Improve your MAN skills
There are numerous key skills men are stereotypically expected to know, some that are useful to know, & a few which are cool to be able to do. You can find lists on skills men should know in various places, you can search for instructional videos on how to learn or perform these skills but trying to find both in the same place is somewhat rare. I’ve taken it upon myself to create a man manual which puts everything you need in one place.
How to Change a Tire
We spend more time in our cars now than ever, long commutes to work or weekends away are becoming a common occurrence due to the advancement of modern vehicles. The more time you spend in your car the more likely you are to encounter a punctured tire. In a hurry, the last thing you want is to be stranded waiting for a recovery truck or a passerby to change the wheel. A basic bit of knowledge like this could save you lots of time.
How to Tie a Tie
As an adult male its inevitable you’ll come across an occasion for which you’ll have to wear a tie. Job interviews, meetings, weddings, fancy dinners, all possible scenarios a man could come across during his life. There’s nothing more emasculating than a grown man asking somebody else to fix up his tie.
How to Light a Charcoal Grill
Is the manliest man at the BBQ the one tending to the grill? well if the Sopranos is anything to go by it’s safe to say that statement is true. Tony Soprano was always in charge of his own grill even though there were guests more culinarily educated than him. In order to get to the cooking stage, you need to light the BBQ. With gas grills, this is an easy task but if like me you prefer to use charcoal giving the meat a more intense smokey flavour then you’ll have to light a grill the traditional way.
How to Parallel Park
As well as spending more time in our cars there are more cars on the road now than ever. With the growing rate of cars per household parking in busy areas can be difficult, instead of having a pick of multiple spaces you may have to take the only spot available, possibly a small gap between two parked cars. The degree of difficulty will depend on the size of the car and the size of the space available, as long as the gap is big enough for your car the technique will largely remain the same.
How to Read a Book
Visual media has become the primary source of entertainment, with the rise in video engagement through sites like youtube it’s almost too convenient to watch videos and neglect books. Literacy is a skill itself, at a young age literacy is practised routinely through the school curriculum, as we age in order to our retain reading skills it’s vital we read occasionally. The nature of what you read isn’t important it’s more about the act of reading itself. There are so many books for various purposes everyone can find something they enjoy, whether it’s for education or entertainment there’s a book for you out there.
I personally like to read material that stimulates my mind, three books that left a big impression for on me were:
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
How to Chop Wood & Make a Fire
Some folks still use wood fires but even if you don’t it’s a useful survival skill to know how to get a fire going.
Chopping wood is a fantastic form of exercise, should you ever get the chance to try it I’m sure you would be surprised by how hard it is despite looking fairly simple when watching someone else do it. The classic image of a gentleman chopping wood is one of the more commonly associated images of masculinity.
Lighting a fire using natural resources is more of a specialist skill but one of those you’d rather know how to do it and never need too as opposed to being in a situation where you need to know and don’t.
How to do Compound Exercises
Another vital part of a man’s lifestyle is fitness. Although we’re not all aiming to become Olympic level athletes it’s important to partake in some sort of Physical exercise to keep the body in decent condition.
The fitness industry has grown exponentially this decade, from bodybuilding to Crossfit and everything in between including ball sports & self-defence the choices could drive an indecisive person insane. If exercise isn’t already part of your routine maybe you’re unsure as to what type of exercise you want to do, something really simple with huge benefits is performing compound exercises.
The gains in strength are quickly obtained, you’ll engage multiple muscle groups at one time plus it’s a manly form of exercise of course.
Squat
Deadlift
Clean and Press
How to Defend Yourself
Most arguments can be solved without using force however, there are some people unfortunately who only want to solve things with violence. In such circumstances, you may have no route of escape which in turn forces you to engage in a fight.
There is no substitute for actual experience in some form of fighting discipline but if you don’t have experience there are some basic things you can do which will give you an advantage over an untrained aggressor.
Reading some tactical analysis will give you a better chance of controlling a fight, Bisping vs St-Pierre Tactical Preview for those who don’t have the time or patience here are some basics.
Defence
With all the adrenaline running wild during a confrontation both parties will be eager to strike, knowing this allows you to control the situation by causing misdirection. The majority of guys will know how to throw a punch even if it’s not technically correct, defending one, on the other hand, is a mystery to many.
Offence
The objective of misdirection is to create space for a strike, where people usually go wrong (this is something you will notice on countless street fight videos) is loading up too much. Without gloves, you don’t need much contact to get the desired result, it’s far more important to land first than it is to land a really hard blow. In exchanges, the guy with better technique will get there first 9 times out of ten.