Rope and Rag: Martial Arts Training Involution #223

Rope and Rag: Martial Arts T.I. #223

  • Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

  • 8 mins of martial fitness.  You can do this one unarmed or, if you train with weapons, with a dull training weapon.  Set timer for 8 x 1:00.  Round 1: strike the air while doing Russian Squats.  Round 2: Low Crawl forward and backward up and down your training area making sure your profile is as low as possible.  Round 3: Get-ups.  Round 4: Strikes vs. heavy bag.  Repeat once more for 8 total rounds.  The first time you hit the heavy bag do so standing, the second time do so grounded.  Consider tying a rag to your heavy bag (s) to simulate hair.  See video below.

  • 150 max power kicks vs. heavy bag.  Go as fast and as hard as you can.  Record your time in your training journal and beat it next time.

  • Learn to tie a bowline knot.  The right knot at the right time can save your bacon.  If you need a cinch-proof loop in the end of a line, say you need loop to make a lasso or anchor a line to a post or branch, then you need bowline knot.  See photo set below.   Practice makes perfect.  Tie it and untie it 25 times until you have it down.

  • Sacred reading part 4.  As we've learned in previous weeks, the essence of sacred reading is to analyze the things you read in four different ways: literally, morally, allegorically and anagogically.  Consider that these ways of reading can be applied to all forms of input, not just to sacred literature.  Try reading a newspaper article or interpreting a friend's story in these four ways.   Everything is a story, and every story has at least four layers of meaning awaiting discovery.

  • Journal As always, log everything you did and thought about in your training journal, even if it's only a few lines.  If it ain't in the training journal it didn't happen!