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Unleaded Old School Conditioning: The JOLT Battery Joint/Ligament/Tendon Training by Mark Hatmaker

 

I multi-task: Reading & JOLT Training 

Old School thought saw the “skull beneath the skin” when it came to conditioning.

That is, it was not just a game of altering the musculature—attacking muscles first [and only] was seen as dangerous cart before the horse territory.

The human body is only as strong as the connecting links.

The muscles act as the force applied to the various pulleys, levers, and block and tackle that is the joints, ligaments and tendons of the axes or fulcrums of movement.

Consider this, if we seek to lever a log out of a mire. We may force one end of a smaller log under it and lay the smaller log midway across a lever point, a fulcrum.

Before we apply a force [our own strength + bodyweight] to the end of the smaller log lever, we must give consideration to what we lay the log across to act as the lever fulcrum.

Given a choice of three fulcrums, all of the same dimensions, to do the job, would we choose…

A solid rock?

A pile of sand?

Or, for some odd reason in this example of ours, a fragile material such as glass that easily crumbles?

Absurd choices I know but it serves our purpose for the Old School arrow of thought.

The small log we use as a lever [our muscles and skeletal extensions on either side of a joint] may be up to the job but if our fulcrum [the joints themselves and the connective tissues of ligament and tendon] are as giving as sand or as friable as glass, well, all the strength in the world is for naught.

This is the jumping off point for The JOLT Battery.

The JOLT Battery is a compendium of Old School Joint, Ligament and Tendon strengthening exercises used by the early physical culturists to ensure that the muscles had equally durable fulcrums and axes with which to work.

Prick Up Your Ears, My Grapplers

Old School grapplers were particularly fond of JOLT training as no one experiences forced resilience at the margins like the Old School scuffler.

Shoulders, elbows, hips, spines, knees and feet were targeted to be twisted by antagonist grapplers.

Mere muscular strength was/is often not enough in these situations.

Many of these exercises were developed by early wise-thinking grapplers, and quickly adopted by early physical culturists to improve posture and stability as they placed themselves under increasing load, be it free weight or bodyweight feat of strength.

Fulcrum Stability

Strength of the fulcrum was seen as the key.

Stability is not garnered via ROM [range of motion] work as in muscular training.

JOLT training is in stark contrast to full-range training that is vital to muscular strength.

Just as one wouldn’t want our fulcrum-rock to roll around in our log levering task, we need stable JLT fulcrums in biomechanical tasks.

JOLT training resembles more a series of hyper-focused isometrics, with a dash of PNF [proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation] and MAT [Muscle Activation Therapy] all while being its own Old School thing.

The JOLT Pulse

What makes JOLT-work a jolt rather than just a stretch for a play on words is the jolt pulse.

An end of exercise triplet of movement that adds that smallest bit of dynamism to deepen the joint, ligament and tendon strengthening effect.

Who is The JOLT Battery for…

Combat Athletes

·        100%.

·        Combat athletes experience stresses at the margin day-in, day-out.

Lifters, Runners, & Jumpers

·        Anyone who places the body under load or adds repetitive G’s via hitting the pavement.

The Every Day Ache & Painer

·        Bad back? See the JOLT Back Section

·        Prone to turning an ankle? See the detailed JOLT Ankle Section

·        Bad Knees? See the JOLT Knee Section

·        Bad rotator cuff, achey hips, shoulders, elbows, well, you get it.

Unleaded: The JOLT Battery provides a Neck to Toe [literally] arsenal of exercises.

·        Recommended Templates are offered but one can feel free to mix and match and plug and play. My weak fulcrum may not be yours and vice versa.

·        Each exercise is demonstrated in detail—The Ankle Battery alone offers the Original Old School Recipe, the Darden Variations, the Robinson Variations, and finally Slant Board Options so you can dial in on what works best for you. [Old School is my flavor.]

·        We will cover the 2/1/:30 Method for Progressing.

·        And detail which exercises use the Pulse and how to do so with safety.

Back Bonus

·        The 50/50 Hazard of the Dead Hang

·        ½ of the population will exacerbate a bulging disc with the dead hang, prolonging or worsening the issue.

·        We will present the Old School Alternative that 100% can do [pain-free backs and disc-healers alike.]

·        Discuss the Reflex Conundrum that kyboshes the Conditioned Athlete from benefitting from the hang for pre-hab/re-hab despite illusions to the contrary.

·        The Old School Back Answer is a piece of cake, so relaxing you’ll likely fall asleep as you heal and restore your vertebral spacing.

Unleaded: The JOLT Battery is a 59-Exercise Deep DVD/Print Syllabus Package.

For more details see here.

BTWBlack Box Brotherhood, you need do nothing. You’ll get this Unleaded Volume at your usual deeply discounted price. Ura Pabi!

Available Volumes in The Unleaded Program

·        The Pliant Physique

·        Core Stability

·        Hips Stability

·        GFF: Grip-Fingers-Forearms.

·        The Chest Battery

·        The Back Battery

·        The Shoulder Battery

·        Unleaded: Warrior Walking, the Only Cardio You Need for Combination Fighting, Physical Culture and Attacking the Outdoors

Upcoming Unleaded Volumes include…

·        Hidden Gems: Stabilizing Muscle [Pre-Hab, Re-Hab, & the True Core]

·        The Shotgun Muscle Trifecta: Strengthening the Peripherals

·        The Shock Muscle Trifecta: Ballistic Motion for Combat Athletes

·        The Tarzan Twelve: Feats to Show Off What You’ve Built

·        And complete Batterys for Core: Abdominal Strength and Rotational/Extension Game-Changers, Thigh-Hips-Knees, Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps.

·        Static & Dynamic Batterys to unite Whole-On Strength.

·        The Unleaded Female Warrior Program

·        [Each Program is a DVD/Booklet package.]

Information on Joining the Old School Rough & Tumble Fighting Unleaded Conditioning Brotherhood.

Or try our podcast, Mark Hatmaker, Rough n Tumble Raconteur.

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