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[For those who ride till the end, I actually tell you how not
to give me money. Hell, I go one further, I point to products—my own, no less, where
I say, “If I were you, I’d skip this.” That ain’t in no sales book that’s
been written yet.]
I am 57-years-old.
I’ve been in this head-smackin’, body-twistin’, researchin’ and livin’
the Old Ways business a long time.
I am grateful for the ride.
Before that sounds like a sign-off, stand-down, I’ll keep on ridin’
this horse as long as I can mount up.
As I age, I’ve been partial to this anecdote said of the philosopher Diogenes.
Those who said to him, “You are an old man; take a rest,”
“What?” he replied, “if I were running in the stadium, ought I to
slacken my pace when approaching the goal? Ought I not rather to put on speed?”
But, in that span of time have I been right 100% of the time?
Hell, no.
To paraphrase Ol’ Blue Eyes: “Mistakes, I’ve made a few.”
But…all mistakes were exactly that, errors in interpretation or acceptance
of too shallow a data set.
At no point do I feel that my mistakes were merely to bolster a piece
of dogma, support a tradition long since outworn, or provide sham scaffolding
simply because I’ve spent so long at an endeavor.
That would be an example of the sunk-cost fallacy, the ol’ stick
with something just because you’ve invested so much in it no matter the poor results
it is providing—be that a bad marriage, a failed invasion, or a tactically insufficient
fighting system.
I feel with the Greek thinker Mysore, that we should always shove our
personal predilections to the side when approaching something as serious as violent
endeavors [mock or serious] and especially advising others who come to you in
good faith regarding such matters.
“He used to say we should not investigate facts by the light of
arguments, but arguments by the light of facts; for the facts were not put
together to fit the arguments, but the arguments to fit the facts.”—Mysore
In some cases, research in a given area has stopped due to dry river
beds.
Let me use celebrity talk show hosts to explain.
“He Kilborn-ed it.”
A phrase that I use when I see someone who has no need to prove anything
to anyone but to himself.
I coined it in honor of TV-show host Craig Kilborn.
A little background to explain the “He Kilborn-ed it” phrase.
Kilborn was a former college basketball player who went to ESPN’s SportsCenter,
then became the first host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show back when
the onus was on being funny and not being outraged or politically hectoring.
[That criticism holds for all political stripes—Jokes, please, kids, I can read
and evaluate policy on my own.]
David Letterman, still on the air at the time and a force of power recognized
the talent and the competition and signed Kilborn to host The Late Late Show
following his own program.
What better way to beat the competition than to add it to your caboose?
The show had a good run, copped its own vibe and held its own.
After five years it was time to renew his contract and he said, “Nah.”
He wasn’t holding out for more money as many assumed.
He offered sincere gratitude to Letterman and all powers that be for
the ride and expressed that he got what he wanted out of it, time to see what
else there was in the world.
In a world where talk show hosts [and all else for that matter] hold
on tight to that literal and figurative host desk and never let it go even when
it feels like, “Hmmm, maybe you held on a few years too long.”
Kilborn, well, he Kilborn’ed it.
He walked away from an endeavor that felt tapped for him.
Seems happy, too.
I admire walking away from fished-out streams with a sportsman’s grace
to see what swims in the next river over.
The Negative Sales Pitch
Due to wider, deeper, in-depth research and testing I no longer feel
that the following products provide bang for the buck.
Mega-Gladiator
NHB: The Ultimate Guide to Conditioning
In short any of our volumes that use high-repetition training, or randomized
HIT modes.
Oh, they’ll still be available in the store as some people may like fishing
in a river that no longer provides me pleasure.
The Positive Sales Pitch
With that said, I see far more useful combat conditioning using The
Unleaded Conditioning materials we offer. Far easier to use and access results
with far less work as long as the combat athlete is diligent.
We have several volumes of these but if I were to pick one to say, start
with this one to get a feel for how in-depth this is I’d point to Unleaded:The Shoulder Battery.
“Hey Mark, any fighty stuff you feel less about?”
Yep, but… here’s the thing, no single title pops as, “Nah, this one
is dead to me.”
It’s more along the lines, “Oh, that tactic is still good, or this
next one will work but it’s tweaked now, oh, but this next one here, well, I’d
never do that again.”
It’s all so spread out and, thank the Fates, holds good water.
Don’t get me wrong, there are changes due to better research and more lab
testing but for the most part—each can stand on its own merits.
What I can say is, as the new fishing river of The Black Box
Project progresses the focus gets tighter and tighter.
I think our recent volume 13 Tactics from
an 18th-Century Brothel "Caretaker" does a fine job
reflecting the detailed approach.
That will continue with such upcoming sample titles as “The
Scuffler’s Bottom Scissors Arm-Bar” where we present how to run an armbar training
set on the mat or in the meadow the way I wished I’d learned it decades ago, or
“Four Tribes, Four Regions, Four Tomahawks,” or “Council Fire Kicking”
or Barrel House Ax Handle or Congo Square Neck Cranks—I could go
on and on with what’s coming down The Black Box and Unleaded pike but the key
here is that I feel the vitalism in it, and have no need to repeat
myself or Kilborn it.
For the uninitiated I’d guide a newbie to The Black Box way to have a
look at 13 Tactics from an 18th-Century Brothel "Caretaker.”
This is another recent title that I am mighty proud of. I feel that it
really gets the feel for how nitty-gritty and fun reality is and how silly supposition
is.
Users of the system have remarked how it totally changes how they see
even a standard ax.
Hell, after viewing, you can’t even look at a movie-poster pose of
someone holding an axe without a critical eye of, “Yeah, right, I’d never man
a shield wall with that yahoo.”
3 for 3
There you have it, I named 3 products I’ skip: Gladiator
Conditioning, Mega-Gladiator & NHB: The Ultimate Guide to Conditioning.
And 3 that I think are great initiations for those asking the
question, “Do I wanna give this Old School River a go with this particular
guide at the helm of my boat?”
I’d say these are the three to flavor.
13 Tactics from an 18th-Century Brothel "Caretaker"
Unleaded: The Shoulder Battery
Whether you fish with me or not, may we all enjoy the river!
For historically accurate and viciously verified Old School Combat Tactics
and Conditioning, none of it based on assumption see the following
resources.
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