He Can Pull a Sword from a Stone but Doth He Even Do Cardio?
![Pulling the sword from the stone Pulling the sword from the stone](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcc53e2ff-ce50-4f13-a21c-2b85e45c83eb_1200x719.jpeg)
Knights these days are fain to demonstrate their virility by performing all manner of feats of strength. Hefting stones, pulling swords from stones, thrusting swords back into stones, and bænch-pressing swords with stones attached at each end are but a few of their common demonstratives.
But what goode be these garish displays of robustness if a knight doth not even do cardio?
Sure pulling swords from stones mayest fall into the category of “functional fitness,” but just barely. Wherefore doth it matter if one can pull a sword from a stone on his fynest day, if in the heat of battle he is too drained of vigour to pull a sword when it matters most? If a knight be too tired to heft or pull or thrust after a hard days’ march and a cavalry charge, can he even call himself a builder of ye bodie?
Nay. Methinks a knight cannot truly call himself functionally fit unless he also adheres to a strict regimen of fencing, jögging, pouncing, prancing, skipping, dipping, scotch-hopping, sauntering, crouching, scrummaging, and falconing to condition the humours and the limbs for combat.
So the next tyme thou sees a brawny fellow pull a sword from a stone and declare himself a chevalier of corporeal fortitude, challenge him to a test of vascular agility, and see if his cardio be as keen as his showmanship.