Dirt, Bugs and Mud: Mettle Maker #270

1. 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.  
2. Self-Defense: Weapon Capture and Retention.  Today’s the last day of weapons training this month, so let’s really work.  Get out your wooden or rubber mock-up weapon of choice and go out on the grass.  Set timer for repeating 1 min. rounds. Toss mock weapon over your shoulder, then turn and pounce on it with your right hand using a belly slide.  Cut one “X” in the air against the imaginary enemy next to you on the ground.  Do a commando-style Get-up, and repeat until the bell rings.  Do a second round with baseball slides and a third round with shoulder roll pick-ups.  Cycle through 3 more rounds with left hand for a total of 6 1-minute rounds.  Be sure to wield your weapon with whatever grip to get — you need to be able to use your weapons with either hand in any grip!
3. Fitness: Simulated mud run.  What makes mud runs like Tough Mudders and Rugged Maniacs challenging isn’t the obstacles — it’s mostly running with the added weight and altered body mechanics caused by pounds of caked on mud.  Do not rack up tons of miles this way — too hard on your body for too little benefit.  But a few mud miles per month will prepare you to cover ground under adverse conditions and make sure you’re prepped if a friend extends a last-minute invite to a Warrior Dash.  Go find some mud, get in there like you did when you were a kid, and then run.  Pssst: There’s dirt outside — I’ve actually seen it!  Or, if you want all of the misery but none of the fun, simulate a mud run by putting on a weighted vest, ankle weights, and wrist weights. 
4. Survival & Spirit Combo: Sit down and shut up.  Go out into your backyard in the half-light of either early morning or evening.  This will ensure that the bugs are swarming and you can’t see your surroundings optimally.  Set a timer for 5 – 10 mins, sit down in your posture of choice, and practice contemplation.  Regulate your breathing to a slow and regular pattern.  Keep your eyes open.  Do not fidget, wiggle, scratch, move or speak (not even to swat or swear at that mosquito whining in your ear).  Like ripples on a pond, allow your thoughts to dissipate toward thoughtlessness — just sit and look out at the world without evaluating.  The four great spiritual disciplines — contemplation, meditation, prayer and sacred reading — are as much adventures in stoicism and survival as they are quests for enlightenment, atonement, and fulfillment.  If you can’t even sit quietly under any conditions, without moving or making a sound, to avoid capture, observe an enemy, or land a meal, how are you going to have any hope of making contact with God, your Higher Power, or Ultimate Reality?  Get there.