C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Cultivating Equanimity in Budo and Zen The crane, symbol of balance, of equanimity, of the Tao. Equanimity is one of the most important things we can learn from both budo and Zen.  Unfortunately, when we think of equanimity—if we even think of it at all—for too many budoka the first word that comes to mind is boring .  When I was a teenager, for instance, and had a love for budo that bordered on the obsessive, I didn’t want to hear about equanimity .  But—as the saying goes—I really do wish I knew then what I know now.  With 40 years of training under my belt, I know now that cultivating equanimity would have helped all aspects of my budo training (and my life outside of it). There is no reason for equanimity to be considered “dull” in any way.  Equanimity, in Zen, is considered one of the four divine abodes , along with love, compassion, and joy.  This means that the word should engender the same emotions and feelings as the other three.  The...

 Utilizing the 5/4/3/2/1 Method for the Ultimate Combination of Strength and Muscle Mass ! Anthony Ditillo—seen here in all of his Bad-Ass glory—enjoyed 5/4/3/2/1 training as one of the methods in his strength and power arsenal. There is a lot to NOT like about our modern world, especially for “old-time” strength athletes such as myself.   We have become a society—hell, a world —that is over-politicized, and full of more “victims” than ever before in our planet’s history.  So, yeah, I could complain and rant if I wanted to, but here’s the surprising thing about our world: some stuff is actually better .  Yep, I said it.  Better.  Case in point: the workout presented here. Don’t get me wrong.  (Please.  Don’t.)  I’m not saying that “overall” the “lifting world” is more knowledgeable, and there is “better” information than when I started lifting 35 years ago.   There is definitely more CRAP than ever before.  But this is just becaus...

 For this week's "Thursday Throwback," I have chosen an article of mine that I wrote for IronMan  sometime in the '90s.  This article may be "old" but it proves that good, solid, heavy training—the kind that produces bulk—never changes. Matthew Sloan is seen here after going on a "bulking" program such as the ones in this article. Bulk Forget about isolation exercises, ultra-high reps, machines and the like. For bulk-building you absolutely must use the compound movements for a limited number of sets. That means heavy bench presses, squats, deadlifts, barbell curls, rows, push presses, cleans and shrugs. Another factor you must pay attention to is recuperation. The following workouts all have those two things in common – heavy compound lifts and plenty of recuperation time. Use each for at least a month before switching to another, and six to eight weeks per routine may be even better. TWO DAYS A WEEK PROGRAM This routine’s great if you’re just sta...

  The "Secret" of Success A student once asked Jigoro Kano, “What is the secret of Judo?” Kano replied, “Never stop training.” Kano’s quote is so pithy and simple—as wisdom truly should be—that we may not realize the depth of attainment behind the words.  We also tend to outright dismiss quotes such as this as something so obvious that we already know it.  At least, we think we know it.  But do we?  When I first read it, for instance, my initial reaction was to tell myself inwardly, “well, of course you can’t stop training.” I began martial arts training when I was 9 years old.  So by the time I was 15, I (like most teenagers) was pretty sure that I was a world-renowned expert on, well, just about everything .  (But, especially, martial arts!)  And if I had read the quote back then—and I may have, but I don’t remember it—I would have taken it to mean “train every single day” or to “train as often as you possibly can.” Never stop training, fro...

 Shoshin means "beginner's mind."   Mushin means "empty mind" or "no mind."  When I was a teenager, and trained in a very  traditional Isshin-Ryu  dojo, my sensei always referred to it as "no mind."  The "mu" in "mushin" is a negation .  It's most well-known use in Zen is in the koan "Joshu's dog," which is sometimes referred to simply as the "mu" koan.  (If you're unaware, a koan is a Japanese Zen term that can be a story, a statement, a dialogue between two zennists, or, often, a question.  Its purpose—no matter the form—is to induce "great doubt" or "don't know mind" in the practitioner, so it's primarily a practice , though it's sometimes used to test a student's "progress" on the path of awakening.) "Joshu's Dog" (design by C.S.) The koan "Joshu's Dog" goes something like this: Someone asked Joshu,"Does a dog...

For this week's "Thursday Throwback" I've selected an article of mine that I wrote around  20 years ago—maybe a little less—for IronMan , and I put a version of it on my blog back in 2009.  This one's entitled "Tailor-Made Strength", and it deals with customizing your workout program to fit your goals, your genetics, your "level" of strength, and your chosen strength sport.  If you're not taking all of those elements into account, and training accordingly based on these elements, then you're NOT getting the most you can out of your training.  Hopefully, this article can help... Bill Starr, pictured here doing a clean, is the inspiration for this article, and the methods employed. Tailor-Made Strength Customizing Your Strength Training Program        There's a truism in strength training that will never change: "The best program is the one that works best for you."    Nonetheless, there are some ground rules that I believe ...

 Empty Your Cup “We’re so full of ideas about who we are, there’s no space left to realize our true nature.  Zazen is where we begin to empty the cup.” ~Dennis Genpo Merzel Zen master Dogen wrote about shoshin, or "beginner's mind," in his masterwork "Shobogenzo." (painting of Dogen courtesy Wikimedia) This is often the first lesson received when one takes up Zen or Budo.  It should also be the last. But what does it mean to “empty your cup”?  There is an oft-told story that you have probably heard before.  It’s so popular—maybe even “cliche” is the best word—that I remember hearing/seeing this story in the ‘80s when it was adapted as part of the story in the low-budget, straight-to-video martial arts movie No Retreat, No Surrender .  This movie has become something of a “cult” favorite (there is even a “Rifftrax” version of it).   The main character played by Kurt McKinney even learns his “empty your cup” lesson from the ghost of Bruce Lee, who is tra...