The Way of the Ronin

The Ronin, for those who don't know were Samurai in feudal Japan who for various reasons no longer had a home or clan. This could be for many reasons. Their master could have died, the Samurai was disgraced and kicked out of the clan, or in later times due to Japanese law their land could have been annexed by the government causing the same issue. When any of these things happened the Samurai were supposed to kill themselves or lose their honor forever. If they chose not to then they were deemed "Ronin." This was supposed to be a disgraceful label but as time went on many more warriors became part of this class rather than disembowel themselves to save face. From here they would have to strike out on their own and figure out ways to survive. Many became mercenaries and others found work as farmhands or the like. In any case they were no longer in the fold and structure they were used to. They had to go figure out what to do on their own with no guidance. I know...I know. This is supposed to be a blog on training, diet, and other things of that nature not a history lesson. I promise we're getting there.

This is where the Ronin Strength philosophy comes from. For me, I was a partner at a local gym. It was great times and I still love the people there. If you are in Westfield, Indiana you should definitely drop in at CrossFit Thrive and check them out. I tend to be restless though and decided it was time to move on from that project and focus on my own competitive strength endeavors. I more or less, became a Ronin. Even though I sold the gym and everything was pretty smooth transitioning out there was the bitter-sweetness that is to be expected with such a big change, I found myself no longer directly a part of the community I had come to rely on for support. I realized the way I trained had to change, I needed to find training partners, coaches, or a combination of all three. It was an interesting opportunity. Over the past six months I have had to try new ideas on how to train, I had to get used to doing the majority of my training by myself yet still push hard enough to get the results if I was going to be a Strongman Competitor on the national level. It had it's highs and lows but overall I have learned a ton and have been blessed by the blessings and challenges that come with an education bred from experience.

I feel like this can apply to many of you out there as well. So many of us grew up playing sports on teams where our training was laid out for us. We didn't really have to think. We just had to show up and be ready to work. It was hard work, but it was totally doable because it was dropped on us and we had no choice but to put our heads down and grind it out. Once you get out of High School or College though, depending on how far you made it, circumstances change big time. You no longer have a coach yelling at you to do one more rep or work harder. If you didn't develop that voice in your head to drive you then you were out of luck. Add to that the fact that your metabolism starts to slow down so what you eat starts to actually matter, you get busier than you ever were in school with a 40-60 hour a week job, your married, you have kids, etc. It can seem daunting to get back on the ball and reawaken your inner ass kicker. Let me say that I want to be here to inspire you and say that those days do not have to drift into the background of your past. Your time to be awesome has not yet passed. You may think you don't have the time or energy to get after it in the gym, but you do. If it's a priority then you will MAKE it a priority. If you make time to watch TV every night for 1-2 hours you can do some push ups during the commercials. Be like the Ronin. Do not drop to your knees and accept what society says your fate should be or embrace the boring life of menial labor. Get off your ass and go conquer some shit!

Talk to you soon,

Dan Mason

Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com

Instagram: @RoninSTR