effilang

Thanx for that TheSongsofDistantEarth - I do have one question though. Does the refrigerator have to be full or empty? PS: Exactly Smile. Just like i said a combination of Bodyweight and some Weight Training is best. Weight training on its own however does not produce the same quality muscle as Bodyweight when it is the sole method of muscle production. The typical machine drills on a weight machine create very rigid muscle. It might look big and u will get it faster, but the quality, usability, endurance, flexibility, programming, recovery, and the variety of applications it can be used for is reduced when compared to Bodyweight. This is not so say that using weight that you can hold in your hand and do not weight so much that they restrict movement are BAD. No, that relies on the same principles of bodyweight training and isometrics. If Mr. Mantis, took the time to actually read what i was writing, he wouldn't be making such ridiculous replies all the time.

"Muscle is muscle and it grows when it is broken down just the same." << That statement explains why you don't get it. Until now i thought you were just being stubborn. But it makes sense now. As well. I never said my results are due to eating fruits, rice and fish. You sound desperate, fabricating statements now.

I'd love to hear more on that!

I like tubby taiji masters! : ) - They are the prime definition of a healthy person in the modern image of an unhealthy body. Western medicine has much catching up to do!

lol - Incredible you're still besides the point. Like i said, lifting weights is the "fastest" way to get lean, but not the most efficient. Even if you can clean jerk hundreds of pounds, the quality, efficiency, recovery, formation, durability, strength, flexibility etc. of your muscle is inferior. I don't lift weights, but when i accompany friends to the weight lifting section who have been training for years, i can lift more dead weight than they can, without prior weight training. The only reason i work out for that long is because i love it. How long i work out for has nothing to do with my results. I only mentioned it to prove "Regular" people can do it, since you insisted one would be required to "dream" in order to achieve such results. 40 Minutes a day doing bodyweight training will yield the same results. Also i pretty much only eat fruits, rice, fish and water. It's cheaper, healthier and the quality of the muscle is superior. "No shit a weightlifter isn't going to be able to do a planche push up because he doesn't train to do them.." My point exactly. Weight lifter's muscle formation is rigid and less efficient, due to the nature of their work out. The muscle is like a horse with blinders. A bodyweight trainer on the other hand can utilize the same muscle for task of much greater variety than the weight builder can and with greater efficiency, without requiring specific prior training. Bodyweight training as far as quality, muscle formation, costs and requirements go - is way, way more effective. I and someone else already said in prior post that some gymnasts weight lift, but it is not necessary to achieve those results. Making a post with a link about a weight lifter who weight lifts, after that, is somewhat.... i'll pass on commenting. The difference between you and me in this conversation, is that you are biased, while i am not. If you weight lift, as long as you do bodyweight training, and specific motor programing through movement simulation - You will have the best of both worlds. It's like having a huge block that has to fit through a circular doorway, it won't work. But if you take the block and chisel it, you get the best of both worlds. The circular doorway represents the variety of tasks we use our muscles for in the real world. If you only have a block, then you're just a big bag of inefficiently produced meat. But if you've molded and programmed the muscle with bodyweight and movement simulation, then you've built the best muscle you can. It's like giving that block a brain, instead of just leaving it to be dead weight with minimal productivity. Body builder's muscle formations are rigid. Thats just the way it is : ) You can't only do 1 thing. You're in a Tao forum for crying out loud. I would assume, telling people that results are only achievable through dreams and being totally biased in your opinion, would be beyond you. You have to go hard and soft - for the best results. Soft... just like with the internal arts, is stronger, but takes longer to cultivate depending on your efforts. You may be bigger than me, but don't think you have the advantage with only dead "bulky" muscle. The weight lifters muscle is like ordering a pizza from a menu that doesn't tell you what the ingredients are, for 10 people, all with different tastes. You get a pizza, thats it, and you will not satisfy all requirements. Bodyweight training and muscle programming on the other hand, is asking everyone what ingredient they want on the pizza. Then making the pizza at home while catering to all of those 10 people's requirements. Great power and strength without weights as the title of this thread goes, is best achieved through bodyweight training in combination with some weight lifting, or BODYWEIGHT training only, but definitely not weight lifting only. That's not strength, trust me. : ) - Thats just... lumpyness *giggle

How can you tell me i'll never get a body like a gymnast? - Thats just such a ludicrous statement to make online, talking to someone you know nothing about at all. I already have a body like a gymnast and work on it every day: Picture 1 Picture 2 I meditate for 2 to 3 hours and do work in the Dojo for 2 to 4 hours, when i don't have time. When i do have time, i work in the Dojo for 3 - 6 hours. The wall for me is at 2 hours, if i don't push myself then, my body gives up, but if i hurdle over i flip a switch and can go for 4 to 6 hours. Don't be so presumptuous. Once again, you're totally beside the point here. The name of the thread is great power and strength without weights. Is lifting weights the "fastest" way (it doesn't even deserve the word "effective") to get as you put it "lean/big". Yes. Is it the most effective and only way to do it? - Definitely not. The benefits and results of using bodyweight to develop strength and get lean far outweigh any provided by weight lifting. You just don't get the same formation and quality of muscle tissue. Ask a weight lifter to do 1 planche pushup and he will fall flat on his face. It's not the size of the muscle, it's the way it's formed. Like Vajrasattva said, you have to simulate the movement you are going to implement as you train the muscle, or you end up being a big pile of useless bulky meat. The best way to form the muscle is progressively. Lifting weights, is not only rigid, but fails to form the muscle carefully, which is one of the reasons it is inferior to bodyweight strength training. PS: Your attitude sucks. Maybe it's you who will never achieve their goals and should keep dreaming. But don't try and drag others down with your faults, instead encourage them and show some positivity : )

You are in denial Mantis. The typical cut and bulky gymnastic body can be / is developed entirely using bodyweight exercises. No other weights required but your own, although some gymnasts do it. The strength of your everyday gym weight lifter is very different from that of a bodyweight exerciser and in my opinion inferior when it comes to the quality and functionality of the muscle it'self. Usability, reaction time, flexibility, recovery, strength, consistency, endurance etc. in the regular "weight lifting in the gym" built muscle are all inferior to that of muscle built through bodyweight. Gymnasts are notorious for having the best "natural" physical bodies out there. Visually and functionally.

STRENGTH:

Hello everyone, I was just wondering if any of you had any possible interpretation for these symptoms. By most standards i am healthy as a horse and have never experienced pain in any of these places that was not due to physical contact. However, a few days ago i set out on a 10km march at 5kmPh, with no breaks. The next day, i had dull aches on and off in my heart area, most of my teeth, my left testicle, my left kidney and lots of phlegm in my throat during the day. The left kidney pain has disappeared and the pulsing pain in my teeth has been dissipating, but the ache in my left testicle, heart and the unordinarily increased amount of phlegm still persist. Any ideas why this could be happening. I'm use to exerting myself more than this and have been practicing Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu for over 10 years now competitively. I haven't received any blows to my vital organs and i'm not not ill by western definition. I know this isn't a health forum, but still, you never know right?

I too once pondered the meaning of life. I came to the conclusion that it is pointless. Then i considered that, after death our "soul" re-inhabits a brand new body and begins life over again. So... If we die, only to come back to life again, then apparently the journey after death is only a pause on the way back to what is of importance; Life, all over again. Despite that however, the actual "meaning" to inhabiting the physical body and "living life" still eludes me. I always preferred the notion that once we die and move on, there is no more "physical life" - Then i asked myself... ok, but then would't we eventually pose the question; "what is the meaning of death" or "what is the meaning of life after death". I think wherever we are, in the after world floating around as an energy or a ghost in a physical shell. The question of "meaning" will persist. AND THAT made me understand that asking "what is the meaning of" is in it's own a pointless endeavor, whether in life or in death or life after death, because if two things are identical the mind simply doesn't find it as stimulating to pose the question "why", it just accepts, but when there is a difference, or an "unknown" variable, we ask "why" - "whats the meaning" - "why is it different" - "how is it different". I think thats why the question troubles us so much in our physical existence, because we just don't know what happens afterwards. So i came to the conclusion that wondering is pointless, you just experience it as it comes. If despite everything, we keep on coming back to inhabit a physical being, then the meaning of life is simply to live it.

I love you.

In my opinion nothing is of greater importance than anything else that is set in stone. We as humans are characterized by our diversity. Our different tastes, different ideas, different perceptions; even when looking at the same thing. Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism. etc.... etc.... etc. We are as diverse in our understanding and acceptance of the truth as we are as different in our needs and personalities. I do no believe in a universal truth, because "truth" in itself is defined by it's acceptance. And humanity has never been able to absolutely accept any one offering of truth. I think it is due to the fact that as humans we exist in a hierarchial life, and wherever there is hierarchy; there is dissatisfaction and inequality. When that persists in my experience it results to an inner eagerness for separation, personal identification and inevitably the want to climb higher. All this i believe leads the majority of us breaking away, seeking personality and attempting to create new ideas, new values, new "understandings" of what the "truth" is; for us, for our personal identity. And then, you have to look at the most foundational of understandings; Yin and Yang. How can there be a universal truth, if existence in itself is comprised of two opposing forces. We are a product of demonstrably conflicting energies, both chemically and spiritually. Luke Skywalker... Darth Vader... The Dark side... The Light Side... On that note, we all find satisfactory value in different things. Some might find the truth in a marshmallow : ) - Others at the peak of the Himalayan tops and the more meditative of us find it in englightenment. I do not feel like i am more or higher than the marshmallow lover. Because i seem to measure the attainment of truth by the sense of peace and satisfaction brought on by experiencing it, and for all i know to someone with hypersensitive taste buds a marshmallow might taste like nirvana : ) I don't think a truth exists. I believe the illusion of truth exists, and it was created by us to help drive us further mentally, to give us the motivation and inspiration to push on, and we need that, because, if one thing is for sure, it is that the potential of the human being has never yet been measured. I believe we create truths in order to move on in our development. I will not stop, when i think i am best, because i believe the truth is that i CAN do more, be more than the best. I do not believe i will cease to develop myself should i ever reach enlightenment. How can you have so much knowledge and be unable to advance?... No... There is no truth for me. Truth is the barrier we set. And once we reach it, and break it, we will create another truth. I believe it will be higher than enlightenment, higher than being champion of the world, higher than being the CEO of a billion dollar corporation, higher than the hight of the truth which we are currently capable of imagining. My truth is, that there is no truth. We are too amazing to be bound by the ideas and accomplishments of those before us who have defined and established their highest achievements as the truth to which we should all aspire.

Hi everyone, My name is Lang. I practice microcosmic meditation, standing meditation, muay thai and grappling. My current goal is to activate all my energy points around the governing and conceptual meridians and circulate the orbit freely. I currently have my Tantien and sexual center activated. More work to do : ) Thank you.