C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  For fans of Bill Starr - or if you've never heard of him but are  interested in one of the greatest strength training systems ever created - my new book "The Strongest Shall Always Survive: Lifting Lessons from an Iron Legend" is now available! You can purchase a copy from Amazon today.  Here is the link: The Strongest Shall Always Survive It is available in both a "trade" paperback or a Kindle e-book version. If you want to know more about ALL of my books available for purchase, then go to the My Books page of the blog.

UPDATE: This book is now available for purchase .  Go to the My Books link below for all of the details!  I have a new book coming soon.  It's titled "The Strongest Shall Always Survive: Lifting Lessons from an Iron Legend."  If you haven't guessed already, based on the title, it's on the training of Bill Starr.  It includes all of the H-L-M essays that I originally wrote for the blog, though they have all been revamped with new material, along with some never-before-published chapters.  Here is the tentative cover: Whether you're a long-time fan of Starr or this is your 1st time hearing of him, I think you will find plenty of great workouts, training ideas, tips, and strategies for getting bigger, stronger, and more athletic.  Outside of owning Starr's original book "The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football," it will be the best book available for understanding Starr's methods.  (Yes, I'm aware that I might be a bit b...

     When a lot of lifters consider “heavy, light, medium” training, if they even consider it at all, they probably think about Bill Starr and his “5x5” programs.  If you read this blog, then that’s probably especially so.  But maybe not.  After all, I have, on a few occasions, mentioned using the methodology for programs outside of Starr’s routines.  And, here’s the thing, that’s exactly how I want you to think about it.  Starr’s system is great.  I love it.  I write about it.  I will continue to love it and write about it.  But the truth is that it can be applied to all training programs, not just Starr’s.      It really comes down to using it as a way to manage load cycling , which I have written about in several articles and essays of late.  Load cycling is prevalent in almost all strength programs that have come out of Russia and other former “Soviet bloc” nations.  Probably t...

     This is my 2nd Q&A article.  If you want to read the first one, click HERE .  Here are some random questions that I received of late. Question: Can I use the 3 powerlifts as the only exercises in my program but do them for higher reps in order to build muscle? Answer:  Maybe.  (I know readers don’t care much for it, but as I pointed out in our 1st Q&A piece, the answer to a lot of questions is “maybe” or “it depends.”)  So, also, it depends.      I think the squat and the bench press should be mainstays of all hypertrophy programs, or at least the squat and the bench along with some iterations.  Ultimately, you wouldn’t want to just do squats for your legs or bench presses for your chests.  But squats along with front squats and lunges would be about all you need.  Bench presses along with dumbbell benches and incline bench presses, both the barbell and dumbbell version, would also be...

AKA: The 90% Rule for Mass and Power Some Thoughts and Programs on “Skill Training” as a Method for Gaining Size and Strength      In my recent essay “Heavy and High,” I suggested that the key to gaining mass for the natural bodybuilder lies in the ability to do programs that utilize both heavy weights and a high workload.  When a lot of modern bodybuilders think about training for hypertrophy, they largely think along the lines of training hard and then coupling this with plenty of rest and recovery.  Almost every program you encounter—whether you read about them, watch a YouTube video discussing it, or have a casual conversation about them with a fellow gym-goer—revolves around the balance of “intensity” with rest days after workouts.  The harder, or more , you train then the more you should rest.  I’m not denying here that workouts do, and should , involve those considerations, but I prefer lifters to think in terms of workload and work ...