Renaming the Blog (a.k.a. Integral Spirituality/Strength Training)

Okay, for those of you who care, you'll notice that I have renamed this blog and changed the sub-heading. The reasons are a few-fold. (Is "few-fold" even a word?)

First, when I changed to this new blog, I thought I would focus on just strength training, but that is proving hard to do. Like, really hard to do. My spirituality—which is integral to all things that I do—infuses Itself and weaves Itself around and into all aspects of my strength training.

You see, my spirituality is something that bursts forth from the Kosmic no-thingness (which is also an All-Thingness) at the depths of my being; and it bursts forth, outward, upward and all around-ward until it becomes an all embracing, life enhancing Fullness. And this fullness creates a spontaneity that is part of my writing, my living and breathing, and most certainly the weight training and martial arts sessions that I perform.

My strength training and bodybuilding would not be what it is without my spirituality. (A spirituality that I term True Spirituality; I'll leave it up to you to figure out just what that means in later posts.) My nutrition and holistic/contemplative lifestyle would not be what it is without my spirituality.

Now, many of you who read this blog just want to know how to get bigger and stronger, or in better shape—you don't really care anything about this I Am spirituality that I am going on about. Well, don't worry, there will still be plenty here for you, as well. In fact, you may find that my philosophy—and that's what it is: a philosophy and a Spirituality; not a religion—enhances your strength training in ways that you never thought about until you applied some of these philosophical Ways to your training.

Another reason I am changing the name and the contextual outlay of the blog is because I want to focus on some of the more holistic aspects of health and fitness that I was going to neglect if I hadn't made this change. Yep, that's right, you don't train to just look better or to get stronger. You train to be more whole, to be more complete— to have a true metanoia if I am to put it in spiritual terms, and in terms of Spirit.

Keep up with the blog. Things are about to get interesting.

Comments

Classic Bodybuilding: Don Howorth's Massive Delt Training

Before we get started on this "Classic Bodybuilding" piece, one word of note: If you really pay attention to this blog, then you will notice that in the "sub-header" at the top of the page, I have added "Ageless Bodybuilding" as one of the subjects that will be discussed. This is for a decided reason... I have been developing a system of training that I have been using on myself and a few "older" lifters that occasionally train with me, but still follow my training program that I have them using even when they are training at a commercial gym instead of my "garage gym". This system is for those of you who are 40+ such as myself, but it may be even more effective for those of you 50 and older. In fact, of my two occasional training partners, one of them is 51, and the other is 55. I wouldn't be so arrogant as to call this ageless bodybuilding system revolutionary, but I can say that it is radically different from most syste

Old School Arm Training Secrets: John McWilliams's Arm Training Routine

Old-School Arm Training Secrets: John McWilliams’s Arm Routine My most popular posts here at Integral Strength typically fall into two categories: old-school bodybuilding programs or serious strength and power routines. With that in mind, I thought I would do a series of articles on various old-school lifters and bodybuilders (the two overlapped once-upon-a-time), and on various old-school methods for training different bodyparts or lifts. Thus, this first entry is on old-school arm training, but others will be on old-school chest, shoulders, back, legs, squats, bench presses, overhead presses, power cleans, etc. And for this first entry, I decided upon an old-school bodybuilder cum powerlifter that many of you may never have heard of: John McWilliams. McWilliams's back double-biceps pose. He was impressive even in his 40s. When I first came across an article about McWilliams (written by Gene Mozee) in the early ‘90s, I had certainly neve

Old Time Mass Tactics: One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart Training

Starting with the current post, I thought I would do a mini-series on how the "old-time" bodybuilders used to train. In doing so, I also thought I would start with what I consider the greatest of the old-time mass tactics: one-exercise-per-bodypart training. When I first began to lift weights seriously (which was sometime in my high-school years; I'm 35 now, so you do the math), the bodybuilders that I loved were the ones that—even then—were considered the "old-timers." I remember seeing pictures of Freddy Ortiz, Don Howorth (above), and Marvin Eder; I was amazed by their look. For one, they definitely looked strong (which they were), but they also had excellent size, shape, and symmetry—small waists, large calves, boulder-sized shoulders; the whole "x-frame" look. But—and I think this is what I still love about them—they didn't appear to be cardboard cutouts of one another. They all had different "looks." They were

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog