C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Tips and Programs from the Original Quadfather Millard “Mel” Williamson Mel Williamson in '56 when he won the Mr. Muscle Beach Before Paul “Quadzilla” DeMayo, and before the world ever heard of the “Golden Eagle” Tom Platz, the world’s most well-developed thighs belonged to… Millard Williamson?  If you’re wondering just who-in-the-heck that is, don’t worry, you’re not alone.  One day, around 15 years ago, I was lifting with my (then) workout partner.  He always liked to talk “old-time” bodybuilding with me, mainly because he wanted to pick my brain over the various methods the old-timers used.   On this day, he asked me what I thought about Mel Williamson.  My reply was, “who?”  I was incredibly surprised that, once I got around to doing some research, I had never heard of Millard Williamson.  Especially when you consider the fact that, at one time, he was considered to have the best developed legs in all of bodybuilding.  And this, despit...

  Budo as Embodied Practice Integrating Mind, Body, and Spirit "Mind, Body, and Spirit as One" (design by C.S.) “Mountains and waters are the expressions of old buddhas.” ~Eihei Dogen This quote from Dogen comes from his masterful “Sansuiko,” or the “Mountains and Waters Sutra,” an insightful and rather poetic work (as are all of the great zenji’s pieces) written in the 13th century.  If Dogen would have been a follower or a practitioner of budo—as many of his spiritual descendents would come to be in the following centuries—he may have added, “and fists and feet are nothing other than the Way.” Or not. But there is nothing cute (or trivial) about such statements.  They are expressions of a deep, somatic truth.  The “spiritual” is not something otherworldly, but is expressed—and, therefore, encountered—in the mundane, the material, and the everyday; in mountains and waters, in punches and in kicks. This is the reason that budo is not true budo unless it contains a ...

  The Budo Secrets of Internal Energy from the Master Samurai Kaibara Ekiken This quote from Lao Tzu is one that Ekiken himself quotes in the Yojokun . Part Two Controlling Inner Desires In all things, if you are unendingly diligent, you will undoubtedly see an effect.  For example, if you plant seeds in the spring and nurture seeds in the summer, surely there will be a large harvest in the fall. Similarly, if you make an understanding of how to care for your health and continue to do so for some time, you will definitely see effects: your body will become stronger, you will become free of disease, you will not only maintain your natural lifespan but lengthen it, and you will enjoy your life.  You should not doubt this principle. ~Kaibara Ekiken* I begin this second part of the series with this quote from Ekiken, which occurs toward the beginning of his “ki power masterwork” the Yojokun .  I wanted to begin with this quote for the simple reason that it gives you a go...

 For this week's "Thursday Throwback," I have selected an article that sort of "piggy backs" off of the Throwback  from last week on the "Top 10 Lifting Mistakes."  In that article, I mentioned the one that follows here, "Train Easy, Lift Big." To give you a feel of the sort  of article this one is, an alternate title could have been "Lift Big Using Russian-Style GTG Training."  If THAT whets your appetite—or has you wondering what in the hell I'm even talking about—either way, you should find what follows interesting... Train Easy Lift Big Slovenian lifter Erni Gregorčič is an example of an East European powerlifters that uses methods similar to this article. The legendary Russian powerlifting coach Boris Sheiko once remarked, “he who trains more—lifts more.”  For the most part, I agree with that statement, as many of the articles on this blog attest to, but you also have to put things into the proper context in order to unders...