What is the weekly mettle maker? It’s a weekly shot in the arm, a semi-fortnightly kick in the pants — your helpful heckler, hammering away at you to stop hemming and hawing and hurdle headlong into becoming your own hero!
Steps and Stairs: Mettle Maker #300
Self-defense: Work on your footwork. Watch the video on the left and then put in a few rounds practicing the maneuvers with which you are least familiar, experimenting with them to discover which are best under which circumstances, armed or unarmed, etc. Try them out while hitting your heavy bag empty-handed and with your mock weapons and see what works. I could tell you, but self-discovery is the best way to learn.
Click here to view the original article courtesy of Hathi Trust (digitized by Google)
Fitness : Are you as fit as a 13-year-old boy in 1945? Today we’re calling back mettle maker #146. It’s an adorable little fitness drill called the “Army’s Daily Dozen” from the Boy’s Fun Book of Things to Make an Do (Grosset & Dunlap, New York 1945) pages 142-143. Beginners, do perhaps 10 of each. Intermediate, do half. Advanced players, try ripping out the whole enchilada. If you get it all in under 25:56 you got me beat.
40 Burpees (no hop, no Push-up)
25 High Jumpers (a.k.a Standing Broad Jump)
25 Squat Benders (Squat, then touch toes)
25 Rowing Exercise (a.k.a. Jackknifes)
25 Sit-ups with Plough (dead stop after each Plough)
25 Push-ups (narrow)
30 Banks Twists (a.k.a. Windshield Wipers, over-back = 1)
25 Side Benders (look at the drawing and good luck!)
25 8-Count Push-ups (Burpee with 2 Push-ups and no hop)
25 Squat Jumps (Split Jump Squats w/ hands on head)
Stationary Run (100 taps of each foot)
25 Trunk Twisters (Windmills, elbow to knee, 25/side)Regardless of which program you’re in, be it Heritage Self-Defense or Heritage Fitness, watch the video on the right and get ‘er done. If you’re new around here, we call these things constitutionals. Interested in one of our free programs? Click here to sign up for Heritage Self-defense, or check out the also-free Heritage Fitness Distance Learning Program . Did I mention they’re free?
The creaky stairs leading to and from my office. I love trying to go up and down them silently.
Wildwood: Practice your skulking. Maybe you don’t go hunting every day (or at all!). Maybe when you do hunt, you do so from a blind or from a tree stand. Whatever your reasons for lack of regular skulking practice, don’t take your skills for granted. Moving as slowly and as silently as possible for 100 yards is, in it’s own unique way, every bit as strenuous as running a mile. Practice makes perfect. Build practice into everyday life so that you practice daily. Make it a habit to move as slowly and as quietly as possible whenever you go the kitchen for a snack, every time you go upstairs in your home, every time you take out the trash, etc. That way you’ll have be prepared to execute the skill when needed. Interested in a free earn at home program that will encourage you to practice, keep you on track, and reward you with rank bandanas? Click here to sign up for the totally-free Heritage Wildwood distance learning program.
Spirit: What does this mean? In the the Gospel of John 9:39 we read, “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’” Sit with these words for 10 minutes. Breathe deeply as you repeat them over and over. See if you can get to the bottom of what they are saying. If you get stuck, look to the bottom of this post for a hint † — but don’t cheat unless you really must.
You don’t need to go on a pilgrimage to India to sit with gurus, to go on a Zen retreat, to trek the snows of Tibet, or take ayahuasca. The Master’s words hold the deepest and most penetrating philosophical insights humanity has discovered, and they are within arm’s reach — they are in the top drawer of every nightstand in every hotel room in America, on your bookshelf, at the thrift store, and online — in the Holy Bible.
All you have to do is take the first step, and a new way of seeing will begin becoming available to you.
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† Hint: How do determine what’s important in our lives and what’s not? If that’s not enough of a hint for you, read the entire discourse here.