The G Manifesto

Entering The Dragon

“Don‘t think; feel. It‘s like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don‘t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”—Bruce Lee

“If I tell you I‘m good, you would probably think I‘m boasting, If I tell you I‘m no good, You know I’m lying.” —Bruce Lee

This week we are going to respond to one of the readers emails to The G Manifesto:

“I am a huge fan of the Manifesto and I think it is great. You Da Man! How do you go out every night and still stay game tight during the day? You probably have a unconventional line of work, but most of us have to go to work or school in the morning. Please help. Ken.”

Click Here for Enter the Dragon (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Great question, Ken. First off, never say “You Da Man”. To answer your question, The Key is working out. I train for nightlife. It’s really not unlike an NFL or NBA Superstar training for their season. I would be completely lying to you if I didn’t say I was in incredible shape. In fact, if they had a professional football league where everyone had to smoke two packs of cigarettes day I would be All Pro. (Although you would never catch me dead wearing a helmet, football pads and tight pants…bullet proof vest and a custom Valentino suit, yes, football pads, no). And if they had a pro-basketball league where everyone had to stay out all night 4 nights a week, I would be an All-Star. (In fact, outside of A.I., God Shammgod, and J-Will, you would be hard pressed to find anyone out there with a better handle than me….) But I will tell you this, put Any professional athletes against me for 5 straight nights of no sleep, no drugs partying, swooping girls and the beautiful evil that nighttime brings and the I can tell you it won’t be me who is the one going to have a mental and or physical breakdown. So how do I do it? You must Enter The Dragon.

Click Here for Enter the Dragon (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Here is how:

First things first, you need a place to work out. You don’t want to join the corporate gym that has all new equipment, a juice bar and all yuppie clientele. Join the gym that has boxing equipment and is hot, smells terrible with a felon clientele. That’s the gym that is going to get you into great shape. Like Gleason’s in NYC, Kronk Gym in Detroit, Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood (although it does have a pretty large white-collar population), or the now defunct Finley’s or 7^th Street Gym in Diamond City. Join a tough gym. The kind of place where it doesn’t matter if you have a lit cigarette in your mouth when you are hitting a speed bag. (That all being said I do maintain a membership at a super exclusive club in NYC, oak lockers, marble floors etc, for biz deals. Always the top or the bottom, none of that middle of the road, suburban crap…a hall mark of The G Manifesto).

Jogging

Bruce Lee always said its not so important what time of day you run, it’s only important that you do run. I begin everyday with a jog. If I am living on the beach, I will jog on the beach. Barefoot is ok also. If I am living in the city, I will jog through the city streets. It helps you feel the rhythms of the street. Bad neighborhoods are always good to jog through early morning. It really helps to clear your head and will give you the stamina you need for being a player in the nightlife arena. Plus it keeps you in tune with real estate opportunities and you can see the progress of new restaurants and clubs being built. A reconnaissance mission of sorts.

Weight Lifting

You don’t need to lift heavy weights anymore, it’s not the Eighties, and you are not trying to sack the quarterback anymore. You also don’t want to become too tight and sacrifice hand speed, flexibility and fluidity. Lift lighter weights with higher reps. Work all body parts equally for symmetry. Be careful with the Good Morning exercise….that was the one that Bruce Lee injured his back and led to his demise…

Stretching

Always balance your weightlifting with stretching. Being agile is extremely important for the G. Stretching helps you recover from nights out. No one stretches enough. “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.” –Bruce Lee

Pushups, Sit-ups, Pull-ups, Isometrics

Personally I do a thousand push-ups and sit-ups a day. I have for years. Now I typically do clap, handstand, and one-armed push-ups. Rocky Balboa style. Not really sure what Isometrics are but they sound pretty dope. Pull-ups are great exercises that are also helpful when you are doing High-Rise Socialite B and E’s. You never know when you have to scale down the outside of a building, and when you do, you will be happy that you have been doing plenty of pull-ups.

Boxing

One of the most important aspects of Entering The Dragon. You need to spar. I always try to get in a few rounds a week. I also smoke a cigarette; shoot down a double espresso or a Goose and Soda between rounds to simulate a night out on the town. Mickey Rourke used to work out the same way, and he won over a Million in the ring. Make sure you work the speed bag, Double End Bag, and the Heavy bag. Be careful with the heavy bag, you don’t have to hit it as hard as you can all the time. Personally, because I have such incredible punching power, I have to go easy on the bag as not to cause injury to my shoulders and hands. Make sure you get good equipment also; Everlast is my favorite, the height of fashion for boxing equipment. Don’t neglect jumping rope either. It really helps your footwork. I was lucky as a kid, Sugar Ray Leonard gave me a lesson of rope work, and I forgot none of it.

Martial Arts

I have respect for all styles of Martial Arts and fusions of Martial Arts (my grandfather is an early pioneer of fusing boxing and Jujitsu…I am also a big fan of fusion cuisine, even though it has become Too popular). Being a child of the Seventies, I have always had an affinity for Kung-Fu. I have had a great teacher and can trace my lineage four generations to the monks in China. So you could say I have a direct pipe line to the soul of Kung-Fu. I have to keep the style and my teachers shrouded in secrecy. Kung-Fu also helps your Chi, something I work on every day.

Fueling the Dragon

There are all kinds of crazy diets you can go on. Personally I just order whatever is the most expensive thing on the menu generally speaking. Or the most fattening. Or whatever sounds the best. It really doesn’t matter as long as a top-notch chef is throwing it together. Remember, you have to enjoy life. And don’t forget to wash it down with a bottle of Red (lately I have been drinking tons of Brunello Di Montalcino… you should look into it…) Drink Green Tea. There was a recent scientific study put out that proves that Green Tea completely negates any and all ill effects of smoking (I have doubts that there are Any ill effects of smoking). There was also a recent scientific study that proves that coffee cuts and counteracts negative effects of alcohol like, cirrhosis of the liver among others. So if you round robin Green Tea, Smokes, Double Espressos, and Vino/ Grey Goose like I do, you will maintain Perfect health. Glad they finally did these studies, however, it would have been just easier to ask me, I have known this stuff for years.

Follow these tips and you too can Enter The Dragon. How will you know when you achieved it? It’s a feeling you get. It’s a feeling you get when you feel you could kill a full grown Lion with your bare hands. I feel like that on my worst days….The Rest is Up to You……………

Click Here for Enter the Dragon (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Side Note:

Look for Fernando Vargas VS Shane Mosley to be better than the first. A win by Vargas would be good for Boxing and set up a third. Gatti- Baldomir should be straight fire. And look to see De La Hoya enter the ring with Mayweather. He is in a win-win situation. If he wins the fight, obviously he wins, goes down as one of the greatest fighters ever, and gets a monster payday. If he loses, he blows up Golden Boy Promotions, gets a monster payday, and will probably get Pretty Boy Floyd on Golden Boy, thus controlling the biggest star in the sport. Classic Checkmate.

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA The Dragon
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com

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