Just a fair warning that pickles are crazy high in salt and are best as an occasional snack or as a garnish to a meal or sandwich.  It's always a good idea to stay hydrated anyway, but especially a good idea when salt intake is elevated.  If you are salt sensitive or have high blood pressure issues, this may not be the snack for you.  However, pickles do offer good digestive support in thanks to the vinegar.  That being said, this is an instant favorite that is extremely easy to make.

In a quart mason jar:
Make a bed of dill at the bottom
Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar
A heaping tablespoon of garlic (more or less or none to taste)
7-12 pepper corns
1 table spoon of sea salt
Add the baby cucumbers and pack them tight.  You can do whole (as pictured), sliced/halved, or in chips (thin or thick)
Fill the rest of the jar until the cucumbers are covered with your favorite bloody mary mix.  I like Zing Zang.
Place another bed of dill on top.
Close the jar and shake vigorously and refrigerate.
Then you wait!
Over the next 24 hours, shake the jar every time you open the fridge.  The pickles will likely be ready to eat after 24 hours, but letting them go 2-3 days is even better!

If you just want straight dill pickles, follow the same instructions, but replace the bloody mary mix with water.

Read on to see the most common bicep curl mistakes.

Notice in the first pic with the green check mark: elbows stay directly in front of my shoulder and do not move or lift while curling. They stay pinned to my side/front of the obliques.
In the second picture of mistakes, you might lift heavier weights but they won't do a thing to improve your strength or build muscle.

Top left and bottom left: what I call the chicken wing curl. The elbow flares out and there's little bicep involved. Little bicep involved means little biceps.

Top middle and right: standard and hammer curls pulling the elbows back. This usually results in pulling the weight in and pushing it back out, often caused by swinging and momentum leaving both the concentric and eccentric (lifting and lowering) motions worthless.

Bottom middle: the shoulder shrug. Are you doing curls or shrugs? If you find you have to lift your shoulder and/or arch your back, you have too much weight. Control your motion.
Bottom right: two things happening here. The chicken wing flare out AND lifting too high. When you lift so high that the dumbbells can rest vertically at or above your shoulders, gravity is no longer working against you, you lose all tension and you lose the efficiency. Keep a smooth, controlled motion with time under tension a constant until you reach the fully lowered position. Repeat.
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If you find yourself a repeat offender of any of these and can't correct it with your usual weight, drop to a weight that does allow you to do it properly. Then, progress with how much you curl and witness your progress in your arms, both visually and with strength.

Round 1

Event 1 – Stepping Stones – Follow the course of balance obstacles and hops from object to object.  Finish with a rope swing to the finish.  Stepping on the ground instead of the obstacles will result in a 2 second penalty and a mandatory restart where the fault took place.

Event 2 – Medicine Ball Toss.  Competitor must perform a standing medicine ball toss standing laterally.  Neither foot can come off the ground.   If a foot comes off the ground, a fault will be recorded for the attempt.  3 attempts.  The best attempt will be recorded for the standings.  Men throw the 20 pound medicine ball.  Women throw the 10 pound medicine ball.

Event 3 – Vipr Toss.  Competitor must toss the Vipr as far as possible from a squatting to upright position pushing from the chest.  Heels or any other part of the feet CANNOT come off the ground.  Doing so will result in a fault for the given attempt.  3 attempts.  The best attempt will count towards the score.  Men will throw the 26 pound vipr. Women will throw the 8 lb vipr.

Event 4 – Smart Board Balance – 3 sets of 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off.  The goal is to have as few taps on the ground with the smart board as possible.  Standing on the board and not attempting to stay in a constant state of balance will result in immediate disqualification for the event.  All of the ground taps will be added up from all 3 sets.

 
Round 2 – Teamwork Round

Event 1 – Team Slackline Walk -  Each team gets 1 minute on the clock.  Each team member takes a turn walking the slack line.  Once all four have gone, they repeat the order until the minute is up.  The goal is to get as many successful full slackline walks in that minute.  A competitor CAN use the TRX straps to assist them for a successful walk, but it only counts as .1 points as opposed to 1 full point.

Event 2 - Cargo Net Team – All four team members take a turn.  The goal is to start on one side of the cargo net and move laterally to the end, transfer to the other side, and move laterally to the other end of the cargo net.  All four times are added up.  The team with the shortest cumulative time takes the points.

Event 3 – Get In the Hole/Bench Taps/BOSU 180s/40 second sprint – Each team member does 1 event.  Get in the hole – Bounce a medicine ball into a tire from a designated position for 1 minute.  Each attempt that lands in the tire results in 1 point.  Bench Taps – Perform a high knee tap on the top of a weight bench for 1 minute.  Each tap on the bench results in 1 point.  BOSU 180s – 2 BOSUs side by side, 1 foot on each BOSU.  Perform 3 sets of 30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest doing a 180 jump landing with one foot on each BOSU.  A stuck landing will result in 1 point.  A non landing or stepping off will forfeit the point for that attempt.  40 second sprint – Cover as much distance on the green in 40 seconds.  Toe must touch the tape at the end of each green for a length to count.  Only full length sprints will be counted for a point. All 4 event point totals will be added up.  The end point totals will determine the points that count towards the standings.

Event 4 – Partner Prowler Pull and Push – Two competitors work together to pull an extra heavy prowler down the green.  The other two competitors work together to push it back.  The goal is to cover the most distance in 1 set of 4 minutes.
 
Round 3

Event 1 – Drop in the bucket – Transport the designated items to their end location in the quickest time.  The final obstacles will be revealed after signups are completed.  It may be from a hanging or swinging position or a balance obstacle.

Event 2 – Short Rope Pulls – The heavy jump rope will have a flag over it with two markings on the floor, marking the start and end point.  Pull the flag from the start point to the end point.  Immediately return it to the start point and pull it back to the end point.  The goal is to pull the flag from start to finish as many times as possible in 2 minutes.

Event 3 - Sandbell Accuracy – One of the classic staples of our competitions.  Throw a sandbell to a designated mark corn hole style.  Once the target is hit, move on to glide forward and grab a sandbell and drag it back to the start point (this is done 4 times).  Finish by dragging the prowler while gliding the green.

Event 4 – TRX Crawl - In the TRX plank position (feet in the cradles, up on the hands), walk forward on your hands and touch a cone a few steps away.  Walk with your hands back to the starting mark and immediately walk back out to touch the cone.  Repeat as many times as possible in 3 sets of 30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.

Round 4 -  Dynamic Duos

Event 1 – Medicine Ball Volleyball - Two teammates throw a medicine ball over the TRX frame to each other.  It starts by player 1 squatting to a medicine ball, then throwing it over the frame to their teammate.  The teammate catches it, squats down to a medicine ball and proceeds to throw it back.  The goal is to have the most successful catches in 1 minute.  If the competitor’s butt doesn’t touch the medicine ball, the catch does not count.  If the ball is dropped, the catch does not count.  Guys throwing to guys will use the 20 pound medicine ball.  Girls throwing to guys will use the 14 pound medicine ball.  Girls throwing to girls will use the 10 pound medicine ball.

Event 2 – Partner Prowler Push – Two teammates who didn’t compete in event 1, push a heavy prowler as far as they can in 1 set of 1 minute.  The goal is to have the most distance covered.

Event 3 – I Got Your Back – Two Teammates stand back to back, leaning against each other and squat down to a wall sit position against each other.  One competitor will have a medicine ball in hand.  They will be given 2 minutes.  The goal is to pass the medicine ball to the side and behind to their teammate.  The teammate then passes it back in the same fashion.  The goal is to have the most successful passes in those 2 minutes.  Only passes in perfect form and the correct height count towards the point total.  The competitors can take as many breaks as they need.  Men passing to men will pass the 20 pound medicine ball.  Men passing to women will pass the 14 pound ball.  Women passing to women will pass the 10 pound ball.

Event 4 - Dead Hang  Pass – Two teammates who didn’t perform in event 3, perform a static dead hang side by side or directly in front of each other on the TRX frame.  There will be a bucket of objects next to one competitor.  They need to let go with one hand, hang on with the other, grab an object and hand it to their teammate (also needing to hang on with one hand).  Once the transition has been made, the second teammate needs to place the object in the bucket on their opposite side.  The goal is to have the fastest time.  Breaks may be necessary but must occur in between passing objects, not in the midst of the action.  **this one is still very much in question and may not make the cut.  If replaced, it will be done with something more manageable for all fitness types.
 
Round 5 – 1 Big Relay!

Each competitor completes 2 of the following. **indicates an event that may be replaced with something more manageable for all fitness types.
A competitor can only complete 1 event in the first for and 1 event in the second 4.

1. Medicine ball Run – Run across the parking lot to the designated spot and back holding a medicine ball (Men – 20 pounds, Women – 10 pounds)
2. Prowler Push – 4 lengths of the green (Men – 90 pounds, Women 50 pounds)
3. 100 Jump Rope
4. Rock Wall Path to Monkey Rings (feet touching the ground results in a 2 second penalty and a restart where the penalty occurred) ** OR** 4 Tire Flips **OR** Prowler Pull and Push
5. 20 Squat Tosses (Men will use the 20 pounds and aim for the pink X.  Women will use the 10 pound ball and aim for the orange X)
6. 100 BOSU Jackknives – Competitor can change legs as many time as possible or break as necessary.  The leg must come down completely to the ground for each rep and the hand must drop down to parallel to the ground for each rep to count.
7. TBD
8. Basketball Burpees – Make 5 baskets immediately after performing a burpee from a designated spot.  The competitor must jump simultaneously with the shot.  Teammates CAN rebound.  The event will time out if all 5 baskets have not been made after 1 minute in this portion of the relay, thus ending the  time for the entire relay. 

The goal is to have the best time.  Teams who completed the entire relay without timing out will earn the points before a team that may have a better time, but didn’t complete the burpee baskets.  If multiple teams time out, the standings will be determined by the team who made the most out of the 5 baskets downward to the least. 
 
Bonus Rounds Coming Soon!
 

It's official! Beakas Battles returns on 8/6! 

Team, Individual and Ninja Kid competitions to run the whole week prior. $10 per registration. Deadline to register is 7/30. 

Team Competition - make your own team of 4 competitors. Competition dates and time will be decided and agreed upon by NBPTS and you and your team members. 

Individual Ninja Style Competition to take place on Saturday, 8/5. Time TBD. 

Ninja Kids competition to take place Sunday, 8/6. Ages 5-12. Age brackets and times will be determined by number of registrations. 

As many of you know, the original intent of the Beakas Battles was to be a benefit for my dad and his fight against Parkinson's Disease. It will not be a benefit this year, but the spirit remains the same to rally in support of him. And with that we'll have a post competition party on 8/6 at 1:00 p.m. at the gym that will double as his 65th birthday party.  We'll order food and drinks in but will also be looking for volunteers to bring party favors, additional beverages or a treat to share. 

Open to the public! Please register for the competitions and RSVP for the party by contacting Nick at 419 205 6609, email nbeakas@gmail.comor direct message via Facebook or Instagram. ​