C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Martial Arts Training In the first part of this series, I had a brief overview on much of what I want to discuss for the remainder of these posts. For this post, I want to discuss on training as it relates almost specifically to the martial arts, although you will quickly notice that it can’t help but “spill out” into the other two. The Bushido of Training Several years back, I wrote a post that focused on “The Lifter’s Bushido.”  Here is the quote that I used then by the samurai Yamaoku Tesshu: “In order to learn about the Way, forget about self and awaken to the truth… Exerting self is a mistake… We should not say “myself” — in truth there is no such thing… When there is no thought of self, true Bushido develops.”  I have often thought of lifting as a form of Budo, and my gym as the dojo.  (This is one reason that I enjoy lifting at home, in my garage dungeon gym.  It is not commercial, and, therefore, becomes more of a dojo than anything comme...

"Technical knowledge is not enough.  One must transcend technique so that the art becomes artless art, growing out of the unconscious."  -Daisetzu Suzuki When the founder of Kyokushin Karate-Do (one of the primary arts that I trained in as a young man), Masutatsu Oyama, came off the mountain (it was a very literal, and at the same time, figurative, mountain), he defeated all in the martial world who came within his path in the dojo, felling almost every opponent he met in a quick, effortless manner.  The tales of Oyama has become the stuff of legend.  Even though his exploits are recent in the history of martial arts, it's still hard to tell what exactly is fact and what has already faded into myth.  But one thing is for certain: Oyama's mountain-top training was the difference between him and those who he dismantled so quickly. Oyama's training was founded upon three integrated aspects, combining martial arts practice, zazen, and hard, physical training (...

The Classic Physique and Workouts of a Golden-Age-of-Muscle Beach Demi-God There was no one - and I mean no one  - quite like the "golden age" bodybuilder Zabo Koszewski.  This is not hyperbole, however cliche that it might sound. If you are unfamiliar with Zabo, or have never really spent the time to familiarize yourself with his training, then I promise that you are in for a real treat here and now. A picture that does the great Zabo Koszewski justice. I can't remember the first time I laid eyes on Zabo or read about his training, but I do remember not being impressed when I first saw pics of him.  This is probably because he wasn't that large of a guy, especially when standing next to some of the larger legends of his day, and, at the time in my bodybuilding life, I was all about  massive, more modern bodybuilders.  (I seem to recall that another first impression of him was that he liked to hang out with - and smoke weed with - Tommy Chong, of Che...

Here's an article that I wrote around 10 years ago for IronMan Magazine .  At one time, I had a link to the original article on IronMan's  website, but that link doesn't work anymore, so I removed the old post.  But, anyway, here's the article in its entirety: Dorian Yates performed some pretty "insane" workouts in his day. Mass Insanity Stuck in a rut?  Need something different from the run-of-the-mill training program you've been doing for the past several months?  Sometimes in order to keep the gains coming -- or to bust out of the rut you're stuck in -- you have to get a little crazy. Enter mass insanity .  On the following pages, I'm going to outline several training programs that I guarantee you haven't been doing lately. In fact, it could be that you've never attempted -- or even thought of attempting them.   I'm including four different plans. Variety is a crucial component of making continuous ga...

Don Howorth's Formula for Wide, Massive Shoulders Vintage picture of Don Howorth in competition shape. I can't remember the first time I laid eyes on Howorth's massive physique with those absolutely friggin' awesomely shaped "cannonball" shoulders of his, but it was probably sometime in the late '80s and early '90s, when I read about him in either IronMan Magazine  or MuscleMag International .  IronMan  had regular "Mass from the Past" articles written by Gene Mozee that had a couple of articles about Howorth's training*, and he was also mentioned fairly regularly in Vince Gironda's column for MuscleMag  not to mention in some of the articles of Greg Zulak for the same publication. There is no doubt that genetics played a big role in just how fantastic Howorth's delts looked, but to claim Howorth's results were just because of genetics or anabolic steroids - as I've read claimed on some internet forums - is a l...