C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

 The 10x5 Method: 10 Sets of 5 Reps for Massive Growth AND Strength & Power "If you get a pump while training with heavy weights, you will get big."*  -Pavel Tsatsouline The great Pat Casey was a firm believer in exactly the kind of training discussed here. The above quote by Russian strength training guru Pavel Tsatsouline sums up what is often called the energetic theory of muscle growth .  This theory, in more detail than the aforementioned quote, means that - in order to grow a sufficient amount of muscle mass AND strength - you need to have both fatigue and tension present in your training regimen.  But therein lies the problem.  Fatigue best happens through a high volume of training - multiple sets of high reps, or very few sets of high repetition training taken to total momentary muscular failure are great ways to develop fatigue, and also an ideal way for some  lifters to build plenty of muscle.  But it sucks at building absolute strength.  The converse is true

Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 6 Be Detached from Desire Your Entire Life Statue of Musashi and Kojiro in battle. (public domain) This passage seems a little odd when first we read it.  It's odd because, well, didn't Musashi desire  to be a good samurai?  Isn't it desire  that pushed Musashi to want  to be a great swordsman in the first place? But this saying isn't quite what it seems.  Roshi Richard Collins, author of No Fear Zen , has this to say: "The word for desire here, yokushin , suggests specifically selfish wishes, lusts, or cupidity, that greediness for physical pleasure or material accumulation that resists control."  In other words, you are to be detached from those things which prevent you from practicing budo.  Your desire  should be for attaining deeper and broader martial skills, not money or fame or to even be a fighter (as opposed to a martial artist).  Of course, just because one calls himself a martial artist doesn't mean that

Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Five Think Lightly of Yourself, and Deeply of the World A scroll depicting kami Hachiman dressed as a Buddhist monk (courtesy of Wikimedia). The Bodhisattva Hachiman was well-loved by Taisen Deshimaru, the author of The Zen Way to the Martial Arts (quoted below). As with  most  of Musashi's musings, this one is another that seems at odds with modern sensibilities.  This is, of course, because the modern person's values are almost always the opposite  of the sayings in The Dokkodo .  Yet - and here is where "modern man" gets the most confused - when you think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world  you actually become much happier, more joyful, and more in love with life.  As the Dalai Lama says (and this is a paraphrase), "the purpose of our lives is to be happy."  But he adds that "happiness is not something ready-made, but comes from your own actions."  And how do you achieve this elusive happiness? &

  Essays and Thoughts on the "Dokkodo" Part Four Do Not, Under Any Circumstance, Depend on a Partial Feeling Sasaki Kojiro (right) engages Miyamoto Musashi on the shores of Ganryū Island (courtesy of Wikimedia). The 3rd maxim of Musashi's final masterwork is one of my favorites.  And, yes, I understand that in Zen you should not "pick and choose".  For instance, the 3rd patriarch of Zen is often quoted as having said, "the great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose... if you wish to see the Way then do not hold opinions for - or against - anything."  That quote aside, this one is still one of my favorites. On with the commentary... We rarely make poor decisions - in life, in the dojo, in the gym - when we are decisive.  Even then, if our decisive actions do  fail, we will not regret what has been done.  For in holding nothing back, we have nothing to regret! In his book No Fear Zen: Discovering Balance in an Unbalanced World , Rosh

  Essays and Thoughts on the "Dokkodo" Part Three Do Not Seek Pleasure for its Own Sake Miyamoto Musashi in his prime, wielding two bokken; woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (courtesy of Wikimedia) The 2nd maxim of Musashi's Dokkodo  is "do not seek pleasure for its own sake."  When I first read the Dokkodo  many years ago, this one struck me as a little odd, or I probably thought it was too "outdated" - a maxim from ancient Japan that didn't apply to us today in the modern world.  But I couldn't have been more wrong. First off, don't try to make this maxim - or the others that follow - more or less than what they are.  Most of these - as with all teachings from a Wisdom Tradition - have both the "surface" meaning, and that which is "below the surface", so to speak. On it's "surface", this maxim is fairly simple and straightforward.  When you seek pleasure for the sake of pleasure alone , you WILL run in

You are lukewarm, and I shall spit you out. - Revelation  A couple of weeks ago, I published a post on the "one-lift-per-day" program, but I'm pretty sure that I ended up ranting about how most of the workout-world seems to prefer over-complicated and easy (a two-punch combination that is NEVER going to produce appreciable gains in, well, any-damn-thing) instead of simple but HARD workout programs !  And since the more I think about it, the less annoyed I get, and the more just plain baffled I become, I thought I'd write about some "simple NOT easy" workout tips/tricks/ideas or whatnot that YOU can put to use and achieve some awesome results. Bill Pearl understood that MASS was built with the basics and heavy-as-hell weights. You see, I'm baffled more than annoyed at this point because even though results don't come from "easy" programs (there IS an exception to this rule, but it entails VERY frequent workouts and more attention to detail,

 Every week, I receive emails from folks who count their calories, know the exact percentage of macronutrients they are consuming, weigh their food, and train with apps full of charts, graphs, and whatever other things  those apps track.  They also keep meticulous journals, and can tell you the exact repetition tempo performed for all of their machine work at the gym.  I only mention this because just yesterday - while I was relaxing at home, drinking a Coors light, and grilling out for Juneteenth - I checked my email, only to see that I had received an email from a reader who explained to me he is having trouble getting "psyched up" for his workouts - despite taking a pre-workout pill, wearing his state-of-the-art lycra pants and mesh "cooling" tank top, along with his brand new, brand name workout shoes.  So he wanted to know what I did pre-workout to prepare for my training sessions, and what I wear.  I told him I try to remember to wear some shorts, and then I d