We old school boxing and wrestling enthusiasts are often amateur armchair historians, or in some cases quite talented professional historians (the impressive Nathan Hatton comes to mind).  We have a ready recognition and respect for the plain fact that much of what we enjoy in these twin sports has been handed down for generation upon generation.

We also know that it is, more often than not,  not the new thing that comes down the pike that will send our game and/or understanding to the next level, but rather the old thing that we may have taken for granted that some new revelation from days of yore suddenly makes us look at an old friend with even more appreciative eyes.  This information need not necessarily be some big completely forgotten killer move suddenly re-discovered (rarely the case) but more along the lines of some tiny forgotten piece of information that makes what was already working quite well work devastatingly well.

I liken these discoveries to archaeological digs where you must carefully sift for each shard of pottery, each tile of mosaic, each fragment of bone; for the longest time these disparate pieces may not tell you much about what you are looking at, but more often than not the more you dig, the more you pay attention a larger entity begins to assemble itself before your eyes.

I have come to marvel at and love the fact that you can never be quite certain where you will unearth your next archeological fragment. My most recent example, I'm re-reading Seneca's

Letters from a Stoic, a series of instructive epistles from Seneca to his protege/student Lucilius. The vast bulk of these letters from this wise and noble Roman concern themselves with Stoic philosophy with the occasional side journey into the current state of his health or opinion of those or that custom.

It is in one of these side-journeys that I come across Seneca's brief description of his physical training at the hands of his trainer.  The trainer is unnamed but (and this is me simply guessing) considering Seneca's great wealth and the background of most other physical trainers at the time, I think he may have had a former docotore (a trainer of gladiators) in his employ (more likely a slave or former slave).

Seneca describes what sounds like hill sprints, swinging and tossing of weights (sounds like explosive lifting to me), jumping for height and distance. He describes that it is not necessary to put "overlong hours" in training but it is more important to do "much work as rapidly as possible until the breath is labored." In other words, sounds like high intensity work that we would readily recognize in any current day MMA Strength & Conditioning program worth its salt.

One more thing about these archeological digs. Seneca's mention of training during the time of the doctores is not found in most bound versions of Seneca's letters (which explains why I missed it the first few times). Often older works (the classics, particularly those by the ancients) are edited to allow a chosen theme to emerge. The editor presumes that those reading Seneca want his thoughts on Stoicism only, I get that assumption. Who would guess that folks in the 21st century could be just as interested in what he did to keep his body strong as in what he said to keep his mind strong?

I bring all of this up simply to remind us (and me) that you never know what dig will provide that missing fragment that will tell an entire tale.

As some of you know I try to leave the homestead as little as possible, but this year is an anomaly as we have upped our seminar/playtime. Below you will find a listing of some of the most recent additions to the schedule.

We'll be at Martial Arts Carolina on Saturday, March 23rd running a day of Old School Wrestling and then running with a crew in the Charlotte, NC Spartan Sprint on the 24th.

Here's the seminar skinny--

Martial Arts Carolina

3555-2 Matthews-Minthill Rd.

Matthews, NC 28105

Time: 12pm-5pm

Cost: $50

Contact: Yevette Hutchinson or Brad Butchka at 704-847-2222

Once you register for the seminar and if you decide you'd like to run side-by-muddy side with us in the Spartan sprint as well, drop us an email with your seminar confirmation and we'll set you up with the Team Code discount.

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We'll be in Germany in May--details to come.

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Of course we'll be at the Annual Karate College in Radford, VA on June 28th & 29th. We'll teach 3 general sessions + 1 certification course.  To register for Karate College http://www.thekaratecollege.com/TheKarateCollege.com/Karate_College.html

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We'll be on the roster at Martial Arts on the Mountain--September 19 (5PM start) thru September 22nd (11AM).

Myself, Boyd Ritchie, Carlos Cummings, and John Miller will be presenting classes in MMA, Boxing, Catch Wrestling, Sambo, (and if time permits) an optional Challenge/Obstacle Run.

Four days of training, feel free to room on the campground (rooms and meals provided, crew--beat that).

Cost: $250

To register or for more details contact Coach John Miller

coach@grapplingsports.com

540-354-9356

http://www.facebook.com/events/126726897501640/

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Of course, we'll also offer our Annual Tennessee Boot Camp in November-details to come.

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We hope to see you at one of these events--if you'd like to have us come to you, check out our Pitch An Adventure info in the side bar and if you've got some adrenaline in your neck of the woods that strikes my fancy we'll be there.  

RAW Subscription Update

For our current and considering RAW Subscribers, beginning with volume 123 (January 1st, 2013) we will begin unveiling The Combination Man Home Study Course in which we (finally) present in an ABC/1-2-3 manner the steps from, 0-120 MPH how to become the best Boxer-Pugilist, Shooter-Stuffer, Par Terre Wrester-Submission Technician you can be.

Each volume will tied-in to the inTENS PREMIUM CONDITIONING SERVICE (free to subscribers), will be accompanied by a printed syllabi of drills for gym use, and will then be keyed to a foundation text (The Combination Man) that will be released at a later date. In other words, some good methodical let's get better stuff coming your way.