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Cycles
Written by Trevor L. Smith
Wednesday, 29 November 2006
I am quite sure that most, if not all, of you now reading this article are expecting another combination of drugs, training and diet to be delved into for the sole purpose of obtaining maximal muscle mass. I have to say that I am sorry. This article has nothing to do with steroid cycles in the purest sense, although after you are finished reading it, you should walk away with a generalized theme that can be applied to EVERY facet of you life. Your work, your relationships, your training, your diet, your recreational time, your thoughts, your dreams your everything .and yes .even your steroid cycles if you so choose.
What is a cycle? What exactly is it and why does it occur in every single solitary aspect of the universe at all times? What is its purpose? What does it all mean? These are questions that have weighed heavy on the minds of man (that is to say men and women) since the dawn of our existence as life forms on this planet we call Earth. I have come to realize the answer and it is so ridiculously simple that many will dismiss it instantaneously. After all, how can a "stupid" 350lbs. Bodybuilder know anything about life's bigger questions. Well not to get sidetracked hear, but for those of you asking that very questions understand that I do not limit myself by any single definition. I am the all and the everything and the nothing just as everyone who are reading these words is. This much I have come to learn: I am The Great I am! That will be the title of a separate article, the point I am trying to make is not to rush to judgment because of how you perceive the physical manifestation of the source. As Yoda once said: "judge me by my size do you?" and even though he was only two feet tall the point is the same and hopefully you have all grasped what I am getting at.
So now back to the answer I have come to learn and wish to share with you all in this article. The answer to the question of cycles is: Relationship and Relativity.
Hold onto your hats, cause I am going to dive down to deeper depths. Now what does that mean? What is it about relationship and relativity that is intrinsically linked and responsible for cycles? To answer this question we first have to take a look at the concept of cycles. What are they exactly?
Well, they are a rhythm. The natural order of the universe. They are active examples of the Yin and the Yang, the good and the bad, the black and the white, the here and the there. All of life and all of everything goes through cycles. "A hard rain never lasts." This is a quite famous Zen expression and what it means is that nothing can be continuous whether it be hard or soft, fast or slow, weak or strong, good or bad, black or white etc. In order for the hard rain to exist, there must be periods of soft rain or no rain. In order for there to be sunshine as we understand it, there must be darkness. In order for there to be greatness, there must also be periods of less than great or "UN"-greatness. In order for there to be a "here" there must be a "away from here" and hence give birth to that which is neither "here nor "away from here"
I can go on for hours with this mind-boggling concept and wind up losing most of you in the process (not because you are incapable of understanding, but because the topic might not be of interest in a broader sense) as we are trying to understand the marriage of relationship and cycles and how they can apply to every single aspect of your life and in particular, for the purpose of this article, your bodybuilding.
The cycle and the relationship it breeds is the tool that affords us to know ourselves and events and "things" in both their grandest and not so grandest incarnation. Since we are talking about bodybuilding and training here, I am going to use them as the sole examples from this point on.
Often times I encounter many people that have a very hard time with the thought of giving themselves and their bodies a break from the rigors of bodybuilding. They have a hard time taking time off from training, taking time off from craming in the calories, nutrients and supplements and most often, taking time off from using performance enhancing pharmaceuticals. "I am going to get small ..I don't like the feeling of "not being on" or not training hard or not eating for maximal size" All these statements are essentially saying the same thing: "Why can't I make a continual climb to excellence? ..I don't want to have to stop and regroup along with way ..why must I go down in order to get higher up" The answer is simply because that is the way all of life and everything in the universe was designed to work. If you think about it, everything in your life or anyone else's functions in the rhythm of cycles. You spend a certain amount of time awake each day, and then you must spend a certain amount of time a sleep each day. This is a great example because if you short change yourself on your "downtime" (in this case sleep) .your "on-time" (being awake) will suffer as you will NOT perform at optimal levels. If you take nothing else away from this article .remember that last sentence and apply it to every facet of you existence and you will totally change your life!
My suggestion then to any one that is looking to achieve their highest vision of themselves (and we will limit this right now to bodybuilding) is to learn to live by the rules of the universe that have been set forth about 20 billion years ago. Learn about the natural order of cycles and rhythms and work within their constraints .not against them.
I can think of many, many, many bodybuilders that were poised for ultimate greatness and success in the sport who simply burned out before their star lit to its brightest
Written by Trevor L. Smith
Wednesday, 29 November 2006
I am quite sure that most, if not all, of you now reading this article are expecting another combination of drugs, training and diet to be delved into for the sole purpose of obtaining maximal muscle mass. I have to say that I am sorry. This article has nothing to do with steroid cycles in the purest sense, although after you are finished reading it, you should walk away with a generalized theme that can be applied to EVERY facet of you life. Your work, your relationships, your training, your diet, your recreational time, your thoughts, your dreams your everything .and yes .even your steroid cycles if you so choose.
What is a cycle? What exactly is it and why does it occur in every single solitary aspect of the universe at all times? What is its purpose? What does it all mean? These are questions that have weighed heavy on the minds of man (that is to say men and women) since the dawn of our existence as life forms on this planet we call Earth. I have come to realize the answer and it is so ridiculously simple that many will dismiss it instantaneously. After all, how can a "stupid" 350lbs. Bodybuilder know anything about life's bigger questions. Well not to get sidetracked hear, but for those of you asking that very questions understand that I do not limit myself by any single definition. I am the all and the everything and the nothing just as everyone who are reading these words is. This much I have come to learn: I am The Great I am! That will be the title of a separate article, the point I am trying to make is not to rush to judgment because of how you perceive the physical manifestation of the source. As Yoda once said: "judge me by my size do you?" and even though he was only two feet tall the point is the same and hopefully you have all grasped what I am getting at.
So now back to the answer I have come to learn and wish to share with you all in this article. The answer to the question of cycles is: Relationship and Relativity.
Hold onto your hats, cause I am going to dive down to deeper depths. Now what does that mean? What is it about relationship and relativity that is intrinsically linked and responsible for cycles? To answer this question we first have to take a look at the concept of cycles. What are they exactly?
Well, they are a rhythm. The natural order of the universe. They are active examples of the Yin and the Yang, the good and the bad, the black and the white, the here and the there. All of life and all of everything goes through cycles. "A hard rain never lasts." This is a quite famous Zen expression and what it means is that nothing can be continuous whether it be hard or soft, fast or slow, weak or strong, good or bad, black or white etc. In order for the hard rain to exist, there must be periods of soft rain or no rain. In order for there to be sunshine as we understand it, there must be darkness. In order for there to be greatness, there must also be periods of less than great or "UN"-greatness. In order for there to be a "here" there must be a "away from here" and hence give birth to that which is neither "here nor "away from here"
I can go on for hours with this mind-boggling concept and wind up losing most of you in the process (not because you are incapable of understanding, but because the topic might not be of interest in a broader sense) as we are trying to understand the marriage of relationship and cycles and how they can apply to every single aspect of your life and in particular, for the purpose of this article, your bodybuilding.
The cycle and the relationship it breeds is the tool that affords us to know ourselves and events and "things" in both their grandest and not so grandest incarnation. Since we are talking about bodybuilding and training here, I am going to use them as the sole examples from this point on.
Often times I encounter many people that have a very hard time with the thought of giving themselves and their bodies a break from the rigors of bodybuilding. They have a hard time taking time off from training, taking time off from craming in the calories, nutrients and supplements and most often, taking time off from using performance enhancing pharmaceuticals. "I am going to get small ..I don't like the feeling of "not being on" or not training hard or not eating for maximal size" All these statements are essentially saying the same thing: "Why can't I make a continual climb to excellence? ..I don't want to have to stop and regroup along with way ..why must I go down in order to get higher up" The answer is simply because that is the way all of life and everything in the universe was designed to work. If you think about it, everything in your life or anyone else's functions in the rhythm of cycles. You spend a certain amount of time awake each day, and then you must spend a certain amount of time a sleep each day. This is a great example because if you short change yourself on your "downtime" (in this case sleep) .your "on-time" (being awake) will suffer as you will NOT perform at optimal levels. If you take nothing else away from this article .remember that last sentence and apply it to every facet of you existence and you will totally change your life!
My suggestion then to any one that is looking to achieve their highest vision of themselves (and we will limit this right now to bodybuilding) is to learn to live by the rules of the universe that have been set forth about 20 billion years ago. Learn about the natural order of cycles and rhythms and work within their constraints .not against them.
I can think of many, many, many bodybuilders that were poised for ultimate greatness and success in the sport who simply burned out before their star lit to its brightest
