Note: The weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.
This week’s mettle maker revolves around the idea of the margins. People like to watch what everyone else is doing so that they can avoid common mistakes, and that’s a great idea. But it’s also true that the great ones — the Nobel Prize winners, the history-makers, the truly remarkable — are out exploring the margins. Get there.
The Margins: Mettle Maker #281
Self-Defense: The difference between mediocrity and mastery is form. Form improves efficiency, thereby saving energy while increasing damage throughput. Do 6 Palm Strike combo rounds v. heavy bag for form. Keep hips ahead of hands, shift weight to load hands, fingers of palm strike hand should be at 45 - 75 degrees from vertical at all times, fist strikes must hit with two center knuckles, etc. etc. Dial back speed so that no round breaks are needed and set timer for 6 x 3:00. Round 1: Lead Jab Palm high (face, nose, etc.), Reverse Punch midsection (heart, solar plexus), Lead Hook Palm high (ear, mastoid process). Round 2: Switch stance and repeat. Round 3: Lead Jab Palm high (face, nose, etc.), Reverse Punch midsection (heart, solar plexus), Lead Shovel Hook Punch midsection (false ribs). Round 4: Switch stance and repeat. Round 5: Lead Jab Palm high (face, nose, etc.), Reverse Punch midsection (heart, solar plexus), Rear Knee low (hypogastric region, groin). Round 6: Switch stance and repeat. Need help with form? Join the club or sign up for the Heritage Self-Defense distance learning program.
Fitness: Are you a prisoner to your training? People in prison mark time until their release. Is that what you’re doing in your fitness? “I need to do at least twenty minutes of cardio twice a week” or “I need to lift three times this week for at least 45 minutes.” If so, break free of that jail cell and range free. Set specific goals, make a plan, and do what you need to do to get there. What difference does it make how much times it takes? Are you afraid it’s going to eat into your cell phone browsing time, your YouTube time, your party time, or your on-demand video binge-watching time? If you need help with your plan, sign up for Heritage Fitness and we’ll help you free of charge.
Wildwood: Explore wisdom in the margins. My father had this expression: “Sweep out the corners. The middle of the floor can take care of itself.” That’s universally a wise expression. Wisdom isn’t facts — that’s knowledge. Wisdom is knowing what to do. Push your survival wisdom out onto the edge. Sure, you know the twelve most common knots. But can you tie them while lying on your back? In half light? With gloves on? With extremely small or large types of cordage? Can you find animal sign in dry, barren places? Scrounge up survival food in winter? Have a positive outlook even when conditions are ideal? If so, you’d better do something about that. Practice your skills in the margins. Need a training plan? Sign up here, it’s free.
Spirit: Are you “fairweather faithful?” Are you one of those people who has faith in a higher power as long as things are going well — but as soon as things go wrong, it all falls apart? Faith is not “believing in something without proof.” Faith is “trusting in God completely.” God is not a vending machine. You don’t pay out worship and then get rewards. God’s plan is complicated, way too complicated for us to understand. So, when you pray, you mustn’t request or expect wish fulfillment. At any given moment there are a billion other people praying for things that conflict with what you want. Pray for peace, for reconciliation, for acceptance. “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4: 6-7. Does this seem insurmountable? Do you need help with your faith? Join us for Holy Communion on Sunday or schedule a pastoral counseling session here.