Category Archives: Martial arts

Judgment Day: Training Involution #103

Posted on April 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

This is the last weekly T.I. in the month with internal concentration The Book (a.k.a. the Tarot) and external concentration Basic Self-Defense.  I guess you could say it’s judgment day.

Judgment Day: Training Involution #103

  • Are you ready for Judgment Day?  Three questions: (1) If there’s a natural disaster or your employer goes belly up and you’re unemployed for a few weeks, it’s a good idea to have some back-up resources.  Check your pantry.  Do you have at least 1 month of food and water on hand?  (2) If you get lost and there’s no gas station around you’ll be sorry if you’re driving on fumes.  Go check your vehicle.  Do you have at least a quarter tank of gas in the tank?  (3) You’re going to feel pretty dumb if your vehicle breaks down and you haven’t been maintaining it. Have you had your oil changed and any other scheduled maintenance done?  Count your “No” answers and hike 1 mile for each.  Beginners use a #10 pack, intermediate #25, advanced #40+.
  • Tarot meditation on XX: Judgement.  Why do Tarot card manufacturers seem to like the British spelling that includes the letter “e” in the middle?  Oh well.  Set up the card (or a printed photo or your tablet) so that it’s at eye level when you’re in your meditative posture of choice.  Set a timer for 3 to 5 mins.  Regulate your breathing as you look at the card.  Imagine that you are stepping into the card, that you are becoming one of the characters in the scene.  Imagine all of the sights, sounds, tastes and sensations of the scene.  When the timer beeps, watch the video below.  Record your thoughts and realizations in your training journal.

Leave a comment

Posted in Martial arts, Mysticism

Tagged , ,

Scramble: Training Involution #102

Posted on April 21, 2018 | 1 comment

This month’s external focus is General Self-defense and the internal one is The Book (Tarot).  So this week there’s more hardcore, targeted self-defense material in store — plus some preparation checking and some esoteric quizzing.  But first, here’s a little promo video I put together to promote Cabal Fang martial arts.  Dig it.

And now on with the show.

Scramble: Training Involution #102

  • Scramble through your purse or pockets.  What if you get stranded have to scramble for shelter, warmth, food, or a ride?  Do you have a knife or multi-tool, a way to make fire, and enough cash money for a cab or Uber ride?  If not, shame on you.  Fix that ASAP.
  • Scramble for your life.  What if you have to fight in a cramped place, like a car, closet or bathroom stall?  Get knocked down and have to get up?  Have to wrestle?  Beginners: Do 25 reps each of: Bodybuilders, Sit-outs, Get-ups and Crunch-n-Punch.  Intermediates, you do 33 reps and add Splays/Sprawls.  Advanced folks, do the intermediate version plus Drop Duck-Unders.
  • “Do you read Tarot?”  What if somebody finds out you have a Tarot deck and you have to scramble to answer that question?  Last week I tested you on your number symbolism.  Now for the suits.  Can you name at least one association or correspondence for each suit, such as element (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), Sphere (Matter, Ideals, Drives, Emotions), Quaternary (To Know, To Will, To Dare, To Keep Silent), etc.?  No?  If not, pull 10 cards and do the number of Push-ups on each face (Pages = 10, Knights = 6, Queens = 3, Kings = 2).

1 Comment

Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ,

Short Video: Modify, Adapt and Overcome

Posted on April 18, 2018 | 6 comments

This morning I shot a quick video explaining an important lesson I re-learned yesterday while training for the May 5th Rugged Maniac obstacle run to benefit the Cabal Fang Temple Fund.

I’m a crappy runner.  But guess what?  You can learn a lot by being crappy at something.

6 Comments

Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ,

The Next (Final) Emerald Lamp Video?

Posted on April 16, 2018 | 2 comments

Vol. 1 Episode 4 of the Emerald Lamp Video Series is now live.  Patreon supporters got access a month ago.  And yesterday they also got access to a private video on the subject of body toughening (conditioning and callousing of the body to better deliver and accept blows).  For as little as $1/month you can click here, become a supporter, and get access to all kinds of patron-only content — as well as early access to just about everything I produce.

Neither the Emerald Lamp series nor the Holy Communion series is really taking off the way I anticipated.  Episode 4 of the Emerald Lamp and Episode 12 of Holy Communion might mark the end of both series.  If you like either of them I suggest sharing them to your social media profiles, tweeting, posting and sharing like a madman.  These are the most labor intensive videos I make in terms of planning and writing.  If nobody’s watching, I could really stand to put those hours back into my training!

So if you like either series, show your love by sharing the videos.  And, in the comments below, please tell me which of my videos you like most and least and why.

2 Comments

Posted in Martial arts, Mysticism

Tagged

Run for Your Life: Training Involution #101

Posted on April 14, 2018 | 1 comment

Here at Cabal Fang HQ our monthly focuses are Basic Self-Defense and The Book (chapters 16 and 20 in the Cabal Fang Study Guide). From now on the Training Involution of the Week is going to be based around the monthly theme at HQ. I think that will go a long way toward creating a feeling of community within the Cabal Fang family, don’t you?

Run for Your Life: Training Involution #101

  • Are you paying attention to detail? (1) What was your spouse or significant wearing last time you saw him or her? (2) What is the color, make, model, year and license plate number of his or her vehicle? (3) Get up right now and check: are all your doors and windows locked? Imagine how guilty you’d feel if your spouse or significant other turned up missing and you couldn’t help the police with the most basic information. Imagine how you’d feel if someone invaded your home and you didn’t have it buttoned up. If you didn’t get at least two out of three right, complete 100 Squats and then review your preparedness and prevention drills on pages 224 – 226 of the Cabal Fang Study Guide.
  • Do you know your numbers? If you are going to use Tarot as a psychological and spiritual tool you need to know your number symbolism. What are astrological associations for the numbers 1 through 10? If you can’t name at least of 5 of them, do 50 Push-ups and then go study the chart on page 168 of the Cabal Fang Study Guide.
  • Conditioning Run. CR15P Tabata-styled. Run AFAYC for 20 seconds, walk 10 seconds, repeat for 30 rounds. That’s 15 mins total.

1 Comment

Posted in Martial arts, Mysticism, Writing

Tagged

Conditioning Run Protocol

Posted on April 10, 2018 | 7 comments

7 /28/24 UPDATE: I thought people might want to revisit these, so I added them to the new Rough ‘n’ Tumble book currently in development, then dodged over here and updated this so that it wouldn’t be so confusing.

Short runs may be useful for building fitness and mettle — if  done with intensity.  These intense runs are designed to prepare you to fight hard and escape fast, period.  What will they do to your next 10K  performance?  Might help, might hurt.  Don’t know.  Don’t care.  I’m a martial artist, not a runner.

To record them in your training journal without having to write an entire paragraph, write “CR” for “Conditioning Run” and then a number (miles if single digit, minutes if 2 digits), a letter (one of the six “SAFE MP” designations), and whatever descriptive words you prefer to indicate the type.

Here are the types:

Rough ‘n’ tumblers do not muck around.  So, before you begin whatever you’re going to do — whether it is hitting a heavy bag, doing calisthenics, or even running — decide if you’re going to work on Speed, Accuracy, Form, Endurance, Mobility or Power.  If it helps to remember it, you you can abbreviate that SAFE-MP¹ for “safe martial practice.”  Here are the runs:

  • S = Speed.  Run as fast as you are able without breaking stride.  Try not to take any 12-count breaks.
  • A = Accuracy.  Set a goal and try to hit the mark.  Pick a previous run and try to beat it in terms of fewer breaks taken, more distance covered, etc.   You are keeping a training journal, right?
  • F = Form.  Wreck your form.  Run backwards, run like an Apache, skip or side-gallop, run with your hands behind your head or behind your back (a POW run), with one hand gripping your waistband,  etc.  Experiment.  What if someday you have to run for your life with an injury or impairment?  One of my favorites is a Rocky Run — run while continuously punching the air.
  • E = Endurance.  Run while wearing a weighted vest or carrying a heavy or awkward object such as tire, sandbag or medicine ball.  Take as few 12-count walking breaks as you must in order to finish.
  • M = Mobility.  Run on a trail, around cones, through mud  or water, run zig-zags across a field, up and down steep hills, run an obstacle course, etc.  Take as few 12-count breaks as you must in order to finish.
  • P = Power.  Intervals.  Alternate between running as fast as you can — full out sprint! — and either walking or calisthenics.  One of my favorites is  “CR10P, Push-ups and Squats alternating.”   I go the the local outdoor track, set a timer for 15 mins and then run a lap, do 10 Push-ups, run a lap, do 10 Squats, etc. and see how many laps I can complete before the timer beeps.  Take as few 12-count breaks as you must in order to finish.

Trust me when I say, you’re going to love to hate these runs!

Examples:

  • CR10S — 10 minute run as fast as you can without breaking stride.
  • CR10A — Set a distance goal for a 10 min. run and try to hit it.
  • CR5A — Set a goal — for speed, to finish without breaking stride, etc. — and run 5 miles
  • CR15F P.O.W — 15 minute run with hands behind your head.
  • CR3E Tire — 3 mile run carrying an auto tire.
  • CR12M Hills — Run up and down hills for 12 minutes.
  • CR16P Sprints — Set timer for 8 minutes.  Sprint away from home until you gas, then walk for 7 breaths, then sprint until you gas, walk for 7 breaths, etc. until timer beeps.  Then turn around, sprinting and walking as before, and make sure get home before the timer beeps a second time.

¹ I’ve made dice of various kinds to create random workouts.  One of them is a 6-sided cube with sides that are S, A, F, E, M and P so I can generate focuses on the fly.

 

 

7 Comments

Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ,

The Big 100: Training Involution #100

Posted on April 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

“It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, ‘I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself.’ Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.”  ~Hagakure (1716)

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo is one of Cabal Fang’s 50 Most Influential Books.  If you haven’t read it, you don’t know what you’re missing.

And now, well, we’ve reached 100 hundred weekly training blog posts and that’s a milestone for sure.  What do you say — should we make this one a real doozie?

The Big 100: Training Involution #100

  • 100 strikes/min (heavy bag for speed).  Set timer for 3 rounds of 3:00/1:00.  Strike heavy bag with hands and feet as fast as you can.  Count strikes in the final round.  If you don’t break 300 strikes (100 strikes/min.) try again tomorrow.  Tip: count your strikes in sets of 10.
  • 100 grappling moves.  If you have a partner, pick one grappling move — maybe Single Leg, Ankle Pick, Drop Duck-under, Slip-by to take down, you name it — and do it 50 times each.  If training solo do it 100 times.  Either way, if you aren’t done in under 8 mins., you’re going way too slow.  Try again tomorrow.
  • 100 Calisthenics Half Pyramid.  Squats, Jumping Jacks and Push-ups (beginners do Half Squats and/or Push-ups on knees, advanced folks, do Jump Squats and/or Clap Push-ups).  Climb odd numbers only up to 19 for a total of 100 each (1 of each, then 3 of each, then 5,7,9,11,13,15,17 and 19).  Get it done in under 13 mins or try again tomorrow.
  • Journal review.  Are you keeping up with your training journal?  Are you logging all training sessions?  Making regular diary entries?  Noting your mood and any milestones?  Establishing goals based on your progress?  Spend a 10 minutes reading backwards in your journal.  Are you satisfied with the frequency and quality of your entries?  Are you happy with your progress in all four major dimensions — intellectually, emotionally, martially and spiritually?  Record your thoughts and answers to these questions in your journal!

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Martial arts, Mysticism

Tagged ,

How to Meditate

Posted on April 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

How to Meditate*

(Note: Most people call this “meditation” so I’m using that term.  But this is actually what I call contemplation, not meditation.  For a full explanation of the differences between meditation, contemplation and prayer — their definitions, how they work and how to use them — see Cabal Fang: Complete Study Guide from Querent to Elder.)

The best thing about meditation is that there is no goal, there are no achievements to mark off, there’s no way to measure progress and no need to do so.  You just do it.  And that is enough.

1. Sit down.  Choose your pose — lotus, half-lotus, cross-legged, or my personal favorite, seiza.  You can hold your hands any way you like.  I personally like hands on thighs, but it’s your call.  Eyes open or closed is fine, but when you first start out, it might be better to stare at a blank wall to avoid distractions.

2. Be quiet.  Still your thoughts, allowing them to dissipate like ripples in a pond.  The more you struggle against your thoughts the more ripples you will make.  Don’t resist.  Just allow your mind to approach stillness.

3. Breathe. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold, each in roughly the same measure (somewhere in the 4 to 8 second range is fine).  Keep airways open during the hold phase — never clamp down on your breath.

4. Practice daily.  Ten to forty minutes is perfect, but as little as 3 minutes will be beneficial.  I meditate about 10 minutes per day with one long session per week.

* Russ, this is for you brother!

Leave a comment

Posted in Martial arts, Mysticism

Tagged ,

Full Thrust: Training Involution #99

Posted on March 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

Cabal Fang t-shirts will be ready next week.  Make a donation of $25 or more and we’ll send you one as an appreciation gift.  just click the button below.

And now for the training…

Full Thrust: Training Involution #99

This session (excluding the meditation) is only 16 minutes long.  But if you pull out the stops and you do not slack it might take you 2 days to recover.  So warm up fully, listen to your body, pay attention to form and have a care. 

  • 4 mins. of Dumbbell Thrusters.  This one comes by way of  the incredible Dan John.  Set timer for 8 rounds of :20/:10 (Tabata rounds).  Pick up two dumbbells.  Unless you’re Captain America, I recommend using dumbbells about 10% of your body weight.  Complete as many Thrusters as you can in 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, repeat.
  • 4 mins. of one calisthenic with perfect form.  Pick any calisthenic you want and do it for four minutes.  If you need ideas, I suggest Jumping Jacks or Steam Engines for beginners, Push-ups, Squats or Lunges for intermediates, and Bodybuilders, Burpees or perhaps Sit-put Push-ups for advanced folks.  Need even more ideas?  Download my book The Calisthenics Codex.   Take as few 12-count breaks as you need in order to finish.
  • 4 mins of one grappling technique.  I chose a Straight Shot, but you could take an Angle Pick, Duck Under, Arm Drag, doesn’t matter.  If you don’t have a partner, do them solo, shadow-fighting-style.  Take as few 12-count breaks as you need in order to finish.
  • 4 mins of double-end ball.  Set up your ball and get after it as fast as you can.  If you don’t have a double-end ball, make one yourself with these instructions or substitute 4 mins. of shadowboxing with 1 lb. hand weights.  Take as few 12-count breaks as you need in order to finish.
  • Meditation on the nature of Spring.  Modern people get really happy about the arrival of Spring.  But Spring was a mixed bag for  the ancients.  They didn’t have year-round access to factory-farmed food.  So although Spring brought them warmth and sunshine, it was a difficult time.  Winter food stores were used up, people were on edge after being cooped up all winter with animals in their midst, and on top of all that they had to find the strength to plant crops — after which it would be weeks before even early crops like lettuce came in.  Perhaps this is why the darkest holidays, like Passover and Good Friday fall during this season, followed by some of the most bright, like Holi, Holla Mohalla, Ostara and Easter.  Set a timer for 10 minutes.  Sit in your meditative posture of choice, regulate your breathing, close your eyes and experience Spring for what it truly is for all people, all of nature in all times.

Leave a comment

Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ,

Clarifying My Role, Fundraising, Etc.

Posted on March 29, 2018 | Leave a comment

Mitch, who are you?

Based on several emails I’ve gotten recently, it’s apparent that what I’m up to isn’t clear.  So I updated my Youtube profile as follows:

I am the founder and First Elder of Cabal Fang Martial Arts, President and Chairman of Cabal Fang Temple, Inc., an ordained interfaith minister and a seminarian enrolled in Ekklesia Epignostika in pursuit of Holy Orders with apostolic succession.

Somewhat like a military Chaplain, I keep my personal Christian faith while ministering to all faiths in the martial art of Cabal Fang.

The spiritual focus of Cabal Fang martial arts is not Christian — it is Hermetic and Perennialist.  That is to say, it is focused on the common symbols and themes found in all the world’s religions and philosophies since ancient times.

I hope that helps!

We’re on Guidestar and Crowdrise

Yes, Cabal Fang Temple, Inc. is a truly-and-for-real 501(c)(3) federally recognized, tax exempt non-profit corporation — and we’re now on Guidestar and Crowdrise!  What does that mean?  Well, it means that if you want to run in a charity race or put together a charity event of some kind, organizations like Rugged Maniac will let you collect donations for Cabal Fang Temple, Inc.  Make sure you have our EIN just in case — 81-5406720.

So guess what that means?  Yep, that’s right, there’s going to be a…

Temple Benefit Run May 5th

I am running in the May 5th Rugged Maniac in Richmond, VA.

Support the temple by clicking here to donate — and if you’re interested in running with me, join the team when you register for the event.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ,