On Plain, Simple, but Effective Workouts and Progressive Training Programs Zhazhou asked Nanquan, “What is the Way?” Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.” “Just watch children playing. Eat vegetable soup instead of duck stew” ~Matsuo Basho (the most famous haiku poet of Edo-era Japan; this was his advice to poets) When in pursuit of our goals from resistance training—whether it’s size, strength, both, or just aesthetics—it’s only natural to look toward what you want to achieve down the road. That is, after all, the reason that you are training to begin with. You want to achieve. You are in pursuit of mass and power. Maybe you don’t want to just achieve but you want to excel. But when we are constantly focused on the future, we take ourselves away from the now , the present moment where we are actually lifting. ...
Essays on Old-School Strength Training, Classic Bodybuilding, Traditional Martial Arts, and Budo Philosophy