Robert Mitchell Jr.

Fight Dirty: Mettle Maker #248

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes.  Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.
• Face some foul weather dirty work.  I’m pretty accustomed to training outdoors.  But this week the weather has been so completely icy, frozen and inhospitable that a couple of mornings I just couldn’t train out there.  So every half our or so throughout the day I did 10 each of PUP and SQT.  Be extra scrupulous about form and pace — 2-count descent, 1 count hesitate at the bottom, 2-count press, 1-count hesitate at the top.
• 20 min. command and mastery knife pyramid drill.  Get a dull training knife and a floor bag or grappling dummy.  Set timer for 1o mins.  Complete 1 of each of the following four exercises (a) 5 attacks to bag from Top Saddle, roll to bottom, 5 attacks from Bottom Scissors, Reverse back to Top Saddle.  Do a Smearing Get-up (don’t forget the push-cut).  (b) Sprawl.  (c) Sit-ups with a double “X” air slash (step over bag, hook rear toes, and fall back into over/under Short Arm Bar position and work from there).  Then do 2 of each, 3, 4, etc. until timer beeps.  Finish that set, then descend.   50 Push-up penalty if the business end of the training weapon touches your body at any point during the drill.  If any of this doesn’t make sense, sounds like you should enroll in one of my distance learning programs — either Cabal Fang or Bobcat Martial Arts.
• Have you done this month’s constitutional twice this week?  If not, get it done.  If so, reward yourself with something nice, like a long walk, a new book, or a fun fitness tool, etc.
• Do you know the prevailing wind direction for your home territory?  In my area, the wind most often blows from the south in summer and the north in winter (see wind rose on the right).  Find the regional climate center for your state, do a search, and generate the wind roses for you stomping grounds.  If you know the ICAO code for the airport climate center nearest you, plug it into the URL from at the WRCC and you can get what you need, or if you’re in the SE, just go the the NCCO.  You can’t rely on wind direction if you get lost, but you can use it as a backup, for support of a supposition, to determine if there’s a new weather pattern blowing in, etc.
• 

  Giant hand sculpture outside Squash-a-Penny Junction. It’s not a Hand of Mysteries or even a hamsa, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was?

  Fight as dirty with yourself as you would in self-defense.  Last week your assignment was to put one of the Five Vital Graces (Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability and Fraternity) into action.  This week be extra self-critical.  Keep a notepad or a scrap of paper and a pen in your pocket.  Write down the Five Vital Graces on the paper.  If you catch yourself behaving in a manner inconsistent with one of the five precepts, put an “x” next to it for that day.  Max score for a given day is 5 — one point for each precept you kept.  See if you get better over the course of the week.  “That which is measured improves.”

TWO MARTIAL ARTS DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS AVAILABLE. 100% free and operated through my non-profit, Cabal Fang is martial arts for personal development, self-defense and fitness. Bobcat Frontier Martial Arts is just $19.99/month and that’s your choice if you’re interested in Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble — the fighting arts, survival skills, lifeways and ethos of the colonial and indigenous peoples of North American during the frontier period (1607 – 1912). What are you waiting for — enroll today!

Heads up!  This week’s mettle maker contains a coupon code for a flash sale at Mitch’s General Store so read on.

Slip and Fall: Mettle Maker #247

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes.  Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.
• Eight minutes on your slip ball.  Set a timer for four minutes and get in front of your slip ball.  Put in 4 minutes in your preferred stance and another 4 in reverse stance.  Don’t have a slip ball?  Get a free one, handmade by yours truly, with any purchase of $20 or more at Mitch’s General Store.  Add a slip ball to your cart and use coupon code “21SLIP” at checkout.
• Hit the dirt and scramble for a loose weapon.  If you are under attack and there’s a scramble over a loose weapon, be prepared to come out on top — without falling on a blade and injuring yourself in the process!  Put on safety goggles and toss a rubber or wood training weapon up in the air about 6′ away.  As soon as it hits the ground, dive forward and gain control of it with your right hand.  Your enemy just missed — attack the imaginary killer two or three times.   Stand up and repeat until timer beeps.  Put in four more rounds, one right and one left with baseball slide and shoulder roll.  That’s 6 minutes of practical self-defense action that’ll force you to practice all weapon grips with both hands while training practical movement.  If you need training on the specifics on grips, pickup and/or movement techniques you’ll have to show up at Cabal Fang or enroll in the Bobcat Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble program.
• Learn to tie a trucker’s hitch with a slip knot and two half hitches.  One of the most useful knots of all time, and my personal favorite.  In the pics below I’m using the knot to lash a t-shirt to a backpack.  But you could use this to hold a box onto a flatbed truck or to cinch down a tarp.

  

  Let’s say you want to lash something down…

  

  Tie a bowline in the top end (this could be grommet in a tarp though)

  

  Make a slip knot in the middle of the other end…

  
  

  

  Give it a twist…

  

  …pull a loop through the hole…

  

  …and there you go.

  
  

  

  Run the lower rope up through the bowline knot…

  

  …and then come back down and catch the slip knot.

  

  This makes a sort of block and tackle.

  
  

  

  Give it a tug and it cinches like nobody’s business.

  

  To tie it off, come around the entire assembly with a half hitch.

  

  Tie one more half hitch…

  
  

  

  …and you’re done.

  

  The finished product.

  
  
• 

  The Hand of Mysteries. Like the Hamsa, except there’s a fish in the palm instead of an eye. But the fish is the ichthys, which is the vesica piscis, so a fish is an eye. Sort of.

  Don’t fall from grace — fall into one of the Five Vital Graces.  This month’s spiritual symbol is the Hand of Mysteries, and each one of its fingers equates to one of the Five Vital Graces: Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability and Fraternity.  This week, put one or more Vital Graces into action in the real world.  Need examples?  You could travel to a new place and experience its majesty (Wonder), install a security or smoke alarm (Sagacity), sock away some money in savings (Frugality), do something that you’ve been putting off due to fear or dread (Indomitability), or help out a friend in need (Fraternity/Sorority).

TWO MARTIAL ARTS DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS AVAILABLE. 100% free and operated through my non-profit, Cabal Fang is martial arts for personal development, self-defense and fitness. Bobcat Frontier Martial Arts is just $19.99/month and that’s your choice if you’re interested in Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble — the fighting arts, survival skills, lifeways and ethos of the colonial and indigenous peoples of North American during the frontier period (1607 – 1912). What are you waiting for — enroll today!