C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 22 Never Veer from the Way "Samurai contemplating the Way" (design by C.S.) We have come to the "end-of-the-road" of Musashi's The Dokkodo .  This last musing is at once extremely basic and simple, and also - because of its very simplicity - is a profound and never-ending well to be explored to greater and greater depths of both interiority and physicality. The "Way" (that we are to never veer from) is the "Do" in "Budo" or "Karate-Do."  Many times, when used by Musashi, and by other Zen/Budo textualizers, this Way is the same as a "path" or even a "discipline."  It's very straightforward when used in this manner, and it's meant to be.  You must follow  Musashi's path in the way that he intended if you are to become a skilled exponent of his sword-school.  But the Way  can, and often does , mean the Tao .  Now, and let me be clear on this point, the

In 2004, at a bodyweight of 172 pounds, CS pulled 585 lbs.  He did so using the same kind of training outlined in this article. Lately, I have received a few messages from readers who wish my site was "easier to navigate," or of a similar view. I agree. I've had this blog, in a couple of different incarnations, since 2009, and there is a LOT of material here. So I am currently working on a "new and improved" website/blog that will make it easier to find posts you may be interested in by organizing them according to categories. Until then, however, I thought I would - every Thursday for the foreseeable future - put some older posts/articles/essays that I consider my "best of", and title these posts " Thursday Throwbacks ." Unless otherwise noted, all posts will be just the way I originally wrote them. For our first "Thursday Throwback", I have decided on an article I wrote for IronMan magazine in the early '00s, and publish

  One-Exercise-Per- Workout Programs The massive quads of Tom Platz.  Platz built his leg muscles by often doing just one exercise for as many as 50 sets! I have often extolled - on more occasions than I would even be able to remember - the benefits of one-exercise-per-bodypart training.  There really are few choices better for building muscle mass - or an outrageous amount of strength on an exercise such as one of the three basic powerlifts - than one-exercise-per-bodypart training programs.  If you’re a bodybuilder, or someone who is only after building muscle mass and “looking good”, then you really can’t do any better than a 10 sets of 10 program, an 8 sets of 8 routine, or even something like 20 sets of 20 reps on occasion (this is actually a REALLY GOOD program for growing massive quads, but you’ve been warned: it’s also HELL!).  And if you’re solely after strength, then multiple sets of 3s, doubles, or singles on any exercise is one of the best ways to train.  For instance, if

  A.K.A “Simple Workouts + Heavy Training = Effective Results” C.S. dragging a sled on the cover of his book "Ultimate Strength."  Read on to discover why you MUST drag or carry different objects in order to maximize your results! I have written about it so many times that you wouldn’t think it needs repeating, but the truth is that it does!  I’m talking about getting “back-to-the-basics”, about our inability to stop making things so complicated, and just do simple, hard, basic, result-producing workouts.  And I also think that the truth is that we will always need to remind ourselves of this because it is in our nature to make things “complicated”, to always be searching for some more complex but somehow “better” program that will produce results even quicker for us.  Even though we really “should” know better, and even though we do know better, we tend to always make this mistake. And this goes for myself, as well.  Maybe not so much with barbell training, although at on