Rough & Ready Challenge: Kansas Burpees by Mark Hatmaker

Today’s bit of old-school fun takes a conditioning standard and adds the laborious pleasure of hefting sacks of Kansas grain at market time.

· Grab your grain-sack stand-in, make it one of heft, but not so hefty you have to break your reps. We’re looking for solid non-stop work.

· Too heavy, you’ll take too many breaks.

· Too light and we’ll miss all the Farmhand strength benefits of the struggle.

THE PROTOCOL

· Drop and hit your plank to push-up.

· Return to feet.

· Gut-grip the “grain sack” and hoist it to a shoulder.

· Push-press the load overhead.

· Drop it and repeat.

· Alternate shoulders with each rep for balanced strength.

THE GOAL

· 50 in just under 10-minutes.

· If it takes longer than 10 you either tip-toed your pace and will get a good dressing-down from the Boss or you gambled too heavy. Correct that mistake next time.

· If you come in around 50-seconds or more under, you gambled too light and went easy on yourself. Rev it up for the next time.

· Aim for a steady-pace that brings it in around that 10-minute mark.

Wisdom from a Texas Ranger

“Bravery is always an ingredient of a magnanimous disposition. The domineering, tyrannical man is generally, though not always, a coward at heart. I have seen but few exceptions to the rule.” William Alexander Anderson “Bigfoot” Wallace

To the bold, strong and magnanimous of the world!

[The above is extracted from our upcoming book Rough & Ready: Old World Strength & Conditioning for Modern Warriors]

For tactical applications of Old-School Boxing, Wrestling & Frontier Combat see our RAW Service.

Comments

Apache Running by Mark Hatmaker

Of the many Native American tribes of the southwest United States and Mexico the various bands of Apache carry a reputation for fierceness, resourcefulness, and an almost superhuman stamina. The name “Apache” is perhaps a misnomer as it refers to several different tribes that are loosely and collectively referred to as Apache, which is actually a variant of a Zuni word Apachu that this pueblo tribe applied to the collective bands. Apachu in Zuni translates roughly to “enemy” which is a telling detail that shines a light on the warrior nature of these collective tribes. Among the various Apache tribes you will find the Kiowa, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Chiricahua (or “Cherry-Cows” as early Texas settlers called them), and the Lipan. These bands sustained themselves by conducting raids on the various settled pueblo tribes, Mexican villages, and the encroaching American settlers. These American settlers were often immig...

The Original Roadwork by Mark Hatmaker

Mr. Muldoon Roadwork. That word, to the combat athlete, conjures images of pre-dawn runs, breath fogging the morning air and, to many, a drudgery that must be endured. Boxers, wrestlers, kickboxers the world over use roadwork as a wind builder, a leg conditioner, and a grit tester. The great Joe Frazier observed… “ You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to the reflexes you developed in training. That's where roadwork shows - the training you did in the dark of the mornin' will show when you're under the bright lights .” Roadwork has been used as a tool since man began pitting himself against others of his species in organized combat. But…today’s question . Has it always been the sweat-soaked old school gray sweat suit pounding out miles on dark roads or, was it something subtler, and, remarkably slower? And if it was, why did we transition to what, and I repeat myself,...

Fightin’ Words: “I’m Gonna Clean your Clock!” by Mark Hatmaker

To our ears quaint, in a former time formidable, the expression “ I’m gonna clean your clock! ” was not a mere amusing gibe heard bandied about in a 1930s film but a bondafide threat with a meaning well understood by all. Until the 1940s the pre-dominant mode of mass-transportation in the United States was via railway. Indeed, America had embraced the automobile, but railroad tracks spanned and spider-webbed the nation whereas roads, while plentiful, were not quite what we may expect. In 1927 the first transcontinental highway in the world, Lincoln Highway, was only continuously paved from New York to Iowa. From there paving was intermittent, signage rare, roadside markers almost nonexistent. In the words of one contemporary user of the road, the highway was “ largely hypothetical .” So, while the automobile was on the rise the railroad dominated. Everyone knew railways, had some experience with them and to an unusual degree the railroad was held in a bit of romantic regar...

Indigenous Ability

Search This Blog