C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  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...

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...

     While reading Nick Horton’s good blog “The Iron Samurai” the other day [1] , I came across this quote 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.” the samurai, and Zen master, Yamaoku Tesshu      The essence of Bushido is summed up in the last sentence.      When there is no thought of self, true Bushido develops .      Bushido—for those of you who are unaware—is often translated as “the way of the warrior” or, a more literal definition, “the samurai’s way.”   It is the way of one who practices Budo.   (Budo means “martial path”.)      I have often thought of lifting as a form of Budo, and my gym as the dojo.   (This is one reason that I enjoy ...