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Regarding self defense:
We offer self defense classes at Wolf Brigade, both in an open group format on Saturday, and by small-group appointment.
Physical capacity, in our opinion, is only as useful as its application in keeping you healthy, happy, and safe. “Self defense” is often a murky term, and is just as often bathed in misinformation and mysticism- mostly for marketing purposes. NOTHING works all the time, big people will very often be able to overwhelm smaller people regardless of training, and if it is hard to learn or requires precision, it is HIGHLY unlikely it will work during a real-life attack without extensive, exhaustive practice; if you’ve been studying jiu-jitsu for 10 years, you may triangle choke an attacker, but that is by FAR the exception, and applies to very few.
Even the most well prepared can be victimized by the least prepared, just as the strongest can be toppled by the weakest. One near- sure-fire way to wind up on the wrong end of an attack/ altercation/ confrontation is to let your ego (or denial) keep you from considering the mental AND physical pieces of the puzzle.
The goal of our self defense training is just as much instilling a mindset of awareness and preparedness as it is introducing and practicing physical techniques.
mental.
“Searching”
We’re all looking for something; when our sights are set too low or we’re always viewing the next bar as too high, we very well may never find it. When the search ends, development halts, and our true potential looks down on us and laughs, knowing there’s no danger of us catching it…
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I played lacrosse when I was a kid. I liked it, I was pretty good at it, and it made my parents happy. When I was 11, I came across a BMX bike riding magazine at the grocery store, and long story short, everything else took a back seat to the compulsion I had to find out as much as I could about this unique (and at the time, bizarre and unconventional) culture. The imagery was brash and bold, the players in the “game” were wild and looked like people you might be afraid of if you saw them walking in your neighborhood, and I couldn’t get enough. The idea of “convention”, while I probably didn’t define it as such at 11 or 12 years old, changed immediately for me. The stability and simplicity of team sports (and the just-add-water social circle they often create) stepped aside to make way for a path that didn’t make sense to anyone but me…
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An event to pay tribute to Mike Tag occurred in Ithaca, NY last Saturday. The day had somber origins, but ended up being a fitting celebration and memorial for a truly unique influence in underground culture.
Photos and write up.
The end is seldom just “the end”… Mike’s legend will live on- passed forth in story after story that sound larger than life but couldn’t be truer, and will endear him to an entirely new generation of outlaws that will not be quite as fortunate as we were to watch it all unfold…
Steve Crandall and Kelly Baker (left side of photos), Trevor Cranmer (right side of photos).
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“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”
George Eliot
Last night, Friday the 13th of April 2012, my friend Mike Tag died.
For those of you that don’t know, I grew up riding BMX from age 11, and continued to do so my entire life. Mike was among a small handful of characters that influenced me, inspired me and at the same time got me into immeasurable amounts of trouble from the time I was 17 or so until just a few years ago.
He once tazed me in the stomach in the middle of the night on Hank Williams III’s tour bus, he fed me my first alcoholic drink as an adult at a VIP party we snuck into at the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco, and even when he wasn’t getting into trouble, he was always smiling like he was.
He was a true roughneck, and a pioneer of BMX street riding and style. Mike was as caring and loyal as he was tough, and will be mourned by many, but forgotten by none.
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Below are two FBM videos featuring Mike. The top one is one of my favorites ever, and captured Mike, myself, and many of our friends during one of the best times ever in BMX. The bottom one is my favorite video part of Mike’s, to one of my favorite songs ever.
Live Fast Die. from FBM BMX on Vimeo.
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Many new people have come through our doors and visited our site in the past 3 months. As any small community grows, it is a challenge to keep a mindset of discipline, specificity, and humility alive within all its members and followers.
Reading over our “Mental Endurance” posts may offer some great reminders for those that have been with us for a while, and may be helpful in developing and sustaining a strong training mindset in those that are newer.
Here they are, linked in order:
Pt. 1- “Disciplined, continuous movement through fatigue.”
Pt. 2- “Weathering the storm.”
Pt. 3- “The stopping point.”
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“You can lead a horse to water, but cannot make him drink.”
You can save sheep from slaughter, but cannot make them think.
Left to their own, most will never know;
Left to OUR own, like weeds we will grow…
mental. (re-post from 10/10/10)
“Exhaust the hardest choice, and the rest will appear to you (already) exhausted. “
Many quotes about the “high road” have something to do with the struggle and isolation that often result in choosing it.
My take on it is a simple one: the choice to walk a high road and travel a path of resistance is also a deliberate choice towards struggle, loneliness, and disappointment. If you do not encounter those things in your journey, the road you have chosen is not yet a fitting compliment to your full potential.
“To live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk.” Robert McKee
The idea of living at “risk” is often a romantic one; the realization is often much different.
It takes a mental and physical toll, and might be tempered only occasionally by a sense of self-made accomplishment.
If you allow the small victories to fuel you, it is a sustainable path.
If you are looking for or expecting the societal, social, or financial pat on the back that a path of convention & convenience offer, you will likely be waiting until the end of time.
Things deemed conventional successes while on an unconventional path appear to those whose dedication is true; never accepting less than they give, and never expecting any more than nothing in return.
mental.
Foresight is often a double-edged sword. Without the benefit of it, many of the journeys we embark on would seem futile, and the pain, suffering, and struggle of present time would often seem insurmountable.
Looking forward to a greater good, a well-learned lesson or well completed task, or product of success is often what moves us through and past the murk.
The other edge of the sword says that since “it” never really gets easier, most forethought is simply self-deception, and is a game of trickery (albeit a necessary one) that we play with ourselves in order to make ANY progress at all in the toughest of climates or on the narrowest of paths.
Foresight in the form of reality-tempered hope seems the most prudent way of looking past the present. Existing in the current discomfort, making friends with the struggle… if the stars align the way you’d like, you will end up looking back and feeling the vast sense of accomplishment that comes with enduring, sustaining, and succeeding.
“The only way out is through.” Robert Frost
The first rung on the ladder…
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“Comfort” and “happiness” do not always go hand-in-hand.
Discomfort and misery don’t either.
Qualities and traits of each person’s personality tend to determine where (comfort vs. happiness) more value is placed, and that important choice will often determine one’s entire life path and outlook.
Which is more important to you?
Have you ever thought of them as separate?
Is a quest for happiness the reason you come here?
Is a need for constant comfort the reason you don’t?
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“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well-tried before you give them your confidence.”
George Washington
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Speculation and certainty often run on parallel tracks in the minds of those that seek progress.
A questioning mindset is crucial to self-development in the mental or physical realms, but with the asking of questions often comes the anxiousness and restlessness of not knowing the answers.
(Ignorance is bliss?)
When answers become evident, rolling over, ignoring, and denying are passivist “strategies” that lead to one almost certain result: more of the same, or worse.
Initiative, resolution, and focus are strategies employed by the strong that require effort, and also lead to one almost certain result:
Progress.
When something in our path is limiting us, hurting us (or others), or distracting us from reaching our goals, don’t make a mental mistake and accept it, make the needed adjustments and correct it.
Learning from preventable mistakes should not be considered a useful lesson.
mental. (re-post from 12/03/10)
It is the “Holiday Season“.
A time for family, and warmth, and usually a hearty helping of situational traditionalism involving exaggerated care for those we usually ignore, reciprocally-minded generosity towards those we usually keep out of mind, and disingenuous forgiveness for those we usually loathe.
Self deception is never in season.
If such courses of action are motivated in you solely by the shiny white lights strung across the old architecture in your town or city, some sappy, nostalgic TV spot, or any other consumption-fueled trickery, get over yourself.
All the seasonal philanthropy in the world is no match for good old-fashioned sincerity throughout the year.
“If you don’t live what you talk about, your mirror’s gonna find out…”
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“For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me.
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet.
I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Job 3: 24-26
mental.
Preparedness is not paranoia
just as
specificity and direction are not “mind control”.
(Though both of those statements DO sound a bit Orwellian…)
Bad things DO happen. And good things (thankfully) do happen more often.
Our outlook on training, and the mindset of a culture based on both physical and mental preparedness is that
WE WOULD RATHER HAVE IT AND NOT NEED IT THAN NEED IT AND NOT HAVE IT.
If that strikes you as paranoid, overbearing, or controlling, you have likely never been on the receiving end of “bad”
(or have deceived yourself into thinking “bad” doesn’t really happen.)
If that sounds like too much thought, effort, and seriousness to put into “working out” then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
As you glide effortlessly through your next “45 minutes of cardio”, think about this:
If the shit hit the fan, what would your current physical skill set allow you to survive?
Would your mental composure even last long enough for you to find out?
(Is it better to learn to swim or fear the water?)
{FFF}
mental.
An excellent article was brought to my attention today and it poses an often danced-around but very seldom quantified question:
If the shit hit the fan, what would your current physical skill set allow you to survive?
The writer(s) of the article put some physical parameters at the end that they feel are good measures of the question above. They are well thought-out, and although the questions they pose are hypothetical, the concepts transfer directly to real situations that are much less so.
Although they are selling a product, and that is largely the goal of the piece, its contents are useful, and the skills, movements, and capacities they call on for modern-day self preservation are spot on.
“Are you fit enough to survive?”
Thoughts? How do you measure up?
(Remember, self deception is never in season…)
If this article makes you think, makes you question, or makes you interested, email us at: wolfbrigadegym@gmail.com
Physical and mental preparation is what we do.
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“Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation”
Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)
There are far more sheep than wolves in this world, and many seem to ignore or forget that they have a choice in the matter.
The shift from “prey” to “predator” can be as simple as gaining awareness and adjusting a mindset; not quite so simple is developing the confidence, tools, and tenacity to walk right through each & every trial life throws at you.
Once you choose your path… We can help.
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We post every day outlining what we did, but haven’t posted in a while regarding what we do…
Put simply, we want you to and will show you many effective ways to:
Move your bodyweight safe and fast.
Get your ass off the ground.
Lift heavy shit.
In here, and in our version of fitness, one is no more important than another, and one without the others is incomplete.
We want to be as efficient, learned, and technical as we can in performing all tasks relating to these objectives.
Move more, move faster, get stronger.
Eat, rest, recover, repeat.
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When it comes to the things in life that are most important…
“Struggling is always better than settling.”
How often and how profoundly do you indulge complacency?
On the contrary, how often have you chosen the path of resistance?
Refer to this post for another perspective on the concept above.
Or maybe this one.
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“Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde
The compromises we make to live our fast paced, modern, “progressive” lives often lead to a substitution of convenience for quality.
Cheapening of character in the name of comfort or “progress” is a price that we should be unwilling to pay.
