|
From: Robert LaPointe Subject: History and Analysis of Bar Fights Date: 7/13/2004 10:12 AM Hi First off, the Shaolin Fitness Secrets book is nearly sold out, so whatever you have to do to get a copy, I suggest you do it. The book is a great buy. How great? Well, I've gotten nothing but positive feedback from everyone who's on the program. The key to Shaolin Fitness Secrets is that it combines fighting skill training with fitness exercises. This is what 99% of the people who join my school are looking for. They want exercise, but they don't want to simply push a rock up a hill . . . they want to actually get somewhere with their training. Onward. Regarding last weeks' list of personal qualities, alert reader George Breeden sent the following email: You may have figured this out already, but those come from Daniel Goleman's book "Emotional Intelligence." J Thanks, George. And now for a visit from an old friend. Those of you have been getting my newletter for a while may remember the all-knowing, much-feared Evil One. When I got an email from a long time reader out west asking His Evilness about an important topic, I forwarded it and received the following reply. Below is the Q&A: "Dear Evil One, I lost a bar fight last recently, even though I used every low blow and dirty trick in the book. Do you think I might be losing my edge? Jake in Idaho Dear Jake, In Jonathan Miles' excellent essay "Punch Drunk Love" (see the July '04 issue of Men's Journal), he speculates that the first bar fight probably broke out within hours of the opening of the first bar. The combatants are usually young men and the fight is fueled by alcohol and testosterone, which gives it an energy and pace all its own. The testosterone moves the fight forward, and the alcohol moves it every other direction - creating it's distinctive unpredictability. It isn't always young men though. Women have been known to mix it up "in the mud and the blood and the beer" as the song goes, and there can be a fair amount of hair-pulling, spitting, and name calling. "If you're accustomed to ladies of a genteel sort, there's a world-upside-down element to them," writes Miles, "and they can sometimes have the frightening appeal of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel." Regardless who's doing the fighting though, bar fights are a mess, and a genuine threat to your health. Avoid them. If losing soured your taste for barroom brawls, consider yourself better off. Advice: Drink wisely. If you do get in a fight, never hit to the skull with a closed fist. You'll bust your little hand. And, most important of all . . . do your drinking in the bar, and your fighting in the ring. Not the other way around! The Evil One" That's it for this week's "Summer Fun" newsletter. If you have questions for the Evil One please email them to "Dear Evil One" care of this address. Be good. Stay safe. Train like you mean it.
Rob LaPointe |
