Double-Down on Doubleday Drills by Mark Hatmaker

There was an astonishingly creative panoply of drills to build punching power, balance, precision, finesse and overall form.

These drills can be found spread throughout early boxing training, in singular pockets of rural approaches to fighting and are rife and rampant in the rough n tumble tradition where power was a premium.

In our newest Black Box Instructional Product, we present 20 of these drills under the rubric “Doubleday Drills” in honor of Civil War veteran and purported “Father of American Baseball” Abner Doubleday as so many of these drills are rooted in hard-smackin’ they remind me of teeing off with a good old fashioned hickory bat.

We’ll provide more history on these another day, but for now I believe it suffices to say that getting started on 20 Drills to hit harder and meaner is the key thing—less readin’, more doin’!

Many of these drills train attributes that are now illegal, making them ideal for street/self-defense use.

I am 100% confident that the historical combat lover will find some wildly new approaches to punching training in this program.

Hell, I’ll tip ½ of the syllabus to give an example of how much Old School fun is to be had here.

Slam the Big Door

· Attribute Developed: Body-Connection

Slam the Little Door

· Attribute Developed: Balance & Body-Connection

The DB Sling

· Attribute Developed: Elbow Angle

Incomplete Swings

· Attribute Developed: Pre-Flight Mechanics

· Keep the angle acute.

· Maintain hip & twist mechanics.

The “Sling” or Injured Wing Drill

· Attribute Developed: Elbow Angle

Lumberjack Hook

· Attribute Developed: Falling Step Power

Show ‘Em Your Sole

· Attribute Developed: Leading Hip-Drive Power

Falling Hook Pause to Full

· Attribute Developed: Falling Hook Mechanical Observation-Evaluation

Skater Hooks

· Attribute Developed: Keeping the power inside the feet.

Medicine Ball Knee-Drive Drill

· Attribute Developed: Rear-Hip Power and Controlling for the “Up” Error

Interested? Hell, all hard-punching hand-throwers should be.

To get started on your Heavy Hands hit the link and get to Smackin’!

Comments

Apache Running by Mark Hatmaker

Of the many Native American tribes of the southwest United States and Mexico the various bands of Apache carry a reputation for fierceness, resourcefulness, and an almost superhuman stamina. The name “Apache” is perhaps a misnomer as it refers to several different tribes that are loosely and collectively referred to as Apache, which is actually a variant of a Zuni word Apachu that this pueblo tribe applied to the collective bands. Apachu in Zuni translates roughly to “enemy” which is a telling detail that shines a light on the warrior nature of these collective tribes. Among the various Apache tribes you will find the Kiowa, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Chiricahua (or “Cherry-Cows” as early Texas settlers called them), and the Lipan. These bands sustained themselves by conducting raids on the various settled pueblo tribes, Mexican villages, and the encroaching American settlers. These American settlers were often immig...

The Original Roadwork by Mark Hatmaker

Mr. Muldoon Roadwork. That word, to the combat athlete, conjures images of pre-dawn runs, breath fogging the morning air and, to many, a drudgery that must be endured. Boxers, wrestlers, kickboxers the world over use roadwork as a wind builder, a leg conditioner, and a grit tester. The great Joe Frazier observed… “ You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to the reflexes you developed in training. That's where roadwork shows - the training you did in the dark of the mornin' will show when you're under the bright lights .” Roadwork has been used as a tool since man began pitting himself against others of his species in organized combat. But…today’s question . Has it always been the sweat-soaked old school gray sweat suit pounding out miles on dark roads or, was it something subtler, and, remarkably slower? And if it was, why did we transition to what, and I repeat myself,...

Fightin’ Words: “I’m Gonna Clean your Clock!” by Mark Hatmaker

To our ears quaint, in a former time formidable, the expression “ I’m gonna clean your clock! ” was not a mere amusing gibe heard bandied about in a 1930s film but a bondafide threat with a meaning well understood by all. Until the 1940s the pre-dominant mode of mass-transportation in the United States was via railway. Indeed, America had embraced the automobile, but railroad tracks spanned and spider-webbed the nation whereas roads, while plentiful, were not quite what we may expect. In 1927 the first transcontinental highway in the world, Lincoln Highway, was only continuously paved from New York to Iowa. From there paving was intermittent, signage rare, roadside markers almost nonexistent. In the words of one contemporary user of the road, the highway was “ largely hypothetical .” So, while the automobile was on the rise the railroad dominated. Everyone knew railways, had some experience with them and to an unusual degree the railroad was held in a bit of romantic regar...

Indigenous Ability

Search This Blog