Holy Communion - 9/12/21

Join us today as we celebrate Holy Communion for the Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, 9/12/21. To follow along at home, click here and print the Holy Communion Program.

If you would like to have prayers offered for you, a loved one, a friend, for someone who is suffering, ill or who has departed, please email Archdeacon Mitch at mitch@heritageartsinc.com and we will pray for you.

You’ll notice a new painting on the wall behind the altar and some new stained glass. If you’d like to assist in the beautification of St. Barachiel Chapel, please click here to make a donation.

Seasons: Mettle Maker #276

Note: The weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.

Seasons: Mettle Maker #276

  • Self-Defense: Grappling/clinching skill and fitness. The upcoming week’s focus is grappling/clinching. Near-perfect technique and real fitness are required to overcome a taller and/or heavier adversary. Constitutionals are the answer. Here’s a grappling-specific one. Work it with perfect form: 25 reps each of Bag Lifts, Russian Squats, Shoulder Rolls, Duck-unders, Shots, Sprawls, and Bodybuilders. If you don’t know what these exercises are, watch the video below. Want more martial arts? Join our free distance learning program or come train with us on Tues and Thurs nights from 6 - 7 PM at West End Manor Civic Association, 8600 Lakefront Drive, Richmond VA 23294.

  • Fitness: What’s your prehab plan? Many folks have recurring flare-ups, re-injuries, and syndromes, such as ITB pain, various types of tendonitis, and so forth. As discussed last week, overtraining is common and is a leading contributor to these recurrences. Have you reviewed and analyzed your training journals to see what you were doing in the weeks leading up to your injuries and find the causes? Have made changes to your program to prevent future recurrences? Perhaps most important of all, have you put a prehab plan in place to address the underlying strength deficiencies? I just put a prehab plan in place after my second flare-up of wrist pain in connection with martial arts weapon training — see below. If you need assistance with doing this kind of analysis and implementation, sign up for the Heritage Fitness program. It’s totally free (we’re a non-profit, remember?).

  • Wildwood: Fall is coming — do you know what that means? A silly question? Not really. Do you know what date marks the beginning of fall? Do you know which trees are the first to change color in your area? Do you know which edible nuts are the first to fall, roughly when they’ll drop, and how to harvest and prepare them? Do you know how long they’ll keep in the shell? Watch the video below for more info, and if this sort of thing is your cup of tea, sign up for the free Wildwood program.

  • Spirit: Seasons come and go, ever-repeating. Are you stuck in an endless loop just like the seasons, or are you moving forward in your spiritual practice? “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” That’s Ecclesiastes 3:15, and if you can come to an understanding of its meaning perhaps you can make a huge spiritual leap forward. Meditate on this scripture. And if you get stuck, watch the video below, and consider joining us at Heritage Spirit for weekly online church.


Quizzical: Mettle Maker #275

Note: The weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.

Quizzical: Mettle Maker #275

  • Self-Defense: Take the attached self-defense quiz. CLICK HERE. Nothing fancy, just twelve short questions, but it’s a nice place to start.

  • Fitness: Are you running in the redline too often? Overtraining is common. Most people think they need to train harder when actually they need to train smarter. Answer these five questions and let’s see where you are. 1. Have you had two or more training injuries in the last three years? 2. Have you had more than one bout of tendonitis in the last three years? 3. In the past month, have you been so sore from training that it affected your choice of activities? 4. Have you taken OTC pain relievers after a training session in the last month? 5. Are you sore or injured right now? If you answered “yes” to 3 or more questions you might be overtraining. Click here to sign up for the free Heritage Fitness Program.

  • Wildwood: Do you know the survival formula? When disaster strikes and confusion rears its head, you can regain control by completing a quick seven-point rundown of your situation. If you can’t, you should learn it now. Answers at the bottom of the page.

  • Spirit: What’s your purpose? Everybody has a purpose, even if they don’t realize what it is. So sit down and figure out yours. What are you working for or toward? Are you trying to get to the next payday, the next drink, the next drug score, the next sexual partner, the next delicious meal, gadget, toy, video game, car, or motorcycle? The next promotion, trophy, ribbon, or touchdown? When you have your purpose figured out, ask yourself if it’s finite — like all of the things listed above — or something infinite, like being the best parent, husband, brother, sister, son, daughter, citizen or servant of God that you can be? The ancients had a word for people who were focused on the finite. They called them “idol worshippers” and they were very clear that if you worship tangible things you’ll end up in hell. Did they mean “hell” literally or figuratively? Perhaps both. If the various addictions aren’t hell — drugs, alcohol, porn, entertainment, power, and so on — I don’t know what is. There’s another way to live your life. Join us at Heritage Spirit to find out more.

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The Survival Rundown

1.Safey 2.First Aid 3.Shelter 4.Water 5.Fire 6.Food 7.Fun

First get out of danger, then apply first aid to any injuries. Next make sure you have shelter — not just from weather but from other dangers also, like humans, insects, predators, etc. Next you need water, followed by fire, food, and lastly fun. Why fun? You have to keep your attitude positive and your heart engaged. Negativity, hopelessness and fear will wear you down faster than you think!

Hawk's Cry: Mettle Maker #274

If you’re new in these here parts, the weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.

Hawk’s Cry: Mettle Maker #274

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: If you can’t run and you’re forced into a physical self-defense situation, what are the three things you must do? Stop and really think about this. Answers at the bottom of the page. Next week is general self-defense week at Heritage Self-Defense. You gotta know — and practice! — this stuff.

  • 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: Why should you know the cry of a hawk? The more predators the more prey, so lots of hawks in the area means lots of survival food for you. If you see a hawk making small circles at a couple of hundred feet you can be sure there is small game very close. But often you will hear hawks at off times, when they are not hunting, and thus be assured that they are nesting nearby. Hawks are ambush hunters — they cry to warn other hawks to stay out of their territory and during mating, not when attacking. Here’s the cry of a red-shouldered hawk I spotted just this week.

  • Spirit: That which has been is now. Beauty, truth, and salvation itself, are in the things you have put off, crowded out, and chased away. Watch the video below.

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The 3 Things You Must Do in a Self-Defense Situation

1. Yell, don’t scream.

2. Deliver short, continuous blows from a low center of mass.

3. Move in, move in, move in!

Avoid conflict at all cost. But if you have to fight for your life, be like a freight train — loud, heavy, and moving forward on a rail!

The 3 Essentials of Training Program Design

A basic periodized training plan (courtesy of Ballard referenced below)

You can, in point of fact, teach an old dog new tricks. I’ve gotten older, made the same mistake many times and learned the hard way, and this year I hit 60. My body, like an old motor that has lost its compression, produces far less horsepower. It flat out refuses to train with high volume. Recovery time is longer. And so forth.

In short, the tolerances of the system are far more narrow.

I have had to apply everything I’ve learned over the last 10 years in order to stay fit enough to do martial arts and spar with people in their 20s.

Here are some of the hard-won lessons (should I have used the word “lesion” instead of “lesson?”) that I encourage you to keep in mind as you design your training programs:

  1. There is a huge difference between traditional periodicity (TP), linear progression (LP), and undulating periodicity (UP). Here is a fun little 116-page read by Keith Ballard Painter called A Practical Comparison Between Traditional Periodization and Daily-Undulated Weight Training Among Collegiate Track and Field Athletes that explains some of this (thanks Keith, you’re the man). UP is better than nothing and LP is better than UP, but TP wins with a mic drop.¹

  2. Time spent on the non-essential isn’t just time wasted — it’s actually time stolen from your focus. If you have 8 hours of training time available in a week — 3 for strength and fitness and 5 for your athletic focus — and you spend 1 hour on stuff that is no benefit, you didn’t just waste an hour. You also stole an hour from your athletic endeavor of choice. Focus is everything. Thanks to the immortal Mark Hatmaker for this nugget.

  3. Injuries are proof of overtraining. Sure, accidents happen. But 9 times out of 10, if you get injured during training it’s because you’ve been overtraining.

This has taken years of hard knocks and injuries to learn.

Like you, I’m not a professional athlete. I’m just a guy who wants to be as fit he can be until they put me in casket.

If you let me help you, we can put together a training program that takes you to new heights. Sign up for the free Heritage Fitness program and let’s get started.

¹ There’s a lot wrong with the following blog post from back in 2016, but it’s kind of funny and it shows how hard you have to work at your craft if you’re going to get good at it. I’ve come a long way since then. Lessons learned!

Original Post from 2016:

Periods, Cycles and the Power of Greyskull

Posted on April 6, 2016 | 5 Comments |

About a month ago my son told me he started a new weightlifting program called the Greyskull LP by John “Johnny Pain” Sheaffer.¹  I was intrigued, so I did some research.

This is one hilarious picture (thanks to Matthew Oliphant, whoever you are). I can’t believe how perfect it is for this blog post!

My research revealed two things.  (A) The Greyskull LP program is highly regarded by many experts, and (B) the science of strength and muscle hypertrophy  has progressed a great deal since I got my fitness instructor certificate about ten years ago.

So I started the program, modified slightly for dumbbells because that’s what I have and I don’t want to spend money and space on barbells.  Results are amazing. Only three weeks in, and I’m already pushing more iron that I ever have before.

Which brings me to another realization.  The “LP” in “Greyskull LP” stands for “Linear Progression” and it’s probably what makes the program so effective.

 Linear progressions, clipboards, and rigid systems have not been my thing.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely rigid about my workout schedules.  I don’t skip workouts and I repeatedly have to check myself to prevent over-training.  But for many years, at least since 2013, I have been rolling dice to arrive most aspects of my solo workouts (except for grip strength).  Does that give me good all-around fitness?  Probably.  Does it help prepare me for anything, in true martial arts fashion?  Maybe.  But random workouts cannot  match the consistent gains of progressive, period-ized workout programs (especially when it comes to weight training).

Bottom line: I recommend a mix of progressive, random and static or maintenance workouts, depending on the goal or goals.  

Here’s what my workout schedule looks like right now.  I’ve added colors and the letters “STA,” “LP” and “RND” or “MIX” after each section so that you can see which ones are which type.  Red blocks are static or maintenance workouts, green are progressive, and yellow are random or mixed.

My training plan back in April 2016.

I’d be interested in the opinions of other martial artists.  How do you train? In your opinion, am I on the right track or lost in the weeds?

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¹ My understanding is that the program is called the Greyskull (with an “e” instead of an “a” to avoid copyright issues) because it makes you look like He-Man.

Holy Communion 8/22/21

Holy Communion is now available for viewing and home participation — video below. If you’d like to follow along and say your parts, click this link to print the program for use each Sunday. Note that the program changes for special occasions, as well as during Christmastide and Eastertide.

The text of today’s homily is presented at the bottom of the post. Yours in Christ,

Deacon Mitch



Today’s Homily

Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday 8/22/21

(Readings: Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b, Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21, Eph 5:2a, 25-32, Jn 6:60-69)

Friends, today we are here together truly as brothers and sisters in Christ.  St. Paul says to his Ephesian flock that this is ‘a great mystery’ that we are to be subordinate to one another as brothers and sisters in the family of the Church which is wedded to Christ.  In the spirit of our brother and sisterhood, let’s collectively ponder and perhaps penetrate this mystery.

Together we read of Joshua addressing all the tribes of Israel, and how, in their view, God had guided them through all kinds of adversity, trials and tribulations.  And therefore, they God their worshipful service.  And that’s good – we should be thankful and serve God – but that transactional way of thinking can only take us so far.

It is indeed a hard teaching, a hard and painful pill to swallow, that we can serve God with our whole heart, soul and mind and still things can and often do go wrong.  The workings of God, his plans and designs, are beyond our ability to comprehend.  Our assignment is to internalize and elevate our behavior and our faith such that we are united in our thoughts, desires, actions and beliefs even when terrible adversity enters our lives.  The Eucharist, the rite of bread and wine which Jesus emphatically stresses in today’s Gospel reading, is the act of accepting the living Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into ourselves at a level that is incomprehensibly deep – at once both physical and spiritual.  The Church is wedded to Christ, “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health” no matter what, even when tragedy and hardship assail us.  And the Eucharist is the wedding feast we must all attend.

All of this is sewed up most beautifully in Mt 5:43-45.

 

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,[o] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Mt. 5:43-48

Quantum: Mettle Maker #273

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!

Chapel Improvements this Month

I've been working on some stained glass for the windows of the chapel. I really want to make it more lovely so that it sparkles on YouTube. More to come!

Reflex and Reflect: Mettle Maker #272

As mentioned previously, the weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.

There are weekly cycles in the self-defense curriculum by the way, and the mettle maker’s self-defense portion will have them in mind. First full week of the month is striking focused, second is grappling/clinching, third is wrestling, fourth is weapons, and if there is a fifth split week at the end of a given month, it will be devoted to general self-defense (awareness, prevention, avoidance, de-escalation, and escape). Mettle makers release on Saturdays, the final day of a given week, but they will reference the upcoming focus so that, if you are running your own training circle, you can fold them in. Capiche?

Without further delay, we humbly present…

Reflex and Reflect: Mettle Maker #272

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.  

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  1. Self-Defense: Throw to ground flow. Get a partner or your grappling dummy (that’s my pal Larry there on the right). Execute a either Shoulder Throw or Hip Throw and immediately transition to a hold, lock, shin ride with punches, etc. Do this for two rounds. If you’re working with a partner, switch roles after each sequence. If you don’t know these methods, and/or if none of this makes any sense at all, consider enrolling in the Heritage Self-Defense distance learning program.

  2. 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.

  3. Wildwood: Track yourself . Go for a nice, relaxing stroll on a trail at the park, in a patch of woods near your home, around your property, etc. — not on concrete or asphalt. Go nice and slow. Stop to investigate things. Smell a flower, pick up a leaf or a feather. After a few minutes, turn around and track yourself back to your starting place. Look for the places where you knelt down, reached up, changed direction, and so forth. What did your tracks do when you did those things?

  4. Spirit: Let go of dead things. You would never allow a dead thing to rot inside your home or in your car. How many times have you seen the image of a ghost or zombie surprising someone in bed? The idea of being close to the reek of death creates intense revulsion. And yet many of us cling to useless junk, drive around with negative thoughts and viewpoints in the passenger seat, and snuggle up with decay of all kinds. Ditch the clutter and clean up your basement, your closet, your desk. Let go of failed projects, bad ideas, and deadly habits. Many years ago, when I was quitting smoking, if I slipped up and bought a pack of cigarettes I would say, “I’ll finish the pack and then I’ll quit again.” One day, after yet another lapse, I realized that I was literally holding onto a time bomb. I threw out a pack with 19 smokes in it, and I did that every time a slipped until I quit. Are you nurturing resentment, driving around with road rage, walking through life with hateful thoughts? Reflect on this. If something is dead or deadly, let it go.

Heritage: Mettle Maker #271

I promised the new brand would drop on 8/7 and here it is:

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The non-profit has been renamed Heritage Arts, Inc. And as of today, all of my projects are being run for free under the Heritage Arts banner.

Cabal Fang is now Heritage Self-Defense. The program has been streamlined, improved, and is better than ever! Any and all fitness content that wasn't martial-arts-relevant has been moved into the new Heritage Fitness program.

Bobcat Martial Arts has been dissolved. The martial arts material has been folded into to the Heritage Self-Defense program, and the outdoor skills material has been spun off into a dedicated nature appreciation and survival program called Heritage Wildwood.

The old temple space has been renamed St. Barachiel Chapel. Starting soon, church services will be broadcast online from the Chapel.

My YouTube channel has been renamed Heritage Arts, I'll be getting a new "@heritageartsinc.com" email address, this blog will eventually be moved to the Heritage Arts website, and I'm sure there will be more cascading affects that I haven't even realized yet.

Onward and upward!

Heritage: Mettle Maker #271

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.  

  1. Self-Defense: A grappling fitness constitutional, pyramid-style. Set timer for 8 mins. Climb the pyramid until it timer beeps (1 of each, 2 of each, 3 of each, etc.). Finish the set you're on and then descend. We did this one at the club Thursday night and it took us about 15 minutes. Exercises as follows: Russian Squats, Hip Throws (w/ heavy bag), Shots, Crunch 'n' Punch, Push-ups, Prisoner Get-ups, and Shoulder Roll.

  2. Fitness: The 100 Bodybuilder challenge. Complete 100 10-count Bodybuilders in under 20 minutes. My record is 13:15. What's a 10-count Bodybuilder? Jumping Jack (1,2), squat down (3), shoot feet back to plank position (4), Push-up (5,6), feet apart (7), feet together (8), hop feet back to squat position (9) and stand up (10).

  3. Wildwood: Tracking exercise. Find or clear a patch of dirt at least a couple of feet across. Put a piece of fruit -- a grape, slice of apple, etc. -- in the center and leave it. Come back tomorrow and examine the area. What took it? Pro-tips: choose muddy ground or moisten it with a hose if its in your yard. And if you can make it back at sunrise you might be able to get more information by getting to the west of the location and looking at the surrounding area with the light reflecting off the dew by the light of the sun.

  4. Spirit: Write a prayer and say it every hour. When you're faced with a trouble or difficulty -- a work goal, a personal challenge, an addiction, a stressful situation, an unfolding calamity, a death in the family, etc. -- an hourly prayer will help. It doesn't have to be fancy, lengthy, or poetic. When I was struggling with how to solve all of the issues, goals and stressors surrounding the Heritage program, I said the following prayer every hour for a couple of days straight: "Heavenly Father, help me to remember that every human activity is an opportunity to usher Christ into the world, that I might bring forth Christ in my every thought, word, desire and deed. Through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, Amen."

Critical: Mettle Maker #265

From the founder’s blog:

As a manager at my day job, I have a rule that I got from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, which is that 4-out-of-5 interactions should be positive. That way people are excited to hear from you, receptive to what you have to say, and primed to become friends, associates, customers, and team members.

Do the 4-out-of-5-thing with yourself. Make notes in your training journal to reflect your successes and PRs. Note your milestones, goals achieved, and all of that. But you had better be critical as well.

There's real power in realizing that you really aren't all that amazing.

In my work as Christian apologist, seminarian, and deacon -- and just in everyday life -- I've noticed that many people who are critical of Christianity are folks who want to create a safety bubble of like-minded people around themselves in which nobody is threatened or criticized. All criticism is directed outward at the "other." And when they criticize Christianity, I hear them say that Christianity creates a false sense of sin and guilt and then provides a make-believe solution in the form of forgiveness, salvation, and redemption.

I know this because I said those things myself after I lost my faith. Thank God I got it back. But I quickly noticed that there are a lot of complacent Christians create their little safety bubbles too. In their bubbles, everyone is Christian (perhaps even of their own denomination) and everyone outside it is the evil "other."

To hell with safety bubbles.

If you're sufficiently self-critical -- if you're doing the work of being the best person you can possibly be -- then you are staring into the darkness of yourself and seeing some ugly things. You should feel the need to repent, to be washed clean, absolved, forgiven, saved and redeemed. And from time to time, you should need a life-line to prevent descent into self-loathing. I pray for the peace of non-Christians doing the work, because I'm not sure how that's done.

But if you're okay with who you are, and if everyone in your circle is also okay as they are, then sin, repentance, absolution and all of that either looks really stupid (atheists) or already handled (complacent Christians). Not much is getting done on the self-improvement horizon.

Believe or don't believe in the reality of Christ. I hope you will. But either way, be critical of yourself and see past bubbles.

Critical: Mettle Maker #265

  1. Warm-up before training. To avoid injuries, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes before you train. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

  2. Can you manage your body weight or not? 4 sets of Chin-ups, Front Lunge (martial artists do them DDU-style), Bear Walks (5 yards), and Shoulder Rolls. If this is your your MBF for today, do 4 reps/set slowly with perfect form. If more intensity is needed or desired based on your training cycle and approach, increase the reps/set. Don't know what some these abbreviations? Ask in the comments or schedule a call.

  3. Can you hit stuff or not? Set timer for 3 x 3:00/1:00. Round 1: Lead hand straight Palm Strike once, Reverse Punch; lead hand straight Palm Strike twice, Reverse Punch; lead hand straight Palm Strike three times, Reverse Punch. Repeat. Whenever you gas, change stance. Round 2: Same as first round, except alternate straight and hooking lead hand Palm Strikes. Round 3: all Palm strikes, alternating lead and reverse hand, in ascending count sets -- 1 strike, skip a beat; 2 strikes, beat, 3 strikes, beat; then 4.

  4. "Aggumplish" something you've been "slothilizing."¹ You can't run a marathon without practice or deadlift twice your bodyweight without ever having picked up something heavy. But if you've been practicing a long time toward a goal that has been just out of reach, it might be time to push through and just get it done. This week I ripped off the bandaid on two scores -- I played my first guitar solo and finally got my rope climbed. See video below for details.

  5. Look at yourself for 10 minutes. This month's spiritual symbol is the Candle and the associated activity is meditation. Last week we used sound as a meditative tool. This week we're using a visual technique instead of an auditory one. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Assume your meditative posture of choice, calm your breathing to a slow and steady rhythm, and do not fidget, wiggle or scratch (meditation is a mental exercise, but it's also about developing control over your instincts and reflexes). Keeping your eyes open, imagine a translucent screen in front of you, and on that screen is a movie of your life. It's playing backwards starting right now. Watch that movie unfold. Do not think in words -- only images. Just like a real movie at the theater, it will skip certain chunks of time, but that's okay. Keep going back, back, back. You might get back to last week, last month, college or pre-school. That's okay, everybody's different. When the timer beeps, analyze what you saw. What did you like? What did you not like? Write down what you want to change in your training journal.


¹ Remember sniglets, created by Rich Hall?  Hilarious stuff.  What's a sniglet?  "A word that doesn't appear in the dictionary but should."  Aggumplish is a mix of gumption and accomplish.  If you can't figure out slothilize I can't help you.


Sing Your Song: Mettle Maker #264

Sing Your Song: Mettle Maker #264

  • Hum your solfège before you break out into song. To avoid injuries, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes before you train. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

  • Wreck your rhythm. Disrupt your form by picking up an awkward object, like a hiking stick or water bottle, and go for a run. It’s amazing how a little thing can make such a big difference in terms of cadence and therefore, energy demand. Try it!

  • When it comes to your favorite weapon, change your tune. With weapon in hand, can you safely run and perform key maneuvers like shoulder roll, side deadfall, forward dive, baseball slide, etc.? If not, you should probably pause working on your fancy techniques and interpretive dance moves and start figuring it out. If you can’t move with your knife, stick, tomahawk, gun, or what-have-you without killing yourself, that’s an issue. Put in 10 minutes of movement practice with a dull/dummy version of your weapon. Count the number of faults — times you touch yourself with the business end or point the weapon at yourself. When your 10 minutes are up, perform 50 Push-ups for each fault. For more help and guidance, sign up for the Bobcat Frontier Martial Arts Program.

  • Learn a bird song. This is a Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) that I identified using the Cornel Ornithology Lab’s free Birdnet app. The single “weep” call at dawn or twilight is indicative of a calm area free of aggression by other birds or predators. Learning bird calls brings your landscape alive. CLICK TO LISTEN

  • Sing a new psalm. This month’s spiritual symbol is the Candle. The wick runs through a candle the same way your spine runs through your body, and the flame at the top of the candle is analogous to enlightenment. Try lighting your fire with meditative singing. Chant or sing a piece of beloved scripture and see what happens to your head. If you’re new to this, you’ll likely feel a little peculiar. But if you stick with daily practice, in a few short weeks you will likely come to appreciate its affects. I’ve pasted the words to one of my favorites below, as well as an audio recording. A sung hymn, psalm or other “mantra” easily triggers a positively altered mental state. Get there.

PSALM 24, RESPONSORIAL FORM

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Audio Player

Ruffle: Mettle Maker #262

¹ruffle \rəf·əl\  vb 1. to roughen or abrade 2. to stand up (as in feathers or a collar) 3. to flip through as in the pages of a book 4. to fold back and forth in accordion fashion

²ruffle \rəf·əl\  n 1. a state or cause of agitation 2. a commotion or brawl 3. a surface disturbance ie. a ripple  4. a strip of fabric pleated on one edge 5. a low vibrating drumbeat

Yesterday was Patrick Henry's birthday.  I'm a big fan.  I went to visit his house at Scotchtown last year.  Henry was a contrarian and an expert at ruffling feathers.  In honor of Patrick Henry's birthday yesterday, allow me to ruffle your feathers with some of my favorite contrarian quotes from history and fiction.

  • “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” ~Patrick Henry, Patrick Henry, Champion of Liberty

  • "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and generally more useful." ~Mark Rippetoe

  • "When deep space exploration ramps up, it will be the corporations that name everything, the Microsoft Galaxy, the IBM stellar sphere, Planet Starbucks... " ~Narrator, Fight Club

  • "We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra. Martha Stewart." ~Narrator, Fight Club

  • "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

  • "Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character." ~Winston Wolfe, Pulp Fiction

  • "I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it." ~Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

  • "You don't win wars with niceness, doctor. You win wars with guts." ~Col. Chester Phillips, Captain America: The First Avenger

  • "When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. But lawyers have other strategies including buying a stronger whip, changing riders, declaring that the horse is better, faster and cheaper dead, and finally, harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed." Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, The Wall Street Journal, 2/18/99

Ruffle: Mettle Maker #262

  • Warm up before you train. To avoid injuries, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes before you train. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF. Here's a fun MBF warm-up: 8 minutes of low-intensity 4-rep sets of HSPU, Shots, Spike Sprawls, and Shoulder Rolls.

  • Don't "work out." Train. If you don't have a plan or you're just doing something to burn calories, you are "working out." Stop. Think about where you want to go and devise a plan to get there. What are the fundamental movements, fitness requirements, and success indicators in your martial art or sport endeavor? What are you doing to tailor your training to suit them? If you're stuck, start here.

  • Read a book. Research indicates that reading rewires and strengthens the mind, increases empathy, builds vocabulary, fights cognitive decline, reduces stress, aids sleep, alleviates depression, and lengthens lifespan. Read more here. I read three in the last two weeks -- A Pilgrim's Guide to the Old Catholic Church, Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies, and Relation of Virginia: A Boy's Memoir of Life with the Powhatans and the Patawomecks. If you want to read a book a week, you're going to have to put down your cell phone, power off your Switch, and close your laptop. Get there.

  • Go outside in the rain. Look, the holes are in bottom of your nose and your skin is uniquely suited prevent absorption of falling water. I promise that, no matter how stupid you are or how wet you get, you will neither drown nor stay wet forever. Few things are better for mood and resilience than cultivating the ability take joy in inclement weather. Get dirty!

  • Practice contemplation -- one of the four essential methods of spiritual development. Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to dissipate like ripples on a pond and your mind to approach a state of calm and relaxed awareness. Do not think at all, but especially not in words -- do not evaluate, judge, make lists, fixate on emotions, let your mind wander, or any of that. Just breathe and be. Start with 5 minutes and work your way up to 20 minutes. Eventually you should be able to do this for an hour if so desire.

Walk the Earth: Mettle Maker #260

Cockspur Hawthorn a.k.a. Crataegus crus-galli

Walk the Earth: Mettle Maker #260

  • Before you train, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF. Here's a fun MBF warm-up: 8 minutes of as low-intensity 4-rep sets of HSPU, Shots, Spike Sprawls, and Side Deadfalls.

  • Farmer walks to the death. I had been on a weightlifting plateau for a bit. But when I took the advice of the legendary Dan John and expanded my heavy carries to include farmer walks (I've been doing Bearhug Carry for a couple of years -- see below) all my numbers starting going up again. Plateau broken! Here's a good Farmer Walk program: Train every other day. Start with a light weight. Walk off 25 yards, rest 1 minute, walk 25 yards, rest 1 minute and then walk as far as you can ("to the death"). Next session, add 5 lbs to each side. When you get to a point where you can't get 3 x 25 yards, de-load 10% and start the progression again. Pro tip: Bend your knees when you pick up the weights, as if you're deadlifting.

  • Circumnavigate your opponent's jab. Try this jab counterpunch drill on your heavy bag. Set timer for rounds of 3:00/1:00 and practice your L. Jab counters -- just make sure you really imagine that hand coming at you. Round 1: Slide inside to avoid opponent's jab as you fire your own jab back at his nose. Next iteration, Jab twice. Next iteration after that, Jab thrice. Then reset to 1 Jab and continue. Assuming you're a righty, you should be circling the bag in a clockwise direction. Round 2: Slip outside and Jab to "the mark" (solar plexus), and come back with an Right Hook to the body and a Left Hook to the jaw. Round 3: Slip outside and Jab to "the mark" (solar plexus), then weave inside and fire a 1-2 to his nose. If you're still feeling chipper, switch stance and do all three rounds again with hands reversed. If none of this makes sense, sounds like you could stand to take one of my classes or sign up for one of my distance learning programs (see below).

  • Go on a wild plant walk. Why? So you can impress your friends and wow the ladies with your cool horticultural know-how, of course! But mainly to build a connection with the world around you, to get out from in front of your laptop screen, and to maybe save yourself in a survival situation. Get yourself a sturdy blank book (or make one out of paper grocery bags like I did) and start pasting in leaves and adding sketches. You'll know hundreds of species before you know it. Get dirty!

  • Walk the earth. This month's spiritual symbol is The Staff. All of the figures from history, myth and fiction who carry a staff -- Moses, Aaron from the Bible, Gandalf, Rafiki, Hermes with this caduceus, the Hermit card from your Tarot deck, and so forth -- walk the earth with integrity, chastity, poverty and obedience. Integrity is the condition that manifests when you are unified in your thoughts, desires, actions and beliefs. Poverty is the state of putting material possessions, money, and worldly things at the bottom of your attention. Chastity is the healthy ordering of your sexual desires. Obedience is alignment of one's entire being with Logos -- the Divine Order of the Cosmos -- or Christ. And here's the incredible thing: if you do those four things, nothing else matters. Remember in Pulp Fiction when Jules says "I'm going to walk the earth" and Vincent says "you're going to be a bum"? Jules has seen and acknowledged a miracle, and he can't go back. He has apprehended the ultimate truth, which is simply this. It doesn't matter what you do, but rather how you do it.


Gauntlet: Mettle Maker #258

This week I'm throwing down the gauntlet -- I'm challenging you to get more done this coming week than I did this past week.  Here's a top-level rundown of what I've done in the last 7 days:

  • Had a public conversation with the Vinny Raposa of Team Raposa Martial Arts in Newark NJ and put it up on YouTube. We talked about Frontier Rough 'n' Tumble. Watch it here.

  • Started a new weekly online meeting called Let's Talk Martial Arts. Come and join us this Saturday at 2 PM.

  • Started a new weekly online chat for my Independent Catholic Meetup called God and Coffee. Come on by this Sunday a 10:00 AM, we'd love to have you!

  • This Sunday will be my fourth week presenting Holy Communion for my church, Ekklesia Epignostika Church and Seminary.

  • This has meant that I've had to write formal homilies (a.k.a. "sermons" for you protestants out there). Here's a link to last week's: Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 25th 2021

  • I carved, sanded and finished a new fighting cane (it finally broke after 10+ years of use, including hitting heavy bags)

  • Almost finished my altar stone. There are very specific requirements that have to be met before I request my Bishop bless it for use in my home chapel.

  • I finished work on the revamped Fool's Journey for the upcoming 2nd edition of Cabal Fang: Complete Study Course from Querent to Elder.

  • I finally read The Varieties of Religious Experience by Wm. James. A smash hit, and still relevant after 100+ years.

  • Total training time, fitness and martial arts: 10.25 hours

This is not me bragging -- this is me trying to encourage you to put down your cell phone, shut off the TV, and go get things done.  Not in a "chalking up numbers" sort of way, but in a "get engaged in the art of living" sort of way.

In last week's mettle maker I suggested that the things that you think make you unique -- your likes and dislikes, your favorite food, favorite movies, etc. -- might actually be the things that prove you're just like everyone else.  What might make you truly unique?

More on this topic in the mettle maker below.

Gauntlet: Mettle Maker #258

  • Before you train, warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

  • Do some practical command and mastery with your chosen weapon. 16 min. pyramid of Air Strikes (10), Crawls (5 yards), Sprints ( 5 yards out/back = 1), and Russian Squats (2). Start an 8:00 timer. Do 10 Air Strikes, Crawl 5 yards, Sprint 5 yards out/back, and do 2 Russian Squats -- striking the air with your blunt training weapon the entire time. Then do 20 Air Strikes, Crawl 10 yards, Sprint 10 yards out/back, and do 4 Russian Squats. Keep climbing until the timer beeps, then climb down.

  • Pick up something heavy. Try a Cross-walk -- a Shoulder Carry and a Farmer's Walk at the same time. I used a 65# Sandbag for the shoulder carry and I put #60 on my Farmer Carry rig. Walk as far as you can, rest a minute, and then do it again switching sides. I love this combo for practical strength.

  • Read an old book. When was the last time you read a book at all, much less an old book? Here's a challenge: pick up a book that's at least 100 years old and give it a go. Reading Wm. James has been a real eye-opener. This man knew more about human nature -- and offers more practical advice -- than many so-called modern experts.

  • Think about who and what you are. Yesterday is gone and future is unwritten. Neither is real. Therefore the only thing you could possibly be is what you are doing right now. Think about it. No, really. Actually think about it. Set a time for 10 minutes or so. Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Think in a focused way about the fact that you are only what you are doing right now. This is a form of meditation. Get there.