The Path
Every week you'll get: something to sharpen, something to soften and something to integrate the two in your real life
The Path - Issue 19 - The Witness
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN A training log keeps you honest in ways memory cannot You set the bell down after the last set and someone asks how it went. "Rough," you say. "Couldn't finish." Then you open the log and every set but one has a mark beside it. Memory keeps a story, and the story gets edited. Daniel Kahneman found in 1996 that patients rated a painful procedure by its worst moment and its last one, and (surprisingly) how long it...
The Path - Issue 18 - Posture
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Posture is what your body does when you stop paying attention In closed guard, nobody breaks your posture in one motion. They wait for the half second your attention goes somewhere else, and then they take an inch. Your head goes down in installments. A hand gets inside and you allow it. Then a grip, then an angle. By the time your forehead is against their chest you've agreed to the position more than once without...
The Path - Issue 17 -
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Knowing when to yield is a form of strength most people never learn The jū in jiu-jitsu means yielding. Jigoro Kano, who founded judo, explained it with a shove: push back against a stronger man and you lose; give way as he pushes and he leans forward and loses his balance. Yielding is a decision, and timing is the whole skill. Kano's man steps back while he still has the choice. That's what makes it a technique...
The Path - Issue 16 - Beginner's Mind
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN A white belt's humility is their most powerful technique Nobody expects a white belt to know anything, which is why they learn so fast. Josh Waitzkin's push hands teacher, William Chen, called that posture an investment in loss: let yourself get pushed around while you learn, because the student defending their pride never does. Rank raises the price of not knowing. At white belt, "I don't get it" costs nothing....
The Path - Issue 15 - Recovery
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Progressive overload requires progressive recovery, not progressive grinding The load only works if the body gets a chance to answer it. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness compress the whole idea into one equation in Peak Performance: stress plus rest equals growth. Adaptation happens between sessions. Class is where you apply the stress. The rebuild runs afterward, during sleep and the days off. Arrive depleted often...
The Path - Issue 14 - Tension
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Grip is the first thing that fails under pressure, train it first. Pavel Tsatsouline spent decades teaching one unpopular idea: strength is a skill, and tension is its currency. No place spends that currency faster than your hands. Grip fails before technique does. The forearms flood, the sleeve slips, and everything you know goes theoretical. The knowledge is still in your head. It just isn't in your hands....
The Path - Issue 13 - Consistency
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Showing up on the day you don't want to is the day that counts the most. Motivated days are free. It’s easy to train when the desire arrives on its own; James Clear built Atomic Habits around what happens after it leaves. The unwanted day casts the heavier vote. Clear describes every action as a vote for the person you're becoming. A vote cast against your own mood outweighs a week of votes cast with it. Never miss...
The Path - Issue 12 - State
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN To change how you feel, start with your body not your mind. William James made the case in 1884: we don't tremble because we're afraid, we're afraid because we tremble. The body reports first, and the mind writes the story afterward. You can't think your way out of a state your body is holding. Racing heart, shallow breath, locked shoulders: no argument you make with yourself outranks that signal. The body has...
The Path - Issue 11 - Breath
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Breath control is weapon control The moment your breathing goes ragged, your technique goes with it. Under a tight pin, the first thing to break is your breath, and everything after becomes a reaction instead of executing your plan. Panic breathes for you. When you stop choosing your breath, your nervous system chooses it, and under duress it chooses short and shallow. Fast breathing is the body's alarm; feed it...
The Path - Issue 10 - Standards
To read this in your browser or sign up for this newsletter click here SHARPEN Uncompromising standards are an act of respect Bill Walsh took over the worst team in football and didn't begin with plays. He began with a Standard of Performance, a fixed bar for how everyone in the building carried themselves, and he held it whether the team was winning or losing. A low standard is a quiet insult. When you stop expecting much from someone, you've decided they can't do better. That isn't...
Every week you'll get: something to sharpen, something to soften and something to integrate the two in your real life