The weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.
Without further delay, we humbly present…
Quantum: Mettle Maker #273
Warm-up before training. To avoid injuries, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes before you train. Do about 4 minutes each of (a) jogging, jumping rope, or similar activity, and (b) light calisthenics. Martial artists should do 8 minutes of MBF.
Self-Defense: How do you quantitatively determine if you have the strength and endurance to defend yourself? By doing your martial fitness. In the Heritage Self-Defense program, we do two constitutionals per week — 15-minute martial fitness routines. Example below. Get there. If you do your constitutionals and spar on a regular basis and you won’t have to wonder — you’ll know.
Fitness: What are you doing? What are your fitness goals? Does your fitness support an athletic endeavor? Are you trying to look good with your shirt off? Is health your goal, or perhaps just fun? What percentage of your fitness work is devoted to the goal and what percentage is cross-training? Sit down with your training journal, do an analysis, and make adjustments. If you don’t keep a training journal, that’s going to be a major stumbling block to progress, so fix that. Need help? Sign up for the free the Heritage Fitness program.
Wildwood: How long until sundown? How do you know how much daylight is left in the day if you don’t have a watch? See photo above. Put up your hand at arm’s length and obscure the sun with the top finger. Every finger below the first is one hour of daylight remaining (approximately).
Spirit: Are you a spiritual person? A spiritual person is someone who is concerned with the condition of the soul — someone who is attempting to embody religious values. Humans are notoriously hypocritical, and are often opaque to themselves. So how can we possibly know — not guess, but know — if we’re spiritual people or not? Well, spirituality doesn’t just “happen.” Like physical fitness, spirituality requires exercise. The four forms of spiritual practice are sacred reading, prayer, meditation, and contemplation. Practice them and you’ll get stronger in spirit, the same way you would get physically stronger if you lifted weights. Do the work!