As we announced a couple of weeks back…
We’re making just one weekly blog post with everything included. You’ll get the weekly Mettle Maker that used to be posted on Saturdays, plus the weekly Holy Communion all in one.
Mettle Maker #313
Self-defense: Try the 10-min Heavy Bag Power & Balance Drill (left). You’ll be surprised how much harder it is to balance when your CNS is stressed. Be aware of this in the event you’re in a situation that requires switching rapidly back and forth between fight and escape. Want more training tips and drills in a structured format? Get with the program! Check our our free distance learning program here.
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Fitness: After the heart attack last year I kind of gave up on my goal of putting wind under a 200 lb. stone. But you know what? Momma didn’t raise no quitter. So I’m going all-in with a new program designed to help me get an insufferably heavy rock off the ground (see overview on the right).
To be clear, this 16-week cycle isn’t designed to get me to the goal of 200 lbs, it’s designed to get me to the next level (whatever that is). My current max sandbag lift to chest is 145 for three reps, and my best ever sandbag walk is 155 lbs (Bear Hug Carry for 25 yards on 5/13/21).
I’m going to attempt to do this in a way that defies the conventional strong-man wisdom, which is that you have to sling a great deal of heavy iron in order to lift big rocks. Here are some of my basic assumptions when creating the program:
Performance is specific and not very transferable. Therefore, the way to get better at lifting stones is to lift stones. Most of the program consists of picking up sandbags (later, rocks — I have to build them first). Sprinting doesn’t help marathon runners and marathons don’t help sprinters. Why should lifting barbells help me lift rocks? The only barbell lift in the program is Thrusters because they most closely approximate stone lifting (pick up object from ground and get it to your chest).
Calisthenics are essential. One of the things that has become very clear — to me, Mark Hatmaker (see his Unleaded program), and to the scientific world — is that calisthenics and other gymnastic-like movements, are an important part of true, all-around strength. to whit:
Closed chain kinetic exercises (exercises where the whole body is involved, like calisthenics) force your body to work as a whole unit, while open chain exercises (bicep curls and isolation exercises) target one or two specific muscles.
Calisthenics promote improved proprioception (awareness of body movement) which is strength in action rather than in a vacuum.
Calisthenics demonstrate higher motor unit recruitment (number of muscle cells engaged in the activity) than many other forms of exercises, which results in faster and greater muscle growth.
Here’s a nice overview of what’s at issue.
I’ll blog my results as we go forward. Want help designing a fitness program that suits your needs? Sign up for our free distance learning program.
Wildwood. Do you keep an emergency fishing kit in your first aid kit? If not, you should. See photo of mine on the left — everything fits in a little lip balm tin. On the left side, sitting in the lid, is a mini primitive fishing rig. That’s about 7’ of line wrapped around a scrap of stick. Instead of hook you’ll see a tiny stick that’s pointed on both ends which serves as a hook if you don’t have one. Inside the tin you see two hooks with weights and leaders, one small, one medium. When everything’s tucked in, that hunk of wine cork fits right on top in case I need or want to fashion a bobber. Want to learn more about survival? Sign up for our free Wildwood distance learning program.
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 17, 2022
Readings: Gn 18:1-10a, Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 5, Col 1:24-28, Lk 10:38-42
Lk 10:25-37 World English Bible (Catholic Edition)
38 As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”
41 Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Isn’t it miraculous, brothers and sisters, how much meaning is packed into the stories of Jesus life and works? In this short anecdote from Luke 10, barely a hundred words in length, there so many messages for us.
Historically and prophetically, this passage shows that Jesus knew he wasn’t long for the world. He supports and justifies Mary shirking her chores to take advantage of receiving his teaching while there’s still time. And he encourages Martha to do the same. We can imagine, can’t we, after Jesus’ crucifixion, Martha ends up wishing she has been a good deal more like Mary! And this is also a warning to humanity, isn’t it? That we should all take the time to sit down at the feet of the Lord, Master and Savior Jesus Christ while we have time? For time is surely running out for each and every one of us to repent and believe in the Gospel before we go to our graves. And that’s a powerful message for sure.
But what I most want to focus on in today’s reading is its message of interiority and anti-materialism. When Martha is frustrated about Mary not helping with the chores, she asks Jesus to make her help. Isn’t that the way it always is? For some people life is just easier. I know people like that. Money just seems to fall from the sky, good fortune follows them, they don’t need to prepare or to struggle. And it’s easy to be jealous like Martha, isn’t it? We want them to have to struggle as hard as we do. We want the world to take them down a notch. But Jesus says that we shouldn’t see things that way.
Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.” He seems to be saying that there are many things that we have to do in our workaday lives. We have to do our chores, and make a living, and pay our bills, and take out the trash. We have to worry about our personal appearance, and we have to keep up appearances – we have to entertain our bosses, and host parties and holidays, and so on. We have to worry about money, and retirement, all of that. The list of things we have to be worried about is endless.
But in the end, only one thing is truly essential: that we listen to the teaching of the Lord. Because when we listen to his teachings, it directs how we do all of those other things. When we put the world second and really sit at the feet of the Lord, all of those other activities are redefined and properly ordered by his needs.
And therefore, although we are faulty and imperfect, we can at least fulfill all of our ever-multiplying obligations in the most Christ-like manner possible.