The Laws of Strength The Laws of Strength 1 The Laws of Strength This book is dedicated to my wife, Renata. You enable my pursuits, the good ones and the less worthy. The book is also dedicated to my family. I’ve been left a heritage of writing and doing things our own way. As it turns out, I was left an unshakeable sense of practicality too, a nice blend for bookbuilding. Many thanks to my various clientele: you have all inspired me ​ to write this book in one way or another. Thanks also to James Mayo, the amazing photographer that snapped the cover photo. Note that he made me look decent, despite the fact that I was standing barefoot in a field, holding a dirt-covered implement. 2 The Laws of Strength 3 The Laws of Strength Preface 8 The ConQuest Way 10 Chapter I 12 Why Lift? 12 Myths, Gifts and Whys 14 Myth #1: Resistance Training is dangerous. 16 Myth #2: Resistance Training requires you to lift weights. 16 Myth #3: Kids and the elderly shouldn’t lift weights. 17 Myth #4: Lifting weights compresses your spine. 18 Myth #5: Resistance training immediately makes you look like a bodybuilder. You will wake up one morning with forehead muscles and massive arms by accident. 19 Myth #6: Lifting makes you tight, stiff and inflexible. 19 Gift #1: Everything in life becomes a little easier. (Physically). 20 Gift #2: You can leave pain behind. 21 Gift #3: Everything in life becomes a little easier. (Mentally) 22 Gift #4: Time to prioritize you. 23 Gift #5: Quality of LIFE. 23 Gift #6: Clothes will always fit better. 25 Chapter II 28 Who Needs to Lift? 28 Case #1: The bodybuilder/powerlifter/experienced lifter that feels fairly content with their training. 28 Case #2: The middle-aged woman with zero lifting experience and declining physical performance. 29 Case #3: The elderly man that performed physical labour until retirement, but has been largely inactive since. 30 Case #4: The youth athlete with competitive goals. 31 Case #5: Average, looking to become above average. 32 Chapter III 36 The Laws of Strength 36 Law #1: Know Thyself 38 4 The Laws of Strength Law #2: Patience 42 Law #3: Aggression 46 Law #4: Progression 50 Endurance Training 53 Strength Training 53 Hypertrophy 59 Law #5: Regression 64 Law #6: Play the Game 68 Law #7: Perseverance and Consistency 72 Law #8: Practice, Don’t Compete 78 Law #9: The Body Is a Single Unit 82 Law #10: Embrace Physical Culture 86 Chapter IV 90 Where to Start 90 For Athletes, Competitors and Experienced Lifters 90 For Novices 91 For People Experiencing Pain 92 The Challenges 94 Basic Mobility Challenges 96 Child’s Pose 98 Sloppy Pushup 100 Forward Bend 102 Full Side Splits 103 Basic Stability Tests 104 In-Line Lunge 106 BirdDog 108 DeadBug 112 Capacity 116 Reverse Plank Hold 118 Plank Hold 120 Squat Endurance 122 Pushup Endurance 126 Walking 130 5 The Laws of Strength Chapter V 132 How to Finish 132 The Laws, In Stone Tablet Form 134 About the Author 136 6 The Laws of Strength 7 The Laws of Strength Preface This book is the product of experience in life and practice. The foundations for the book were laid in my youth, when I learned the value of being strong and my ability to influence my strength. I’ve been working on my strength since that time. The Laws of Strength needed to be written. The idea came from varied experiences I’ve had with patients and clients alike. Too many patients were in pain because they lacked basic structural integrity, or at least the willpower to use that integrity properly. Too many clients were strong in very specific ways, but not resilient as a whole. In an effort to avoid repeating myself in the clinic and gym, I started writing blog articles. It seems that the messages are getting through, but some of the messages need more legitimacy and permanence. The Laws of Strength implores you to improve yourself through strength training. Aging becomes a legitimate concern early in our lives. Despite ever evolving medical practices and technology, most people will start aching, feeling older, moving slower and cutting things from their lives at an early age. Not only is this unnecessary, it is the wrong way to go about increasing your chronological age. Through strength training, you can become more resilient, capable and happy. Even for the younger folk reading this, the foundations you lay now can help you or hurt you long term: there is no time like the present. The real impetus to start this book came from observing younger people in the gym: most have no idea what they are doing, but they sure think that they do. There aren’t enough therapists recommending serious strength training to patients. The practice is treated as though it is controversial or dangerous, but this is untrue when you perform as detailed in this book. More trainers need to remove their heads from their asses and take their practice seriously. The human body is a magnificent gift: this book is an effort to teach you how to honour and improve it. 8 The Laws of Strength 9 The Laws of Strength The ConQuest Way Our methods are a challenge, a call to action, and a way of life simultaneously. We, of the modern world, are lucky enough to be challenged by problems that didn’t exist for our predecessors. Trace your lineage back just a few generations and you will see that your forebearers were challenged as much by the external environment as they were by their own internal environment. They would succeed and fail at things, but the intention to succeed and work hard was present out of necessity. Failure was often a matter of resources and unforgiving surroundings. In the Information Age, our problems are illustrated by battery life and text-neck. We have greater abundance in all of the factors necessary for life, and we don’t make good use of them. We are surrounded by time and effort saving technologies, but we use our newfound free time to enjoy the technology more. Enjoying life certainly isn’t a bad thing. Enjoying technology isn’t inherently bad. However, many of our choices to seek out pleasure and comfort are leading us toward a precipice. The ConQuest Way is not the path of least resistance. It is the most efficient path to becoming able to handle anything. It is the most efficient way to become a strong, self-sufficient human being. We don’t hide from resistance, and we don’t glorify hard work that is applied in a foolish direction. The path that allows you to be happy, healthy and move towards actualization exists, but this path is full of resistance. Rather than avoid the path because you’ll need to fight your way through it, learn to love the fight. Engage in something challenging that strengthens you. Encounter difficulty and know that the solution will bring you new strength to help yourself and others. The ConQuest Way is not a lifting program, a diet or a self-help book. This is a way of life based around learning, applying effort, and continually growing. This is a call to return to a way of life that allowed our 10 The Laws of Strength ancestors to progress and build a better future for us. This is a call to improve on their mistakes and advance with our advancing technology. This book was written for those that need to understand resistance training. It’s written for the experienced trainee and the complete novice alike. In short, it is written for anyone that wants to make continual progress. It is written for those that are unhappy with declining standards of living. It is written for those that want more. Life is growth. If you aren’t growing, you aren’t living. Learn to continue your growth as a trainee and a person. The life of the student is one of humility, purposeful work and happiness. The life of the student is also one of difficulty and resistance. Living a fulfilling and purposeful life comes at a cost. There is no better analogy for this relationship than resistance training. You can take a frame riddled with frailties and make it stronger. Only through the methodical application of resistance and effort will this strength be achieved. It is no coincidence that this process also strengthens the mind. The will to act, the desire to become greater, and the ability to live your own life to its greatest potential all lie in the application of resistance. Choose to live your life. Choose to encounter resistance and difficulty on your own terms. Choose to grow from your effort. In the process of applying resistance, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and others. You’ll learn to grow as a person, and you’ll learn to help others grow as well. Our forebears left us a heritage of strength and perseverance. It is time we remember and honour that heritage with work of our own. Choose your challenges. Encounter resistance. Grow. Progress. Work. Live. Enjoy. 11 The Laws of Strength Chapter I Why Lift? This is a book about strength. In today’s world, I’m writing about a rare and valuable trait that few possess but everyone needs. If you are reading this, you may fear that you need to be stronger. You’re probably right. The practice of lifting weighted objects is ancient.