Here’s a little 30-minute WOD for your edification and enjoyment:
WEIGHTS: As many sets as you can in 15 minutes of 12 each Kung Fu Curls, Ripcords, Shrugs, and Side Lunges. HEAVY BAG: 5 x 2:00/1:00 AFAYC of Punches, Kicks, Punches, Kicks, and Punch/Kick Combos.
From 1933 to 1942 there existed, as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, an organization known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. During a time of economic crisis, with the Great Depression raging and employment rates soaring upwards of 25%, the CCC provided young men aged 17 to 28 with valuable life, job, and leadership experience. In addition to room and board, they were paid $30/month (equivalent to about $500 in today’s money) of which $25 was sent home.
The work was hard and the conditions often harsh. Still, the average recruit put on about 11 pounds of body weight during the first three months. I’m guessing most of that was muscle, because in only nine years the 3.4 million young men who participated in the program built just about every state and national park in the United States — 800 of them! They planted over 2 billion trees, stocked almost a billion fish, constructed 125,000 miles of roadway, cleared 13,000 miles of hiking trails, and strung 89,000 miles of telephone line. During time off they enjoyed on site recreation centers and free classes. 40,000 illiterate youth learned to read during their time in the corps.*
This is America at her best. Not just because it was a quality program — it really was — but because it was made up of quality young men. Sadly, I don’t think this program would fly today. Congress would call it socialism and wouldn’t fund it, young boys wouldn’t sign up, and the public would say it’s inhumane to put kids in tents and make ’em shower cold.
But what if? What if we could get funding and we could get young people to sign up? What if we put some young kids to work doing conservation oriented things?
Maybe we don’t need to build any more national parks, but we sure need to start earnestly fighting climate change. Young people could build community gardens. They could install insulation, solar water heaters and solar panels, and rain catchment systems in public buildings, businesses, and private homes. They could go into cities ravaged by economic and environmental disaster, places like Detroit and New Orleans, and reclaim abandoned properties by cleaning, restoring, and getting them occupant-ready.
We could educate hundreds of thousands of young people about climate change and train them for jobs in what certainly will be — or sure should be — a growth industry in the coming years.
Just a thought, a pipe dream. But there’s so much work to be done to fight climate change and so little time before we’re over-run by an enemy far more dangerous than ISIS or Al Qaeda. And I can’t think of a corps more capable of meeting that enemy head-on.
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* Statistics courtesy of Idaho Public Television.
If you’ve read my book or poked around this site you know that I started a Calisthenics Codex Hall of Fame (CCHOF) to recognize people who are actually doing the workouts from my book The Calisthenics Codex.
To set an example for you folks, I’ve added a video of myself completing one of them — the one called “Very Bad Karma.”
Today’s Cabal Fang WOD:
Practice your secondary weapon (I worked with my cane) for at least 10 minutes, making sure that you spend at least 1/3 of that time practicing with your off hand. Then get out an ordinary automobile tire and set a timer for 12 minutes. Complete as many sets as you can before the timer beeps of 10 each: Tire Push-ups, Tire Squat Presses, and Tire V-ups.
Not familiar with auto tires as a workout tool? Want to know how the tire exercises roll? Check out this nifty little eBooklet available for download from the PTDICE website:
Today’s Cabal Fang WOD is a lovely little heavy bag conditioner I’m going to call “The Prisoner.”
Set timer for 1:00 repeating intervals. If your bag isn’t marked with specific targets, do so before you begin. Punch the bag for 1 min with maximum focus and ill will, counting all misses. Then do as many Prison Push-ups as you can in 1 min. Then kick the bag for 1 min with extreme stank, counting all misses, followed by as many Prison Get-ups as you can for 1 min. Rest 1 min. Repeat 3 more sets for a total of 20 minutes. And then finally, complete 1 Prison Push-up for every missed punch or kick. Advanced variant: add a weighted vest (I used a #8).
Just in case you don’t know the exercises, here’s a quick video of the two “Prisoner” Calisthenics mentioned above.
So it looks like my book The Calisthenics Codex is #2 in the iTunes/iBook store (screenshot below). If you haven’t checked it out yet, here are the links.
Now for your WOD.
Kick Conditioner: Set timer for 6 x 2:00/1:00. As many kicks as you can for 2:00, then as many Squat Presses as you can for 1:00. Repeat. Beginners press at top of Squat, advanced players press at bottom (don’t sway your back!). Start with light weight and step up each round. Take as few 12 second breaks as needed to finish.
Sandbag Workout: AMRAYC in 15 mins of 10 each w/ #20 sandbag – Front Lunges, Walking Push-ups (one hand on bag, alternating), Squat Presses, Back Crunches (no bag), Crunches (bag on chest), Get-ups (bag on shoulder).
Ancestor Meditation: Assume your chosen posture, close your eyes, and regulate your breathing. When you’ve settled in, recall a relative who’s passed on. Select a specific memory of him or her, a wholly positive one, and step into the scene. Honor your ancestor and his or her memory by reliving the moment you selected, re-experiencing it with as much detail as possible. Spend at least 10 mins on this work.
I used a memory involving my father. Today is the 7th anniversary of his passing. Rest in peace Pop.
My ancestor shrine
Because I like Captain America. And because, despite all its flaws, America is a pretty cool place.
Which way is up?
Today’s Cabal Fang WOD is as follows:
Medicine Ball Tabata: 24 x :20/:10, cycling through Squats (bounce ball off wall as you go down), Sit-ups (bounce off wall at top of each), and Push-ups (both hands on ball). Bike: 24 x :20/:10. Ride AFAYC for :20 and rest for :10, staying in the top 3 gears for the duration.
Now for some word talk.
Etymology is the study of words and word origins and should not be confused with Entomology, which is the study of insects and bugs. What’s “bugging” me is how some people are unwilling to let go of some words and symbols as definitions grow and evolve.
Imagine you met someone who still wanted to use the word “faggot” for a small stick, like we used to in Shakespeare’s time. This person would be misunderstood around the campfire, and depending on who was in attendance, hilarity might not ensue. He or she would quickly learn to employ another word in the common usage (like say “twig”) or else risk being perpetually misunderstood. Likewise with “motor carriage” and “talkie.” How many times would this person have to hear, “Dude, they’re called cars and movies!” before learning the modern words?
I love movies, and I call them movies so that people will know what I’m talking about. I love and am proud of what’s great about the culture of the Southern United States — the food (collard greens!), the hospitality, the architecture, the charm, the flora and fauna, and most of all the people — but I wouldn’t dream of waving a Confederate flag around because in the common usage it means treason, slavery and bigotry. I don’t want to be misunderstood.
I have a few friends who I’m pretty sure aren’t bigots, or even closet bigots, who just can’t let the old symbols, words, and phrases go. I hate to see them being misunderstood.
I really hope that’s what’s going on. But when folks just keep rationalizing the old symbolic language, even in the face of changing definitions and the evolution of societal norms, it makes you wonder if they really are being misunderstood at all.
1 mile dry swim: Set timer for 60 x :20/:10 and complete 15 cycles of Prison Push-ups, Swimmers, Flutter Kicks, and Front Plank (a Swimmer is like a Superman except that you move arms and legs as if swimming). 30 minutes total.
Note: Add a 30 minute bike ride and a 30 minute run and you’ve got the “dry Triathlon” that call the Psyathlon.
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I teach free of charge through Heritage Arts , a 501(c)(3) educational charity offering free or donation-only classes related to martial arts, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development. Distance learning programs available. Visit the Heritage Arts website to find out more, or click here to join the Heritage Self-Defense group on Facebook.
What is Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble? It’s mind-body-spirit form of American Rough ‘n’ Tumble, which began as a manner of no-holds-barred fighting in the Southern Virginia backcountry during the Colonial Era and has since grown, evolved, and adapted to the realities of modern self-defense. An amalgam of the varying techniques brought to America by colonists from all over the world, blended with the fighting methods of the over 900 distinct indigenous tribes, American Rough ‘n’ Tumble is perhaps the world’s most fearsome martial art.
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Robert Mitchell Jr. 