In this series, I’ve been slowly revealing an emergent system of applied technoscience which I labeled Strategic Fitness, better known as StratFit.
In part one, I dissected the StratFit DNA, which has the form of our brand statements. The main thrust of that article was the statement of our mission which lays out the whole purpose of this series and our work generally.
In that installment, I also delved into the very nature of “a science” and Science with a capital S as defined by Heidegger; it is a modality of human existence that is constant purpose-driven action. It is an endless activity of creative striving, to eventually thrive at higher and higher levels. It is the essence of being human (rather than plant or animal) and eventually super-human, according to Nietzsche.
In part two, I went into the genesis of training science and how it sprung from a particular creative technological innovation: the Olympic barbell. I gave a high-level view of how the whole theoretical area of training science evolved in the 20th century and how it produced a fundamental intellectual tool for training organization: the seminal Weightlifting Intensity and Repetition chart of A.S. Prilepin.
In part three, I described how I took the work of Prilepin and how his conceptual successor Hristo Hristov had devised a concept to throw Atlas’ grid over the whole of the strength training-competition process in the abstract: The Abstract Internal Training LOAD.
In part four, I showed how I took the super heavyweight world records of competitive Weightlifting and Powerlifting to act-ualize the Load, to bring it from the purely abstract realm into our act-ual realm, in order to make the concept imminently practical for training athletes and any fitness trainees. I defined what something being "actual" means to us, that the thing can act or be acted upon, and that it will undergo some amount of change or adaptation according to the action. I referenced the Platonian idea of the "substantial" in doing so. The transformation of the Load idea from the purely abstract to the actual realm was the step in which StratFit crossed over the dimensional line from theoretical to applied science.
In part 5, I expanded the Atlantean grid from its birthplace in the realm of Kratos: Strength Training- serious Weightlifting and Powerlifting into the realm Hermes: speed and endurance- running training.
By extending the empowering influence of lord Atlas over the dominions of both Kratos and Hermes, it became clear that the domain of Ares was now also enveloped in our scientific system: Cross-Training for competitive combat and other variable sport.
The integration of the realms of Kratos, Hermes, and Ares in our Atlantean work marks a significant milestone in the creative journey represented by the titanic mission of StratFit. At this moment, I want to remark on the implications of what has emerged and on the creative process that I went through to get the system to this point.
This article will be less technical and more philosophical, and possibly somewhat autobiographical. I hope this writing will convey the greater scope of the creation and inspire readers to follow your intellectual and creative impulses to the farthest point possible and then even farther in your own field. The mission's whole impetus and driving force is to provide the training world a means to, and maybe even more so, to force me to creatively, Achieve Beyond.
The Inception of StratFit: Aesthetic Intuition
As stated in part one, a new area of theoretical science emerges when human beings interact with new technology. When the human intellect encounters a new means to better view or physically interact with phenomena, the mind begins to generate theories about how to better control and dominate the encountered phenomena. Through scientific experimentation, the best hypothesis emerges and becomes a new area of knowledge.
To go one step deeper, we can ask, what drives the generation of these theories in the human mind? The answer to this question is the uniquely human (and super-human) spectral phenomenon behind all higher forms of achievement in the sciences, the arts, athletics, and beyond: Aesthetic Intuition.
When we interact with tools (technologies), we start to form innovative ideas about how to create beautiful, imminently useful, and sometimes awe-inspiring things. Aesthetic intuition is that profound daemonic feeling of a spark that ignites in the deep psychical abyss in the minds of artists, musicians, and inventors during the interaction. Initially, it feels like a groping for something that, while monumental, is also formless. It is a ghostly vision of an Atlantean grid laid over an accumulated area of knowledge in the mind (the creation of an applied science from theory) or over visible material (invention, sculpture, painting, etc.). We know if Atlas can solidify the grid we can create something profound. Sometimes the spark is lost to eternity; other times, it forms into a blazing fire, and the world receives creations like Michelangelo's David, Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory, Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Nicolai Tesla’s alternating current, or the Empire State Building. The unconscious and subconscious levels of the mind receive a conception, and the creator’s consciousness must grab it and blaze a trail to full expression.
Often the full expression of the concept can take years, an entire lifetime, or, as incredible medieval multi-generational works attest to, multiple lifetimes.
Acknowledging the spectral phenomenon of aesthetic intuition abolishes the distinction between art and science; art is scientific, and science is artistic.
In creating StratFit, I must say, as Newton did- “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Over several years I read many works of training science masters Yuri Verkhoshansky, Mel Siff, Vladimir Zatiziorsky, NP Laputin, Thomas Kurz, Mark Rippetoe, Glen Pendlay, and other greats in the field of training. I read several works by these predecessors several times over to make sure the intellectual seeds were planted in the cerebral soil. I had the idea that if I applied a solid work ethic to the essential study materials, eventually, my mind would form something extraordinary from out of the abyssal depths. I believe this series shows that it has.
Two previously mentioned intellectual works were particular direct catalysts for the spark that became the fire of StratFit: Prilepin’s Chart and Hristo Hristov’s Intensity Number of Lifts (INOL) white paper based on the chart.
As I already stated in article 2, Prilepin’s Chart is THE most immanently practical intellectual product that arose from the world of development in theoretical training science knowledge in the 20th century. In part three, I went into how Hristov’s INOL equation made the utilization of the chart much more precise for training programming.
By placing Hristov’s equation into a spreadsheet and putting the intensity and amount quantities from the training programs of the greats of Weightlifting and Powerlifting, I was able to see through the filter of a single value (Hristov’s INOL) how these programs compared to each other and how they related to Prilipen’s chart.
By viewing these works through this first level of Heideggerian enframing, I received the aesthetic intuition that someone could create an entire Applied Technoscience of physical training and performance.
When I was able to see the training programs of Boris Sheiko, Louie Simmons, NP Laputin, Charles Poliquin, and Mark Rippetoe through this enframing, I received the vision of a whole supersystem of computational weights and measures that would facilitate the full implementation of the world of theory developed by the training science titans of the 20th century. From that moment, this has been my purpose in this life.
World Records: Moments of Clarity Atop Mt. Olympus
In article three, I dubbed the INOL as “the Abstract Internal Training Load.” The Abstract Load of a set of 4 reps with 80% intensity for a set of bench presses, conventional deadlifts, or snatches would all be the same. However, this is not true. Therefore the next step in improving the precision of the Atlantean grid for physical training was to develop a protocol for determining the actual loading difference between various spatial forms. I described the process of creating the spatial-from stress-factor using the super heavyweight world records of competitive lifting in article four. That work was initiated by an aesthetic idea, that the best performance in human history for each spatial form gives us the clearest overall picture of the developmental impact that spatial form has on any human being.
Any and all data we can collect from the performance(s) of any spatial form by a layman(men), or even a competitor(s), will contain more or less “noise." The instance in which noise will be fully reduced and sharpened into a “signal” will be seen in the absolute peak achievement for that activity: a world records performance. These are the moments we learn the most about performance.
My higher-level aesthetic idea was that the absolute world records (super-heavyweight class in lifting) in every activity would provide a foundation for an ever-evolving actual system of applied science. The breaking of a world record is a monumental moment in the unfolding historical process of humanity. A world record performance is an ontologically syncretic moment that reveals the very essence and absoluteness of the activity if we care to look deeply enough. This idea formed my reasoning for determining the stress factor for all the major barbell lifts and running from the world records in these activities.
I see the breaking of a world record in any spatial form (especially a super-heavy record for lifting) as a momentary signal in the noise of human evolution. Every time a world record is broken, it is like a broad mass of electricity that represents all the technological innovation, knowledge, and physical training adaptations that accumulated in the universe since the last breaking of the record has condensed, and a monumental lightning bolt of performance strikes. At that moment, humanity takes an evolutionary step, and StratFit’s technoscientific system will also take that step in real-time. This idea turns the StratFit applied technoscience into a living performance super-intelligence.
The Frequency of the Beyond: Intelligent “Fuzziness”
As I said in the first installment of this series, Science is evolution, so a science must continuously evolve. If it ever stops, it becomes dogma, its own eternal enemy, and commits a form of metaphysical ritual suicide.
As far back as the fifth century BC Heraclitus stated the universe exists in a state of perpetual becoming. Whether physical or metaphysical, all perceptual things are ever-changing (albeit some very slowly when viewed through the time perception of single human life, see the example of a mountain as an actual thing in article four). To a greater or lesser degree, all levels of reality are in a constant state of flux, forever under the influence of Chaos.
An applied science is a methodology that uses a system of acquired knowledge to better manipulate and dominate the actual world (or a part of it) to enable human creativity and increase achievement. As William James said, “the Truth is what Works.”
In a universe of perpetual flux, for a “truth” to continue “working,” a certain amount of “fuzziness” must remain in the mathematical system that allows for the practical application of that “truth." By linking the StratFit spatial-form stress factors to the human performance “moments of clarity” that new world records represent, we retain that ever-evolving cosmic “fuzziness” in our “truth.” In other papers and articles, I will detail a continual performance testing system that allows the StratFit mathematical framework to react to the vicissitudes of every athlete’s life. In the future, we will integrate greater machine learning and AI technologies to make this process even more precise at each moment.
In reality, all long-term practical precision is dependent on intelligent maintenance of fuzziness in the system. When we use a principle of applied science to make a calculation and decision we are momentarily freezing Atlas' grid over Chaos to facilitate precision in action. We act with potency and power to move forward toward achievement. As the science evolves Atlas' influence becomes more and more effective and pervasive, but the reality of Chaos is forever present and acknowledged. StratFit will never stultify.
A New System of Weights and Measures for Physical Training
When a new system of applied science establishes itself, the first product of that science is a new system of weights and measures for the phenomena of concern. The Actual Training LOAD is the foundational concept for a new “metric” system for physical training. In parts three, four, and five, I displayed the Loads of various competitive activities and standard training activities from the realms of Kratos and Hermes; lifting and running. By throwing Atlas’ gridwork over the dominions of both of these deities, the Loading concept uncovers synchronicities between them, as we saw in article 5. These synchronicities showed that my intuitions have indeed led to creating a whole universal system to measure training loads in the kingdom of Ares: the world of cross-training for competitive combat.
In the table above I aligned in rows the competitive and training activities that are close in terms of the Load. This visual reveals the syncretic nature of the Act-ual Loading concept. First we see in the realm of Kratos that the classic competitive activity of the Clean & Press from the Historic Weightlifting meet is almost exactly equal to the competitive Bench Press, this is an interesting correspondence between Historical Weightlifting and Modern Powerlifting.
The next interesting alignment is between the realms of Kratos and Hermes where we see that the competitive Deadlift, competitive Powerlifting Squat, and the the10,000-meter run are all within 0.30 from each other on the Loading grid.
Similarly, the Loads from the competitive Clean & Jerk, a 15 KM run, and medium training session (from the books on practical training programming) are almost all equal.
The Load that sprintworkouts.com determined to be large for a session/workout has only a 0.12 difference from what I had determined in my first white paper and described in article 4.
The difference between a half marathon and my determination of a large training day Load is only 0.34, which exactly jives with praxis in the world of Hermes, where marathon coaches consider a half-marathon an extensive training day.
Another Historical-Modern correspondence in the dominion of Kratos is that the Loads of a Historical 3 event Weightlifting meet (Snatch, Clean & Press, Clean & Jerk) and Modern Powerlifting 3 event meet (Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift) show only a 0.34 difference.
The final and ultimate synchronicity between the worlds of strength and endurance is that the Loading difference between an entire 4-event Powerlifting meet (Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Strict Curl) and a full Marathon is only 0.3.
In the various fields of engineering and the arts, we know that the more precise the measurement tools are, the more accurate or expressive the design will be. I believe the StratFit Actual Loading system provides the measurement system for strength & conditioning coaches to take their art to the highest level. I think that the combination of our Loading system of measurement and the intention of creative strength & conditioning coaches will take human performance to entirely new levels. In fact, the most fundamental of all areas of science points precisely in this direction.
Intention and Precision→ Domination
In 1927 German physicist Werner Heisenberg discovered that both the position and the velocity of an object cannot be measured precisely, at the same time, even in theory. This fact became known as the “Uncertainty Principle.” In ordinary life, the uncertainties implied by the principle are invisible. We can obviously determine the position and velocity of, say, a barbell moving in the snatch. But when physicists view atoms and sub-atomic particles through a microscope, the uncertainty of the particle's position or velocity becomes significant. When the viewer attempts to measure a particle's velocity, it knocks the particle about in a completely unpredictable way, making a determination of its position impossible. This is due to Wave/particle duality. Einstein first showed in 1905 that physical entities such as light and electrons possess both wavelike and particle-like characteristics. The intention of the experimenter/viewer affects the entity; if they attempt to view it as a wave, it presents itself as a wave. If they try to view it as a particle, it presents as a particle. Our actual gross material world is made up of this sub-atomic micro world, so the uncertainty principle is at play at the macro level, albeit through a much larger titanic view of time and in more subtle ways in our perceptual existence.
All of this naturally has implications for human achievement when viewed from a high enough vantage point. As the uncertainty principle and wave/particle duality show, after more than two millennia, physicists have proved the Heraclitan idea of the perpetual dynamic becoming of the physical world. Physics and computer science point to the notion that our universe is a dynamic coding system that preserves a certain amount of uncertainty (the eternal reign of Chaos) for further creative development. The contemporary American philosopher Jason Reza Jorjani has taken the idea further, stating that our cosmos is a quantum computational system. This machine has the function of perpetually generating meaning.
Since the universe is a dynamic coding system, when we create a new applied science by discovering a system of equations that gives us more control over nature, we are essentially writing new code to reprogram the cosmic software. We fundamentally change reality and open up new possibilities.
By establishing a new science, we at StratFit aren’t implying anyone has been doing everything wrong. Quite the contrary, to develop the system, we essentially looked at what everyone was doing right (the truth is what works) and used this collective accumulation of knowledge to create a more integral way of viewing the training process as a whole. This empowers trainers to continue doing what works, but with a higher vantage point and with a more enframed process, they will become increasingly “more correct” in practice.
I put forth the idea that in the training process, a coach/trainer is in the same position as the physicist when viewing a sub-atomic particle; their intention directly affects the athlete’s performance and adaptation to training on all levels. The trainer becomes the physicist and the athlete the particle. By bringing training science from the theoretical to the imminently applicable realm, we will provide coaches and trainers a fully integral conceptual framework to clarify, hone, and direct their intentions so that the athlete “presents” precisely as what they want to “view” right when they want to view it. Our goal is to make the craft of “peaking” athletic preparedness a scientific art or an artistic science.
The etymology of the word “theater” comes from “theory.” When a discipline of science remains in the theoretical realm, we remain spectators of the universal stage. When it becomes an applied science, we transform into players on the great cosmic stage of Becoming, and the possibility to Achieve Beyond blasts forth.
