C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  A Freewheeling “Translation” of the Hagakure with Commentary for the Modern Martial Practitioner Book One: An Introduction to the Way of the Warrior      What follows is a somewhat experimental post that I hope to possibly turn into a book at some point down the road.  I thought I would use my blog to post over the coming months what will essentially be the first draft of the manuscript, in between my more regular lifting articles and my somewhat irregular Budo essays.  I want to discuss, primarily, the history, philosophy, and practice of the martial arts as they are practiced in the modern world.  To do this—the subjects will be free-ranging—I am going to use The Hagakure as a springboard.  The Hagakure in English means “In the Shadow of Leaves.”  It's a popular bushido text written by the 18th century samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo to the younger samurai Tashiro Tsuramoto.  It is a great text, and for many modern martial ar...

The 6 Primary Reasons Why You’re Not Achieving Your Goals      I think it’s safe to say that a whole lot of gym-goers aren’t making the gains that they want, aren’t reaching their goals, or aren’t making the progress that they thought they would when they first started lifting.  Maybe they made progress at first, but after those initial “newbie gains,” it just stopped.  When you first pick up a barbell, pretty much anything that you do will work.  But after those first 8 weeks or so, the gains come grinding to a halt and many a lifter is left bewildered and confused as to what to do next or what to do to get those gains moving again.  In this essay, I’ll look at some of the most common culprits for why you’re not making gains.  This list isn’t extensive, perhaps, but if you heed my advice, the gains will start coming again.  So, without any further preamble, let’s get started.  Here are 6 reasons that you’re not making gains. ...