The Art of War

By James Stettler

This article was kindly supplied by Area 9.net. Check it out.

Over 2000 years ago lived a warrior/philosopher named Sun Tzu. During a time when war was a way of life, he put pen to paper and wrote what is consider the definitive guide to battle. Not just physical battle or war, but any battle whether it is an internal struggle or an external one. Whether it is physical or mental against an army of 1,000 or an army of 1. Or for the purposes of the article...against yourself.

Over the next few months I will take excerpts from Sun Tzu's classic text The Art Of War and show how you can applied the teachings to bodybuilding and turn yourself into a warring machine. Whether it is an assault on a national title. the Mr. Olympia or simply a challenge to your own self, studying and learning the teachings of this great Master will allow you to see things in a new perspective in terms of accomplishing your goals.

Bodybuilding, for all intents and purposes, is no different than any other form of combat in its purest form. Sadly, most choose to see it strictly as ego fulfilment and in doing this have a incomplete picture. Some of Sun Tzu's teachings may not first appear to apply to the bodybuilding world, but if you careful look at the essence of what he is saying, the correlation will become as clear as day. I will do my best to simplify things so that anyone reading this article will be able to extract the knowledge and have it benefit them in their goals.

Master Sun: MILITARY ACTION IS IMPORTANT TO THE NATION-IT IS THE GROUND OF LIFE AND DEATH, THE PATH OF SURVIVAL AND DESTRUCTION, SO IT IS IMPERATIVE TO EXAMINE IT.

In this case we shall call training the military action and ourselves as the nation. If we are to at all advance in our bodybuilding goals, it would be wise of us to study deeply the implications and conditions that surround the training experience. Training in this case refers not only to lifting weights, but all facets that tie together and are necessary to have any impact in bodybuilding. This would mean diet, weight training, cardio, supplementation, rest, and mental attitude. Your attention to these details will determine whether or not you will "live" or "die" (metaphorically speaking) in the struggle to achieving your bodybuilding goals.

Master Sun: THEREFORE MEASURE IN TERMS OF FIVE THINGS, USE THESE ASSESSMENTS TO MAKE COMPARISONS, AND THUS FIND OUT WHAT THE CONDITIONS ARE. THE FIVE THINGS ARE THE WAY, THE WEATHER, THE TERRAIN, THE LEADERSHIP, AND DISCIPLINE. THE WAY MEANS INDUCING THE PEOPLE TO HAVE THE SAME AIM AS THE LEADERSHIP, SO THEY WILL SHARE DEATH AND SHARE LIFE, WITHOUT FEAR OF DANGER. THE WEATHER MEANS THE SEASONS. THE TERRAIN IS TO BE ASSESSED IN TERMS OF DISTANCE, DIFFICULTY OR EASE OF TRAVEL, DIMENSION AND SAFETY. LEADERSHIP IS A MATTER OF INTELLIGENCE, TRUSTWORTHINESS, HUMANENESS, COURAGE AND STERNNESS. DISCIPLINE MEANS ORGANIZATION, CHAIN OF COMMAND, AND LOGISTICS.

Now Master Sun is using war on the battlefield as his model, so lets switch the model to bodybuilding and build the correlations so everyone can see what he is saying clearly.

The way: Simply put, how are you going to go about having others assist you in your goals and aspirations as they pertain to bodybuilding. If you are to rise to the top you will need an effective support staff and you must first have everyone on your support staff working for the same goals. If you are training for the nationals and your girlfriend is constantly bitching that you aren't paying her much attention, you would be wise to insure that you get her to understand what it is you are looking to achieve and be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for your success for ultimately this will make everyone involved happy.

The weather: Each season brings about a different flavour and a different mindset with it. Summer brings a time of relaxation and fun, while winter often evokes feelings of hardship or a slowing down. In your quest to be the best it is important to be aware of the mindset you have and how it can be affected by the weather and seasons.

The terrain: In this instance this means your goal and what it will take to arrive there. Is it a contest 8 months from now? Is it setting a goal of lifting a certain amount of weight in a certain exercise? Is it a measurement of a body part? Whatever the case may be, you must assess the time period and the road that must be travelled in order to get to where you want to be. If you are a high school teacher and you have a bodybuilding contest scheduled for late August, your ease of travel will be greater than someone who doesn't have the luxury of having the months of June, July and August off from work and has to juggle both a job and training for a show.

Therefore it is wise of you to choose a show during a time period that affords you the ability to focus purely on that contest with minimal distractions (in this case, being a teacher, a late summer contest allows you 12 weeks of total focus since school is not in session for those months, whereas if the show were in the beginning of June you would have the concerns of year end examines and such to factor in to your overall plan and perhaps inhibit it greatly or at least double the stress levels you would have to deal with)

Leadership: Here we are talking about the ability to lead yourself as well as others on your support team. Are you of the intelligence to go about achieving your goal in the most effective way? Can you communicate this well to yourself and to others around you? Do you have the guts to take the steps necessary to achieve the task set forth? Are you selfishly forcing your will and goals on others around you and causing them distress, or can you be human and kind so towards others on your support team so they feel a part of something bigger and will therefore jump through rings to make sure your journey is less stressful and easier and thus increase your chances of success. Most men while they are getting ready for a show feel it is necessary to shut out the world and I understand the temptation to do so, but no man is an island and if you have a significant other or wife or even friends and co-workers, they should not be hurt or have to feel ignored because you are choosing to get ready for a show or have a goal ahead of you. The effective warrior/leader will motivate those around and get them involved in his goal in effect making it their own goal. So instead of being a prick to those around you, if you let them know what it is that you are doing, why it is so important to you, ask for their assistance and be humble and kind, they will walk through walls to make sure you have an easier time. Instead of having your wife or girlfriend wondering why you are seemingly in your own world, she will understand that she is with you, only she has a different "job" than you do, but the same goal. Wouldn't it be better to have co-workers who were looking out for you, maybe helping you a bit with your work load in the last few weeks before a show because they know you are functioning on zero carbs and don't mind working a little harder to help you out because you have been considerate of them and included them in your goal? Or would it be more beneficial to you and your goal to ignore everyone and treat them like shit because you feel you "have to stay focused" and feel like shit cause you are dieting? When the words are written out in front of you it is easy to see what choice would be the better one to make, yet surprisingly most don't follow it.

Discipline: Pretty self explanatory here, although not just what most people perceive it to be. Discipline isn't just getting to the gym, eating your meals on time and taking your "supplements". It is much more involved than that. What Sun Tzu refers to can be directly applied here. Are you completely organized and regimented? Do you have chain of command set into play so things that need to get accomplished get accomplished? For instance you might need to have someone else handle certain responsibilities that normally you would handle because you need to devote your energies and efforts toward your goal. This needs to be understood and written out before hand so there is not any confusion, resentment and aggravation while you are training towards your goal. Finally is logistics. Plain and simple, is your goal achievable given the variables and considerations you live in at that moment. For a general, it may be possible to defeat a given army, but logistically it might not be worth it for it would result in the death of � of his own army. Same applies here. Make sure your goal, let's say it is a contest, is not so big of a task that you will wind up destroying many things that currently are in your life. Is your goal worth it if you wind up losing your job, your girlfriend or marriage, your friends etc. These factors are the logistics and you want to make sure that you understand them very well when going into battle...ANY battle.

Here, the point is simple. No single individual is all knowing and all-powerful. When you set about your objective, it is wise for you to do so with knowledge from others who can see what you cannot. However, it is important that you NEVER abandon your own instincts or assume that another individual's advice is always going to be fruitful to your goals. This is what is meant by ASSESSING the advantages and disadvantages when you deal with advice. Many, Many, beautiful women have been turned into deep voiced she-men on the wrong gear advice simply because they blindly trusted some stupid individual (usually a man looking to get into their pants).

Conversely, I encounter many, many misguided men who swear by the advice by individuals they meet in the gym or buy their "supplements" from. I am always amazed at how people are so willing to abdicate their own responsibility and stupidly put stuff into their body in huge amounts because their local steroid dealer tells them to. "DUH"! Don't you think this guy might have a vested interest in having you use 2 grams of test and a gram a deca per week along with everything else? "Oh but he's smart, he competes, he's a freak." These are usually the stock replies I hear. I always tell the person to take a good hard look at the individual they are listening to. If the guy looks like a Neanderthal experiment gone wrong and is out of his mind on nubain, do you really think he's a good person to listen to? I have heard of instances of individuals selling gear and everything else and convincing college aged men AND WOMEN, that to diet effectively they need to use Nubain 5-6 times per day. Of course after 2 weeks of this they have a brand new addict on their hands coming back to get their fix so regularly, you can set your watch to it. Open your eyes and understand that NOBODY cares more about you than you!

Master Sun: A MILITARY OPERATION INVOLVES DECEPTION. EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE COMPETENT, APPEAR TO BE INCOMPETENT. THOUGH EFFECTIVE, APPEAR TO BE INEFFECTIVE

This is a hugely powerful statement and one that usually goes largely ignored when dealing with bodybuilding because people fail to see the correlation. Recently in the bodybuilding publications, rumors were rampant that Ken "Flex" Wheeler was retiring and that he was in ill health and full of injuries. Flex even made some of these statements himself. Then suddenly, a few months before the MR. OLYMPIA, he announces to everyone that he is, in fact, competing. Now personally, it would have been a much wiser move on Flexes part had he kept quiet and not announced his intentions until a few weeks before the show. You see it is quite probably that some of his competitors immediately relaxed when they heard he wasn't doing the show and even if it was only slightly, they may have altered their preparations for the show. Maybe not physically, but psychologically this could have happened. Somebody like Chris Cormier or Kevin Levrone may have decided (and I am not suggesting that they worry about anyone other than themselves, I am just using this as an example) that since Flex wasn't doing the show, they wouldn't have to worry about being extra, extra detailed and could focus on being fuller since they would be going toe to toe with Ronnie who is the biggest wall of muscle on the planet. Now let's say they had been well into their contest prep when Flex decides to tell everyone he is doing the show and had in fact slightly altered their approach due to the thought of his absence, they would have been caught off guard. Especially since Wheeler has made it known he will be going for a smaller more detailed package. But since they already knew before they started their preparations that a more streamlined and detailed Flex Wheeler would be appearing at the show, it really did not affect them at all. (Again, I am not suggest that Chris Cormier or Kevin Levrone would even concern themselves with anyone but themselves when preparing for a show, I am just using their names in a hypothetical situation that illustrates Master Sun's point well) Then you have guys that cause such a shit storm, that they do the exact opposite of what they would want to do if they followed the teachings of Sun Tzu. Sure challenging someone to a money wager stating that you will beat them on a given contest is fun for reading purposes, but in a sport where every little detail can make or break you, I feel it would be much wiser not to give your chosen "enemy" any fuel they can feed off of. Telling someone that you "guarantee" you will beat them at a show can, and often does, have the effect of insuring that the person you are challenging is going to train extra hard and be extra focused so they can make you eat your words. And if you are dealing with physiques that are closely matched in potential placings, it would be wiser not to say anything at all and play possum. Do your homework and quietly walk while carrying a big stick. I think it would be wiser to let the person running off with the mouth think that you don't consider yourself to even be in his league. In fact, be so quiet with him that he is lulled into a false sense of security and is forced to find a new person to focus his attention on. Then, on the day of the competition you show up in freakish shape and after you have thoroughly trashed him on the stage with your physique, the only thing more difficult to swallow than the defeat will be the big plate of shit waiting for him due to all the boasting and comments his mouth was running off with in the previous months.

Master Sun: WHEN YOU DO BATTLE, EVEN IF YOU ARE WINNING, IF YOU CONTINUE FOR A LONG TIME IT WILL DULL YOUR FORCES AND BLUNT YOUR EDGE; IF YOU BESIEGE A CITADEL, YOUR STRENGTH WILL BE EXHAUSTED. IF YOU KEEP YOUR ARMIES OUT IN THE FIELD FOR A LONG TIME, YOUR SUPPLIES WILL BE INSUFFIENT.

For those of you who have not read it, I suggest taking a look at my book The Manifesto of Mass, and even more in Operation Morpheus as this details my philosophy perfectly as it relates not just to competitive bodybuilders, but every day gym rats. You cannot continue at full speed even if you are the greatest bodybuilder on the planet. Your training, diet, supplementation and competition schedule all must have periods of down time so that you can be maximally efficient when it is necessary to be so. While it may be admirable for certain bodybuilders to attempt to compete in 6 or 7 shows a year, logistically speaking it is not a smart thing to do. Eventually you will burn out and get beaten by people who should never be able to stand on stage with you. You must understand the natural rhythm in all things in order to ultimately be successful. Personally, I feel Shawn Ray-who is destined for the bodybuilding hall of fame-personifies this approach. Shawn chooses one show every year (the Mr. Olympia) and makes sure he is in razor sharp condition for that contest year in and year out. Shawn understands that once you make it your business to qualify for the biggest show of the year, you can insure amazing success and longevity by doing your homework and putting all your attention in a contest that will reap the biggest rewards. He doesn't "dull his forces" by competing in multiple shows each year and hence doesn't incur any battle scars that could potential mar his presence at the Mr. Olympia. Shawn has done something truly amazing in taking this approach. He has been in the top 5 of the biggest show in bodybuilding for over 10 years and in all honesty, his physique has not changed all that much. Yes his muscle quality and maturity have increased, but the fact is that Shawn Ray has taken the Mr. Olympia stage since 1988 with a physique that ranges from 205-212lbs. He has held his own in the age of the super-freaks, where 270-280lbs physiques are becoming common. He has stood the test of time so to speak and this, in my opinion, is due to his mind and his mental approach and intuitive understanding of what Sun Tzu speaks of more so than his physique. Now please do not think that I am saying those bodybuilders that do multiple shows each year are stupid. For some bodybuilders, particularly the younger pros, this makes sense. However, in terms knowing ones self and using the mind as well as the body, sometimes it is wiser to take the approach that Shawn has, thus insuring a long career rather than a flash in the pan that burns out after 4 years in the sport.

Master Sun: TAKE THREE MONTHS TO PREPARE YOUR MACHINES AND THREE MONTHS TO COMPLETE YOUR SEIGE ENGINEERING.

In this, the idea is that it is necessary to put a great deal of time and effort into the given task at hand. Deciding to do a bodybuilding competition 12 weeks before the show is not something that should be applauded even if the person winds up doing very well. Any battle requires efforts and the mindset of a half-assed approach will only leave you with half results. This is just as important for non-competitive bodybuilders as I detail in Operation Morpheus. As the old saying goes "Boredom is a lack of paying attention to detail". When you look at a rock for 10 minutes, you think you know everything about it and put it down because you get bored, but view it under a microscope, and there is an entire universe before your eyes and you quickly discover that there is a lot more to the rock then just a 10 minute glance.

Master Sun: SO IT IS SAID THAT IF YOU KNOW OTHERS AND KNOW YOURSELF, YOU WILL NOT BE IMPERILLED IN A HUNDRED BATTLES: IF YOU DO NOT KNOW OTHERS BUT KNOW YOURSELF, YOU WIN ONE AND LOSE ONE; IF YOU DO NOT KNOW OTHERS AND DO NOT KNOW YOURSELF, YOU WILL BE IMPERILLED IN EVERY SINGLE BATTLE.

Be honest with yourself and your assessment of others. If you walk around being led by your ego and do not see yourself and others as they truly are, you are doomed to absolute failure. If you see yourself as your truly are but view others as being either better than they really are or worse than they really are, you will only be successful when you are up against those who you feel are better than they really are and you will be unsuccessful when confronting those who you feel are worse than they really are. However, if you accurately assess both yourself and others and you are completely honest you will succeed because you will be able to gain knowledge and make appropriate decisions that will benefit you in the long run. Again for full info on this check out the Mindset chapter of my book Operation Morpheus.

Master Sun: TO PERCEIVE VICTORY WHEN IT IS KNOWN TO ALL IS NOT REALLY SKILFUL. EVERYONE CALLS VICTORY IN BATTLE GOOD, BUT IT IS REALLY NOT GOOD. IT DOES NOT TAKE MUCH STRENGTH TO LIFT A HAIR, IT DOES NOT TAKE SHARP EYES TO SEE THE SUN AND THE MOON, IT DOES NOT TAKE SHARP EARS TO HEAR A THUNDERCLAP.

Boasting or bragging about accomplishments that are to be viewed as a given is a lower level of thinking. Bragging about the fact that you train consistently or that you eat your meals. Go the extra mile! Doing what is expected/require in your chosen field or position in life is not admirable it is necessary. The deeper question is how much further are you willing to go. O.K. you go to the gym everyday and eat your meals every day, but what are you doing when you are in the gym? Are you talk-training or are you training like Ronnie Coleman, like a man possessed, as if his very existence depends on the last rep of the last set (which incidentally it does and it should which is why Ronnie is Ronnie)

In closing I would like to point out that this article could continue infinitely had I chosen to go through each one of Sun Tzu's words from his book The Art of War. The correlations from battlefield to bodybuilding are sometimes difficult to see, but if you look deeper than the words you will eventually grasp concepts that will no doubt help you in your endeavours. I highly suggest exposing yourself to the knowledge of my books, The Manifesto of Mass and Operation Morpheus as it is my hope that future generations of bodybuilders will be known for their thinking minds and wisdom as much as they are known for their muscle mass. In doing this, the sport will truly gain respect.