C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     For those of us who both meditate seriously and take physical training serious, the below article by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (a Theravadin monk from the Thai Forest Tradition) can be very helpful when trying to establish a disciplined meditation practice.      By the way, I would also recommend spending some time at the website "Access to Insight" (where you can read the complete article) and read some more of Thanissaro's pieces.  They are down to earth, and helpful (especially so?) for us Integral practitioners, reminding us that some of the basics—such as a following the precepts—are as important as ever. Strength Training for the Mind byThanissaro Bhikkhu© 2007–2009      Meditation is the most useful skill you can master. It can bring the mind to the end of suffering, something no other skill can do. But it's also the most subtle and demanding skill there is. It requires all the mental qualities ordinarily involved in mastering a physical skill — mindfulness and a...

     Anyone who has read many of my article for Iron Man  magazine knows that I'm a big fan of heavy weight, high-set, low-rep weight training.  If you're going to follow any kind of "split" training program then high-set, low-rep training (HS,LR training from henceforth in this post) is—I think—the way to go for a great majority of lifters.      In an article I wrote for Iron Man  a few years ago entitled "Big Weights, Big Sets" (at least, I think that was the title of the article; I've lost the magazine, but I still have my original draft of it on file), here are some of the reasons—and people—that I gave for this kind of training to be so effective:      As for high-set, low rep training it is something quite different.   This type of training, like no other, can produce phenomenal strength and size gains.      If you doubt it, then consider some of these examples of bodybuilders, powerlif...

     The other day, I was talking to a guy I used to train—but who now trains at a commercial gym—and he was complaining about some rotator cuff pain he had been experiencing.  I asked him if he was still using the heavy-light-medium system of training—he was—and then I laid out a program that I thought would be just what he needed to stay pain-free.      I could empathize with him.  In the last couple of years, I've had more injuries—including the rotator cuff—than in all my years of training before that.  Several months ago, the rotator cuff pain became so bad that I had to completely re-vamp my style of training when it comes to the shoulder girdle.      And I'm not the only one.  Rotator cuff injuries tend to be the most common among lifters—especially those of us who do a lot of bench pressing.      If you have been following a heavy-light-medium style of training, this might be especially true.  A lot of guys (gals, too; I don't mean to be sexist) who follow full-body...

     This morning, I got out of bed and practiced what would commonly be called "insight meditation."  I followed my breath for about ten minutes.  For another ten minutes I "witnessed" whatever came into my mode of awareness—be it the birds chirping outside my window, the thoughts that came fleetingly into my mind, the sensation of my hands upon my knees, or the t.v. that could be faintly heard downstairs—without getting caught up in these things.      Tonight during my evening meditation session, I will practice "just sitting," or "shikantaza" as it is called in Zen meditation.  When I practice this, I will just be .  No breath to follow, no Witness with which to observe the world.  Just being .  And then—at some point—not even that.  Only pure Nondual Awareness—if it has to be described as anything.      But here's the thing:  I practice insight meditation, but I am not a Theravada buddhist.  I practice "just sitting" but I am no...

     Last year, I wrote an article for Dragon Door entitled "What Would Buddha Bench: The Zen Path to Strength Training."  What follows below is that same article, but in a slightly altered form.  Originally, I had more "religious" stuff in my article, but removed this material for Dragon Door.  What follows is the "uncut" version, as I had originally intended it to be.      After you read this one—and if you find it interesting—I would suggest reading my blog entry from last month entitled "Full-Body Split Workouts, the Pump, and Awakened Training."  Reading both of them should help to clarify  some questions you could potentially have.  Here goes:      Yes, yes, I know.   The answer to the title of the article is probably, “not very much.”   The historical Buddha lived a life of asceticism and meditation over 2,500 years ago.   He wasn’t what any of us would exactly call a warrior.   However, over the centuries since the Buddha’s death, the r...

     The purpose of this article is to show you how to boost the numbers in your squat using the heavy-light-medium system of training.  These tips and techniques can be used by powerlifters, athletes, or any of you who just want to be stronger than you currently are at the moment.      This article also assumes that you are already familiar with heavy-light-medium training.  If you're not familiar with this form of lifting, then the first thing I suggest is reading my article on H-L-M training that I wrote for Dragon Door.  You can find it here:      http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/508/      More than just being familiar with this sort of training, it's best to actually do  it for an extended period of time.  If you've never done full-body workouts, much less H-L-M training, then you definitely need to perform the basic workout listed in my Dragon Door article for at least 8 weeks, minimum .  Twelve to 16 weeks would be even better.  After you have done that, then...

      In researching old Iron Man , Strength and Health , and Muscular Development magazines from the ‘50s, the ‘60s, and even the early ‘70s, I found one of the most popular methods of training among powerlifters was the 5/4/3/2/1 method.   Most of the lifters who utilized this used either a heavy/light/medium or medium/light/heavy method of full-body workouts.   On the subject of full-body workouts, I could find hardly any lifters who didn’t use them.   (If they did use a split program, it was nothing more than an upper body/lower body split.)      The following routine is very similar to the ones used by a majority of powerlifters during this era.   It’s also a perfect routine for any bodybuilder or recreational lifter that’s ready to make the transition to serious strength training.   On word of caution: it’s not for outright beginners.   Make sure you’ve spent several months on some type of heavy training routine before trying this one.   Also, you might want to spend a few...

     What Is is right before my eyes.  It's the barbell in my hands.  It's the sweat rolling down my face, dripping from my nose.      It's the pump that fills my shirt sleeve, stretching my t-shirt, filling me with bliss.      It's the pulled hamstring that fills my leg with pain, and drops me to the floor, that keeps me from lifting for weeks on end.      It's utter perfect, awakening me to What Is, not that which it is not.      It's just this , right now.

     The debate we often see nowadays over whether you should do "power" workouts or "pump" workouts really wasn't much of a debate for the old-timers.  Most of the "classic bodybuilders" built their physiques through hard work on the basic exercises, using full-body workouts for 3 days each week.  As they reached advanced levels, they didn't give up their power training; they just learned to "supplement" the power work with pump training—or "flushing" as the old-timers often called it.  (I believe it was the term used by Larry Scott and Freddy Ortiz—whose physiques, as you can tell from above, obviously benefited from such training.)      This kind of training is pretty simple.  First, just pick one basic exercise for whatever muscle group(s) you are going to train for the day.  After working up to some heavy sets of 5, or 3, or even less reps, rest a few minutes, then pick a couple of light, pumping exercises.      Using the c...