As promised in Saturday’s T.I., here a short video on the décollage.
Think about it. Whenever you see somebody in sports kick a ball for maximum power, there is either a run-up or a hop. Want to amp your martial kicking power? Get unstuck!
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
Noah Scalin’s “Vanitas”
When you were a kid in school — or maybe studying mixed media in university — you did collages.
Collage is a French word that means glue or stick down. A collage is generally done by taking snippets of magazines, posters, newspapers, etc. and pasting them all together to make art. They’re pretty cool. One of my favorites is Noah Scalin’s piece called Vanitas (see right).
A décollage I made called “Citizen Number One with a Bullet”
There’s also a lesser known art form called décollage, which is kind of the opposite. It’s French for un-glue or maybe lift-off. To illustrate, I made a little décollage of my own (see below right). Décollage is done by ripping off stuff to reveal other stuff.
In this week’s T.I. we’re not going to do anything that has to do with paper. But it is striking month at Cabal Fang headquarters. So we are going to practice our décollage from a striking perspective. That is, we’re going to practice the décollage from Savate.
If you are totally unfamiliar with the martial arts version of the décollage, follow my YouTube channel — there will be a video on the décollage this coming Wednesday.
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
Shadowboxing isn’t just moving your body around in some manner that approximates martial arts. It’s real practice with a real purpose.
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
Can-do attitude is one of the key things shared by the two martial arts I teach — Cabal Fang and Bobcat Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble.
When you need to train a certain skill or body mechanic you don’t make excuses about the weather, your lack of money or equipment, or your limited time. You don’t whine about your bum knee or any of that.
You find a way to train so as to fill the gap safely and efficiently. You modify, adapt and overcome.
You get it done.
This isn’t just a material truth for the training hall. It is also a spiritual truth for the ages, as you are about to see in…
Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble Fitness Dice
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
It’s been a couple of years since I had a bald head and chin hair. More importantly, and much more relevant to your martial arts training, it has also been a couple of years since I emphasized the value of the humble slip ball. Here’s a video about the slip ball from 2017 which also features my previously bald head and hairy chin.
The slip ball is especially important for people who have limited sparring opportunities because it reinforces slipping body mechanics — which are perishable. Watch the video and then dig into…
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
Wow, my numbers are up almost 40% — over 10,000 views in 2019! I hope that means you guys think my posts are getting better and more interesting!
But enough about me. Let’s talk about you.
Question: When practicing self-defense against sincere training partners, either empty-handed or armed with training weapons, which do find more troublesome?(A) wide, circular attacks or (B) straight, direct attacks?
And which do you find more intimidating? (A) single attacks in isolation or (B) multiple fast attacks in combinations or chains?
I hope you answered “B” to both of those questions. There are no unqualified rules in fighting. But, for the most part, the hardest attacks to defend against are the ones that are fast and straight and delivered in quick combos. Which means that, by-and-large anyway, that’s how you should be delivering them.
I call this “staying in the battle box.” The battle box runs from the eyes down to the groin and is the width of the torso. In today’s T.I. you’re going to practice staying in the box.
Battle Box: Martial Arts Training Involution #189¹ For the math nerds: the formula for the total reps in a Half Pyramid, where peak = P is:
Example: If you complete a Half Pyramid to 8 reps you will have executed 36 reps of each exercise because 8² = 64. 64 – 8 = 56. 56 / 2 = 28. And 28 + 8 = 36.
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
With the help of my martial arts club, my family, and my friends (and by raiding my own closets) I was able to gather 3 large bags of blankets, coats, hats, socks, gloves and mittens for the homeless which I dropped off at Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC) this morning. When it comes to the homeless, CCC is pretty much the only came in town.
I feel so incredibly blessed, it only seems natural to give back.
In what ways are you blessed? How are you going to give back?
Merry Christmas!
Here’s a guy who knew how to hit full power. Still one of the best boxing books ever written.
Do you ever just walk up to a heavy bag and start aimlessly pummeling away? Is your goal to “get sweaty” or “do some cardio?”
That’s not training. That’s “working out.”
Working out is like ambling around the great outdoors taking pictures — it’s fun and beneficial in a million ways, but it’s not training. Training is like climbing Mount Rokkō (which I’ve done by the way). You have to prepare, plan, and execute.
If you’ve just been working out, the improvements in skill and fitness you’ll see when you switch to training with focus will seem like magic — hence the name of this week’s T.I.
SAFE MP dice at http://www.mitch.store
Need some ideas on how to make the switch from working out to training? Check out my SAFE MP program. It even comes with some nifty dice to help you put some unpredictability into your training program. Check it out here.
This week we’re training for power. Come on, let’s go!
¹ What’s a Thruster? It’s a Squat and a Military Press at the same time. You can do these with a barbell, two dumbbells or kettle bells, a sandbag, etc.
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products. Why not check them out?
MBF dice (“Martial Base Fitness”)
There are certain martial movements so fundamental that someone who doesn’t drill them, it could be argued, is not a martial artist at all.
I have an entire program called MBF (“Martial Base Fitness”) that’s designed to make sure you have a firm foundation in these essential exercises. Click here to order your copy for $9.99 — it even comes with some handmade dice to add an element of randomness and fun!
Two of the MBF movements are going to form the “Take ‘Em Down” half of this week’s T.I. For the second “Put ‘Em Up” half we’re going to be putting up our dukes against a heavy bag.
If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books. Why not check one out?
This past Saturday two more stalwart members of Cabal Fang headquarters completed the 100 Bodybuilder challenge!
Morgan (my daughter – proud papa here) got it done in an impressive 15:59! Just to put her time in perspective: my initial benchmark about ten years ago was 18:35. 15:59 is no joke!
Jack (Morgan’s fiance by the way) set the new club record at 12:14. Way to go Jack!
2019 Bodybuilder Challenge Times
Morgan Mitchell 15:59
Mitch Mitchell 13:15
Robert Mitchell 12:47
Jack Bloor 12:14
Mark Hatmaker 10:45 (not a member of the club but he took the challenge anyway).
Feel free to take a whack at it and post your time in the comments!
This is my Top 10 calisthenics ebook — click here to download!
Does this look fun? Why not read my bestselling calisthenics book, face one of the challenges in it, and get your name in the Calisthenics Codex Hall of Fame?
Click here to download my eBooks from Smashwords.com in multiple formats, or visit these links to get them at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Books2Read.com
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.
Make a tax deductible donation
Robert Mitchell Jr. 