Gaia: Integral Strength - General

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://Rob.gaia.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:51:38 GMT

Right on, I'm looking forward to getting this book into your hands!!!

Tell me more of what you're thinking on your process goals regarding your session schedule and I'll give you my 2 cents...

Big Love buddy
~Rob

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:30:02 GMT

Rob,

I work for a company that loves goal setting, but does it badly with minimum explanation. I found your writing informative and a good read, I'll be very interested to see the whole book.

I am particularly interested in putting numbers on my performance and outcome goals for a 3 month S4L season. For performance I was thinking of increase in weights used, for outcome I was focusing on decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass. My process goals are using strict form & the fit cycle, I am not sure if sticking to a session schedule would count as a process or performance goal.

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://Rob.gaia.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:27:32 GMT

Hey guys... I thought I'd share a little blurb from my book here... I'm in the editing process right now ;-) but here's a small section on goal setting... some of the context maybe isn't necessary however you'll want to pay attention to the 9 tips at the end - they're important for actually setting goals.

Big Love
~Rob

PS: Please don't remove this text from this pod - thx :-)

Goal Setting
Goal setting emerged in the research world as a legitimate topic in the mid 1980’s. As a result this discipline became understood more clearly by the scientific community as a significant contributor to both high levels of performance and more pronounced levels of motivation in sport. Goal setting has increasingly become part of the implicit and explicit performance culture in sports and beyond ever since and is an extremely powerful practice you are wise to employ in a variety of areas of your life where you are striving to move, shift and evolve yourself and your performance forward.
Goal setting has four functional dimensions to them that make them pragmatically so powerful and efficient when employed properly. Clearly defined goals continually cause you to focus your attention on a task or skill that’s necessary to achieve your goal. This periodic or continual refocusing of your attention facilitates greater mastery of skills and performance improvements. In addition to facilitating you to effectively direct your attention goals are extremely powerful tools to mobilize higher levels of effort. Goals increase the effort you put forth into a specific activity because of a higher level of investment in achieving your goal. Effective goals also promote persistence. When you commit to a goal or a set of goals you return to the necessary tasks you might otherwise not focus upon during the course of life’s competing demands. Goals facilitate consistent practice and engagement over long periods of time, all of which are requisites for your own emergent Greatness. Finally, goals facilitate the development of new learning strategies. Goals provide challenges that frustrate your existing capacities and force you to learn, grow and evolve.
The most effective goal setting requires an integrative approach, or what’s called a multiple goal strategy that employs all three of the major types of goals. The first type of goals are outcome goals. These are specific outcomes. For example winning a competition, finishing in the top 5, getting a promotion, landing that new job you are passionate about. Generally speaking these goals involve some sort of interpersonal comparison.

Performance goals are the second type of goal. These are end products of performance that are relatively independent of the influence of other people or performers. These may be goals, assists, split times, weight loads, completions, accounts landed. Just about any measurement of your personal performance and personal records. The third and final type of goal are process goals. Process goals are the bedrock of peak performance as they are the most fundamental to the articulation of your Excellence. Most elite performers will tell you that their process goals are the most important to them. Process goals are specific practices exhibited during your training and or theater of performance. A runner’s focus upon their breathing rhythm or a focus upon running form are examples of possible process goals for a runner. Regardless of what area of your life you are looking to improve and excel process goals are tools to focus your attention and engagement upon the fundamental elements you must execute upon, moment to moment, to perform at your highest levels.Seek an experienced professional or trained coach within the discipline you want to establish a set of goals for yourself. Their perspective and experience can help you efficiently move forward with establishing clear effective goals. Here are nine common principles to help you set the most efficient and effective goals possible:

1. Make goals specific, measurable and observable.
2. Clearly identify time constraints. Chose a realistic timeline in which you will obtain your goal or set of goals.
3. Use moderately difficult goals - these are vastly superior to goals that are too easy or extremely difficult goals.
4. Write down your goals and regularly monitor your progress - that’s to say consistently track your progress.
5. Use a mix of process, performance and outcome goals.
6. Leverage short-terms goals to achieve long-term goals.
7. If applicable, set team goals as well as individual goals.
8. Establish both practice or training goals in addition to competition goals.
9. Set goals that are intrinsically meaningful to you. If your heart is not invested in achieving a goal, assess the relevance of using this goal and choose goals that are deeply meaningful to you and your unfolding Greatness.

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:53:05 GMT

search for body analyser scale and you should get the kind of thing I have.

As for the basecamp thing I am not doing it as I was in a bad state outside of the gym. My performance outside the gym can be directly related to my presence or lack of it in the gym and I hadn't been for sometime so I really needed to kick on. I was mentally and physically a pudding last week and today after 1 session I have my A game on, I know exercise doesn't cure my problems in the outside world but it boosts my ability and willingness to deal with it.

So feel free to PM me tomorrow and check if I went to the gym, I have to go across town to the sister gym as my local one only opens early on monday, wednesday and friday.

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://tangle.gaia.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:35:53 GMT

ive never heard of those scales, id like 2 try, i think at the moment, like a baby seal im about 75% blubber!
are you doing the pre-cleansey thing?

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:46:17 GMT

I have one of those scales that calculates body composition, if you program it correctly! In a recent gym test I discovered I am 2 inches shorter than I thought I was, so all my previous measurements are incorrect. Plus I have to consider if I have been in denial about my Tom Cruz complex! ;-D

Re: Setting Physical goals

http://tangle.gaia.com — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:27:18 GMT

hey,
hopefully some more knowledgeable people will answer, all i can do is repeat stuff from the book.
how ambitious your goals are might depend on your personality, you could set them really high to inspire yourself (a surprising amount is achievable in 12 weeks!) or you could set em more conservatively and maybe get to happily exceed them.
i was pretty lax with the old tracking myself, other than the workout trackers i only kept waist measurements, i was happy with the strong subjective sense of progress.
how did you do your body composition measurements?
weekly photos from a few angles is a good idea, and of course you can do tape measurements of arms, legs, waist and chest.
i got a heart rate monitor but found the subjective scale more useful for the cardio portion, of course you can track your resting rate over the weeks.
personally, i exceeded some of my targets and fell short of others, but what really mattered was how much better i was feeling.
anyway, congrats on doing it, i look forward to seeing your updates!!
t

Setting Physical goals

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:28:23 GMT

Having developed some familiarity with the strength for life program I am now about to go for the full 12 week blitz. What kind of physical goals should I be setting myself, I don't know what's achievable in this time frame.

I am a 33 year old male, weigh 10 stone 12 pounds, my body fat is 18% and muscle mass 41.7%. I have a good heart rate monitor so I could track my CO2 max but is it worth while doing this for a weight training dominated program.

Any advice on what stats to track (I'm a geek and this will help maintain my commitment) and what kind of targets that I should aim for, that are tough but achievable will be welcome.

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

http://tangle.gaia.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:57:22 GMT

hey davybouy, must admit the cross crunches from sfl didn't click with me either.
i actually skipped them for a while until i was stronger.
as i understand it no ab exercise really isolates any area so any one does the whole abs to an extent.
having said that when i did the oblique stuff they progressed really quickly!
id love to hear how you're going with it.

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:50:13 GMT

Rob,

I am following the Monday to Friday sessions outlined in the SFL book, except I am not doing drop sets as I am working on learning the exercise and FIT cycle technique. I am looking for an all round increase in strength and muscle mass and a corresponding drop in body fat, which I have particularly accumulated around my waistline. Training my obliques is simply part of the all round plan and an area I seem particularly weak as I can't perform the exercise with good form.

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

http://Rob.gaia.com — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:06:35 GMT

Welcome!

So glad you've made your way over here to Integral Strength. Before I respond give me a little bit more about the aim, the end result or the goal that you have with training your obliques.

Give me the quick and dirty on what you're doing in terms of exercises and what you're intending to accomplish. I'll then be able to give you some better guidance.

Looking forward,
~Rob

Introducing Davybuoy

http://davybuoy.gaia.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:42:52 GMT

Hi,

My name is David Thomas I am new to serious weight training, previously I have been into running with a heart rate monitor. I would
recommend Sally Edwards books for anyone interested in exploring that. I was inspired by the Strength for Life book and have joined this group as the SFL group on Gaia seems dead and Rob hinted that Integral Strength is something deeper, so I am intrigued.

I am working with light weights and struggle with the oblique exercises, anyone who can suggest exercises for this weak area will find me grateful as the instructors in my public gym are not interested unless you are following their program, or female!

Cheers,

Davybuoy

Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:11:59 GMT

Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins

Gratitude to Bill Harryman at The Masculine Heart for posting this exert from Henry Rollins on his blog page. Read, enjoy, discuss if inspired......

It
wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had
given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without
work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me
shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it
can’t be as bad as that workout. I used to fight the pain, but
recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call
to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to
interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come
from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t
ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a
fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach
you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.
I have never
met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot
of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as
self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s
shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for
cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as
cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength
reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers
who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.
Muscle mass
does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity.
Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and
emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.
I
prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons
that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always
time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had
taught me how to live.
Life is capable of driving you out of
your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of
miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their
bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to
their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly,
they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run
wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a
massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.
Through the years, I
have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength.
I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong
thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I
wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is
the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to
fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been
awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.
The
Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of
talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will
always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point,
the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the
pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never
freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred
pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Re: Community and "The Cell - Real Fitness"

http://Rob.gaia.com — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:16:10 GMT

Damon,
As usual thanks for bringing this resource to our attention.
Much appreciated - so glad this important work is moving and shaking out in the world ;-)

Per your question regarding community within the integral context, here's a few thoughts.

Community is an essential part of the equation - obviously community is an "all quadrant affair" however it's emphasis resides in the LL or the interior collective.

Within strength training and integral practice community provides to essential functions: Support and Challenge.

Community, how your relationships hold you, determines so much about how you in response show up in the world and your training. So it's often ideal to have integrated relationships that understand the intention and depth of your practice and how they can in response support you and challenge you in critical ways both inside of your training and outside of your training.

With that said virtually everyone on planet earth is training within communities that are largely unconscious to the dimensions of strength being explored here. What does that mean?

Well, it means in short you've got more challenge and less support from the natural communities within most gyms you walk into. This has its benefits and drawbacks however I'll focus on how I encourage practitioners to leverage this lack of a supportive environment and community into a positive benefit.

One of the essential dimensions being cultivated here is the capacity to "Self-Author." Self-Authorship means that you have established a self system that's able to self generate your vision, intention, goals and so on. There's much to be said here but to be brief a lack of supportive community forces you to generate more from within.

Self generate your goals, vision, purpose and intention. Create and manage your state, your focus and the depth of your engagement in the midst of what I often call the "least supportive environment" available ;-)

This ultimately cultivates greater strength - not just of body but of an emergent self-system that's capable of much more in the world and your training.

And for those advanced practitioners... surrender baby - let go of this and that and simply train as the Suchness unfolds :-)

Big Love Everyone,
~Rob

Community and "The Cell - Real Fitness"

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:08:31 GMT

Several months ago a new strength training facility concept was established between two friends of mine who share a vision of delivering unprecedented and until now, unattainable levels of elite fitness to the population of Western Australia. The concept has been lovingly nurtured from it's initial inception through white-hot fire and bone-chilling cold to develop into what will become the premiere strength, conditioning, fitness and health training facility in Western Australia:

As the logo suggests, The Cell is about real fitness - all aspects of fitness, not just the physical. The Cell also brings together methodologies adopted from CrossFit (it will continue to be Perth's only official CrossFit affiliate), Gym Jones, The Underground Strength Coach - Zach Even-Esh, Ross Enamait, The Diesel Crew and many others.

I know this will be something special as it's grown so naturally through trial, energy, dedication and passion. And so it is with incredible pride, zeal and gratitude that I direct your attention to The Cell - www.thecellfitness.com.au.
I was fortunate enough to travel to Australia (I live in Singapore now) to experience this new facility first hand and be a part of the emerging energy of this place (im pictured there on the posting on the 30th January). Reflecting on the different experience from training in a commercial gym in Singapore to this facility I realised how working out in a training environment such as this can facilitate greater levels of intensity and focus in my training.
The aspect of "community" is also one that hasnt been explore in an Integral Strength. My question to the pod is how important is community to strength training in an integral context, what are other experience of working with others and how has a community inspired you to great depths of intensity in your training.

Damon

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

http://Rob.gaia.com — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:43:54 GMT

Damon,

Sorry not to respond sooner - thanks for brining up the two edges of practice - the capacity to awaken into Novelty and the capacity to entrench habituation.

This is a huge issue for any serious practitioner who's committed to the Unconditioned Ground of Awakening... or whatever you want to label it.

So, I'm just going to throw out some things for you here... here we go.

Reflectivity...

Is sounds as if you've slipped into a pre-reflective practice, which is the heart of habituation, the unconscious articulation of your conditioned history over and over again.

When you say that you're experiencing a loss of reflection, this is what I hear.

This reflective practice sounds like what you're drawn to, attracted to and find fulfillment in.

I'd like to point to something else though, a post-reflective practice that's radically different than both of these yet can integrate and include both in a new sphere of engagement.

I could be wrong, but I think in your heart of hearts you're looking to actually step beyond reflective practice where you look back and discover a new path of transcendence for your practice moving forward.

This is an invaluable process, but when you are the reflective process you can see transcendent avenues opening, but you have yet to radically embrace and embody the very activity of the transcendent itself in the moment.

Stepping beyond reflection is stepping into a radical acceptance and embrace of your practice in a novel way. This direct practice of immediacy is what you're really really after my friend.

That's my bias of course... :-)

So you've got your conventional purposes to strength training, these are important and to be integrated into the larger activity of Transcendence Dancing with Resistance, but as you articulate so well, conventional purposes can entrap and ensnare your conditioning such that the vitality and emergent novelty of who you really are becomes the forgotten dream.

Integral practice and strength training must embrace the post-conventional purpose which is radically non-linear. So it throws purpose in the conventional understanding on it's head. There's no purpose outside of this direct immediacy.

To leave this out is to live your life without a heart. To leave out this most essential component is to fall into a training that seeks not to unfold and awaken your larger sphere of identity, instead your training has the purpose of keeping you in a slumber, shackling your body-mind to cave walls, shadows and the distorted life too afraid to face the radiance of their authentic calling.

So how do you know if you've fallen into habituation?

Ask yourself this one question: do you seek other than what's here?

If the answer is yes, then you're deluded and fundamentally stuck on at least some part of your conditioned history, if not huge sections of your conditioning.

If the answer is no, then you're deluded and fundamentally stuck in avoiding the truth of your history and the embodiment of your relative vehicle.

If you answer with a Silence that holds both... you're getting back on track ;-)

Peace buddy,

~Rob

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:33:44 GMT

Jeepdog

Thanks for hearing me on this one.

Its actually good to be back and open to discussing what I am going through with this practice. Ive been a bit reclusive especially since going through some major changes, training, life, family etc. Ive also been a bit disconnected from deeper forms of practice with all that has been happening - hence the post - and I guess it came to a point where I felt there was too much superficiality in what I was doing with the strength training.

I ideally would be able to engage in spirit part of the practice regardless of what is happening, but I couldn't maintain the focus of this intent while everything else was in flux. I had to withdraw away and focus on the change and different priorities rather than induce more change and turmoil through the practice.

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

http://jeepdog.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:14:04 GMT

Damon -

First, it is good to see you back here.

Perhaps one does not fall in out of spirit so much as reshuffling the priority of focus (or perhaps occassional loosing focus?) of the four quadrants.

That is what it is for me, at least.

Recently, I've had difficulty considering any "training" as that - training. Extend that training to being a combination of "mind, body, spirit," and I'm not sure what is going on.

I do know I've stepped away from heavy lifting. Yet, every morning I am running. Every morning I am jumping. Doing pull ups, et ceteral. Twice a week , depending on week/mood/whatever sometimes more frequent, I work with dumbells.

Actually, I do not know what I'm trying to say here, except for "I hear you, Damon, and am connecting with your observation."

Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:56:20 GMT

This is a reflection more than a beginning of a discussion thread, but would be interested on anyone else view on a similar subject.

The nature of any practice is to develop capacities beyond the limits set by our self - to transcend. Be it meditation, yoga, philosophical study, religious introspection, or as the subject here is a focus strength training. Any system of practice has the capacity to set us free from the normal waking consciousness and into different states or stages of development. These same systems of practice also have the capacity to limit our capacity of growth through attachment, routine, egoism, illusion, delusion, lack of mindfulness and of minimal spiritual intent.

This is where I have found myself with my own practice. No longer do I feel connected to strength training in a developmental capacity, rather I feel limited in pursuing lifting as a form of strength and body training without reflection. Its the same reason I needed to leave a yoga asana practice - the common link is me.

So I find myself thinking about the edge between practice as a focus on to itself and practice as a form beyond itself. Is it natural to fall in and out of attachment within these practices, and how does one recognise the signs before we feel we have drifted too far from the edge and into a maya of form over real substance. I don't want to withdraw this time, deny the nature of my true self and the relationship to a practice I know instinctively has a deep and profound capacity for deep introspection. So what do I do from here…..continue, change, withdraw (maybe all three).

When you walk the edge of strength and spirit maybe this is natural, a falling in and out of spirit. Maybe a consistency of a strength training practice is important to reveal this evolution, reflecting that spirit may not always be the focus, but a dedicated intense path that strength training is will break us down spiritually only to build us back up.

Re: Strength, Your Reservoir for Love

http://psychesungirl.gaia.com — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:03:46 GMT

Great article Rob, really enjoyed.

Gaia: Integral Strength - ***General***

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Re: Setting Physical goals

Setting Physical goals

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

Re: Introducing Davybuoy

Introducing Davybuoy

Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins

Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins

Re: Community and "The Cell - Real Fitness"

Community and "The Cell - Real Fitness"

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Re: Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Walking on the edge of strength and spirit

Re: Strength, Your Reservoir for Love

Gaia: Integral Strength - General