C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  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 train...

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 21 You May Abandon Your Body But Preserve Your Honor "Hotei watches a cockfight."  Painting by Miyamato Musashi (courtesy Wikimedia) "All things have an inner divine essence and an outer marvelous function.  The essence of a tree is manifested in its wonderful blossoms and abundant foliage.  The essence of tree could not be perceived if there were no blossoms and leaves.  Human beings have an inner divine essence that cannot be seen but is manifested as the marvelous techniques of budo."      ~Heiho Jikansho (of the Kajima Shinto School)  We are nearing the end of Musashi's final master-work, and Musashi is going to make sure that he leaves no stone unturned.  Knowing that he will die soon, his Dokkodo  takes on the sense of urgency he feels one needs in order to practice the way . Most translations of this precept are essentially the same.  William Scott Wilson, who you can typically co...

Are You on a Training Program or Are You Just Working Out? Programming and the Importance of Routine Vince Gironda, poolside in the 1950s, the inspiration for this post. The title of this blog post comes from a quote from the legendary "Iron Guru" Vince Gironda, who would often extol, "Are you on a training program or just working out?"  Gironda knew that one of the most important facets of training - maybe the most important factor - was consistency, and the only way to be consistent is to be on a program. Programs.  Routines.  Schedules. The three words are thrown around almost interchangeably when it comes to workout programs, since we often refer to them as workout "routines" or workout "schedules," as well.  When it comes to "programming" - I mean exactly this usage.  When it comes to "routine" I mean it here as your daily schedule , the daily routine of your life  that is necessary for the program you are using to proper...

  Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 20 Respect Buddha and the Gods Without Relying on Their Help Statue of Fudo Myoo - deity of Shingon Buddhism - at To-Ji Monastary in Kyoto (courtesy Wikimedia) I have a small confession before we begin this particular maxim of the great sword-saint Musashi: this is my favorite by far of all of his precepts in The Dokkodo .  I "confess" this, of course, because - as you should well know if this isn't your first piece in the series - the Budo Zen  of Musashi means that we must learn to "not pick and choose" and that the key to the success of the warrior is to "have no preferences."  All that aside, it's still my favorite.  But I hope you understand why  exactly that is so as you continue to read, for there is so much to "mine" from this, especially when you consider the number of "religious" people that may be offended by this maxim.  But I'm sure Musashi offended more than his fair ...

Bradley Steiner's "Rugged Size and Strength Program" Version 2.0 A.K.A.: The New, Improved, Totally Bad-Ass Rugged Size and Strength Program for 21st Century Mass and Power! Bradley Steiner flexing his well-developed arms.  This picture was taken sometime in the '70s.   Anyone who has read my blog with more than passing interest knows that one of my inspirations has always been Bradley Steiner (sometimes his name would appear as Bradly J.  Steiner).  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Steiner, he wrote a LOT of really good articles for the old IronMan  magazine in the '70s and '80s, and he wrote a monthly column for them for decades, into the 21st century. Steiner was the  voice of basic, sensible, but tough  programs using full-body workouts.  In turn, he inspired a lot of other writers (Stuart McRobert probably was the most well-known) who wrote for IronMan  starting in the '80s, and continuing to this day.  And his training prog...

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Nineteen Do Not Seek to be Rich in Your Old Age Bodhidharma sits facing the wall (Reigen Eto, 18th century) Bodhidharma is considered the founder of Zen Buddhism, and his "style" of meditation may be something that "helps" us with what we REALLY need for old age. Although Musashi died at the "ripe old age" of 60 or 61 - there is some disagreement as to the date of his birth - he lived to be surprisingly old considering both his occupation and the number of duels that he participated in.  Most samurai - especially  those who lived before the Tokugawa era - would have died at a significantly younger age.  Interestingly, it is only because  Musashi lived to be so old (for a samurai) that he understood the wisdom of this musing.  With age does  come wisdom in many cases, and so you can look at the whole of The Dokkodo  in this same vein.  He knows the wisdom of these "precepts" because he has lived t...

5x5 Training Using the Heavy-Light-Medium System to Build Power and Strength Here you can see the back-musculature of Garrett Sloan, when he was a teenager, and he used the Heavy-Light-Medium system as espoused by his dad, C.S. After taking off from writing for a few days - you can get "burned out" when you work from your home and do little other than train and write (or think about writing) all day  - I sat down at my computer this morning to finish the next installment of my "Way of the Modern Ronin" series.  But before  I started writing, I did something I rarely ever do: I looked on YouTube.  Now, I'm not opposed to YouTube whatsoever - but that's the problem.  If I start watching videos on YouTube, I may never  get around to writing that morning, so I try my very best, first thing after I wake up , to sit down and write, well, something .  But the writing gods must have been looking out for me this morning, because when I started watching YouTube,...