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Showing posts from July, 2021

Here's the Real 'Secret' of Sparring... It's NOT What You Think!

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  Last week's email struck a nerve w/some of you out there. No death threats mind you, but some folks certainly didn't totally pick up what I was laying down so to speak.  What was it that was sooooo saucy you ask?! Some out there mis-interpreted this statement, "Take sparring for instance. The 'Go Hard or Go Home' method will just get you f*d up and wrecked. ESPECIALLY if you are over 40."  I get the impression that some people out there may have thought that I meant that sparring wasn't 'necessary', was' ineffective', or shouldn't be done in regards to training how to protect yourself. NO! That's NOT what I meant at all.  That statement is simply bringing your attention to the fact that many people and approaches put too much emphasis on the WRONG type of sparring.  Most go to hard and take themselves too seriously.  As Ryron Gracie says, "Keep it playful." Most of the real pro's that I've worked with over the ye

You've Heard of Train Smarter Not Harder Right!?

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  It's never a good idea to bang your head against the wall in the hopes of improving brain functions. Yet, figuratively speaking, some people insist on doing it over and over again. And when you do your best to help them out of their self-imposed trap, they get upset with you. Often times, it's better to just leave 'em alone. Pain is a great teacher, I've found. When you get hurt, you have time to re-evaluate what you were doing. You can ask yourself if there IS a better way. You can think about the idea that perhaps you were sold a pile of BS about what you're doing.  Take sparring for instance. The 'Go Hard or Go Home' method will just get you f*d up and wrecked. ESPECIALLY if you are over 40.  Yet, I see so many of these places advocating it.  In reality if you don't do things correctly, you'll just keep getting injured, resulting in less training and inevitably you quitting and not training at all! How's THAT going to help you to protect you

This Joke's on Them!

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  Ever Run Into a Complainer? You know there are some people that will just complain about anything and everything.  I ran into one not that long ago. There was no making this guy happy. No matter what solution I presented, it wasn't good enough for him.  As a matter of fact, he was clueless that HE was the common denominator in all of his problems.  Of course he didn't see it that way.  He ran into the same situation over and over again (continually getting hurt in training.). After hearing his complaints a few times, I discretely watched him as he trained.  I witnessed him saying things like,  "Come on you can go harder than that.." Or "...Is that all you got?!" Or the crowd favorite... "What if I did 'THIS'?"  (followed by an inappropriate, out of context  quick, jerky attack (or movement), that his partner wasn't expecting, causing them to respond accordingly). Or this guy would simply going to fast, hard and wild for his ability, l

Signing of the Declaration of Independence

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  The Signing of the Declaration of Independence By H. A. Guerber John Hancock, President of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, writing his name in large, plain letters, and saying: "There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles. Now let him double the price on my head, for this is my defiance." Then he turned to the other members, and solemnly declared: "We must be unanimous. There must be no pulling different ways. We must all hang together." "Yes," said Franklin, quaintly, "we must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." We are told that Charles Carroll, thinking that his writing looked shaky, added the words, "of Carrollton," so that the king should not be able to make any mistake as to whose name stood there. Happy Independence Day! Don't forget how we got here and why!  Keep an eye on the past as we forge the future.  Best, ~Craig Declare your own independence by