C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Some Thoughts on How/When to Use Back-Off Sets, Add Extra Work, and Increase the Total Workload of Your Training      The other day, I received an email from a reader who wanted to know my advice on back-off sets and how to use them.  His question was based on the fact that he was having a hard time increasing the weight on his “top-end” sets using a standard 5x5 training model.  This essay is partly an answer to that question but, in addition to that, I want to use it to discuss how (and when) you should not only do back-off sets but also when a lifter should add extra work, whether that additional training is at the end of a workout or in another workout altogether.  The goal of all of this being, of course, greater strength on the core lifts, whatever those core lifts might be, whether you’re a powerlifter attempting to increase the three powerlifts, an Olympic lifter looking to increase your quick lifts, or just an “all-around” strength...

Advice from Bill Starr (and Myself) for the Midlife Bodybuilders and Lifters      Last week, I overdid it.  I should know better.  Actually, I do know better.  But, like all former elite athletes I’ve ever met with decades of training under their lifting belts, there are workouts and weeks when I decide to do a little too much—train too heavy, do cardio that is  way too intense—if nothing than to see if I can still handle it.  Kinda stupid, I know.  But I still do it.  And every time that I do this, reality comes crashing back down to earth and I know I need to settle into a kinder, gentler training routine.  How do I know I overdid it?  Because I hurt like hell in my joints and pretty much want to take a nap all day long instead of staring at this computer screen and writing the very thing that you’re now reading.      If you’re in your 40s and 50s, and have trained for a considerable amo...

  A Bill Starr-Inspired Program for Advanced Strength and Power Athletes      One of my favorite programs for strength athletes is the heavy-light-medium program as it was designed by Bill Starr.  I’ve written about the HLM system aplenty over the years—including my recent 7-part series on how to train with it.  (Consider this an unofficial Part 8.)  Once you’ve used it for a lengthy period of time, it’s wise to add an extra session so that you are training more than just 3 days a week.  This is exactly what Starr himself recommended.  He utilized a heavy-light-light-medium system for this extra day of training.  If you’ve been training Monday (heavy), Wednesday (light), and Friday (medium) then you move to an extra light day on Tuesday, one with an even lower workload than the Wednesday workout.  I have recommended that exact plan myself.  However, as the years have gone by and I have trained more and more lifters, ...