Nitty-Gritty: Mettle Maker #277

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

Nitty-Gritty: Mettle Maker #277

  • Self-Defense: Nitty-gritty beats fancy-flashy every time. As you go into weapon week, ask yourself, “If I’m ever in a self-defense situation and there’s a loose weapon in the environment, could I get to it first, pick it up with skill and precision, and put it to use instantly?” Watch the video below and work your capture and retention drills. 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: Fit to do what? Fitness means different things to different folks. Depending on who you ask, it might mean looking good naked, being ready to compete in a specific sport, having a BMI in the ideal range, or who-knows-what. If you ask me, it means fit to fight and explore the outdoors, but I’m a martial arts and survival instructor — what do you expect? So ask yourself — what are you training for? What’s the point? And when you find out and/or decide, tailor your fitness program as needed. 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: Go outside. How many hours a day do you spend outside? Are you outdoors every day, 12 months per year? Silly questions? Nope. Outdoor skills accrue the same way other skills do — slowly, incrementally, across time. Get outside every day. Keep a journal, and make a daily note about what you observed in your environment. Identify one plant, one bug, one kind of cloud, etc. and sketch it. Check the moon phase by observation, and write that down too. Want more? Sign up for the free Wildwood program.

  • Spirit: How long is your rope? Is it long enough to reach the bottom of the well, or does it fall short? Is it long enough to draw up water to share with those who are thirsty? What water will you pour out into the world this week? What fiery pain will your water quench, what stain will it wash away, what wound will it cleanse? Meditate on this. Lengthen your rope and draw up much water to pour out into the world. For more inspiration, join us at Heritage Spirit for weekly online church.


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.

processed_20210821_095240.jpg

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.

locomotive-4807903_1280.jpg

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?

—————————————-

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.  

Larry and me.JPG

  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:

Test Logo Heritage.jpg

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.