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.