Robert Mitchell Jr.

Cabal Fang, State of the Art

Posted on October 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

In 2008 I had an idea. I could, based on my training in martial arts, hermeticism, mysticism and initiatory practice, found a new Western martial art unlike anything the world had ever known. I thought it over long and hard. Ask my friends, my wife, and my son. I knew it would be difficult, that I’d face seemingly insurmountable barriers, that it might never take off. Failure was definitely possible.

And that wasn’t all. Even worse than some kind of failure there was the knowledge that when you create a martial art, you create a weapon. How will it be used? Who will it help or even harm? Funakoshi basically created Karate — how did he deal with the possibility that his students could kill with the techniques he promulgated?

In the end I decided that I had to move forward. Two things have happened in the last couple of weeks that make me feel that I made the right decision, that Cabal Fang is succeeding, that it’s on the right track.

A total stranger posted this in the Cabal Fang group on Facebook:

The Dr. Stetson he’s referring to is Dr. Stetson Kennedy, the writer and activist who broke the back of the Ku Klux Klan. The library he’s referring to is the Civic Media Center of Gainesville, FL. Words can’t express how happy I am to have Cabal Fang mentioned in the same breath with with Dr. Kennedy and the CMC.

Cabal Fang, the child I gave birth to in 2008, is growing up. She’s affecting people’s lives for the better. And this proud papa just loves the way she’s turning out.

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Posted in Martial arts

Tagged cabal fang, martial arts, stetson kennedy

1/2 Pyramid to 14: Pushups, Lunges, Jack

Posted on October 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

1/2 Pyramid to 14: Pushups, Lunges, Jackknifes, Jump Squats. 3 rnds Shadowboxing AFAYC @cabal_fang #WOD

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Posted in Martial arts

What is Catch Wrestling, and Why You Should Care

Posted on October 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Catch wrestling (or Catch-as-catch-can) has a long and complex history that is a microcosm of what was happening in the larger world during its rise, fall, and rebirth. Learn about Catch and you learn about politics, commerce, and the Western psyche.

And who better to explain all this than Eddie Goldman, “the Conscience of Combat Sports.” In his article Catch Wrestling Is Back: The Revival Of A Working Class Sport (it’s a whopper, coming in at a couple thousand words, but if you’re into Western Martial Arts, you gotta invest the ten or fifteen minutes it takes to read it) he brings it all to light.

Did you know:

That catch wrestling was once as popular as boxing in the US?
That it was a true working class sport “practiced by athletic clubs organized by labor and socialist organizations, even including the Industrial Workers of the World and the Communist Party of Canada?”
That the transformation of catch wrestling into the modern form of staged pro wrestling was “perhaps the greatest case of corruption in the history of modern sports, with an entire sport becoming fixed?”
That Kasushi Sakuraba, “The Gracie Killer” learned catch wrestling from Billy Robinson, who trained at the Billy Riley’s famed Snake Pit?

The story of catch wrestling would make a great movie, one filled with politics, drama, and action galore. Hold on — looks like somebody already did. Ed Asner (no shock that he’d sign on to that project when you consider his political views) starred in The Wrestler back in 1974. I think I’ll see if I can pick up a copy and give it a look.

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Posted in Martial arts

Tagged catch wrestling, combat sports, eddie goldman

Dirty Dogs 25/side,Flutter Kicks 90s,Pus

Posted on October 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

Dirty Dogs 25/side,Flutter Kicks 90s,Pushups 50,Bicycles 100,50 Yard Dash 4,Bodybldrs 25,P/ups feet elev. 15 @cabal_fang #WOD

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Posted in Martial arts

Writer’s Lunch: 5 Ways to Get Inspired

Posted on October 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

My new post is up at Writer’s Lunch. I’m writing some really strong stuff over there (if I do say so myself). Don’t miss out on the inspiration.

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Posted in Writing

Tagged inspiration, senses, writer's lunch

Creativity as Commodity

Posted on October 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

The incomparable Chas Clifton posted a link to an article at Salon called “TED Talks are lying to you” by Thomas Frank. I read Frank’s article and, as a creative person trying to break into the ‘creative class,’ I found it profoundly disturbing.

“[F]or all its reverential talk about the rebel and the box breaker, society had no interest in new ideas at all unless they reinforced favorite theories or could be monetized in some obvious way.”

Quoting the book “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention” (1996) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Frank says,

“[Van Gogh’s] creativity came into being when a sufficient number of art experts felt that his paintings had something important to contribute to the domain of art.” Innovation, that is, exists only when the correctly credentialed hivemind agrees that it does…What determines “creativity,” in other words, is the very faction it’s supposedly rebelling against: established expertise.”

Speaking of self-help books about fostering creativity, he adds,

“Creativity is what they [brilliant people] bring to the national economic effort, these books reassure them — and it’s also the benevolent doctrine under which they rightly rule the world.”

As a fan of popular success guru Tim Ferriss, I immediately saw that Ferriss’ material might be an attempt to short circuit the cycle. That is to say, Ferriss wants us to be creative but not give it away to the hive-mind. The essence of the Four Hour Work Week is that one leverages his or her creativity and keeps all the dough. At the same time however, Ferriss is turning his creative advice into a commodity, topping the NYT Bestseller List like a madman and tangoing to the bank with ADD-fueled glee.

Frank forced some self-analysis. Am I, as a writer searching for success, merely trying to get noticed by, and ultimately become a member of, a privileged creative elite?

I don’t think so. I don’t want to get rich. I don’t yearn to get a book on the NYTBSL. In the long run, I’m shooting for 5,000 fans who’ll download the one or two novels I put out each year so that I can pay the bills doing what I love.

In the short term, I just want to write some excellent books that people actually read.

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Posted in Writing

Tagged creative class, TED, thomas frank, van gogh

Squats 100,Neck Bridge 90s,Pushups 50,Mt

Posted on October 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Squats 100,Neck Bridge 90s,Pushups 50,Mtn Climbers 100,100 Yard Dash 2,Bodybldrs 25,P/ups knuckle 40 @cabal_fang #WOD

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Posted in Martial arts

Saturday’s Ground Fighting Practice

Posted on October 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Update 7/18/19: My club still uses the flag but we’re now called Cabal Fang Temple, and we’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational charity. Visit our website or purchase our 12-week personal growth program at Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, or wherever fine e-books are sold.

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Original post:

The photo at left is of the setup for our ground fighting practice at The Order of Seven Hills this past Saturday. We staked out a tarp, whipped out a heavy bag, and got to work (the heavy bag in the photo is DIY — for instructions click here.)

Here are a couple of our drills. Warm up well first, and be prepared. They may not look like much on paper, but these drills are tough, especially back-to-back.

Groundfighting Conditioner #1

Set a timer to beep every 2 minutes (no breaks). There are 5 rounds to this little workout.

Round 1: Place forearms on heavy bag and toes on floor with no other points of contact with anything. Keeping forearms on the bag, circle the bag using only legs and feet,like the hands of a clock, one full revolution. Reverse and repeat until the bell rings.
Round 2: Mount the bag. Strike the bag 10 times as hard as you can (elbows, punches, hammerfists, etc.). Body lock the bag and barrel-roll once. Mount and repeat until the bell rings.
Round 3: Lay on your back with the bag on top of you. Lower end should be mid-thigh, upper end near top of your head. Push up the bag with one hand and elbow/punch/hammerfist it five times with the other. Switch hands and repeat until the bell rings.
Round 4: Side Mount the bag. Scissor your legs in each direction 3 times. Scramble over the bag to the other side using technique used in Round 1 and repeat.
Round 5: Lay on your back with the bag perpendicularly on top of your body. Roll it up and down across your torso, pushing and pulling it like a rolling pin to strengthen your ribs. If you are strong and durable enough, push it up and let it drop.

Groundfighting Conditioner #2

Set a time for 10 minutes. Complete as many rounds as you can of:

Mount your heavybag. Strike it 10 times as hard as you can.
Drop, lock, and roll so that bag is ontop of you. Knee boost or neck bridge the bag as hard as you can.
Roll and Mount the bag. Repeat.

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Posted in Martial arts

Tagged ground-fighting, wrestling

Making Your Own Heavy Bag

Posted on October 22, 2013 | 12 comments

If you have a heavy canvas sea bag, one of the military-style kind, you can make your own heavy bag in just a few minutes.

Put a heavy-duty, contractor grade trash bag inside your canvas bag and roll down the top so that you can pack it tightly from the bottom up (see photo gallery below). Fill it with folded linens (sheets, not towels), packing tightly as you go. Slowly unroll as you fill. It’s very important that your linens are folded, not just crumpled and crammed. The less air the greater the weight!

When it’s full, tie off the plastic bag and link the top. If you use linens, your bag should work out to be in the 40 – 50 pound range — lighter than a traditional bag but okay in a pinch.

Why make your own bag? In my case, since our club meets outdoors, I didn’t want to get any of my good bags wet on rainy days. So I put this one together. If it gets wet, all I need to do is wash and dry the outer bag and repack.