A PT Grinder for My Rough ‘n’ Ready Hombres by Mark Hatmaker

The Michigan Assassin’s Unlucky Meeting w/ Mr. Royal Burpee

Belly up to the bar my stalwart ones, today’s challenge is a combination of a hypothetical meeting between Stanley “The Michigan Assassin” Ketchel and Royal H. Burpee, the man purported to have contributed to the world the compact evil that bears his name.

Mr. Ketchel [as we have documented elsewhere] used to throw boulders to build wind and explosive punching power. Seems to have worked for him. So, who are we to argue with old school true?

The Gear

· You

· 50-lb slam ball, rock, cinder block, or some other heft worthy stand-in.

· Space to fling and break stuff.

The Protocol

· Drop and hit 13 of Mr. Royal’s invention.

· Then pick up your “boulder” and hurl it for all your worth.

· Trot to it and do it again for a total of 13 reps.

· Then hit your Royals again for 12 reps.

· And so on and so forth down to a single repetition of each.

The Goal

· A sub-seven-minute time.

· If you come in over 7-minutes, no worries, you did the work and I’ll love you anyway.

· Come in more than 30-seconds under the 7 and I’ll hit the buzzer and ask, “Did you choose a boulder too light, or did you really throw it as far as you could?”

The Prize

· Pride of accomplishment.

· Rotational punching power.

· Gains on a fighter’s wind

· Not too shabby prizes are they?

Enjoy my Warriors!

“Kee tomoyakhet’u, pia ekakwitse’e moo’o!”

[“Less thunder in the mouth, more lighting in the hands!”]

[Excerpted from our upcoming book ROUGH & READY: Old World Strength & Conditioning for Modern Warriors. See here for more Old School Tactics and Evil historically accurate and viciously verified

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