Indigenous Ability

In four weeks we do the photo-shoot for the long-promised volume Boxing Like the Champs, Round Two . Consumers of the 1 st book and the companion DVD-set Boxing like the Champs can expect more deeply researched fistic malice. [All available at our little ol’ website store.] The publisher tells me it will see wide release this Fall. Coming Up Sooner in the Pipeline: The Suakhet’u. First, what The Suakhet’u is not… ·         It is non martial arts or combat sports related. ·         It is not a strenuous physical endeavor. What is The Suakhet’u? ·         It is an audio-visual course detailing a morning enlivening/awakening practice culled from various American Indigenous traditions. ·         Although there is some “sitting” involved, it is not meditation. ·         Although there are specific breathing methods involved, they are not “exercises.” ·         The Suakhet’u is not about withdrawal to inward realms. ·         It is not about

Rough ‘n’ Tumble, scufflin’, illegal boxing, boombattle, and all the various and sundry names that go to describe the all-in melee that is truly no-holds-barred, no-strikes-off-the-table uses the entire body as a weapon. Let’s take a brief sojourn with just one of those weapons—The Shoulder. Due to obvious range restrictions, the shoulder is part of the closed-quarters arsenal.  [ Notice, in deference to the origin of the word, I call it “closed quarters” in the piratical naval melee sense and not the modern and incorrect perversion to “close quarters.” Yeah, I’m that guy, a stickler for the details. Consider this, if the name ain’t right, what else might be wrong? If a guy calls a jab “a fisty puncher” and is oblivious to the word “jab” we’d suspect something was a bit awry in the boxing research, would we not?] To the Shoulder! We’ve got three broad ways to use it [Slams, Butts, & Grinds] and essentially only two attack paths [Inward & Upward.]

Oh, Crew, looking to get outside the comfy smooth gym and test your real mettle with activities and objects that haven’t been designed to make hefting them easier so you can skip grade-school reveling in the WOD participation trophy hamster wheel? Then, belly up to the bar for a PT Challenge from ye olde days of lumberjack and woodsman prowess. Pulp wood was a designation for bucked lengths not quite up to par for lumber use. For our purposes, and those into Woodsman and Lumber Sports Competitions, grab yourself 4 lengths of log four feet in length with an approximate weight of 30-40 pounds per. If you don’t have logs available, you can hit the resource that is Home Depot and pick up a couple of 6 x 6 pressure treated timbers. They come in 8-foot lengths so a wee middle cut to each gives you a PT resource that will last. [They’ll be a bit on the light side but they will serve the log-bereft.] The Course ·         Lay out your four pieces of pulp wood.

[Excerpted from the upcoming book Boxing Like the Champs, Round Two .] Due to his untimely death few recall the man that was Luther McCarthy.  Let’s rectify that. First, his name. 21 st -Century sources list his name as Luther McCarty with no “h” following the letter “t.” Every single one of my resources from 1911 to1931 have the spelling as McCarthy. These sources being closer to the time this fine boxer walked the planet, I’ll stick with them. Born in Hitchcock County, Nebraska March 20 th , 1892, he was called “Luck” by his family. Raised on a ranch he came up in the cowboy lifestyle and could ride and rope well. During his brief career he would appear on the vaudeville stage and regale the audience with his lariat abilities.  His Nebraska origins, and cowboy skills led to the ring names of “The Cowboy” or “The Fighting Cowboy.” McCarthy was a big powerful man, well over six feet tall, some sources have him as tall as 6’4”. He possessed an 80” reach