Wholistic Fitness

In our “Strength Training” Kiva Talk on January 28, we explored:

• Why it’s so important (and commonsense) to learn to crawl before you walk … and how most people don’t do this in the gym.
• What “Namaste” means, what it has to do with strength training in the Iron Temple, and how most people working out in gyms miss it.
• How you can use your hand to metaphorically remind you of your elemental sources, and how simply wrapping your hand around a barbell can ground you (and transform your workout into something sacred).
• How WF strength training restores ritual to strength training, and demands that you bring your spiritual self into the gym with you (unlike so many other modern strength training methodologies).
• Why strength training is the first of the five Wholistic Fitness disciplines, how it naturally leads to (and is dependent upon) the others, and how all the other disciplines and lifestyle principles were born from it.
• How the techniques of WF strength training enjoy the same activity, competition, challenge, and benefits of all the specific skills and movements we enjoy outside of the gym.
• Why it’s more important to understand “neural balance” than “muscles” in the gym.
• The role of mental focus in strength training, and what it leads to.
• Why we call this discipline “strength training” not “weight lifting” or “weight training,” and why I call the gym an “Iron Temple.”
• Why strength training doesn’t need to be done all year long, or all your life.
• Why “failure of elegance” and “less is more” are the hallmarks of Wholistic Fitness athletes doing strength training (and why we move in the Iron Temple just like we move in the yoga studio).
• Why “mantra not numbers” should be your mantra in the Iron Temple.
• What happened to the beautiful “physique culture” that was so prevalent in America about a century ago (how machines isolated and elevated the prime movers, and how they led to the downfall of wholeness and sacredness in the gym).

We then moved on to some Q&A:

• “Is the Power Clean still the most awesome exercise in the universe for outdoor athletes?”
• “Is the Yang Day workout a good one if you’re short on time?”
• “As someone who gains mass and additional muscle weight easily, should I be concerned about spending time in the Iron Temple in regards to my overall body composition?”

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