- KING’S CHARACTER -

CORE VALUES
AND MISSION

The character of any individual or organization is

defined by their deeply held core values.  

The core values of an organization are evidenced by

how the people in an organization treat one another and
their clients. But more important than core values (and the
virtues they embody) is the reason why these core values
exist.  

They exist because someone has to step up to

exemplify these core values, and teach them to the
organization.  Not surprisingly, the person that holds the
greatest responsibility for protecting an organization's core
values is their leader.  

As founder of Strength Camp, that responsibility

ultimately rests on me.  

The Strength Camp Core Values have grown out of my

personal experiences as a team sports athlete, a professional
strongman, a strength coach, a father, a husband and a
businessman.
 The Strength Camp Core Values follow an archetypal
theme, or themes following patterns, that we also recognize
in religion, poetry, mythology, personal growth methods, and
life philosophies of all sorts.

Within each of us is a tendency toward gaining

knowledge, having a purpose, enjoying compassionate
intimacy, and having the awareness of a legacy that we
want to leave behind.

Everywhere we look we can see these themes taking

shape, whether in ourselves or in others.  

These four virtues of knowledge, purpose, intimacy,

and legacy make up merely a fraction of our core values and
all other qualities that they embody. I will share these core
values with you in just a moment, but the most important
thing here is that we must find and create a balance between
these core values.

Before we get to that, I want to first share with you a

bit more about myself.

I’ve Alway Had a Purposeful Warrior’s

Mindset
 I was a football player in high school and college. After
college, I applied to join the U.S Marines, ranked as an
officer.

As I was packing my bags to take off for Officer

Candidate School, I received word that my ship-out date had
been delayed.  After being delayed twice, I decided to
continue in my vocational work as a personal trainer.

As a personal trainer and strength coach, I had the

opportunity to keep my Warrior's Mindset alive, not only
vicariously through the athletes that I trained but also
through my competing in the brutal sport of strongman.
 
Using this very same Warrior’s Mindset, I battled my
way to the top of my vocation and industry, while raising a
family of six.

So if there is anyone who knows how to live a modern-

day, civilized Warrior’s life, it’s your old friend E Hulse here,
as I’ve done a lot of slashing, succeeding, and conquering.

Yet…

I Also Know What It Feels Like to Be a

Failure

I felt like a failure when my football coach told me I

was too stupid to play offense.
 I felt like a failure when the people I called “friends”
betrayed me, and I ended up in jail.

I felt like a failure when a girl, whom I’d secretly

admired for months and brought flowers to, laughed at me
and called me ugly.

Experiences, especially painful ones, shape our

character.  Every time we are judged, punished, or rejected, a
part of our true character gets cast into the shadows of our
consciousness.  

These unresolved “shadow” issues keep us

unbalanced.  I’ll explain in more detail what these shadow
issues are, but for now, they may keep you from speaking up
when you’ve been wronged; they may cause you to fear
failure; and they may even keep you from ever enjoying
intimate and loving relationships with others.

They become our character.  

My own character has been greatly shaped by the

experiences I’ve just shared with you but also perhaps by
countless other experiences. Some of my experiences can be
consciously recalled, whereas others rule me at the
subconscious level.

Right now, you are also being greatly influenced by the

experiences you’ve had in this lifetime… and perhaps by
even countless other lifetimes.
 Your Character Is Your Destiny

Now join me for a moment in this train of thought, as it

follows a lot of the ideas and philosophies that I will soon
share with you throughout this book.

Just like how an actor or actress dresses up for a role

in a movie, you and I, too, wear a “costume,” our physical
bodies, to play our own characters in life.

Our characters can be revealed in the way we carry

ourselves and even in our posture, for example. Even these
subtle shifts in body language can further be heavily affected
by how we feel about ourselves at any given moment.

In later chapters of this book, I will introduce you to

some of the latest research on trauma psychology, the field in
psychology that attempts to understand the impact of
traumatic events on a person’s psyche.  Many prominent
scientists and therapists have shown that the ramifications
of the pain we’ve experienced (mostly in early-life) can
manifest themselves in our physical bodies.

Think of it this way: your physical body must change--

grow stronger, in this case--to meet the demands of your
exercise program, but it must also change to meet the
emotional demands of your own life.
 However, in many cases, these demands cause us to
reject or ignore critical parts of our nature in favor of self-
preservation.

A good example of what I mean is to look at the

different behaviors of two young men:

One young man grows up in a house with an abusive

father.  The boy may decide that he must be the “hero” of his
home to protect his mother and siblings from the tyrant
father.  Further, this boy chooses that in order to overcome
his father’s aggression he must “stand tall” and “keep his
chest up.”

Another young man growing up in a similar

environment may decide that it is best to keep quiet and
remain unseen by the father, in order to avoid his attacks.
For naming’s sake, we’ll call him the “coward.”

Both the “hero” and the “coward” create psychological

defenses to protect themselves in these scenarios, but their
physical bodies also begin to personify a “big-chested hero”
or a “coward with his tail between his legs”, respectively.

The hero may find that it becomes difficult to breathe

when his father is present.  He has trouble breathing
perhaps because he is physically holding his belly in and his
chest high. He doesn’t realize it yet, but this manner of
breathing is physically impeding him.
 Likewise, the coward takes shallower breaths to avoid
being noticed by the raging father. Unfortunately, this
manner of breathing also becomes a physical impediment for
him.

The young men in both examples are suffering, albeit a

little differently: one from being overly stimulated, whereas
the other is under-stimulated. These muscular holding
patterns (that is, a high chest versus a caved chest and
depressed posture) not only disrupt the boys’ ability to
breathe fully and deeply, but they also have a deeper
psychological and physiological impact on their health and
character.

If either of these boys grows up playing the character

of “hero” or “coward”, he may subconsciously
overcompensate with one of our core values, at the
diminishment of the others.

When core values are unbalanced, this can manifest in

the young person's personal life and in their physical bodies.
Similar to how the young man has paved his destiny and
character, we might even say that we are being our destiny
right now.

The road to changing our character, to becoming the

Strongest Version of Ourselves and living out an enjoyable
destiny, has two paths: of soul and of body.
 We must travel both paths in order to work on both
our mental character (soul) and our physical character
(body), and ultimately, to Grow Stronger.

This book reflects the duality of my approach to

achieving the Strongest Version of myself. By having read
this far, you’ve already begun to move the wheels of your
own destiny and shape your character through learning the
importance of the core values discussed within this chapter.

The remainder of the book will focus on developing the

physical character, the body, through exercise, diet, and a
better understanding of our physiology and psyche.

Transformation of mind and body begins to take

place when we choose our core values.

As we continue through this book, we will travel back

and forth between ideas and the application of exercises that
aim to transform both our minds and our bodies, so that we
may become Stronger Versions of Ourselves.  
 The Four Strength Camp Core Values

Each of our four Strength Camp Core Values relates to

a type of spiritual energy, which Carl Jung, the father of
analytical psychology, called archetypes.

An archetype is simply a pattern.  

According to Jung, there are very measurable

patterns within the human experience.  Some of these
patterns are much more grand in scale, like the rise and fall
of world empires, while some are less visible and seemingly
insignificant, like your daily rituals.

According to Neo-Jungian Professor, Robert Moore,

PhD, there are FOUR very distinct patterns within human
behaviour.

These four archetypes work together to make a person

whole. We each have some portion of each archetype.

#1 - The Warrior aspect: The disciplined, purposeful,

decisive, and devoted parts of you.

#2 - The Magician aspect: The knowledgeable, objective,

competent, and wise parts of you.

#3 - The Lover aspect: The sensual, compassionate,

vulnerable, and intimate parts of you.
#4 - The King (or Queen) aspect: The generous, authentic,
integrous, and legacy part of you.

Balancing the Four Strength Camp Core Values

As I mentioned earlier, A Warrior’s Mindset had

always come easily to me.  But it has taken me many years
to mend the wounds of my Lover or Magician aspects.

Things might be a little different for you, but the fact

remains that we’re all doing our best to live a joyful and
BALANCED life.
 When consciously choosing our core values, we strive
to create a balance of Warrior, Magician, Lover, and King.

Core Values of a Strength Camp King

Core Value #1. ACCOUNTABILITY (Warrior)-

Accountability represents the Warrior aspect of our system.  
The virtues associated with this aspect are: Discipline,
Decisiveness, Purpose, and Devotion.

Core Value #2. PROGRAMMING (Magician)-

Programming represents the Magician aspect of our system.  
The virtues associated with this aspect are: Competency,
Objectivity, Knowledge, and Wisdom.

Core Value # 3. COMMUNITY (Lover) - Community

represents the Lover aspect of our system.  The virtues
associated with this aspect are: Sensuality, Compassion,
Vulnerability, and Intimacy.

Core Value # 4. COACHING (King or Queen)- Coaching

represents the King aspect of our system.  The virtues
associated with this aspect are: Generativity, Integrity,
Authority, and Legacy.

Accountability Virtues
Devotion: Strength Camp is about being DEVOTED to a
higher sense of Self, or whatever you perceive to be a
Stronger Version of Yourself.  There is no requirement to
devote yourself to anyone, or anything else, but your own
ideal Self.

This might sound selfish to some, but later on, I will

discuss how “I-Love” is the prerequisite for “We and All-
Love.”

Purpose: Strength Camp is about having a PURPOSE

toward that which we direct our efforts for growing stronger.  
Our reason for becoming a Stronger Version of Ourselves
must be bigger than ourselves.

Purpose is your Why, the underlying reason for your

being a Strength Camp member.  Ask yourself honestly: why
become a stronger you?  

Decisiveness: Strength Camp is about being DECISIVE

when choosing what is right for you.  Oftentimes, you may
wait for the stars to align or for someone else's permission
before choosing.

You have a primal sense about what is right and good for
you at any given moment.  Choose to take decisive action on
what you believe in.

Discipline: Strength Camp is about having the

DISCIPLINE to do what you have to do, whether you feel like
it or not.  When you choose who you want to become, and
what you need to do to get there, you just do it.

Nothing worthwhile is ever built without a healthy

dose of self-detachment, or being able to step away from
situations that may hinder you.  Discipline yourself and
work every day on the things that are necessary for growing
stronger.  

Programming Virtues
Knowledge: Strength Camp is about exploring a wide
spectrum of ideas, philosophies, and scientific concepts, with
the aim of applying what is good and useful to our lives and
the lives of others.  

When we are aware of our ignorance and make efforts

to gain knowledge, we are actively growing stronger.

Competence: Strength Camp is about gaining mastery

in areas of knowledge that are interesting and useful to you.  
Mastery requires that you can competently apply your
acquired knowledge.

Competence comes from the experiences of having

applied knowledge, and is required for living an effective life.  

Objectivity: Strength Camp is about being open-

minded to new ways of thinking, training, and being. We
remain objective by taking an “outsider’s view” of our ideas,
beliefs, biases, and feelings.

Objectivity releases us from our personal shackles,

and gives us a more holistic perspective on the people and
circumstances that life presents us.  

Wisdom: Strength Camp is about giving ourselves, as

well as the people in our lives, the time necessary to learn
and grow.  Some things can only be learned through
experience, and with experience comes wisdom.

Wisdom requires patience, which in turn, may be the

guiding principle in nature.  As famous American poet and
philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it, “Adopt the pace of
Nature, her virtue is patience.”

Community Virtues

Sensuality: Strength Camp is about being deeply in

touch with your senses. By listening to the subtle language of
our bodies and minds, we are more grounded in our choices
and behavior.

When we hear, trust, and act based upon the primal

wisdom of our bodies, we are being guided by “the Holy
Spirit.”
 Human beings have more than just the five senses of
seeing, smelling, hearing, touching, and tasting; we also have
reasoning, will, memory, perception, imagination, and
intuition, all of which should be given ample consideration.

Vulnerability: Strength Camp is about being honest

with ourselves so that we may ultimately have the strength
to be honest with others.  Instead of
protecting ourselves by willfully remaining ignorant about
our real hopes, dreams, fears, and general feelings, we can
observe ourselves and make peace with our frailty as
humans.

When we are honest with ourselves, we are confident

enough to allow ourselves to be vulnerable with others,
without fear of rejection.  

There is great strength in allowing yourself to be

vulnerable.

Compassion: Strength Camp is about realizing our

own imperfections so that we may have compassion for
others. Human beings are social by nature.  We are deeply
dependent on one another.  

Compassion allows us to forgive ourselves, forgive

others, and allow for warming intimacy.

With compassion, we can all be more accepting,

knowing that there is a soft spot in ourselves, as well as a
soft spot in others.
 That we are to love others, just as we love ourselves.  

Intimacy: Strength Camp is about community.  For

any healthy community to survive, there must be a healthy
amount of intimacy.  We develop intimate bonds--either
consciously or subconsciously--with all of the people in our
world.

We all want a safe environment in which we can be

ourselves and enjoy one another.

Coaching Virtues
Integrity: Strength Camp is about aligning our actions
with our deepest held beliefs.  When we are clear about our
Core Values and allow them to guide the choices we make, we
become mentally and physically aligned.

Integrity is about a common thread between our

thoughts, words, actions, habits, and characters.

Authority: Strength Camp is about writing the book on

our own lives.  By assuming authorship, we are the authority
of our own experiences.  It is after self-authorship, knowing
our own experiences and circumstances, that authority
amongst men begins.

When we take responsibility for the people and

circumstances that we have written into our lives, we are
more likely to draw the very best of those people and
circumstances toward ourselves.
 Generativity: Strength Camp is about “paying it
forward”, the idea of repaying a good deed by helping others.
In life, we will have received support from everyone,
including our mothers who brought us into this world or
perhaps a stranger who saved your life.  

We ascend in life through the altruisms and blessings

of others, and it is our human responsibility to pass on these
blessings to others--to pay it forward. Everything--from a
firm pat on the back to saving someone’s life--generates hope
for the future of our human family.  

Generativity means sowing positive seeds in the hope

for a fruitful future, even long after you’ve passed away.

Legacy: Strength Camp is about realizing that the

world doesn’t end at our front door.  We are all part of an
awesome Universe, so vast and indescribable.

Yet the ripples we create from our actions can effect

change.  Your Legacy is measured by both the quality and
quantity of ripples that you’re sending out at this very
moment.

We are life, and life is happening to us.

These four Strength Camp Core Values, along with their

connective virtues, are our tools for reconstructing our
characters into the Strongest Version of Ourselves.
As the Strongest Version Of Ourselves, it is our main mission
in life to empower one another.

Hence, the mission of this program is to:

Become the Strongest Version of Ourselves, and to

empower one another.