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The Herkimer Hurricane’s Push & Shove Drill by Mark Hatmaker

[Excerpted from our book Boxing Like the Champs Round Two . Available here .] Lou Ambers, a two-time lightweight champion, was born in 1913 in Herkimer, New York, hence one half of his ring name. Lou was one of those fighters who skipped amateur bouts and jumped right into being a pro. Usually without early experience one would suffer with this jump directly to the big leagues as it were, but Mr. Ambers racked up 32 straight victories at the beginning of his career. This pro-jump and success rate did not go unnoticed as he was ranked the 9 th best lightweight contender in 1933 a mere year after getting into the game. Lest we think that he stepped fully formed out of the womb, what Ambers did in place of amateur bouts was potentially a more formidable school of hard knocks. He fought many a “bootleg” fight before his pro debut. This is essentially off-the-books bouts where anyone with heart could be grist for the fight viewing entertainment mill. Mr. Ambers, in the phraseology ...
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Unleaded: Old School Shock Training by Mark Hatmaker

    Old School Fast Twitch Muscle The Entry ·         You have an approximate 50/50 mix of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers comprising your skeletal muscles. ·         Different muscles [muscle-groups] have different fiber type compositions, meaning the ratio is not a strict 50/50 across the body. ·         For example, your calves and postural muscles tend to have more slow-twitch fibers— Note this fact . ·         The higher ratio of slow-twitch vs. fast-twitch in the calves and postural muscles is one reason we see higher incidence of falls as we age.   Why? ·         Think of anytime you’ve stumbled [or actually fell] that quick involuntary sudden shift of balance and position to get a foot out to prevent the fall, that split-second alteration of the torso/postural musc...

Self-Help Advice from An Old-School Champion, Part 2 Jack Dempsey by Mark Hatmaker

  The Old Man’s Premise : We are always wiser to take our self-help advice from Men & Women of action. People who have lived much, who burn the wick to the end. Be they athletes, explorers, adventurers, frontiersmen, survivors, or “average” men and women in tough spots, their words, their insights should be weighted far heavier than anything offered from a chair, “brain-cycled” from an app, “discovered” reclining on a sofa, or hoped for with an affirmation. That in a nutshell is the entire premise of our just released book, The Frontier Stoic: Life Lessons from Those Who Live a Life. We must never forget, advice offered that was not lived is false, it is untested. Much advisory eloquence is simply well-turned prose that was never lived. Edifying in the way of a fine poem but just as ephemeral. Words from the trenches, acts that provided solace in real trying circumstances, well, that My Friends, that is something worthy of mulling and putting into practice. Which ...

The Frontier Stoic by Mark Hatmaker

  Well, well, well, that book is finally here! THE FRONTIER STOIC: Life Lessons from Those Who Lived a Life. ·         227 pages of Old School Hosses leading the Way. ·         Available in softcover in our store . ·         Or as an e-book here .   A preview below… A ROMAN, A FRENCHMAN, A YANKEE, & A MAASAI WARRIOR GO INTO A BAR OUR ROMAN DRINKING BUDDY “ None of those who have been raised to a lofty height by riches and honors is really great. Why then does he seem great? Because you are measuring the pedestal along with the man. A dwarf is not tall though he stands on a mountain; a Colossus will maintain its size even when standing in a well. This is the error under which we labor, and how we are deceived; we value no man by what he is, but add the trappings in which he is adorned .”-From Seneca’s Epistles ·       ...