INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the introduction of Legends. Introductions, for the most part, are authors' opening attempts to give you good reasons to continue reading the entire book. Introductions are where we try to make our case in a few words as to why you should read even more of our words. It is the introduction that forces us to be concise about what we will go on at length about in what follows. So with that in mind...
What you now hold in your hands is a compendium of writing that began as our weekly online newsletter "Legends" that began approximately seven years ago. (Maybe even longer than that, I'm horrible with chronologies as my wife can attest-I can remember our anniversary but never have any idea how long we've been married). The Legends newsletter (still going strong, by the way) goes out to our organization affiliates and any other kindred spirit who enjoys the Western Combat Sports approach to martial training. (See www.extremeselfprotection.com for more skinny on us)
Legends started out in days of yore detailing our seminar schedule, mentioning new product offerings and, as a center-piece, each newsletter featured some musing from, yours truly, on a variety of subjects pertaining to combat training (in some cases the link is tenuous at best-as you soon shall see).
We still run Legends weekly in pretty much that same spirit but with an improved format and the concession to advancing technology here and there: social network premium content, video clips of the week, that sort of thing.
This compendium of some (by all means not all) of those centerpiece essays, musings, and diatribes, whatever you want to call them is broken into six broad categories.
- Training & Conditioning-Guess what these are about?
- Profiles-Where we take a brief look at individual competitors and coaches of note who have made exceptional contributions to our area of focus.
- History-Bite-size look backs at developments that paved to way to "innovations" we now enjoy.
- Styles-Here, you'll find odd martial styles highlighted (odd to my provincial brain that is). Styles that have made contributions to our approach or, simply styles that were so peculiar they piqued my curiosity. (Anyone who has heard me go on about Welsh Purring competitions in pubs knows what to expect).
- Fight Science-Exactly what it sounds like. Anybody who has already been privy to my writing knows all too well that I get all wonky and faux-deep when it comes to meshing layman science with the disciplined violence we lovingly call a sport.
- Technique-In these sections you'll find lengthy digressions on how-to, how-not-to, why-to and, perhaps most importantly why not-to perform given tactics.
Throughout you will also see periodic mentions of ESP RAW and inTENS. Rather than leave you guessing, ESP RAW is our subscription instructional DVD service that we use to keep our affiliates on point with our monthly combat drill templates. Think of the ESP RAW series as a sort of monthly video instructional plan in your mailbox and you've got the right idea.
inTENS is the latest incarnation of our strength and conditioning approach that blends old school ironwork, calisthenics, and combat sport specific drills into hundreds of conditioning challenges. inTENS uses a seldom repeating formula to stave off staleness and to foster response to chaotic demands that combat training often requires.
If you'd like more info on ESP RAW, inTENS, or access to more of the Legends material just visit our site (one more time for fun, www.extremeselfprotection.com). There you can sign up for the weekly Legends newsletter, click the ESP RAW tab to see if this training protocol seems up your alley, or click inTENS and have a look-see at this particular weeks madness.
Well, if the introduction of a book is the "Hello, glad you could make it, thanks for reading us" portion of the book, the end of the introduction is the "Come right in, mingle, browse, make yourself at home" aspect. With that in mind-thanks for reading, turn the page and I hope you enjoy.
Mark Hatmaker
www.extremeselfprotection.com
LUCHO BRANCAILLE
In last week's Legends we discussed the French origins of Greco-Roman wrestling; this week let's stay with Franco-influenced fighting styles. Brancaille is a form of no-holds-barred/All-In that allowed strikes (kicks included) and ground wrestling (sounds pretty forward thinking doesn't it?).
Brancaille seems to be an off-shoot of the French versions of Catch-As-Catch-Can. In Provence (depending on the area) the Franco version of Catch was/is known as Lucho Libro ("free style"), Lucha a touto lucho ("wrestle any way you wish"), or Lucha en arrapant per tout ("catch any way you can"). [Please keep in mind my translations are rather loose as I am an ignorant monolinguist.] These varieties of wrestling still adhered to much of the catch tradition but, the Provence region seemed to want something more so, they went NHB.
How this NHB sport came to be called Brancaille is a bit of a round-a-bout story. Provence is/was an important wine-growing region. The peasants had a pagan tradition of praying to a minor deity to prevent spring frosts that could be devastating to the wine crops. There was a festival held for this minor deity at which Brancaille contests were part of the entertainment. The Catholic Church, always a bit jealous of attention paid to other deities, substituted a Saint that would accept the prayers of the wine-growing peasants. The Saint they offered was Saint Pancrase-sound familiar? In Provence the name was, more often than not, written/pronounced as San Brancai. There may also be a bit of a Gallic joke in the name Brancaille, as brancai, also refers to limping and (as you may have guessed) competitors rarely left a Brancaille game without injury. Sounds like a game after my own heart.
