The Synchronicity of Do and Jitsu

In walking the martial path, one refers to Do, or the way of one's life.  When one refers to how a life is lived, they refer to Jitsu, or a series of techniques.  These two concepts are ostensibly separate, yet interrelated, as mastery at one presupposes a degree of mastery in the other.  How shall a person who lives badly perform well?  How can one who performs badly live well?  As such, a martial artist should not worry overmuch on this distinction or its relevance.  Instead, it is advantageous to concentrate on integrating the two domains fully such that one becomes a manifestation of the other.  One's techniques can build a good life.  One's good life emerges from proper form and good habits.

On Whether to Extinguish One's Fire

Anger, in the elemental philosophy of conflict, corresponds to fire.  As fire varies by its intensity, duration, and consequences, so does one's anger.  Annoyance or irksomeness has characteristics of embers which are easily and unpredictably scattered to create larger blazes elsewhere.  A small burn corresponds with shouting, posturing, gesturing, and general displays of displeasure.  Finally, a firestorm corresponds with violence in its power, speed, and merciless energy.  However, like all elements, fire has a weak point.  It burns out quickly and consumes everything it touches indiscriminately.

Fire is not heavy, but is severe in its own way.  It is quick, light, and devastating.  It also spreads linearly.  Wind can spread its intent in other directions or blow it out, water can either evaporate itself or extinguish fire, and earth can either block fire or be melted and forged.

With this in mind, some of the martial persuasion immediately oppose the elemental cultivation of fire as a martial practice.  It is said to be the most difficult element to harness and maintain over time and can be used to evil purposes whereas the other elements tend to direct one's character toward morally sound judgments with little reflection.  Fire on the other hand embodies a moral calculus of power and respect.  Those who wield power brand respect into others.  Weakness is despised.

While the decision to repress and ultimately extinguish one's fire can make sense in a perfectly just, fair society with little chance of warfare, the moral calculus of the battlefield requires an understanding of fire as an element for mere survival.  Killing an opponent in cold blood is not a task well suited for the sensitive and merciful.

In balancing the excesses of fire as an element, one should meditate on harnessing one's firestorms of martial power into controlled metaphors of fury: the flamethrower, the butane lighter, the welding torch.  Unlike the other arts, which can often embody strength through expansiveness, such as earth's size, water's fluidity, and wind's trajectory, fire is most powerfully implemented through its judicious limitation and precision of application.  A quick palm heel to the face which dispatches an opponent is best limited, directed, and restrained to avoid producing unintended consequences such as a fury of damaging strikes which deal more damage than intended.  In life and death struggle, unintended consequences tend toward the favorable; in civilization, they can result in a lifetime's imprisonment.

Martial Conditioning: Crawling

Intro: While the bridge can work the entire posterior chain through a mere static hold, the leverages of the body demand more difficult tactics to work the anterior chain.  Otherwise, simply holding downward dog would be sufficient anterior training to guarantee martial strength.  One of the best drills for anterior activation is crawling.  This movement conditions just about every muscle in the body while developing many athletic skills at once.

Muscles Worked: All of them.  All joints of the body are used simultaneously with the core stabilizing throughout.  The wrists, forearms, shoulders, back, abs, chest, entire arm, entire leg, hips, and even the feet and ankles all increase in strength and flexibility.

Why Crawl?: Crawling is one of the most fundamental human movements.  As a result, all of us are primed to crawl and the crawl constitutes a building block of all other movements.  Crawling contralaterally (alternating left leg/right arm and right leg/left arm) improves neural strength and endurance as well as coordination and balance.  Myofascial release can occur due to a rebalancing of muscle groups and the reclamation of functional movement patterns.  Joint injury becomes less likely due to the unpredictable, repetitive pressures encountered during crawling.  This competency at absorbing irregular shock is known as reflexive stability.  The lack of an eccentric movement means that crawling will not result in excess soreness and will not interfere with any existing routine.  Wrestlers and other specialists in ground game can develop sport specific movement skills with little more than crawling as a strength and endurance base.  Indeed, learning to crawl as easily as walking can exponentially increase one's wrestling endurance.  Those who find direct core work boring can maintain and increase midsection stability through daily practice of crawling progressions alone.  Those who wish to maintain or build upper body muscle tone will find crawling thickens up the arms, shoulders, chest, and back just as well as a daily regimen of basic calisthenics with the added advantages already listed.  Finally, crawling is an exercise in humility and is therefore well suited to a 'covered fist' approach to the martial arts.  Few would be tempted to brag about how far they crawl per day or how weak they feel when they get done.  Consequently, crawling can develop great power without corresponding hubris.  The human body, being descendant from quadrupedal relatives, contains many vestigial structural imbalances due to incomplete optimization of the human frame for bipedal motion.  Crawling develops and maintains patterns of muscle mass that can prevent structural imbalances and weaknesses caused by bipedal patterns of muscle atrophy.

Progressions: The Soldier Crawl: This initial variant is the first form of locomotion we all learn.  It consists of contralaterally (left arm/right leg, right arm/left leg) moving oneself over the ground with opposing elbows and knees.

The Knee Crawl: By extending the contralateral crawl to the hands and knees, the strength demands are increased.

The Bear Crawl: This method consists of crawling contralaterally in the downward dog position on the hands and feet.

The Leopard Crawl: Again, on the hands and feet, this method involves flattening the back and bringing the knees forward between the elbows.  The legs are bent and the arms are kept straight.

The Tiger Crawl: Exactly the same as the leopard crawl, except the knees are brought outside the elbows.  The legs are bent, the arms are slightly bent.

The Alligator Crawl/Spiderman Crawl: This final progression of crawling consists of remaining in a low plank, or the bottom of a pushup and crawling contralaterally.

In all variations, the greatest benefits are derived from crawling as quietly and quickly as possible for approximately 100 yards, and never to failure.

One modification of the crawl involves crawling isolaterally, or with the same side arm and leg propelling the body.  This variant is not recommended due to its inferior coordination, balance, and midsection strengthening benefits.  To advance the crawling progressions more beneficially, crawl backwards, sideways, uphill, and downhill. 

Likely Results of Crawling:
The results of crawling greatly depend on the physical build of the trainee.  Larger trainees will become bear like.  Smaller trainees will become cat/monkey like.  One's habits of movement will influence which traits one acquires.  As such, crawling is in close accord with animal metaphors of martial development.

Bear Style Muscle Building/Maintenance Protocol

For readers interested in building functional muscle without sacrificing flexibility, speed, or strength, the following protocol is an animal style bodyweight workout designed to build maximal muscle with minimal investments of time, skill, or equipment.  You will literally only require 45 minutes, a modest floor space, and enough grit to complete the steps as written at least once per week.

Phase 1: Hold a neck bridge for at least 2 minutes, or 15.5 breaths at a rate of 8 seconds per breath.  This important beginning step establishes a hormonal environment conducive to rapid muscle gain as a result of time under tension and nearly every muscle group in the body working simultaneously.  Read my post on the Matt Furey bridge for form pointers.  Roll on your spine afterward to decompress.

Phase 2: Perform 1 set of 10 half divebomber pushups (descend until you are in a low plank, then push back into downward dog for sloooow reps).  This prefatigues the shoulders for the rest of the workout.

Phase 3: Perform 2 sets of 5 slow full divebomber pushups.

Phase 4: Hold a 30 second front neck bridge.  This will balance neck development and activate the abs.

Phase 5: Hold another neck bridge for at least 1 minute, or 7-8 breaths at a rate of 8 seconds per breath.  This phase will ensure an anabolic hormonal environment for quite some time.

Phase 6: Perform 2 final sets of slow divebomber pushups.

Phase 7: Hold another 30 second front neck bridge.  This will again balance neck development and ab strength.

Phase 8: Bear crawl or spiderman crawl for app. 50 feet forward, 50 feet backward, and 50 feet forward to finish.

Work up to 3:00 minutes in a back neck bridge, nose to ground, hips high, no hand support (a mighty feat), 10 half divebombers followed immediately by 20 full divebombers without a rest, and 2 minutes in a front neck bridge, all while breathing deeply and moving deliberately.

Finish all extended sets of bridging by rolling on the spine to decompress the discs.  Finish this workout (and all workouts) by crawling forward and backward to exhaustion or 15 alternations of left right crawling in either direction using a full range of motion.  This practice leaves no stone left unturned and supplies a finishing dose of humility to one's workout.

This protocol, though simple, results in powerful muscle gain as a result of combining optimal hormone balance with targeted upper body exercise.  Best of all, it requires no external equipment and can be completed quite quickly when in good shape.

Contraindications:  Those with weak necks or lower backs should not attempt to bridge without doctor consultation, nor is this blog condoning your use of the bridge in the absence of appropriate medical evaluation, nor of any movement whatsoever, ever, under any circumstances.

The anabolic state created by this workout can seem to shrink cardiovascular capacity.  Eat extra Omega-3 and Omega-9 oils (fish and olive oils) to ameliorate this feeling of high blood pressure and low cardiovascular endurance.

Of all my workout days, I look forward to this one the most for both its muscle building and limbering effects.  My biceps are larger than those of any of my training partners, all of whom believe I lift weights.  None of them would likely believe this workout, once per week, is the cause of my noticeable arm development.  Ironically, the largest total muscle gain from my adoption of this protocol has been in my legs, which have outgrown 3 pairs of jeans, nearly as quickly as my wife can buy replacements.  Kicking power and lifting endurance have been correspondingly improved.

Application Versus Understanding: Simplicity Versus Intricacy

In endeavors of importance the ways of application and understanding often stand in opposition. 

The way of application favors simplicity, directness, confidence, and efficiency.  For example, if one's application is self defense, one's methods must exemplify these values in the form of a small number of effective, simple techniques that can be learned and executed quickly with complete belief in one's mastery.  Complexity, formality, humility, and excessive contemplation are all disadvantageous in this view of the 'martial arts' where one's success drives one's methods.  Under this view of the 'martial arts' a person might learn only the palm heel strike and aggressiveness to be considered a complete 'martial artist.'

The way of understanding favors comprehensiveness, indirectness, humility, and organic evolution.  For example, a tai chi student might be made to hold a stance for 30 minutes to develop deep sensitivity to balance, a runner might lift kettlebells to develop their endurance, or a wrestler might hold a back bridge to build explosiveness and endurance during mat work.  These individuals might be easily defeated compared to pragmatic specialists in individual contests, at least initially, but will show their true value over longer periods of attrition.  While application allows for the development of fast proficiency, it is a shallow and incomplete approach to the martial way.  Some lessons of conflict require a lifetime of mindful self cultivation to fully appreciate, and the way of understanding nurtures one's growing awareness of place with respect to one's own desires, society, and moral development.  Finally, the protracted war for individual peace must include humility in the face of one's limitations in order to better see one's strengths in specific contexts.  If the way of application is equivalent to drawings in the sand which are quickly washed away, then the way of understanding is equivalent to carvings in stone which persist across generations for all to see.

If one seeks a short, conflicted life, the way of application can be useful.  Soldiers, police, bouncers, and any other profession in which physical conflict is a tool will find this view most appropriate, as only this view can guarantee adequate preparation for the rigors of certain combat.

If one seeks a long, stable life, the way of understanding is superior.  The warrior who has transcended the need for violence sees only human potential and strives to exemplify it more fully in themselves and others.  In this view, a simple palm strike trained 3 times a week will not be sufficient to defeat one's inner war of overcoming the need to see violence done to others.  To those with adequate safety and the ability to recluse from the savages of culture, the way of understanding accords most fully with the way of enlightenment and victory over the inner drive for war.

The Neck Bridge, Further Observations

Though I have heard the neck bridge described as the king of exercises, such hyperbole seemed unwarranted.  Surely a simple pose which supports only a small percentage of one's bodyweight cannot result in great muscle growth.  Yet consistent practice of this pose has garnered fairly shocking results.

*Firstly, I gained 20 pounds while maintaining some abdominal definition over 6 months.

*I practice this hold for a cumulative total of 3 minutes per week in 2 sets, once per week, paired only with 25 repetitions of divebomber pushup.  This is meant to supplement my practice of dips, leg raises, squats, pullups, pad work, and kettlebell snatches, none of which have ever resulted in outstanding muscularity.

*My neck no longer fits my dress shirts and finding a suitable sized shirt is difficult.  My neck is nearly thicker than my head.  I have difficulty taking off t-shirts due to their small size around my expanding shoulders and torso (this cannot be due to inflexibility, as I perform full range dips and divebombers).  I have stretched and torn 3 pairs of jeans in 3 months, as my legs and hips have grown rapidly as well as my entire back.  I now wear a size up.  Indeed, my wife has commented that I will shortly run out of places for new muscle to go.

*The muscular benefits of bridging appear to be hormonal, as I find that nearly any movement performed after back bridging results in targeted muscle gain.  How else does a mere 25 divebomber pushups per week result in more comprehensive upper body development than my former practice of handstand pushups and one armed pushups?

*My physical profile has changed.  I walk 'heavier' than before and my midsection is bulky, like a powerlifter belly.

*My spine, from lower back to neck, is flexible and entirely pain free.  When I turn my head as far as it will turn, my neck feels like it is embedded in tough tissue which provides strong resistance against hyperextension.  I believe that this feeling indicates greater durability of the neck against unexpected impacts.

*Psychologically, I am more aggressive and quick to anger after bridging, which supports the theory of a strong androgenic effect.

*It must be reiterated that 3 minutes of back bridging once per week has been the only significant change to an existing fitness regimen.

On Being Wronged and Maintaining Balance

The martial artist who practices balance will inevitably alienate most types of people they encounter.  The prudent will find them too permissive while the imprudent will find them too organized.  As such, a proper martial artist finds themselves assailed by vicious contradictory appraisals.  One will know they have achieved the pinnacle of balance by the diversity of their enemies, as evil assumes many forms in opposing a unified good.

You know you are walking the martial path in perfect balance when you are called too peaceful and too aggressive, too organized and too disorderly, too respectful and too flippant, too indulgent and too ascetic, too strong and too flexible, too emotional and too logical, too sexual and too celibate, and too loyal and too independent.  These paradoxical appraisals will begin to haunt an otherwise contented existence until one is tempted to succumb to the criticisms of one side or the other. 

When your gentleness has been met with savagery, your humor with dry antagonism, your love with hate, your care with recklessness, your inclusiveness with bigotry, your patriotism with treachery, and your good work destroyed utterly, you have finally reached the apex of martial development in the western world.  You will be feared and shunned, even as you inflict no harm and reject no one.

Paradoxically, though one could follow the iron rule by smashing unjust violence with righteous self defense, one can also defuse an injustice by applying an injustice in turn: granting the greatest gifts of mercy to the worst transgressors.  Thus the martial way does not split into opposition, but resolves into a unified paradox.  Peace as an end requires peaceful means.  It also requires violent means.  One's balance determines one's path.  It is possible to both lose and win.  Resolution is unnecessary.

Rational Self Control vs. Releasing the Animal Spirit

The martial arts can be tailored to suit one's life needs, and the conditions of one's life will influence preferred training methods.  The strain between rigid self discipline and emotional expression will always pervade one's training and there exist two ways of accommodating the animal side of human beings.

On one hand, the animalism inherent in conflict can be restrained, redirected, or soothed to peace.  Tai Chi and the internal martial arts put a leash on the inner animal when they teach how to control one's emotions.  This process begins with the direct civilization of the body's movements.  Every movement becomes an opportunity to practice increasingly intricate self control and discipline of one's body.  When the movements of the body are thus controlled, it becomes possible to develop combative prowess through the civilization of battle.  This process ends in the development of moral self restraint and the valuation of harmony, balance, or kuzushi.  By this method, the hunger for war is defeated in oneself, thus encouraging peaceful resolutions to conflict and the bravery that comes with moral certainty.  This method of training for battle is based on the notion that the fighter does not instinctively know the martial way and must discover the path through rigorous self cultivation.

To nurture this rational approach to self cultivation, asceticism and self denial become important abilities.  Fasting, exercise, meditation, and focused practice become a way of life which leads one to peaceful solitude.

By contrast, animalism can be unrestrained as completely as possible with strangely similar results for character development.  Such liberation training encourages instinctive physical responses to conflict and gradually enables the individual to take a life.  When an individual progresses to the point that they can take a life intuitively in the stress of physical conflict, they have fully expressed inner animalism.  In the throes of unwanted physical savagery, such an individual does not think, but acts out of immediate self love to preserve their safety and apply immediate physical retribution to an attacker.  This benchmark of capability begins as a selfish desire to secure one's survival and ends as an acknowledgement of the rights of all people to be safe from attack.  A savage warrior is first a brute, then an enforcer, then a politician, then a philosopher.  As such, unleashing the inner animal also cultivates rational self control, albeit through a more circuitous path.  This method of living the martial way presupposes that the animal side of oneself intuitively understands the martial way and must be freed to pursue it.

To nurture the animal side, one should fight, fuck, move naturally, and more fully exemplify emotional honesty.  These are the only necessary and sufficient conditions for animalistic martial development.  To better walk this path, trade calisthenics for endurance pad work and sparring.  Trade brinksmanship and self control for sex with actual partners and do not restrain lust or hunger.  Learn to crawl, jump, climb, and swim effortlessly and with great authority.  Express your anger, fear, cheerfulness, and sadness honestly in complete harmony with the present situation (no sadness during times of plenty; no cheerfulness during times of austerity).  Soon, you will fully express your animal proclivities and repeated conflict will develop your discretion.

Egoism, Cultural Conscription, or Moral Exemplification? The Higher Purposes of the Martial Arts.

One obstacle to the pursuit of the martial arts as an expression of the martial way is a lack of clear purpose in training.  Philosophically, self defense can defend either the selfish interests of the individual, the cultural interests of a collective, or the universal interests of moral principle depending on how broadly the self is defined.

Mediocre martial training merely helps one defend oneself against attack.  Good martial training helps one defend one's culture against invasion.  But superior self defense helps one defend the moral right, regardless of personal interest or cultural convention.

A training studio of mediocre quality produces trainees capable of competently repelling, reversing, or even initiating attack without any discussion of whether initiation of force is justified.  Nietzsche's morality of power holds sway in such a dojo, resulting in strong willed, impulsive, dangerous trainees who feed into the cycle of violence and ultimately encourage its end by amplifying the consequences of conflict to their opponents.  The outcome of this training remains positive, even as the effects of this training on character development remain negative.  Reality based martial arts exemplify this acultural, amoral, and acontextual focus on defense of the physical self above all other considerations.

A training studio of good quality produces culturally aware trainees who exemplify the best social traits of a collective.  The Japanese dojo constitutes a culturally conscripting training environment in which individual trainees are enlisted as the physical and philosophical protectors of a specific cultural lineage and way of life.  Such training values hierarchy, tradition, and character development above physical power or martial efficacy.  In this setting, defense of a cultural people and way of life dominate over individual concerns.  Korean Hwa Rang Do constitutes one example of cultural conscription as a dominant goal of training.

A training studio of superior quality produces individually, culturally, and morally awakened trainees who have surpassed conventions, arbitrary affiliations, and provincial interests to explore the universal truths of conflict.  These individuals defend not only themselves and their cultures, but the very principles of honor, loyalty, respect, and human dignity.  They place moral principle above personal fate or cultural survival and do not fight so much as express universal truth.  They do not defeat opponents, but conflict itself.  Such warriors have surpassed the myopic battles for status, safety, and cultural affiliation.  They have merged their interests with the interests of the universe: the resolution of conflict and the expression of the natural order over artificial schemes.  The Shaolin temple, the Knights Templar, and other monastic warrior groups as they are idealized in art embody the moral exemplification of the martial arts.

Reality Based Self Defense: Implementing a Self Defense Laboratory

In order for a chosen training method to qualify as reality based self defense, certain parameters must apply.  These include:

1.  Free sparring, in which the only limitation is to avoid irreversibly injuring a partner.  Bruising, sprains, nosebleeds, and even mild fractures are to be considered necessary evils incurred in the process of removing restraints from the training setting.  These injuries are to be avoided when possible, and accepted as necessary risks when suffered.

2.  Minimal protective gear.  Bulky gloves and pads serve only to limit mobility and reduce the sensation of taking a full contact blow.  They also teach lack of control.

3.  The inclusion, where possible, of simulated weaponry in both offensive and defensive roles.

4.  The suspension or removal of hierarchical divisions between trainees to facilitate fighting 'honestly' with higher ranking partners.

5.  Continuation of the sparring session until a specified duration or technical goal has been reached.

6.  The continuous alteration of environmental factors including obstacles, corners, lighting, and angles of attack.

Such training should not constitute the sum total of training time, as this practice will develop timidity, hyperreactivity, and a predisposition toward avoidance in actual self defense.  Too much reality based training can motivationally burn out a trainee and reinforce bad habits while too little can result in overconfidence and glaring technical weak points which can be exploited by a skilled opponent.

When training in a controlled setting, a trainee should feel empowered and indestructible.  When training in a realistic sparring scenario, a trainee should feel humbled and even fragile.

The best implementation of reality based training should be as a self defense laboratory in which rehearsed skills can be tested for efficacy.  Inadequate techniques can be readily exposed against a resisting opponent.

This author has learned much from removing the veil of false confidence, false safety, and false comfort provided in structured rehearsed training, such as:

*one handed gun disarms work very differently from two handed disarms, which require greater control and a reduced margin of error.
*knife disarms are nearly impossible before an opponent has been immobilized, even against an untrained opponent.
*kicks can provide distraction and distance, but can be easily caught if they extend above hip level.
*The single most effective knife attack is also, unfortunately, one of the most common and least discussed in self defense.  The sewing machine consists of firmly grabbing an opponent's shoulder with one hand while vigorously stabbing their torso with the other.  Once grabbed, a victim is very likely to be repeatedly cut or stabbed.  Distance is the best defense against a knife wielding opponent.  The best likely outcome of knife defense is deep cutting of the arms and significant blood loss.

The reader is encouraged to nurture their humility by training outside the safe confines of structured routines in the chaotic realm of reality based scenarios.

Quieting Inner Enemies

In psychology, there exists a notion of 'stimming out,' or nonfunctional self stimulation.  This blog itself could be seen as a form of self stimming, as the author receives no financial or social reward for updating its contents.  Self stimulation can be neutral, in the case of hand flapping, damaging, in the case of head banging, or beneficial, in the case of solitary physical fitness.

One can conceptualize certain inner cognitions as damaging self stimulation when they promote maladaptive behaviors or block adaptive behaviors.  Thoughts related to the opinions of others, one's powerlessness, and one's negative feelings can act as a form of self injury maintained through automatic reinforcement.  Such stims must be actively opposed by the sufferer in order to regain positive self stims associated with improved moral and physical health.

In a real sense, defeating outer enemies is merely a matter of defeating inner enemies of maladaptive cognition.  Every opponent wages psychological warfare by encouraging one to abandon adaptive thoughts for maladaptive ones.  Refuse to believe the opponent's frame of reference, and they cannot defeat you internally, even as they seem to claim an external victory.

It is the author's hope that the writings here serve as a beneficial form of self stimulation that can help guide readers along the martial path.

False Confidence: Power Without Humility

One major dilemma present in martial training concerns the necessity of teaching proper confidence to students balanced by proper respect and humility.  In a purely civilized context it may well be appropriate for a dojo or fighting gym to merely teach students proper respect and restraint and little else, as there can be no excess of respect in a civilization.  However, when preparing students for uncivilized conflict, it becomes imperative to remove restraints on aggression to ensure decisive action by cultivating a taste for righteous victory.  Therefore character development in the martial way seeks a balance between power, so that a learner need fear no evil, and humility, so that no good or weak person need fear them.

In the modern physical culture of the west, power without humility has become a standard training modality with troubling implications for martial development.  Paraphrasing Steve Maxwell in a recent podcast with Mike Mahler, everyone wants to feel like a fighter, but no one wants to get punched in the face to earn it.  This reality is seen in countless 'empowerment centers' such as CrossFit, self defense classes without sparring, New Age feel good yoga, and other forms of martial development which bolster confidence at the expense of humility.  Some of these training methods even explicitly accept this imbalance (In CrossFit, a trainee becomes 'unfuckwithable' or 'elite,' in Krav Maga trainees learn to hit hard, but rarely ever sustain blows (at least in litigious western cultures), and in New Age yoga, false inner divinity is often prematurely embraced before proper knowledge of austerity).  The result is that martial training for most individuals has the effect of amplifying their worst character traits (impulsivity, narcissism, aggression) while diminishing their best (patience, humility, mercy).

Teaching power without an anchor of humility would be bad enough if it merely produced obnoxious, hyperaggressive paper tigers, but worse yet, it sets a dangerous precedent in training.  By only training in situations where one feels confident, one can overlook situations of clear disadvantage.  A Krav Maga class encouraging one to attack multiple opponents has failed to teach proper retreat or escape.  A CrossFit class encouraging personal records at the expense of gradual progression has failed to teach injury prevention or rehabilitation.

Power without humility develops false confidence that is dangerously likely to set a trainee on a path of conflict, disappointment, weakness, and defeat.

By contrast, consider a simple program of progressive calisthenics such as Convict Conditioning, which requires many months of wall, counter, and knee pushups before a trainee 'earns' the ability to perform full pushups on the floor.  Such a program develops a strong sense of humility and physical limitation by pushing trainees to their physical limits on allegedly 'easy' exercises.  One month of such humbling work can have better effects on a person's character than years of false confidence developed by forcing out pushups with bad form.  When paired with martial arts training, such a program can nearly ensure proper adherence to the martial way by ingraining restraint, patience, and perseverance into one's character.  This author credits such training as a key attribute underscoring numerous educational, professional, and interpersonal victories, any of which could have been easily lost to insufficient patience, humility, or mercy.

On Krav Maga: The Artless Martial Art

To date, the lessons I've learned from Krav Maga and other military based arts become more simple and less numerous.  In short, the prime directive of Krav Maga is much in keeping with bear style kung fu: grow enormously muscular and aggressive while learning to mortally injure opponents as quickly as possible through sheer brutality.

For a rank beginner, these objectives satisfy basic self defense needs with minimal training time.  Almost no criminal, authority, or warrior wishes to engage a highly muscular, aggressive, efficient opponent who uses anger as fuel.

In elemental terms, the use of anger as fuel is much in keeping with fire while imposing bodily development exemplifies earth.  One might call Krav Maga magma: an unrestrained meltdown of aggression made more efficient through training.  Though the military application of such an approach is evident, the potential for moral damage to a practitioner is very real.  Magma does not cool like mere earth or extinguish like fire, but recirculates, consuming all it touches indiscriminately.

Since training in Krav Maga, this author has sometimes lost control of anger with even complete strangers.  These confrontations have remained nonphysical through sheer force of will learned elsewhere, such as through water arts.  This violent disposition is acceptable for a soldier, but not a civilian, and certainly not a warrior of disciplined self restraint.

Even in animal terms, Krav Maga's bear style leanings force some limitations on practitioners.  The bear is not known for flexibility, subtlety, grace, intelligence, or dexterity, and these limitations are evident in high level Krav Maga practitioners.

The most severe limitation of any martial system may be the exclusive focus on damaging opponents rather than improving practitioners physically, psychologically, and morally.  True warriors of the martial path hold the burden of compensating for the flaws in their chosen systems to achieve the elemental ideals of tiger or metal: a refined balance of all martial virtues.  Krav Maga exemplifies all the deadliness and none of the life of the martial arts.  It is eminently martial, yet completely artless.

Bridging or Deadlifting

The back bridge and deadlift are two exercises which compete for training time in the routines of athletes.  Both movements accomplish largely the same goals, yet there are important reasons to prioritize bridging over deadlifting.

*The neck bridge gives back more than it takes.  The deadlift requires such a massive investment of tension that its specific benefits are overshadowed by the full body fatigue it creates.  It is a known paradox of weightlifting that some of the heaviest deadlifting is accomplished by those who frequently train less fatiguing auxiliary movements and rarely deadlift in practice.  

*Bridging requires no more equipment than an open space of floor, padded according to preference.  The deadlift requires solid ground, a long bar, expensive weights, and a space to store equipment.

*The bridge provides a safer opportunity to practice tension over a longer period of time in an optimal position for building strength and flexibility.  A typical set of bridges lasts 1-3 minutes with the neck, spine, and hips at full extension.  A typical set of deadlifts lasts 30 seconds and works the muscles at only partial extension.

*The grip is a weak link for the deadlift which can potentially reduce load on the spinal muscles.  The bridge requires only the posterior chain muscles to activate and is not limited by grip strength.

*The bridge builds proportional strength through the entire back of the body.  The neck, back, legs, and calves share the weight of the body equally.  As a result, strength and muscle gain is uniform across all these regions.  By contrast, the deadlift stresses the lower spine to a greater degree, resulting in muscle imbalances between the upper and lower spine as a result of different leverages across vertebrae.

*Bridging applies static force to closed spinal discs which reduces the likelihood of acute injury.  Deadlifting applies dynamic force to open spinal discs, which can result in slipped discs during forced reps.

*In this author's experience, greater muscle is gained from deep nasal breathing in a neck bridge for only 3 minutes once per week than from deadlifting 285 pounds 25 times twice per week.  A bridge held long past the point of muscle burn acts as a potent stimulus for human growth hormone.  The arms, legs, hips, back, neck, and shoulders grow thicker for days after a bridge workout.  By contrast, the deadlift more easily elicits cortisol production as a result of overtraining due to excessive weights, resulting in only localized muscle gain overshadowed by full body stress and fatigue.  In other words, the bridge can build more muscle mass with less effort and less training time.

*The bridge with deep breathing increases metabolic endurance by pairing  slow oxygen intake with high oxygen expenditure.  The stretched rib cage simultaneously makes breathing more difficult which builds the strength of the respiratory muscles while stretching lung capacity.  Discipline is increased as a result of controlling pain and panic to breathe deeply at a set cadence.

*The bridge can make a trainee taller with age.  The deadlift compresses the spine to progressively reduce height.

*The bridge can convert into combat specific ground drills for grapplers and build a thick neck for better knockout resistance in stand up fighters.

*The bridge, when trained hard, results in the feeling of "walking like an old man."  This means that the exercise fatigues and strengthens those muscles which regulate posture and walking.  As such, training with the bridge can prolong one's mobility into old age by progressively strengthening those areas which atrophy to produce geriatric weakness and abnormality of gait.

*The neck bridge alone can prevent and cure cricks in the neck, sprains of the small muscles of the neck, back aches, pulled muscles in the back, and knee pain.  All joints benefit from bridging.

*The direct structural integrity of the spine built through bridging prevents injury more effectively than the "bracing strength" built through weightlifting which requires attention and focus to increase intra-abdominal pressure and brace the spine.  Acute spinal injury is unexpected by default, so bracing should not be used as an injury prevention tool.  Structural integrity built through bridging is a better insurance policy.

*The benefits of bridging are general, holistic, and greater than the sum of training investment (the spinal muscles only support bodyweight for 3 minutes, once per week, yet muscle mass is disproportionately increased).  The benefits of deadlifting are specific, isolated, and less than the sum of training investment (the spinal muscles support hundreds of pounds, multiple times per week, yet muscle takes a long time to grow).  As such, bridging constitutes a practice with far reaching benefits, while deadlifting constitutes an exercise with narrow, strength based applications.

Fear Breeds Evil

A schneevie does not sprout into a scumbag through hatred alone.  First, he or she must fear.  

Fear begins with personal weakness.  One's perceived helplessness, real or imagined, drives them to cast aside basic virtues of empathy, justice, loyalty, and honesty in a fraudulent social contract.  In such a trade, weaklings pledge allegiance to killers to avoid being targeted.  The falseness in the schneevie's compromise stems from a complete lack of loyalty among scumbags.  If scumbags had any loyalty they would not terrorize their own.  

Still, the schneevie, clinging to a life without honor, reduced to base savagery, renounces more and more civilized virtues until they have become the same scumbags they feared through successive approximations.  

To pity these accessories to evil would be a profound mistake.  Their socialized mobilization toward violence and fraud begins through personal weakness, avoidance of responsibility, and fear.  They deserve every pain they sought to escape through appeasement of evil.  

The true warrior of civilized principles cannot defeat genocide or organized witchhunts.  They can choose only two options: escape or die.  However, in so dying they have a choice of death.  Scumbags seek to get their power for free.  It is the place of the warrior to raise the price of evil.  This can be done either through illumination of evil through the manner of one's death or the delivery of overwhelming and targeted violence against agents of death, preferably toward the decision makers.

One must decide what values they will serve in life and death.  One can be a scared soldier rounding up innocents for the firing line, a scared innocent willfully blindfolded and made to kneel, or an unafraid warrior who kills the commander, snatches his gun and goes down in a hail of bullets.  My choice is no choice at all, but a matter of duty to the greater good.  Fuck collaborators, fuck the scared.  If no one feared scumbags, the price of their evil would be too high.  Never compromise with evil or you will join its ranks.  And watch out.  Some of us don't fear you and will fight to an honorable death bathed in your tepid blood.

Teaching and Learning

Western culture in its infinite naivete, has all but abolished the fundamental character traits of civilized institutions.  Respect, patience, humility, and gratitude constitute foundational attributes which enable proper teaching and learning to occur.  In the absence of these traits, no teacher can lead a student, and no student will be led.

In the absence of these character traits, teachers teach because they possess some power or domination over students, who are students precisely because they are dominated.  The classroom, dojo, or gym thereby becomes a wrestling match of egos and wills where teachers unwilling to punish students cannot possibly succeed.  In this kind of culture, true teachers and visionaries simply vacate, as no obstinately defiant student is worth attempting to teach.

The classical martial arts present a different view of a teacher.  A teacher knows.  A student does not.
And a teacher only becomes a teacher by first being an exceptional student.  In this way there is no stratification on the basis of domination, but on the basis of what is known and mastered by each.  It is possible for a teacher to be a student in one area, yet still possess superior knowledge in another.  This author was once enrolled in a dojo which practiced mostly pushups and crunches while this author had trained in all bodyweight calisthenics across a vast set of progressions over approximately 3 years in addition to weight training and knew many superior ways of building full body strength and muscle.  This author was a student of the sensei's stance, fighting, and technique knowledge, and the sensei was a student of this author's calisthenics experience.  As a result, the sensei incorporated many formerly unknown techniques into his training which benefited the training of all students of the dojo.  Meanwhile, this author incorporated the philosophy and technique of the dojo to improve general movement and outlook.

An example of a bad learner was when this author trained in "practical self defense" with a self appointed expert who knew less than this author about nonviolent self defense techniques.  Instead of learning from this author, or at least admitting disinterest, the instructor ignored the validity of the alternative techniques and criticized them on the basis that they were nonviolent.  He then suggested that nonviolent redirection is for victims.

A more explicit example was when this author formerly free sparred once per week with a close friend.  In exchange for learning self defense and conflict assessment from this teacher of combat, this author taught proper form for bodyweight movements in addition to teaching basic kettlebell lifting and the concepts of mindfulness or presence, and amused mastery as exclusive traits of victors.  Both this author and his friend functioned as both learner and teacher.  As iron whets iron, strong people sharpen one another, but only when the principles of respect, patience, humility, and gratitude prevail.

Some telltale signs of students include superficial understanding of a deep subject matter, strong beliefs based on little evidence, impulsiveness, lack of empathy for others' positions, and a general inability to tie knowledge together coherently, such as failing to see the connection between calisthenics and self defense, or political conditions and opposition to another US war.  Signs of a teacher include superior performance with minimal explanation, the quiet appreciation and understanding of another's position, nonjudgmental correction of weak techniques for the primary benefit of the student, and preferring to avoid conflict rather than argue, thereby allowing the superiority of one's way to become evident through demonstration.

The reader is encouraged to meditate on becoming a better learner before teaching anything.  The role of teacher emerges without effort only after a long time being a learner.  Lastly, the reader should consider how to discriminate whether they are in the presence of a teacher or a student.  Here's a hint: a true teacher does not need to force their views on anyone, ever.  They lead by example in all things.  By striving to be a student of life, the reader will become a teacher of wisdom in time.

Martial Conditioning: Bridging

Intro: Bridging encompasses a variety of movements, all of which share the common elements of extending the head backwards behind the feet, contracting the muscles on the back of the body, and stretching the muscles along the front of the body.  Bridging is a comprehensive enough practice that each variation provides different benefits.

Muscles Worked: Literally every muscle along the back of the body and many in front coordinate to complete a bridge.  The calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, lats, and traps primarily maintain the bridge position while the deep abdominal muscles, shoulder muscles, and quadriceps stabilize the position, acting like the struts above and below a suspension bridge.

Why Bridge?  The benefits of the bridge are wide reaching.  Few exercises can approximate the holistic benefits to all muscular, skeletal, and organ systems.  Proper bridging can prevent and rehabilitate back injuries, increase spinal flexibility, improve digestion, stretch the abdomen, chest, and hip flexors, extend the hips, and even increase the libido.  The bridge is a fundamental power exercise.

The Matt Furey Bridge: What I call the Matt Furey bridge consists of touching, or attempting to touch, one's nose to the ground in a bridge hold for time while deep breathing.  Furey refers to this form of bridging practice as the king of bodyweight exercises.  The incorporation of deep nasal breathing in this position, also known as bridging chi kung, leads to better flexibility, pain tolerance, focus, and relaxation under physical/mental stress.  A trainee should strive for 32 slow breaths (2 second inhale, 2 second exhale) in the bridge position, with nose touching the ground.  One can use hands for assistance depending on strength.  In order to extract maximum benefit from the hold, the trainee must strive to stretch as fully as possible and extend the hips and back by actively tensing the glutes and pushing out the chest.  It is also critically important to hold the pose long past the point of discomfort to the point where pain subsides to numbness, then relax in that state.  A proper workout with this hold results in shaky legs, sore glutes, and a feeling of depletion throughout the spine and neck.
 

The Convict Conditioning Bridge:  The bridge taught in Convict Conditioning, also known as the gymnastic bridge, consists of dynamically pushing up into the bridge position on the hands and feet from the ground.  For numerous reasons, this method is not recommended by this author, as dynamic bridging requires less tension and therefore confers less strength benefits.  The one exception to this rule regards wall walking and falling backwards into an arms extended bridge.  This variation greatly conditions the strength and flexibility of the back and shoulders.  For those who want to train this movement, try it as a finisher for the Matt Furey bridge for a couple sets of 10-15 slow reps.



Advanced Variations:  The one armed, one legged, and one arm/one leg bridges constitute the pinnacle of bridging strength.  From a combat perspective they serve little use, but may help to break the monotony of training.

 

Likely Results of Bridging:  The benefits of bridging are less physically apparent than those of other exercises.  A variety of body types can practice and benefit from the bridge.  One can conceive of bridging as a body type amplifier.  Smaller individuals are likely to be made more compact, limber, and flexible by the bridge.  Larger individuals are likely to grow more muscular and powerful from the bridge.  One's absolute body mass will determine which results are likely.  Unlike many bodyweight exercises, heavier individuals are not disadvantaged in the bridge and may actually gain more absolute strength than relative strength through its practice.  Lighter individuals will gain proportionally less absolute strength benefit, but will nevertheless increase relative strength and flexibility.

Bridging will thicken the muscles along the upper back and spine, resulting in a more durable, injury resistant back and neck.  Strengthening the spine also removes an important weak link in full body strength allowing for greater strength in all bodyweight and weighted movements.

Signs of Healthy Masculinity

Our culture suffers from an underestimation of masculinity, both in its present state and in its potential.  The following are some situations indicating that one has achieved a balanced masculine presence.

*When insulted, one's first impulse is to laugh, joke, or artfully reverse the insult with the offender.

This situation shows that one's ego has not grown to dangerous levels.  Attackers will often attempt to unbalance opponents with insults, particularly if they cannot hope to physically defeat them.  No insult, no matter how grievous, warrants physical attack.  All insults are indicative of weakness and insecurity.  This admonition does not apply to threats, which may be parried with a joke, but must always be treated seriously.

*One can urinate readily and easily in a crowded public bathroom without anxiety.

Every man is born with a reflexive aversion to urination in front of others due to its evolutionary associations with territoriality.  If this aversion is missing from a man, he is confident in his territory and does not accept the claims of others over his physical space.  The reader should note that civilization has all but eliminated the necessity of physical territorial contests.  Only in war and savagery is territoriality an important trait.

*One has fought/wrestled with bare fists to the point of injury without fear.

This sort of contest is increasingly rare in modern civilization.  As good men have abandoned the study of combat, evil men have grown more emboldened in the use of violence as a tool of control and amusement.  Therefore, good men have a civilizational responsibility to train in combat.

*One is immune to shame.

Shamelessness is an important prerequisite for opposing arbitrary social control.  A man with no shame has no master.

*One tends toward silence rather than complaint when angered, disappointed, or depressed.

This trait indicates a disavowal of social relationships based on common complaint.  One's pain cannot ever be shared and has no worth in directing one's decisions.

*One does not apologize to anyone, for any reason.

Apology is a submissive act which communicates one's inability to solve a problem.  A healthy man skips the apology and fixes the problem.

*One does not pine for women or require their approval to find happiness.

This trait enables a man to sidestep sexual manipulation and judge people of all sexes by their character.

*One can easily meet all his financial, nutritional, shelter, and mobility needs autonomously, if necessary.

A man who can care for himself entirely alone is less susceptible to manipulation and more able to respond to the actual limitations of his environment in place of the artificial limitations imposed by acquaintances.

*One can say anything worth saying in a single sentence.

Laconic, unhurried speech indicates one's control of a situation.  Very little speech is necessary for a man to communicate effectively.

Will Power Training: Crafting the 'Human Weapon'

The goals of a martial enterprise influence its training methods.  In studios which place a premium on will power, training is likely to revolve around pushing limits and increasing one's force of will.

In this way, will power training treats martial techniques like weapons.  Punches, kicks, grabs, locks, and throws are treated in the same manner as gunshots.  In fact, training in this setting can feel like visiting a gun range to throw some lead.  The trainee is primarily concerned about power, speed, and accuracy, but may overlook application, precision, and discretion.

Still, will power training makes good sense for soldiers, police officers, and others who will use their bodies as weapons.  The capacity to weather austerity and remain motivated has great application to the martial way.

Due to the necessarily physical stresses encountered in the course of will power development, the trainee's body will develop muscle, tendon, and bone durability to greater degrees than in softer arts.  Weightlifting and calisthenics, which are merely supplementary in the soft arts, become obligatory to sustain progress and prevent injury during will power training.

Conceptually, the weaponry metaphor is complicated by the necessity of building the weapons of students (power of techniques) concurrently with learning when to use them (tactics).  While an artist well trained in awareness and technique would criticize such a method as useless when the student does not know under what conditions to use techniques, the will power martial artist would counter that a student needs powerful enough weapons to make tactics relevant.  Weak blows delivered halfheartedly with perfect technique and flawless tactics are still weak, unmotivated blows.  This dilemma was present in the Pacific Campaign of WWII where Japanese with superior tactics and martial spirit were outgunned by sheer American firepower, however begrudgingly.

Misplaced Assumptions: Sex, Brinksmanship, and the Male Martial Artist

 The Root of Female Violence

Too often, those involved in self defense do not completely consider their philosophical reasons for engaging in martial training in the first place.  For example, I have seen a martial arts instructor advocate training to use a knife stab to the neck to address a grab from behind.  The disparity of force represented here is enormous.  It is this author's belief that the instructor was only allowed to advocate such a measure unchallenged because she is a woman.  The reason she was not questioned is because most martial artists in this culture do not consider the reality of women's violence or their capacity to wield it.  Even worse, most male martial artists do not consider the passive, more sexual ways women hurt men every day in this culture, nor do they plan to defend against those tactics.  Therefore, it remains typical for women in western culture to advocate for exaggerated acts of incomprehensible violence in response to minor altercations (#killallmen is one example) and to use sexuality as an indirect form of violence (google Brigadier General Sinclair, an exemplary soldier, stripped of rank, humiliated, and disgraced by a single vindictive sex partner who demonstrably lied in court).  Such behavior is now NORMAL to western women.

The majority of women do not believe they need martial training, nor do they typically need to physically protect themselves.  That's because most violence is not used against, nor by, women.  Criminal statistics bear this out too often to reiterate here.  The primal power of women lies in sexuality, not physical aggression.  With civilization stripped away, women survive through their sexuality, not their muscles.  Countless conflicts throughout history demonstrate how powerful victors in war are rewarded by the women of the conquered men, often with the tacit acceptance of those women.  Contemporary culture, as it decivilizes, has shown how women reward thugs and other violent men.

With respect to sexuality as a tool of violence, this author does not refer to broken hearts, cheating, and other forms of emotional wreckage.  This author refers to literal VIOLENCE that is perpetrated through women's sexuality.  Examples include women who encourage vengeance killings (among the poor), use the police state as a weapon against men they wish to victimize (among the middle class), advocate legislation which harms others (among the elite), and use lies and distortions to put a social bulls-eye on people they wish to harm (among all women).  This author is continually shocked by those male martial artists who do not explicitly acknowledge or prepare for the violence of women, or speak out against it when it occurs.  Considering what's at stake, men should learn to better resist passive female aggression.

When people picture a predatory criminal singling out a man for extortion of his money, most people mistakenly picture a male criminal, hunched over, with a weapon, who intends to commit violence unless that money is forcibly transferred.  But what of the female predator who uses her vagina to accomplish the exact same outcome?  A woman who will likely receive social, even political support for her robbery?  This woman is every bit as dangerous and far more common than the male mugger.  So how should a man protect himself from this enemy?

Fundamental Tactics to Resist Female Seduction/Aggression

Brinksmanship

Much like martial training teaches a man to absorb, redirect, and oppose increasing levels of physical force by an assailant, Venusian arts training, otherwise known as 'Game,' can help men absorb, redirect, and oppose increasing levels of seductive force by women.  Though most game theorists use game for its practical outcome of scoring pussy, men can also learn to protect themselves from sexual predation through seduction resistance.  The single most powerful training tool for male self defense against women is sexual brinksmanship.

Just as one can learn to effectively resist a man who uses violence to influence one's decisions, one can learn to effectively resist a woman who uses sexuality to influence one's decisions.  Luckily, men in this culture have one of the most effective training tools imaginable: pornography.  What is pornography but a collection of the sexiest possible women engaging in the sexiest possible behaviors to manipulate men into giving them money?  By training to resist the seduction of women who are 10's, a man can theoretically resist the seductive advances of any woman he meets.

The method is simple.

1.  Limit yourself to one orgasm per day.  When you have this orgasm, it can be accomplished through fantasy or sex only.  No pornographic pictures or videos allowed.  The rest of the day, when tempted by pornography, watch freely, but spend no money, and do not orgasm.  Masturbate to the point of 'throbbing' 4 times, then stop watching.  Go do something productive.  Repeat this process as necessary, then manually orgasm only 1 time or have sex before bed, without visual aid.

2.  Visualize denying porn actresses your sperm.  You are regaining control of your sperm back from women.  When this becomes easy, visualize denying the women around you your sperm unless they have earned it.  This will increase your confidence and reinforce a healthier attitude toward sex that values your fundamental worth as a person.  You will begin to have better standards for female behavior, make better choices in relationships, and set firmer boundaries.  You will also become more selective and demanding in the bedroom, an attribute psychologically healthy women will appreciate.

3.  For best results in brinksmanship, use a time when your work for the day is done, or as a brief break.

4.  At first, use a highly sexually charged, flirtacious softcore type of pornography which closely simulates natural female seduction.  Videos of twerking, dirty talk, bodily display, and other suggestive videos are best.  Masturbating to videos of penetrative sex are actually counterproductive as they encourage a man to take the subconscious role of cuckold.  Eventually, you will be able to practice without visual aids using fantasy alone.  At this point, you will reach a state of 'masculine presence' where attractive women stimulate you, but do not modify your behavior.  If you feel inclined to ask whether you're there yet, you aren't.

At this point in your development, women you know will begin to separate into two categories: 1. Good women who sense your control, respect you, and want to earn your sperm by winning your favor, and 2. Evil women who feel entitled to your lust and will attack you for your autonomy.  By increasing your sexual power in this way, you will simultaneously draw in good women and enrage evil women.  Use brinksmanship to further steel yourself against manipulation by both.  Both types of women will attempt to overcome your resistance in two different ways.  A good woman will attempt to win your sperm and your exclusivity while an evil woman will attempt to manipulate you into giving favors and masturbatory tributes whilst simultaneously rejecting your advances and denying you access to any better women.  Both types of women want your exclusive attention, but only one type will pleasure you on command and follow your lead.

Other benefits of brinksmanship include: a more satisfying and autonomous sex life, greater comfort while interacting with attractive women, a more balanced appreciation for attractive women without the predatory feelings which accompany unrestrained lust, greater feelings of bliss and peace due to a calm stream of endorphins which do not crash in the calamitous wave of orgasm, greater amounts of sperm per orgasm, harder erections, and less symptoms of erectile dysfunction in healthy men.

Distance, Preemptive Recording, and Legal Representation

When you suspect a woman has singled you out or might single you out as a social target for violence, you must react quickly using three tactics: distance, preemptive recording, and legal representation.  Your financial security will influence which tactics are available to you.

If you suspect lower class violence of the vigilante sort due to false claims of rape, violated honor, etc., make any sort of distance you can from that woman.  Do not answer calls, do not stay in the same city, get away.  Your brinksmanship training will make this easier.  Your life is in possible danger and you must react accordingly.  A man does not ever fight a single woman.  He fights both her and the mob of men who will do violence for her approval.  No one ever asks the lynching victim for their side of the story.  Simply get away.  Time may disperse the mob, but they will always remember you as a social target for violence.  Count your losses and leave town if you are singled out for mob violence.

If you suspect the more middle class, civilized variant of this mobbing, begin recording every interaction you have with this woman.  Continue to avoid calls and interactions, but also be ready to record any attempt she makes to reinitiate contact.  She will try to contact you as a means of creating conflict so she can make you seem hostile to others.  Remain calm and record everything.  This will help you later when she inevitably calls the police to take you away.  Do not speak to the police or the woman, though you can show the police recordings as long as they do not seem likely to destroy or confiscate them.  Just record everything and save it all for the courtroom.

If you suspect character assassination as a successful man, you must, whenever possible, enlist the services of an attorney.  Be ready at all times to preemptively sue women who seem likely to attack your character.  Make distance, record everything, and additionally hire legal counsel to financially attack predatory women who wish to harm you.  At the elite level, everyone will be recording YOU as well.  Make sure you enjoy your vices over secure internet connections, be discrete in your sex life, and keep your dirty laundry locked away from everyone (even friends and family).  If necessary, hire a therapist to vent your secrets.

Wrapping Up

No one, man or woman, has the right to initiate violence on another.  In equal measure, everyone has the right to self defense.  Hopefully, these methods will help round out the martial philosophy of those who anticipate conflict with women.

On the Fundamental Stupidity of Gun Control

One who lives the martial way develops a comprehensive understanding for violence lacking in the majority of the population.  Training to use one's own body in a lethal capacity and resist the lethal intentions of others tends to destroy many illusions about pain, victimhood, fairness, and danger.  A true warrior cannot relate to naive conceptions of violence and has a predisposition to offending and frightening those who lack similar experiences.

Gun control is one topic which perfectly illustrates the disconnect between warriors and typical sheep.  A warrior realizes that human beings have always killed one another through a variety of different means, all of them more or less effective.  They realize that guns are simply a more effective extension of one's intent, whether that intent is good or evil.  Therefore, the warrior who seeks an end to gun violence seeks to destroy evil intent, not merely remove the means of expressing that intent.  Cowardly sheep seek merely to attack the opportunities for evil people to harm them, as though taking the gun away from someone who intends to kill is the only necessary step to prevent that person from killing someone.

This issue relates to form versus function.  Sheep focus only upon the form of violence: how it looks.  They see a gun, feel fear, and band together to abolish guns forever so they feel safe... until knife attacks become a new object of fear.  A warrior focuses on the function of violence.  They understand that preventing access to weaponry without destroying evil intent will continue to result in killing.  Below are problems in the logic of gun control:

1.  Shooting people is already illegal.  Those who currently own and carry guns legally cannot legally shoot anyone and get away with it.  Those who go around shooting people to death virtually always get killed themselves or locked up, and those who intend to kill others do not bother to go through the process of legally obtaining their firearms in order to commit criminal acts.

2.  Gun control is impossible.  Because criminals often obtain firearms through illegal means, only law abiding citizens will be disarmed by gun control, often to the great benefit of professional predators.  Gun control will not reduce gun violence.  It will decrease the options of law abiding citizens who must defend against it.

3. Gun control is a slippery slope with no end.  Let's assume that gun control actually keeps criminals from obtaining guns.  Great.  But people keep getting stabbed.  Let's also make knives illegal.  Cool.  But wait, we forgot about bows and arrows, spears, heavy flashlights, farming implements, blackjacks, construction tools, rocks, and sticks.  Might as well make all hand held objects illegal.  But then evil people will continue to beat, choke, gouge, and rip one another to death due to their evil intent which never got addressed in the first place.

4.  Firearms are not nearly as deadly as believed.  80% of handgun shooting victims survive.  Concealable guns are not always the most efficient method to kill someone.  One of the fastest mass killings in history took place between the Hutus and Tutsis and machetes were the primary tool of choice, not guns.  Despite this lack of equipment, the Sudanese genocide killed people at a faster rate than the Jewish Holocaust.  A hunting arrowhead fired from a modest bow can instantly impale and disembowel a struck victim with one shot and no plans are in place to take them off the market.  Other examples of deadly items left out of the gun debate abound.

5. Evil intent does not require a weapon to harm and kill.  Before guns, serial murderers used different tools.  A school full of children can be barricaded shut and burned down far more easily than individually shooting everyone inside.  Serial stranglings and stabbings used to terrorize sheep in the days before concealable guns.

Hopefully, this list can shed light on the absurdity of gun control legislation which will neither prevent criminal access to guns, nor reduce the evil intent of murderers.

A Note on The Martial Way and Asperger's/Autism Spectrum Disorder

This post assumes that the martial way is distinct from the martial arts.  The martial way is the means by which one selects the manner and circumstances of their own death.  The martial arts can be seen as the explicit means of accomplishing this goal.  There are times where the martial arts actually detract from a person's adherence to the martial way by rendering them more likely to engage in conflict, or removing their inhibitions for violence.  Those individuals exhibiting ASD and other antisocial tendencies are particularly likely to fit this description.

For the uninitiated, ASD is a behavioral and social disorder characterized by social insensitivity or oversensitivity, insufficient empathy, and abnormal repetitive behaviors and fixations.  Much like bipolar disorder and other psychological disorders marked by antisocial tendencies, high functioning ASD sufferers will sometimes self aggrandize their disability rather than accepting its limitations and working to correct them.  With respect to the martial arts, this particular tendency can result in destructive behavior patterns and confrontational attitudes toward violence/conflict which guarantee a life characterized by conflict and frustration.

In some ways, ASD drives many sufferers to the martial arts as a means of restoring a psychological sense of safety.  ASD sufferers are almost guaranteed to be bullied at some point in their lives, often to the point of painful trauma.  This author understands this reality  and does not lack empathy for those afflicted.  However, this blog holds the position that rather than helping ASD sufferers prevent future bullying, martial arts training can result in more violent responses to future bullying that could be prevented in other, nonviolent ways.

In order for a typically developed person to succeed in martial arts training, they require certain basic skills.  These include empathy, physical coordination, and the ability to accept sometimes contradictory and vague instructions.  All of these basic capacities are lacking to some extent in ASD individuals.  As such, it is not only useless, but dangerous for a person with these deficits to train in a martial arts setting.

Below, this post debunks some popular arguments for the inclusion of ASD individuals in the martial arts.

The Martial Arts Teach Teamwork, Communication, and Cooperation

This very well may be true, depending on the school, however, the students at a dojo do not pay monthly tuition to offer unpaid social sensitivity training to the disabled.  They pay to learn the martial arts.  A sensei may or may not choose to keep such a student, as the martial arts are not appropriate for everyone.  ASD individuals often respond poorly to instruction, slow down class progress, and can even be dangerous during the training of certain techniques which require students to 'tap out' or risk irreversible bodily injury.  This author has personally witnessed an ASD student hyperextend the elbows of several students before finally understanding that 'tapping out' means to stop cranking another person's elbow!  This is not an appropriate or ethical way to learn social cues!  An ASD sufferer should find other, safer outlets for learning social sensitivity than a potentially injurious, deadly art.

The Martial Arts Can Teach ASD Sufferers Confidence to Overcome Bullying

Firstly, most ASD sufferers do not lack confidence and in fact have a tendency to disdain normal people.  Self esteem is hardly an issue for the typical ASD sufferer and they have little need for more.  Secondly, by teaching a person who already lacks social skills to solve normal social problems with violence, a martial arts school has just taken a technical sociopath and taught them how to best hurt people instead of teaching proper deescalation skills.  Most martial arts schools assume that its students already know how to normally interact, and teach for worst case scenarios.  An ASD sufferer may risk using the last resort techniques of normal people as typical responses to teasing, exclusion, and frustration, thus increasing their likelihood of conflict with others and reducing their control over the manner of their own death.

The Martial Arts Can Keep ASD Sufferers Active and Physically Healthy

Again, this very well may be true, but why not encourage less dangerous forms of physical exercise?  Running, swimming, weight lifting, and yoga replicate or exceed the health benefits of a martial arts class with none of the already described disadvantages. 

So, What Should an ASD Sufferer Do Instead?!?

Before an ASD sufferer is ready to train in the martial arts, they must first master control of their anger and fear, gradually practice social engagement, seek to understand social cues by trial and error, criticize their own faults before those of others, and improve their physical fitness.  All of these necessary skills can be mastered without ever setting foot in a dojo and will greatly improve one's quality of life.  If an ASD individual feels threatened and wishes to defend themselves, they should seek to avoid all contact with those who mean them harm.  If conflict is inevitable, pepper spray is a cheap, nondeadly solution to most physical altercations and requires little skill to implement.

The author understands that this post will upset many individuals who fit the ASD or antisocial profile, but urges those affected to consider their own preparedness for a martial arts setting.  Work on becoming a less dangerous person before attempting to learn a skill which could unnecessarily injure and kill.  ASD sufferers have no business training the martial arts or weapon handling until they have honestly improved their social skills and tendencies to act out aggressively, and teachers have no business offering dangerous techniques to those have not demonstrated proper deescalation skills.

Creating a Minimalist Home Gym

The Russian culture has practically distilled the core elements of strong physical manhood.  Though the country covers 11.5% of the globe, it has endured centuries of freezing cold, famine, warfare, revolution, and cultural isolation.  Russians of all ethnicities have learned to survive and thrive in the face of overwhelming odds.  It is no surprise then that this culture created Kettlebell Sport, the martial art of weight lifting.  This post will detail how basic competence in kettlebell lifting can serve as a platform for a complete home gym which can deliver a lifetime of lifting gains with minimal space and cost. 

The following equipment, when purchased, can meet almost all physical conditioning goals: a complete set of kettlebells (16, 24, and 32 kg.), two 10 pound ankle weights, 2 automobile straps for securing items, two sturdy chairs with low backs, a door pullup bar or free standing pullup bar, a smooth wall, a 10 foot by 10 foot section of floor.

Examples of Heavy Weight Hypertrophy Development

The biggest complaint of this equipment set is the allegedly limited loading capacity of the kettlebell set and ankle weights.  However, the complainant lacks imagination in this instance.  By strapping kettlebells together using the car straps, and using the straps to hang multiple kettlebells around one's waist, around 80 kilograms or 176 pounds can be strapped to the body to increase resistance for pullups on a pullup bar and dips between chairs.  For those who fear damaging door frames with large pullup weights, training the assisted one armed variety can accomplish the same results as adding weight without adding any weight to the door frame.  The 176 pounds can also be cleaned and front squatted for repetitions by strapping the weights together and cleaning them to one's chest.  Changing the uneven load from side to side between sets can prevent strength imbalances.  This load is more than sufficient for almost any strength athlete, as anyone who can pullup, dip, and front squat with 176 extra pounds for repetitions is functionally strong enough for any life task.  This same 176 pounds can be tied together to form one large handheld weight to use for one arm presses and jerks.  A person who can overhead press or even jerk 176 pounds with one arm must be exceedingly strong throughout their entire body.  The smooth wall can be used as an aid for handstand work just as the floor can be used for pushups, planks, and bridges of all varieties.

Examples of Conditioning

By practicing traditional kettlebell sport and running, an athlete may reach very close to their maximum potential for endurance.  Cutting training weight and increasing repetitions of full body movements like the snatch and clean and jerk are the only requirements necessary.  It is even possible to switch weight lifting from endurance to strength in cycles.  For example, one week could include weighted dips, pullups, and front squats along with one arm overhead presses.  The next week could include only the kettlebell snatch or clean and jerk for maximum repetitions alongside bodyweight exercises.

In total, the exercises described in this post constitute a completely scalable training regime for an entire lifetime and cost approximately $700, one time.  Compare this to the average yearly cost of gym membership: $660.  When compared to the large amount of money which funnels into yearly gym memberships and contracts, buying the equipment outlined above is a far cheaper investment for long term physical fitness.

Hopefully this post provides some examples of how a person can stay frugal and develop world class strength and conditioning at the same time in the convenience of home.

Thoughts on Home Defense

A home in the martial sense is wherever one's guard is most relaxed.  Even the most adept warrior must sleep, and developing a safe space for such activity constitutes a basic survival skill.

The first consideration of home defense is location.  Only the ignorant begin a discussion of home defense with a weapon system, as this is a last resort.  The first consideration for home defense is an acceptable location.

A safe neighborhood is one that is well observed by neighbors with minimal turnover and a geographically isolated location.  A criminal should have a hard time finding, entering, and escaping the neighborhood relative to other neighborhoods.  A single entry road is ideal for creating a choke point for would be criminals by law enforcement or vigilantes.  Neighbors who have lived there longer tend to pay greater attention to suspicious situations and are more likely to be vigilant in reporting infractions and strange individuals.

Next, one should examine the relative location of the house or apartment.  Ideally, a home should be within close proximity of trustworthy neighbors.  If that cannot be accomplished, the home should be in an inconspicuous location tucked away from main access routes. 

For the home itself, points of entry become the next consideration.  All doors to the outside must contain a deadbolt at minimum to prevent silent lock picking. A peephole, chain, or small window is another necessity to discretely provide information on visitors.  A gate over the door can provide additional security.  Dog doors should not be used.  All windows must have secure, strong latches and sticks in their sills to prevent opening in the case of broken or forgotten latches.  Upstairs windows should be difficult to access without specialized equipment and balconies should be too high to jump and grab.  Ideally, upstairs windows should not have overhangs or extensive sills.  All windows should have steel shutters, if possible.  Screen doors should either open to an inaccessible balcony, or connect to the main living area of the home.  Screen doors to bedrooms pose an extra security risk.  Ventilation ducts, attics, and basements should not have direct entrances from the outside. 

Now that the points of contact with the home are covered, a home owner must establish a continuum of escalation during a break in.  Sleeping should ideally be done in a room that is accessible only through a lockable door and an inaccessible window, preferably on the second story.  Sleeping in a windowless room is even more ideal, though it may conflict with some preferences.  The main living area should constitute a safety buffer between the outside world and the bedroom, such that a break in will enter the main area and be detected before contacting the bedroom.  In a rich home, a panic room, or windowless, hidden, and reinforced room adjacent to the bedroom can be used to protect occupants before a breach of the bedroom is possible as well as providing a safe place to phone authorities.  If a panic room or tactical retreat is impossible, a homeowner must phone authorities and/or fight.

This is where a discussion of home defense weapons and combat becomes relevant: as a final line of defense when all other lines have been fully exhausted.  Use of a gun provides the advantage of range, speed, and ease of use, but other methods are possible.  When no gun is available, the defender should find an ambush point and wait with a heavy blunt object and knife.  This author recommends a large maglight and a tanto point.  Those skilled in gun disarms may find the knife alone is sufficient.  The first priority is getting out of the line of fire of a potential attacker, the second is to control the weapon's aim, and the third is to neutralize the attacker.  Striking the attacker with the maglight, grabbing control of the gun, and repeatedly stabbing the attacker in the neck is one example of these principles in effect.

Now that all possible levels of home defense have been considered, the reader should note the various kinds of criminals who will be deterred at various levels.  They consist of three types: opportunistic criminals, committed criminals, and selective criminals.

Opportunists seek easy entry and exit from homes, minimal resistance, and easy access to valuables.  These criminals may be deterred through simple neighborhood selection, attention to locks, and inaccessibility of windows.  These are the least selective criminals, as anyone's valuables will satisfy them.  These are the most common criminals who require the least amount of will power and they exist on a continuum from thieves to serial murderers. 

Committed criminals have chosen a specific home, but are indifferent to the occupants.  They will generally study a house for weaknesses and design a tactical approach to home invasion.  Such criminals usually remain committed despite disadvantages because of the high value of their targets.  These criminals will usually be deterred by a well locked bedroom, but some may require a panic room to avoid contact.

Finally, selective criminals are the most terrifying type, as they have chosen a specific occupant or set of occupants as their targets.  These criminals will not be deterred easily by mere difficulty of entry.  They will need to be removed by authorities or neutralized.  Such criminals tend to seek vengeance, information, hostages, or sadistic pleasure.

This author encourages the reader to meditate on their preparations for home defense, the sorts of criminals that are likely, and the layers of protection their home currently affords.  All self defense is a matter of probability and it is possible to reduce one's probability of victimization to nearly zero with appropriate preparations.

Contrast is Sexy

Virtually every human being alive in every culture entertains a variety of sexual fantasies and desires, yet almost no discussion has shed light on why certain things are sexy.  This blog offers a theory which might explain the motivations of those who seek to control society.  The sexiest situations are characterized by stark contrast.  Large, muscular men dominating petite waifish girls generally constitutes the most common preference across cultures.  However, this contrast stands opposed by an unnatural contrast: the domination of large, muscular men by petite waifish girls.  This new contrast characterizes so called progressive cultures and explains their every idiosyncrasy.

In response to this amped culture of female supremacy, two exaggerated responses are possible for men.  They can either double down on dominance or completely submit.  There are no other options left or they lose male identity in the broader culture.  For those men who double down, fetishes involve contrasts which contrast female purity and corruption.  Spilling the pure seed of life in a sweet girl's dirty shithole.  Tying up a warm trusting girl with cold chains in order to betray her.  Punishing a girl who is innocent, kind, and gentle.  For those men who submit totally, fetishes involve contrasts of male superiority and weakness.  A business executive being pegged by a young intern.  A financially enslaved cuckold powerlessly watching as his wife is bred by a better endowed man.  A small man being abused by a large woman.

The intensity of such contrasts have a social cost.  A functional society encourages limited contrast in sexual desires such that men do not need to be brutes and women do not need to be wimps nor the inverse.  Healthy societies thereby encourage unity, harmony, organization, and happiness.  Societies ready to die generally exhibit a more pronounced contrast in sexual fantasies and are characterized by division, aggression, chaos, and misery.

The contrasts which get a person off generally inform the totality of their personal and political views.  Men who are dominant generally support right wing positions to shackle women while women who are dominant generally support left wing attempts to shackle men.  The alternative to these prurient psychosexual conflicts is to disassociate one's sexuality from one's politics and way of life.  Shackle only those who harm others. This is the only way of peace.

Fire is the Ultimate Equalizer: On Equalism and Other Excuses to Destroy

The doctrines of equalism, communism, socialism, progressivism, feminism, postmodernism and all other leftoid academic movements reduce to a single motivation held by almost all members of these movements: the desire to see something destroyed.  These movements distinguish themselves primarily by their targets.  Equalists wish to destroy judgement.  Communists and socialists seek to destroy, or merely cripple, capitalism.  Progressives seek to destroy established patterns of conduct.  Feminists seek to destroy the patriarchy.  Postmodernists seek to destroy dominant, mostly western, philosophical paradigms.  However, even these identifications of hostility do not fully reveal the complete intent of those philosophies.

When one considers the actual human damage accomplished by these movements every day in the name of their causes, one is left with a clear picture of what these movements actually oppose.  A victim count reveals the true preference of these 'humanitarians.'  Equalists hate fair treatment and people of merit.  Communists and socialists hate anyone who possesses something which cannot or won't be redistributed.  Progressives hate stable, enduring patterns of conduct.  Feminists hate strong men, women who love them, and the children they produce.  Postmodernists hate useful, empirical knowledge derived through centuries of trial and error.  When all of these things are destroyed, a logical person has only one question to ask.  When the great march of progress has finally done away with our talented people, our markets and wealth, our familiar traditions, our strong men and gentle women along with their families, and our useful knowledge, what is left?

The philosophies of equalism described above mask their aggressive intents behind veils of jargon and half hearted statistical formulations.  In truth, they are not philosophies at all.  They are merely the justifications of a collective of people individually choosing to destroy.  Sometimes individuals subscribing to these justifications are antisocial and simply enjoy the act of destruction.  Sometimes they have suffered and wish to inflict suffering on others.  In any case, they are just bands of Homo sapiens chimping out by harming and killing other Homo sapiens for pleasure.  Any attempt to justify such conduct behind the pretense of philosophy is as shameful as it is cowardly.

Fire is the ultimate equalizer.  All living things, no matter how magnificent or unique, can burn to the same ash.  The equalist is no more and no less than a social arsonist.  When one is too talentless, hateful, and unimaginative to build something, they often take an empty comfort in seeing something burn.  Their dream of tomorrow is a world as desolate, grey, and ashen as their own broken lives.  An equalist cannot even pretend to understand beauty, creativity, kindness, or peace.  As such, those burned by such arsonists can fight back best by making themselves inignitible and refusing to become ash.  One need not fight back.  There is no triumph in destroying an already defeated opponent.  Respond to such cowardly attacks by redoubling efforts to build and defend.  Pay no heed to the walking dead populating the philosophies of equalism.  They are all the same.

Methods of Building Will Power

A warrior can develop the martial will power discussed in the previous post through a number of methods.  Difficulty of motivation (exhibiting behavioral resistance to punishment) constitutes the only requirement necessary for a will power development exercise.  Though most will power exercises use physical discomfort as a training technique for hard arts, other forms of mental discomfort can also serve to increase will power.

Hard Art Methods: Using physical discomfort to build will power requires training within certain parameters to ensure efficacy.  The resistance used must be light enough to enable forced repetitions without injury yet heavy enough to build useful strength for combat.  Movements must incorporate the whole body to prevent overuse injury of a specific bodily region.  Finally, movements must develop useable qualities other than motivational strength and endurance.

Pad and Bag Work: Striking objects for training serves well to increase power while developing will power with movements very similar to actual combat.  If a trainee can strike a bag or tougher surface as hard as possible for an extended period of time, they have trained the physical capacities necessary to succeed in battle.  The only battle remaining is tactical and internal.  Merely striking as hard as possible beyond the point of physical discomfort can build will power in the absence of softer visualization techniques.  For soldiers, fighters, and other combat professionals, no softer will power training is necessary.  However, a well rounded martial artist must not settle for purely physical will power development, as it will not improve their character outside battle.

Endurance Weight Lifting: Lifting a moderate weight (about 30% of one's bodyweight) for an extended length of time can build outstanding physical will power in addition to preventing future injuries during combat or heavy lifting.  Kettlebell sport is the premier example of this kind of training.  During a portion of this author's training, the dojo was used for soft training, weight lifting was used for physical will power development, and sparring was used for internal awareness and will power development.  The reader should note that maximal weight lifting does not confer the same benefits and cannot be used as a replacement.  Will power training should be prolonged with periods of both tension and relaxation as in a set of 50 clean and jerks, rather than simply brief and tense as in a single set of 5 deadlifts.

Running and Parkour: Running and parkour can confer many martial benefits ranging from will power development to escape training.  A martial artist who cannot run and move effectively has limited their options in battle.  Retreat should always remain an option when it serves the greater goal of choosing the manner of one's death.  For maximal motivational training, running should be done for long time periods and distances or under a state of duress, such as a blizzard or time constraint.  One favorite running drill of this author is running downhill for time (30 minutes, for example), then attempting to beat that time back uphill to the starting point.  This method of training teaches relaxation during the downhill portion to save one's energy followed by a tremendous sustained exertion uphill without losing speed.  Will power is the primary focus of such a drill, not running speed or endurance.  Without pain, no benefits can be incurred through such a practice.  Good applications of running and parkour for will power development are challenge races and obstacle courses which build motivational and physical durability that could apply directly to combat.

Soft Art Methods: Through visualization, motivation becomes malleable.  A martial artist can conquer fear, laziness, and even anger and hatred through simple visualization and execution.  This author once asked his sensei, "What should I do about my anger for my enemies?"  His answer: "Do not let them anger you."  By conceiving of one's enemies differently, one can choose whether to respond with hatred or peace to their aggressions.  The initial battle is internal, not physical.  Further, if one does choose violence as a method, they must visualize properly to conquer fear and hesitation before the battle ever begins.  Below are some methods of soft will power development.  All of them use deep breathing as a primary focus throughout.  Above all else, one must breathe.

Meditating on Death:  The samurai made a practice of meditating upon death to remove their fear of defeat.  An honorable defeat should never evoke fear, but pride instead.  Victory is not won by the uninjured, but by the honorable.  As such, a warrior should visualize all the ways their opponents might harm them, then meditate on those thoughts until they feel calm acceptance in place of fear.

Meditating on Pain: When one is in pain, they should attempt to become one with it and treat it as a simple message of their body.  Even emotional pain should be analyzed as a mere physical side effect.  One should learn to resist flinching, crying out, or otherwise making one's pain visible to others.  This discipline will carry over into battle with opponents, who will be encouraged by displays of pain yet discouraged by stoic peace.  Learn to withhold your enemy's reward in battle.  More than your death, your enemy wants your pain.  A peaceful death does not gratify an evil opponent.

Undertaking Austerity: In one's day to day life, they should undertake tasks which bring them fear while breathing deeply and focusing intently.  By removing one's fear during unpleasant tasks, pleasant tasks will become more enjoyable and conflict will not elicit dread.

The reader must note that deep breathing should remain the most important focus of these exercises.  When an opponent has taken one's breath, defeat is already guaranteed.