Indigenous Ability

  [The following can be read independently, I wager it is stronger brew if one also reads the blog entry The Empirical Fighter: Rules for the Serious Combatant , particularly the sections on “self-refutation.”] Paleo? Vegetarian? If so, lacto-ovo? Is the “Zone” still a thing? Atkins? Food-scales? Calorie counting? Meal-Timing? Six scheduled meals per day for maximum nutrient absorption, perhaps? Organic? Grass-fed? Local-Sourced? Gluten-Free? All-Natural? Unbleached? Decreased Sodium? Zero Trans Fats? Protein Shakes? Supplement Popper? Steroid User? Low-Testosterone Augmenter? If you said yes to any of these, likely, you are… A] Concerned with weight control, Or, B] Concerned with the increasing impurities in our industrialized diet, Or, C] Concerned that turning our backs on “ how we used to eat ” is anathema to health and performance, Or, D] Concerned that environmental toxins decrease the normal hormonal production of our bodies, Or, E] Any combin...

  [Consider this a companion piece to the prior offering Recreational Reading as A Laboratory for Honor. ] Warrior cultures from time immemorial have what may be a curious, to our modern eye, intimacy with poetry. Our spare and laconic Spartans may have been averse to physical comforts considering them wasteful wallowing yet…they considered poetry as part and parcel of good martial development. We must never forget that “Homer’s” The Illiad and The Odyssey and other like poetic epics are collections of tales that were meant to be recited, told, sung, and pondered. Poetry to our Spartans was not just fireside entertainment or academic gloss to give a false sheen of bookish smarts. It was chosen carefully, composed with an eye on utility, recited and memorized to inculcate principles, ethics, and core attributes. It was used as a yardstick for the young to aspire to, a signpost for the brave to follow, a bolster for the temporarily weakened, a salve for those in straits...

  Crew, to get that underhook, that duck-under, that roof, or any descending go-behind, there is often an affinity for flaring [lifting the obstructing limb] to get to where you want to be. Counter-intuitively, I’ll tell you that is the opposite of what you want to do. We discuss in this clip an easier wedge exposure [the wedge in question here will the be the right armpit wedge] and offer a hint or two at why flaring is… 1)     Wasted effort 2)     Poor bio-mechanics. 3)     Thinking “strength” not old school smarts. 4)     How you are unwisely opening your own wedge in attempting to gain a wedge, in other words creating the self-same opening on yourself that you want on your opponent. [Would you drop your hands to throw a punch? Of course not.] When a clinch hits, you can feel who wants to flare as soon as you “slap on.” Give ‘em a clock-tick and they’ll give you a wedge with their unwise “offense” and yo...