C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

                     While doing research for my last article, I was re-reading Bradley Steiner’s original “Rugged Size and Strength” essay (from 1972) and came across this bit of advice: “Do not attempt to set up a pre-planned schedule of either sets or reps.”  That may not seem like much—it’s the kind of “basic” advice that’s easily overlooked—but there is wisdom in it, minimal as it may seem at first glance.      Depending on the workout program and the lifting population it’s aiming for, that quote could be either good or bad.  It’s not good advice for a beginner’s program, any beginner’s program.  It’s not good advice for intermediate or advanced lifters, either, who are attempting a new workout program or a new “style” of lifting that they haven’t utilized before.  For instance, if you’ve been training for the past decade on a bodybuilding workout consi...

       There are, I suppose, a few different “principles” involved in strength training.   You need to train with heavy weights to get strong.   You need to eat enough protein on a regular basis to gain muscle.   You need to follow a program instead of just “working out.”   I could go on and on.   So, what could possibly be the two most important principles of strength training?   Perhaps if you ask me again next week or next month or next year, I might give a different answer.   But I doubt it.   Anyway, the two principles of strength training are (drumroll, please): 1.       Everything works. 2.       Everything works… for about 6 to 8 weeks.      I am not the first trainer (or bodybuilder or powerlifter) to write this.   I won’t be the last.   Most lifters who take seriously their training discover it on their own without anyone tellin...

Now that 2024 is behind us, I thought I would do a "Top 10" post for the start of 2025.  Many of you may be knee-deep at the moment in trying to achieve some of your New Year's resolutions - assuming you haven't quit already😏.  Well, if getting big and/or strong  is at the top of your list of resolutions, perhaps some of the following essays and articles from last year might help. The following were the top 10  most read  posts from 2024: The Look of Power Size AND Strength: The Best Way to Train for Both Easy Muscle Classic Bodybuilding: How to Gain 50 Pounds of Muscle, Part One (and if you find Part One interesting, make sure you check out Parts Two and Three ) Long, Hard, or Frequent Training The High-Frequency Training Manifesto Old-School, Full-Body Mass Building Power Bodybuilding The Full-Body Big Barbell 5 Program And the #1 most read post... Marvin Eder's Mass-Building Methods

  Designing Your Own Workout Program Part One: Full-Body Workouts      I thought it would be a good idea to do a series on how to design your own workout program.  How much interest there is in this first piece will determine how many entries total that I do in the series.  We will start with full-body workouts, since that is where everyone needs to begin their training journey.  If you’ve been following any “pre-designed” workouts—even if it’s one of my own here on the blog—you should also start your own programming design with full-body workouts.  And they are, of course, a great way to get “back-to-the-basics” of training no matter how long you’ve been working out, so this essay is also a good read for any of you “bro split” folks out there who have been doing one-bodypart-a-day workouts (or something similar) for no telling how long.      Following a workout program is essential to attaining the goals and res...

Slow and Steady Wins the Hypertrophy Race An “Easy” One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart Muscle-Building Program      Part of effective programming—whether you’re trying to build muscle, gain strength, or a combination of both—is learning how to balance volume, frequency, and intensity.  I often write that you must have two of the factors high —or one high and the other moderate—and the remaining factor must be low.  If you’re going to train with a lot of volume and intensity, then your frequency must be low (the standard method of training these days).  If you’re going to train using a high-frequency program—of which I am admittedly and unabashedly a fan—then you need to keep either your volume or your intensity low.  And so on and so forth.  But you can also do a program where all of the factors are moderate .  The program I want to present here takes this latter approach.      I have actually wanted to write about t...