C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Workload as an Important Factor in the Quest for Size and Strength      What follows is nothing more than some of the thoughts that have been rattling around in my training-filled brain since writing my last couple essays, the first on the “ Old School Way ” and my most recent one entitled “ Train Through the Soreness ,” both of which were also precipitated by my series on “ Tailoring Your Workout Program .”      I think it’s fair to say, or write in this instance, that modern gym-goers believe gains in muscle or strength (or both) comes down to “hard” training coupled with rest, recovery, and eating enough calories and protein.  I think that is true but only partially so.  Since it’s not the entire truth, however, it can hold you back from achieving (potentially) even better results in the gym.      The “whole truth” of muscle growth contains several factors.  If you want to prioritize muscle gr...

Tips and Advice for Tailoring Your Training Routine Part 2: Selecting a Program      In post-modern philosophy, there is a term that is important to understand.  I’m not a post-modernist myself—I am, if anything, an integralist , one who integrates different philosophies, East and West, into a singular whole—but I feel this concept is important.  It’s called “the myth of the given.”  The “myth” is when we take our given perception of things to be how they actually are.  We do this more often than we think.  It’s easy to understand this concept when it comes to simple objects, but less so when it comes to ideas.  We may not like how something tastes—raw oysters,for example—so we think oysters are simply bad.  Others, however, may love raw oysters—I could eat them by the bucket.  In this instance, it’s easy to see the myth of the given at work.  Even though you may find oysters personally unsettling, and it befuddles yo...

Build Massive Muscles and Monstrous Strength with Heavy, Old-School Dumbbell Training      I don’t know when it happened, or how it happened, but when it comes to strength and power training, we think of barbells and little else.  I’m guilty of this myself.  I’ve written before about using the “ two barbell workout .”  It’s a sound theory, don’t get me wrong.  Basically, if you start your workout session, any workout session, with 2 big, compound barbell lifts—say, front squats and power cleans—you can then do whatever else you want for the rest of the workout and you will get great results.  Or, heck, you can just do 2 compound barbell lifts and nothing else at each workout.  But there was a time not that long ago, when the largest, most massive, muscular, and strongest lifters on the planet—the so-called “Bronze era” of the late 19th century, early 20th century—when strongmen did most of their training with dumbbells and not b...