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Mettle Maker #392
What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
This is pretty close to my training allocation at present. What’s yours, and why?
Heritage Self-Defense: What’s your training time allocation? The amount of time you spend training on each of the various physical aspects of self-defense should be proportional to their relative effectiveness. So let’s stack up some data:
9 of 10 times, wrestler beats boxer. Don’t believe me? Read this great article by Mark Hatmaker.
Wrestlers more easily adapt to weight differences. My comparative analysis of wrestling and boxing weight classes indicates that the average wrestling weight class is 9.5 pounds vs. 7.5 for boxing. Although counterintuitive, wrestling would therefore appear to be less sensitive to size and weight disparities — and that’s a great benefit in self-defense.
Wrestling has produced more UFC champions than any other fighting discipline. Yes, even more than BJJ. If you compare grapplers vs. strikers, grapplers have held aloft far more UFC championship belts than strikers — by a 2-to-1 margin.
Grappling skills take longer to instill than striking skills, so you better get started. Almost any untrained adult male can knock you out with a punch. But the same man would have a hard time figuring out how wrestle someone into to pin or tap. It takes just months to become a competent striker, but it takes years for a boxer to become a competent wrestler. There’s never been a walk-on wrestler who was a true competitor. But examples of natural born brawlers and pro boxers who didn’t start until their 20s abound (Marciano, Norton, Willard, Firpo, etc.). Many wrestlers have become devastating strikers — Urijah Faber, Frankie Edgar, Cain Velasquez, Dan Henderson, Johny Hendricks, etc. but the reverse is rare. The only example of a striker who became a formidable grappler who comes to mind is Georges St-Pierre.
Wrestling builds greater and more complete strength and endurance than striking. I know this is contentious, and the debate rages on, but in my opinion wrestling is far more physically demanding and fitness rewarding than boxing. No boxing or striking coach ever got me close to throwing up. But a wrestling coach will hand you a bucket every time you show up (and the next day you will realize you have muscles and tendons you never knew you had). Strikers hit stuff. Wrestlers and grapplers lift, pull, explode, bridge, twist, squeeze, lug, spin, slam, and what-all.
Weapons are fun and effective, but…are increasingly banned from public spaces. Unless you’re on a camping trip or you’ve survived TEOTWAKI, your self-defense training time might be better spent on empty hand techniques.
American Rough and Tumble is the perfect mix of all these elements. It’s the most brutal and effective fighting art on the planet (this article puts Rough and Tumble at #3 behind Marine Corp LINE and IDF Krav Maga, but only because they are used in war). But don’t forget, LINE and Krav Maga don’t incorporate prevention, observation, awareness, and spiritual development — they key to avoiding as much trouble as possible.
Interested in American Rough and Tumble martial arts with a spiritual center? Join the martial arts club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage self-defense distance learning program.
Heritage Fitness: Are you using light dumbbells? I know I’ve talked about these before, but you need to develop some fitness intelligence about these things before you’re 50+ when you start to get tendonitis — everywhere. That’s what happens, by the way, when you hit your 50s. But light dumbbells are great for maintaining tendon health, and can help protect your shoulders and other joints. Need a free fitness coach to help you build a program that suits your specific needs and goals? Click here to sign up for one of our free programs!
Heritage Wildwood Outdoor Skills: Refresh your first aid skills. I’m not a doctor, nurse, EMT or first responder. You need to read and study a good first aid manual, and refresh yourself often. The American Red Cross First Aid Manual is available free online (click this link to view, print, or save on your computer). And I recommend taking a first aid course as soon as you are able as well. In the meantime, here are the first aid bullet points when someone is hurt.
* Stay calm. You’re no good if you’re flustered.
* Assess danger. Ensure the area is safe for yourself and the injured person.
* Check for a response. Ask his or her name. Squeeze hands and shoulders.
* If non-responsive, call 9-1-1 if you can.
* Place victim on his or her side in Recovery Position, upper leg bent, lower leg straight (see picture below).
* Remember ABC -- Airway, Breathing and Circulation -- in that order.
* Establish open airways. Make sure nothing is stopping up nose or mouth. If so, clear them.
* Check breathing. Look and listen for 10 seconds. Administer the Heimlich maneuver to a choking adult. If an infant or toddler is choking, place them face down on a decline with head lower than feet and carefully pat them on the back.
* If person is not choking but breathing is still not normal, start CPR if you know how. If you don’t, learn.
* If breathing is OK, check for bleeding. Apply direct pressure to open wounds.
* Assess for signs of shock: weakness, rapid heart rate, fast breathing, sweating, and confusion. If you believe the person is going into shock, cover them with whatever you have to get them warm, and elevate feet about 12 inches. Keep them talking if they are conscious. Speak soothingly and keep them calm.
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Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 10 am EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2/11/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: Lv 13:1-2, 44-46, Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11, 1 Cor 10:31—11:1, Mk 1:40-45
Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”
41 Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” 42 When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was made clean. 43 He strictly warned him and immediately sent him out, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”
45 But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.
When we are physically unwell, we go to the doctor. The doctor gives us a treatment plan appropriate to the ailment. That treatment plan may involve direct interventions, such as physical therapy, medication, surgery, and so on. But often the doctor may direct us to avoid, alter, or stop certain behaviors that affect our health. He may counsel us about smoking cessation, lack of exercise, overeating, overindulgence in alcohol, and so forth. In other words, the doctor will sometimes politely point out that we are more than a little responsible for our own condition.
Being sick can be something that just happens to us, like a piano falling on our heads from a second story window. But often we stand under the piano and swing it back and forth, confident that the rope will hold, and then wonder why we get crushed.
We can’t tempt fate and then blame something outside ourselves for our condition. Nor can we just sit there and wait to get well. We have to engage in our health journey. Once we've admitted we're sick, we go to the doctor and ask for help. Then we take the remedy and change the negative behaviors that contributed to getting sick in the first place.
Let us consider leprosy as a metaphor for a spiritual ailment. Like the leper in our Old Testament reading, we should first be willing to admit we’re spiritually sick, and willing also to set ourselves apart so that we don’t infect others with our disordered attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. But that will only get us so far. Next we have to be like the leper in our Gospel reading. We must to go to Jesus and beg for help. Then we must try to be receptive to what he says and change our behaviors – we need to try, as hard as we can, to avoid, alter, or stop the negative behaviors that adversely affect our spiritual health.
Once we’ve gotten as healthy as we can get, we should endeavor to be nurses in God’s church, which is a hospital for sinners. As St. Paul said, we need to be good caregivers, doing “everything for the glory of God,” not seeking our own benefit “but that of the many, that they may be saved.” (1 Cor 10:31 – 11:1).