set is essential to practice fighting in a safe way. Nobody likes to fight alone, so here is a starter set for you and your favorite punching dummy! 2. Protect your noggin! Head protection is a must. I have been looking to change away from my normal dipped ...

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...