Bobby Lashley vs Boogeyman (episode 2)

The saga continues...
Bobby Lashley and Boogeyman adventure continues in this short, episode 2. Check it out!

Also, we started a new channel. This channel is a collaboration between Bobby Lashley, Marty Wright (Boogeyman), and Radcliff Lance. We aim to bring fun and entertaining video shorts to the fans. This channel will features original content featuring these two icons of professional wrestling and others. 

So subscribe and have some fun!  

Rad Bob Mart Channel

Play Nice...or else!

a cute video my daughter came up with. She'd been begging me to do a video with her and we were stuck inside due to a blizzard, so we decided to have a little fun. Check it out!

My New Muay Thai Class at American Top Team Altitude

People want to be in shape but are bored with regular exercise. Mainly, because many people just don’t know how to exercise, which workout routines to follow, how to cycle them, which ones will meet their specific needs or possible restrictions etc.

Machines make it easier, but not effortless. Weight loss plateaus do to a lack of understanding. People don’t know enough routines to change things up and they simply get on the same machines day after day. Exercise becomes mundane rather quickly, weight loss stalls, and people just quit.

The biggest successes come from people who find something active they love to do. When someone discovers they love to run, love to bike, or hike this makes a transition to a healthier lifestyle much easier. These are things that could be done daily. Other activities include basketball, tennis, and other such games that require a high physical output.

Combat training in any form is arduous and you can get you in the best shape of your life. There is a reason people gravitate to these forms of exercise in lieu of the traditional forms of conditioning. They’re just more fun and you feel as if you are learning something. It beats spending a half hour an elliptical reading US Magazine.

I’ve trained in most combat sports and still do. I currently train and complete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I train in boxing, MMA, and now more specifically Muay Thai. Every single one of these combat forms puts your body through a different kind of conditioning. I went into BJJ and grappling from competing in Olympic length Triathlons. I figured, “I’ve gotta be in the best shape compared to all these guys.” I’ve never been more wrong. Grappling conditioning is a completely different type of conditioning. For 3 years I’ve trained and successfully competed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Training has kept me in what I thought was peak condition. It was peak condition for BJJ. Then I went to a Muay Thai class hosted by Master Hung Tran in Longmont. 

I showed up for a regular Muay Thai class at Master Tran’s invitation. The group was extremely diverse. When we were split up into lines I had a woman who was in her late fifties and a young woman who was about twenty. As class went on and we paired up for various drills, I saw that we had people of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds. They all had one thing in common…they all had better Muay Thai conditioning than me. These people were having a great time and were blowing through kicking drills that would have professional fighters hunched over sucking air. Master Tran has created a Muay Thai program that is safe for any person at any fitness level and age. His program is based around the principles of teaching the technical aspects of Muay Thai while getting people in the best shape of their lives. Most of these people have no desire to compete in professional combat sports (although some fighters are mixed in the class) they are just average people who wanted to do something fun and different to get in shape, and in great shape is what they are. These people have also committed themselves to learning the art of Muay Thai. Through a great belt system based on both technique and fitness requirements, these people ascend the ranks. Now their devotion has become about more than just meeting their fitness/weight loss goals.

If you are interested in Master Tran's Academy in Longmont Click here

After my visit, I invited Master Tran to our gym, American Top Team Altitude to do a seminar. Bobby Lashley was so impressed with Master Tran’s program that we have opted to work hard to implement his program in our gym. This is where we are today. In the coming year we will work with Master Tran to get officially certified under his association, but in the meantime we will be starting a Muay Thai Fit program at ATT Altitude using the exact curriculum Master Tran uses at his academy.

This program is for people of all ages and fitness levels. The goal is to help you reach your fitness and health goals through Muay Thai training. This is also a class that will offer technical training for people who wish to learn the true art of Muay Thai. I can promise you a few things if you come down and try our Muay Thai fit class, a great time, a great workout, and a great learning environment for Muay Thai.

Many women come into our gym and are understandably afraid to try our combat classes such as boxing, MMA, and BJJ. They see the men training and feel they have no place in those classes. This is completely wrong, women are more than welcome and encourages to try every class we offer. Until Muay Thai, Most of our female members stuck to our cardio classes. Now we have a technical combat class that is also a conditioning class that is filling up with women. This is a very exciting for us all. 

Since implementing the program we have a great class going with a lot of fun energy and desire to improve both physically and technically. Our class is 60% female with three married couples attending class together. They support each other both in class and outside of it. I often joke that my class has become a form of couple’s therapy. More than that, many of the members who came in with specific fitness and weight loss goals, now have specific Muay Thai goals. What are your goals and what will they become once you begin your journey?

 Come down to ATT Altitude and try our class, let's see where it takes you. 

Rad Says...

"The problem with a lot of people today is a lack of accountability...everyone is a victim.

Own the decisions you make and the consequences that come with them.

Use these situations as opportunities to grow and be better...don't just keep repeating them.

Don't suck the people who care about you into your mess and leave them swirling in it.

Im so sick of spoiled people, nobody owes you a damn thing.

Don't be a victim, be a conqueror, be a teacher of lessons learned, be better...just be friggin accountable!"

Bobby Lashley vs Boogeyman

This is a fun video my wife and I made with our friends Bobby Lashley and Marty Wright (Boogeyman).

Who knows what lurks in the dark...
The saga begins...

If you are interested in training with Bobby or Marty and live in Colorado, come on down to American Top Team Altitude in Aurora, CO.

Check it out!

Elevation Training Mask 2.0 Review

A Black Eye for Independent Authors

I haven’t posted a blog in a while and for that…I apologize. I’ve taken an extended break from my writing. This is due a mild loss in enthusiasm. Like most independent artists, I encountered a slump in my conviction. It was a very slow spring and summer for my work, but a couple things have brought me out of my funk and I’m rededicated to my craft. First, is a sudden spike in my ebook sales on Amazon throughout this Fall. I had stopped cheerleading, didn’t even discuss my writing with people, and didn’t touch my fan page or this blog. Suddenly, my sales were climbing. I won’t question it, I will just take this positive for what it should be…motivation. The second thing was the recent outing of independent authors and their sometimes shady practices with regard to book reviews on Amazon. This whole situation turned into a huge mess that impacted all independent authors…including, if not especially me.

John Locke is one of the most famous and respected independent authors in the world. He was the first to sell over a million self-published ebooks on Amazon without a traditional publishing house. Recently he was outed for purchasing a thousand dollars worth of book reviews for his titles. This equaled over 300 reviews on Amazon. Authors were in an uproar and petitioned Amazon to act on this manipulation of their reviews. What could Amazon do? People can post whatever they want, that is the freedom of the review process. How could Amazon possibly police such a matter? Oh well, everyone will have to deal with it and John Locke must deal with the fallout of this exposure. I’m not debating that what Locke did was shady, but as I understand it, he didn’t force the paid services to provide 5 star reviews, and Locke’s novels individually have review numbers from 150 to almost 500. Yes, the 300 or more he paid for are mixed in there, but the rest are legitimate. The money he spent was probably marketing to him. It was a slick move, and truthfully no one knows how much those reviews helped his sales. Regardless of what the reviews say about something, when I don’t like it, it gets no love from me on a review. Now I’m not defending Locke’s actions, but he’s like any magician or politician…he’d showed us his left hand so we wouldn’t see the right.

A petition was compiled and Amazon decided to act in an attempt to flush out what they considered illegitimate reviews. This was a huge mistake in my eyes. Whatever search criteria or engine they used is flawed. Many legitimate reviews were deleted because of this. I know because I don’t pay for reviews and I lost plenty of them because of this, some of my direct reviews of other’s work were also deleted. If you check in with JA Konrath on his blog he speaks about many of his reviews being deleted as well. So, now legitimate reviews were casualties of these Gestapo tactics.

This brings me to the “One Star Review” fiasco, which is also a problem at Amazon.com. You have to really detest something to give it a one star review. I’ve never given one. Even if I had to stop in the middle of a book because I lost interest. I gave it two stars because I picked it up in the first place and read it, for whatever reason it was just not my cup of tea so I stopped reading, but that’s just how I am. It came to light that a few independent authors were spraying one star reviews all over other’s independent works attempting to boost their own sales by bashing the competition.

I was a direct victim of this. The worse is that I found out who it was. It was another writer, a man who felt I had no business being a writer. I wasn’t on his level, couldn’t be, he’d been a freelance writer for years…online. When I met him he was talking about a novel he’d been working on for years, I mean years. I decided to tell him about a novel I’d just published. He was openly dismissive and acted as if he was Brad Pitt and I’d just mentioned that I was an extra in a Mentos commercial once. Nevertheless he was an acquaintance of my wife so…bygones. He attempted to publish his novel traditionally for years. I suffered this delusion as well, but only gave it two years before deciding to own my destiny as a writer. Anyway I published three novels in that time. He finally came around and self published his novel. My wife purchased it right away in a show of support. I fully support my peers. I love independent artist and go out of my way to be supportive, given that I’m independent as well. I’m inspired by authors such as JA Konrath and Amanda Hocking. I feel we must stick together to be successful. The big publishing houses have been losing money since ebooks came along. Established authors have left their traditional contracts for self-publishing, and why not? You get 75% of your royalties and you keep all your rights. The traditional houses have even cut marketing budgets to where authors are forced to come out of their own pockets anyway, you might as well get the larger chunk of your work, but I digress. This guy must not have seen the success he envisioned for his book, so suddenly he elects to attack my novels…all of them. But in attacking my work, he specifically attacks me personally, attacking my character and not my writing at first, showing that he hasn’t even read my novels. He references stuff he can see in the “look inside the book” feature but not much else. At first I’m in awe as to how much a complete stranger could hate my work, but I deal with it and try to take things he wrote constructively to improve. Then in the midst of ongoing attacks online. My wife gets a text from this guy asking when she’s going to finish his book and write a review. She explains that she’s been busy, but is enjoying what she’s read so far. He responds rudely with vulgar language. What the hell is that? Soon we learn that he’s the one who’s been attacking me online. All in an effort to make himself feel better about his lack of success, and attempting to make me feel as if I do not belong.  Just today I saw that a person went online and rated three of my titles with one star, but posted no comments or a review. This again seems fishy, if you dislike something enough to give it one star, would you not post at least a sentence saying why?

This type of stuff is completely unacceptable and ugly, and what’s worse is that his reviews and comments are ones that stayed on Amazon, while other positive reviews from my readers were removed with whatever criteria Amazon was using.

What I’m getting at is John Locke is not my problem. The reaction Amazon had is. If people know what he did, great, the trick is revealed, don’t buy his books, but to assume that all hardworking dream-seeking writers are doing the same is unfair and it costs us more than you know.

Take a look at my novels, I earned every one of those reviews. There aren’t many, so when even a couple are taken away it stings. Add the fact the unjust one stars are still there and my ratings are in the gutter.

John Locke’s actions hurt our efforts immensely. Between him, JA Konrath, Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler, and Susan Ee we were headed somewhere. Traditional publishers were in trouble and they were feeling the impact, they were scrambling along with many literary agents to taint what we do, question our talents and shun the very thought of leaving them behind for our own good. John Locke gave them something to hold up for their cause for a while, but the truth is, I’m confident things will continue to progress for us. They are just too greedy and our price points will continue to kill them, and in the end, the reader will decide.

The average writer in my situation makes less than a garage band. People learn I’ve written books and they think it immediately comes with loads of money and recognition. Nothing could be further from the truth. When they ask me how much I make, I simply say I make enough to keep writing. I’ve always said, “When you’re unknown, you do for the love.” I love to write and someday I hope the masses will love what I write. I have a decent following and I look forward to seeing it grow. I won’t give up.

Independent artist, I respect and appreciate you. Thank you for putting yourself out there. Many forget how much we’ve gained in all categories of entertainment from the independent artist. We need your support. All we ask is that you give us a chance and be honest about your feelings. We will either grow or fail, but don’t pass us over because the gatekeepers didn’t agree with our vision. We decided to stand strong and do on our own, only you will decide if we belong or not. 

Eyes of the Bull - Is Available Now

Available Now

Due to the strong response to Ramirez the Latin Bull. I have decided to build a franchise around this anti-hero. I would like to thank my readers for getting behind this character in such a big way. Some didn't even read the two novels I've released since Hands of the Bull because Ramirez wasn't in them. My intention was to try different genres and give my readers a look at some different types of characters, but Ramirez has taken hold and not only do the fans love him, but writing him comes so natural to me. It's truly a blast going on these adventures with him.

Eyes of the Bull is now available for Kindle apps/devices on Amazon. There is a teaser included with a glimpse from Ramirez's next adventure, Blood of the Bull.

If you are new to Ramirez, The Latin Bull. Check out Hands of the Bull (the 1st in the series) which is available everywhere books are sold online.

Eyes of the Bull:

When the Bull sees red …

A young man is brutally beaten in an underground fight circuit and disappears. His sister, Katie, is determined to find out what happened. Not knowing where to start, she enlists the help of an online reporter named Candice. The moment the women meet, their lives are in danger. Powerful men plot to make a lot of money in the underground fighting scene and no one will stand in their way.

These men didn’t count on one thing … Ramirez … the Latin Bull, a violent sociopath living a malevolent existence in the criminal underworld. Ramirez cares for one thing, one person … Candice. The sister-in-law he vowed to protect after his brother’s death. Ramirez is a fierce fighter and skilled killer. He uses his abilities to infiltrate the circuit and get closer to the men trying to kill them.

Now pulled into a fight he didn’t ask for, Ramirez will lay waste to anyone who tries to harm the only family he has left.