Skip to main content

The Ancient Greek Warrior & The Apache, Part 1 by Mark Hatmaker

 


“A Western Apache warrior named Palmer Valor who came of age in the mid-19th century recalled that his mother had encouraged him to swim in icy streams and endure other hardships when he was a boy so that he would be ready to take on any opponent.”-The Way of the Warrior

Indigenous Tribes of the Americas are full of such youthful “hardship” training. Practices designed specifically to build physical and mental fortitude, dare I say, forge a Warrior Spirit.

We find this echoed perfectly in practices 300 centuries ago in Ancient Greece.



“As to their bodies, we train them as follows. When they are no longer soft and weak, we strip them, and begin habituating them to the weather, making them used to the seasons, so as not to be distressed by the heat or given to the cold. Then we rub them with olive oil and supple them that they may be more elastic. After that, having invented many forms of athletics and appointed teachers for each, we teach one, for instance, boxing, and another pancratium, in order that they may become accustomed to endure hardships to meet blows, and not recoil for fear of injuries. This helps us by creating a them two effects that are most useful; it makes them spirited before danger, unmindful of their bodies, and healthy and strong as well.”

To Forge Yourself into a Greek Warrior or Apache Avatar



Unleaded Whole Hog Blocks 1-6

[A li’l sneak peek of where all of you on the Whole Hog Journey are headed.]

Block 1: The Base

·        Establishing a Responsive Ready State

·        If you have already been training for more than 6 months, skip this Block and move on to the others.

Block 2: The “Seated” Torso, Power & Fast Feet

·        We move into fine-tuning Core Exercises and re-build our approach to Legs beginning with Zero Weight…

·        Moving to weight as an Option after 4 weeks.

·        Think Zero Weight Leg Development can’t be done?

·        Take a gander at Bobby Pandour and others of the early cadre who felt heavy weights were a detriment to true “to the bone” development.

·        This Block also approaches a balanced development of the lower leg with an eye on improving fast footwork and shifting speed.

·        Gear Required for this Block: Pull-Up Bar

·        Optional Gear: Weighted-Vest, Plyo Box, Nordic Bench, Tib Bar. [Substitutions are provided.]

Block 3: Seizing & Retention Musculature

·        Deep in the scientific weeds on how to build self-bolstering pulling/seizing/retention strength.

·        Gear Required: Pull-Up Bar, Barbell, Dumbbells.

·        Optional Gear: T-Bar Row Attachment

Block 4: Punching, Pushing, Staving Off Power

·        We build radial power from the waist-up in all functional planes.

·        We move into 3/2 Sequencing still Training 5 Days per week.

·        At this point you will still be training 5-Days per week and likely taking less time then the first month of Block 1.

·        Gear Required: Dip Bar & Resistance straps.

Block 5: The Tarzan Twelve

·        4 Explosive Exercises for the Lower Body.

·        4 for the Upper Body.

·        9 “Feat” Isometrics for Complete Body Tensile Strength.

·        1 Salto Movement for Spinal Resilience.

·        We discuss “How” to do these.

·        The “6-Second and No-More” Rule.

·        Where to Program each into the 5 Day Training Plan

·        Gear Required: Pull-Up Bar.

·        Optional Gear: Parallettes, Bench, a single 10-pound dumbbell.

Block 6: 31-Point TMC Mobility-Flexibility & The Tactical 9

·        A 31-Point Toe-to-Head Pliancy thru Strength Set using Tonic Muscle Contraction.

·        This is NOT passive stretching.

·        A 9-minute/9 fight-flight functional movement set to torch bodyfat.

If one is using the Unleaded Program but is NOT a Combat Athlete, then we recommend Unleaded: Warrior Walking as an adjunct to speed along fat loss.

THE ENTIRE SERIES IS NOW AVAIALBE IN THE STORE

Other than that, Blocks 1-6 for a 6-Month journey. Consume the free Unleaded “Feastin & Beastin’” Tips along the way to bolster your “Why we do it this way” and “Common Man” Diet” alterations and you’ll be cookin’ with gas!

As for Training Materials Historically Accurate, Scientifically Examined, and Viciously Verified in the Comancheria Living Laboratory, well, see the following resources!

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

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fTpfVp2wi232k4y5EakVv...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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,...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more