C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  I haven't written any "budo philosophy" pieces of late because, well, they don't get near as many views as my essays on old-school strength training, powerlifting, and bodybuilding.  But I enjoy writing them, and, to be quite honest, I think they're some of the better essays here on my blog.  The idea for this one had been churning away in my mind for a few weeks, so I thought it was time to put pen to paper and see what comes of it.  I hope you find it, at the very least, to be an interesting take on an "obscure" subject: The Budo That Can’t Be Seen “Do the budo that can’t be seen,” ~Morihei Ueshiba “It is bad for those who are learning Zen to become like those who are studying Zen but do not sit.  After all, you must have the discipline to sit everyday.” ~Omori Sogen      The first quote comes from the founder of Aikido, also known as O-Sensei, and it’s the primary thing I want to discuss in this essay: how one does the budo that ca...

  Eastern Martial Arts Philosophy for Western Lifters and Bodybuilders      In the past, I’ve written various “philosophy for lifters” pieces, but I haven’t done so in some time.  (In fact, I wrote a series called “ Epictetus Pumps Iron ” if you’re interested in the intersection of Greek, and later Roman, Stoic philosophy and training.)  I do write some budo pieces on occasion that deal with, primarily, the intersection of Japanese philosophy and the traditional Japanese martial ways.  However, since I get way more views for my classic bodybuilding and old-school strength training pieces, I thought it might be a good idea to write an essay on how lifters (bodybuilders, powerlifters, Crossfit athletes, et al) can benefit from the philosophy of budo.      If you’re not familiar with budo , it’s a Japanese term that, literally translated, means “martial way” or “military way.”  The word is a compound of the word b...

  Embracing the Pain and Hard Work of Budo Zen      Real Zen training sucks.  Real budo training sucks.  And that’s okay.  In fact, that may be the point.      Another fact: If your training, in budo or in Zen or in the combination of the two, doesn’t suck—at least some of the time—then you might not be training correctly.      First, both disciplines suck because they require hard work, and this is especially so if you’re combining the two.  Lots of hard work!  And this isn’t something that should just be “passed over.”  You need to embrace the pain, and embrace the hard work if you want to succeed, which is exactly, by the way, how it should be.  If you’re going to succeed at budo, at Zen, or—even better—at both, then you need to understand this early on in your training, and you need to embrace it early.  If you do, then something will happen that doesn’t suck : ...