Indigenous Ability

Alexander I [Aleksandr Pavlovich 1777-1825], was a beloved Russian monarch. At the suggestion of his grandmother Catherine the Great…] “…he was taught from his early childhood to sleep, lightly covered, with the windows wide open, and a mattress of morocco leather stuffed with hay. He became almost immune to weather, and enjoyed ‘extraordinary health and vitality.’” -Will & Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization , Vol. 11, page, 677. [ The Age of Napoleon ] Keep in mind, this open-window robustification was in Russia. [For an in-depth historical, cultural, and scientific examination of building cold tolerance and robustification see Cold Tolerance: Warriors,Explorers, the Science by Mark Hatmaker also on this blog.]

You’ll have to tolerate a paragraph or two from me before we get to the meat of today’s lesson, some wise words from a Master Trainer on training for robustness. Who is the Master Trainer I speak of? Jimmy DeForest. For those not in the know, Jimmy DeForest was the boxing trainer and conditioning coach for…well, have look at a few of the luminaries he prepared for battle: ·         Jack Dempsey ·         Stanley Ketchel ·         James J. Jeffries ·         Joe Gans ·         George Dixon ·         Joe Walcott ·         Kid McCoy ·         Tommy Ryan ·         Philadelphia Pal Moore ·         Jack Sha...