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Throwing Away Everything I Knew About Conditioning by Mark Hatmaker

 




I’ve been training in Western Martial Arts for 48 years.

For 44 of those years, I trained with what I thought was the ideal—everything from scads and scads of Hindu Squats, Dands, Dive-Bombers, Pull-Ups, box jumps, tire-flipping, sprints, miles of roadwork, skipping-rope, shadow-boxing, Olympic lifting, the whole nine yards.

By 2018-2019 I had compiled a treasure-trove of counter-intuitive old school physical culturist information, not from the usual manual re-prints but from actual correspondence, yellowing fighter interviews, etc.

So much of this information struck me as archaic and likely out-and-out wrong.

Afterall, so much of it was diametrically opposed to what we know as gospel truth today.

And then the obvious elephant in the room rared it’s trunk and asked,

“Old Man, you obviously revere and resurrect these old school combat ways, enough so you put them to the test in the gym day-in day-out and find them not only up to snuff, but objectively wiser than new directions.”

“So, why do you think these Old Timers who were so wise in this one area got conditioning so wrong?”

Well, that wise internal voice of an elephant got me to thinking let’s put it to the empirical test.

Give a good six months of nothing but Old School “wrongness.”

No half-measures, no sneaking in Hindu Squats, no hitting thrusters and a muscle snatch or two here and there along the way.

Stick to the Old School for six months and…if it’s as wrong as you suspect, surely that half a year hole you dug for yourself is not too much of a deficit to dig out from.

I began the Old School Experiment on January 2nd, 2025.

Weight January 2nd 2020

M-195.5

Six Months Later…

Weight July 2nd 2020

M-172.5

A 23-pound drop and, to be honest, I did not consider myself hefty.

I weigh in this morning at the age 59

Weight May 23nd 2025

M-168.4

And I ate an entire pizza last night. I ain’t even kidding.

Objectively the numbers speak volumes.

But…what about how do I feel subjectively?

The Old Man in 2020

I had an ill-advised knee-surgery.

·        Was told running was out of the question [A blessing, me no likee roadwork.]

·        I was also told that hiking was done. I would need a cane for a day at Dollywood with my family.

·        I have posted many a canyonland exploration photo to put this prognosis to bed.

I received not one, not two, but three surgical recommendations for the replacement of the left hip.

·        I resisted as I was informed that much of what I do for a living would be off the table.

·        I went on long-term pain management instead of surgery [celecoxib and others.]

·        Again, I refer to the canyonland documentation, what I do on a daily basis and…

·        As of a few months ago I tossed the pain management drugs.

·        How do I feel? Surprisingly fine and OK.

·        I can still see the “damage” on the x-rays but apparently, I have “re-set” the acetabulum and femur head via muscular development just at the Old Timers dictated.

·        I’ll not lie, I was most resistant to this course of action but…no pills, no pain, no surgery—well-nigh a minor miracle in my subjective life.

Stamina?

Feels better than ever with less effort put in.

Strength?

I feel good. For 59 years old, I ain’t complainin’.

Aesthetics?

I make the Missus smile, so that’s money in the bank.

This is all because of following the “scientifically wrong” wisdom of the Old Timers.

These contrarians of the past have, in my humble opinion, upped my combat game and boosted my conditioning in ways far beyond expectation at my age.

All with bafflingly less work, and less time, and less perceived effort.

Hell, today’s training time, top-to-bottom: 22 minutes and 32 seconds.

Leaves me with beacuoup free time, more time for combat honing, or hitting the trails or paddleboard or kayak or hell, just lazin’.

The Old School Way is a mere 5-days per week, all sub-30 minutes of training time and…

‘Nuff of that, if you want the complete layout of how it works in a 5-days-per-week, 6 Revolving Blocks of training to give you an entire 6-month template—See here: https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/2025/05/unleaded-conditioning-whole-hog-by-mark.html

Beyond that, just let me say, I’m mighty grateful for that experiment that began January 2nd, 2020.

Wanna Join Me?

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

The Indigenous Ability Blog

https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

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