weight lifting

[nine tailed fox]

hi guys

 

i have heard somewhere that weight lifting is not good for spiritual development

 

is it true ? how does it affect ?

 

and what do you think about bodyweight exercises ? are they also bad for your spiritual progress ?

 

[eye_of_the_storm]

Only fault I could see in it is the false notion of needing animal flesh to build muscle, consuming large quantities of rotting corpses.

Edited July 4, 2014 by White Wolf Running On Air

[Silent Answers]

You probably read something about training with weights unnecessarily stressing the body to gain results, in comparison with Neigong which works with the body to strengthen you in more ways that just muscle size.

 

Weight lifting isn't super unhealthy for you or anything.. it's just a more aggressive and somewhat artificial approach to gaining strength through bigger mass.

[Aetherous]

I think there are GREAT results to be gained by doing freeweight exercises (especially the squat, deadlift, overhead press, etc). But in my opinion, these great results stop once you reach a certain point...basically it's only great when it's still a moderate exercise. It will build your body at that level (which is a very good thing), but it doesn't begin to build "bulk" until you're lifting more than you should. People who are sore or tired after workouts, who feel the need to eat a certain way to gain more muscle, etc...they're doing it wrong.

I like the Stronglifts approach of starting out with an empty bar, and adding 2.5 lbs to each side of the bar, each time you workout. That way, the sore phase lasts the first two weeks when you really aren't lifting enough to cause any damage. You're slowly adapting the nervous system to the exercises, and the strength is truly built this way. We gain strength by progressive overload, or basically by lifting more than we did last time...so doing this methodical approach is best. After 3 or 4 months, there are excellent results...you will look and feel very healthy, not big...basically your frame will become normal and good looking. If you start out with a small and weak looking frame, you will be looking more athletic after a few months of methodical weight training.

My ideal approach would be to do a phase of weight training like this, maybe 4-5 months...then once you're lifting weights that are too challenging, switch to another form of exercise for a few months. When you start the weight training back up, lower all of the weights by 50% and begin again at that lower level...basically so you're always at the moderate level of intensity when lifting.

It's tempting to go beyond that moderate intensity, because you're making big gains in strength and you want to see how far you can take it and how good you can become in comparison to others at the gym. For people whose priority is strength, rather than health, there's another approach which is to continually push until the strength plateaus (until you can't do all of the reps), and then ratchet the weight down a little bit next time and continue progressing again...basically trying to always push past the plateaus. So that's good for the strength first/don't care about health approach. But if the goal is health, then moderate intensity should be the focus rather than how much weight you can squat...it should be thought of as a nervous system building exercise rather than a strength building or muscle bulking one.

There's a big difference between bodybuilding and weight training. Body building focuses on making the muscles big. Weight training is basically just a form of resistance, which is good for health.

It's excellent for spiritual development. Why? Because it's excellent for the health of the body.

[juliank]

Everything you do in terms of spiritual development relates back to intention.

 

Weight training can be spiritual. Qi Gong and Yoga can be Ego engorging.

 

It's the level of consciousness you bring to the practice that matters in the end.

[Chang]

Socrates got it right when he stated "Everything in moderation nothing in excess."

 

If you are really keen on gaining functional strength then I would recommend the use of kettlebells and/or clubbells along with bodyweight exercises. I have yet to be convinced that spiritual development is in any way enhanced by physical weakness and Socrates was in fact renowned for having great physical strength and served as a soldier in his youth.

[Marblehead]

hi guys

 

i have heard somewhere that weight lifting is not good for spiritual development

 

is it true ? how does it affect ?

 

and what do you think about bodyweight exercises ? are they also bad for your spiritual progress ?

It must be. I work out with weights and have become an Atheist and Materialist because of it.

 

Bad weights!!!

[nine tailed fox]

pls have a look at this quote from william bodri;s book

 

 

 

As my teacher always says, when people do all that weightlifting and body sculpting, we might
think they look great but there's no chi left over to open up all their chi channels! All the chi has
gone into building muscles, so there' s none left over for internal alchemy and a higher stage of
internal and external martial arts progress. Yet this is what people are after, so they go for
mastering the external form rather than cultivating their internal energies in conjunction with
external appearance.

 

 

what do you think guys ?

[Silent Answers]

pls have a look at this quote from william bodri;s book what do you think guys ?

I'd says the author is over speculating a belief rather than drawing on any experience.

[ChiDragon]

pls have a look at this quote from william bodri;s book

what do you think guys ?

 

There might be some truth to that effect. It is my understanding that most heavy weight lifters are sterile.

Edited July 5, 2014 by ChiDragon

[Silent Answers]

 

There might be some truth to that effect. It is my understanding that most heavy weight lifters are sterile.

Isn't that just from the extreme lengths they goto and all the steroids? (I'm talking about the extremists) Edited July 5, 2014 by Silent Answers

[KenBrace]

Weight lifting is great. Has nothing to do with spiritual development though.

[ChiDragon]

Isn't that just from the extreme lengths they goto and all the steroids? (I'm talking about the extremists)

Yes.

[voidisyinyang]

I just starting benchpress as emotional transformation.

 

Angry? then a good set of five reps will pretty much transform that anger - sublimate it up the spine as internal bliss energy. That's why Arnold calls it "the pump" and he says it's orgasmic. That made me curious so I bought a used benchpress and discovered he was right.

 

Yeah so it helps to build up your internal jing energy - you get the testosterone kick but also increased brain magnetic bliss.

 

As for how much you do and how much you lift, etc. well just make sure your form is good before adding more weight.

 

So the rule I use is 5 sets of 5 reps in a day - you can just move the sets closer together to get more out of it.

 

Then when you are no longer getting that emotional transformation from it - then add 5 pounds.

 

I've added 100 pounds or so over the past 9 months - so I'm in no rush.

 

But - anyway it's amazing how much energy you get if someone else projects anger at you and then you, instead of reacting, you turn it into muscle. haha.

 

That's why they do in prisons - lifting weights helps the men not get into fights, ironically. I watched a documentary on this.

 

I watched a couple kungfu flicks recently - Dolph LUngren was benchpressing 275 and then Cheng - or the "streetfighter" lead dude, didn't catch his name - was benchpressing 225.

 

But then watch Man of Tai Chi - Tiger Chen - he doesn't seem to lift weights but relies more on his chi energy doing horse stance everyday. But watch the Shaolin documentaries and the lift weights also - best to incorporate into practical tasks like hauling water, cutting firewood, etc.

 

But how many times are you going to get to lift 200 pounds while doing practical tasks? haha. You just don't get quick the same emotional catharsis so quick - up the spine - from benchpressing as from other types of muscle work that are more endurance.

[voidisyinyang]

Also female weightlifters can have 4 inch clits - Brian Gumble reported this - and female hyenas have 7 inch clits - it's from the testosterone but also reveals how the dick actually starts out as a clit for all of us. haha. Hilarious!

[dust]

http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/strength-articles/iron-henry-rollins

 

 

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.

[Henchman21]

 

There might be some truth to that effect. It is my understanding that most heavy weight lifters are sterile.

thats a side effect of drug use

 

Also female weightlifters can have 4 inch clits - Brian Gumble reported this - and female hyenas have 7 inch clits - it's from the testosterone but also reveals how the dick actually starts out as a clit for all of us. haha. Hilarious!

again drug abuse

[voidisyinyang]

for humans its drugs - for hyenas - ?

 

Also all female mammals have clits - so that means all male mammals start out in the womb with clits.

 

 

But aggression in the hyena is not simply a matter of excessive male hormones. As they age, the levels of testosterone in female hyenas decline significantly below that of the males, and yet the females remain on average far more pugnacious and slightly stouter. Indeed, when Dr. Glickman tossed pieces of horse meat into one pen at the Berkeley facility that held a male and a female hyena, the male did not even bother scrambling for his share of the snacks until the female had her fill.

"At this point, he defers to her without giving it a second thought," Dr. Glickman said. Hormonal Yin and Yang

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/01/science/hyenas-hormone-flow-puts-females-in-charge.html

 

 

 

who saw the hyena as a magnificent opportunity to better understand the hormonal yin and yang, the estrogens and androgens, at work within humans..... a strapping adult male will capitulate to the most bantam cub of the dominant female.... "The hierarchy is astonishingly stable," said Dr. Frank. "The great grandchildren of the matriarch I saw in 1979 are themselves at the top now, and those descended from the hyenas at the bottom are still at the bottom." Hemingway Was Wrong.... Rather than act as a shield against maternal hormones, the hyena's placenta takes the precursor androstenedione and transforms it into fiery doses of testosterone. The fetuses of both sexes end up exposed to levels of androgens far exceeding what a male fetus can generate on its own.... the females, in becoming socialized among their peers, engage in far more exuberant and rough play than do males.

 

The scientists suspect that hormones other than testosterone are at work in assuring the female's dominance, possibly the precursor hormone, androstenedione, which could influence behavior by linking up with the appropriate hormone receptors in the female's brain. They believe that they are on track to understanding these other hormonal pathways, work that could overturn traditional and simplistic dogma about the centrality of testosterone in fostering aggression. And since other female mammals, particularly primates like humans, possess significant levels of androstenedione, the results could at least partly explain the relationship between biochemistry and aggression in some women.

[voidisyinyang]

https://vimeo.com/28294691

 

funny - weight lifters probably got that androstenedione idea from female hyenas.

 

what's it do? convert them back to having clits. haha. Hilarious.

[voidisyinyang]

("Hyenas Yield Clues

to Human Infertility and Aggression," in Technology Review,

February/March 1995, pp. 20-21). A hormone previously thought to

be unimportant in humans, called "androstenedione," has been

implicated as a factor in the unusually aggressive and violent

behavior in hyena pups who start attacking each other soon after

taking their first breath, usually killing one sibling per litter.

Very aggressive teenage girls had higher levels of

androstenedione than less aggressive girls, which suggests that the

hormone may somehow directly influence aggression (Elizabeth

Sussman, a developmental psychologist at Pennsylvania State

University).

 

yep.

 

so...

 

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/pollution.htm

 

pollution makes people more violent by messing with their hormones?

[Perceiver]

I do bodybuilding several times a week and am on a path of awesome spiritual progress.

[Lataif]

i have heard somewhere that weight lifting is not good for spiritual development

 

is it true  ? how does it affect ?

 

Integral Theory (Ken Wilber . . .) has a very good opinion of how strength training can contribute to spiritual development. And my experience is consistent with that.

 

Here's an audio discussion of it:  https://www.integrallife.com/node/123641

Edited June 2, 2015 by Lataif

[Rara]

I'm doing 5X5 stronglifts with a friend who has some confidence issues. It's amazing how we are both growing in mind, body and spirit!

[dust]

As with anything, I'd suggest that balance is key.

 

In my understanding, many systems/ that fellow Dao Bums practice lead to an understanding of soft power. Yin overcoming yang.

 

In my sporadically humble opinion though, wouldn't an understanding of brute power be useful for a comprehensive understanding of power itself?

 

Or something

 

edit: and yeah I miss doing 5x5...hurt myself overdoing it on deadlifts a year or so ago and haven't been to a gym since...got into outdoor workouts. But the iron is great.

Edited June 2, 2015 by dustybeijing

[Rara]

 

edit: and yeah I miss doing 5x5...hurt myself overdoing it on deadlifts a year or so ago and haven't been to a gym since...got into outdoor workouts. But the iron is great.

That's the thing...5X5 will break you if one doesn't judge their limits correctly. Compromising form just to be able to lift it is very dangerous as they are compound exercises working the whole body.

 

That's why I feel it is good for you as it requires such focus.

 

Do you think you can repair yourself with physio/taiji/yoga or are you pretty snapped up?