C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

      I had a question from a reader who wanted to know if I knew of any training program that was capable of both building muscle and burning bodyfat at the same time.  If you’re unaware, it’s widely considered damn-near impossible to achieve that feat.  Even guys on anabolics have a problem with doing such a thing, although the introduction of steroids, and other performance-enhancing drugs, into your system would definitely aid in such an attempt.      I have written before about the one time that I was capable of doing this myself.  When I was in my early 20s, my workout partner Dusty and I (may his memory be eternal) managed to build some muscle and lose some bodyfat at the same time by following the “anabolic diet.”  If you want to know more about that particular diet—and how we managed such a feat—then read this essay .  But that wasn’t the response I gave to this particular questioner.  Although I di...

  Muscle-Building Resolutions:  Part One - Eating for Mass Garrett Sloan takes his muscle-building diet serious, and the results show.      It is, once again, the start of a new year, the time of year—the only time it seems—when the majority of people (at least here in America) make some “serious” resolutions, which usually involves either kicking a habit or getting in better shape.  Typically, “losing weight” is the New Year’s resolutions’ raison d’etre.  But “losing weight” is really no better of a resolution than “gaining weight” if you’re a bodybuilder or strength athlete.  In other words, it’s just too damn vague.      I thought this week and the next, I would post a few “resolutions” articles.  This one, quite obviously, is for those of you with the resolution to get big, or get jacked, or get massive, or, well, you get the point.  This one is all about building mass for the new year, with the emp...

  A.K.A.: The Pork Chop Diet vs the Steak and Beer Diet! Or How to Eat What You Want and STILL Build Muscle and Stay Lean (or Get Lean) and Some Other (Possibly) Slightly More Nonsensical Stuff Mariusz Pudzianowski was a strongman that ate TONS of highly processed food, and was still jacked. (photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)      Last month, I wrote a piece on nutrient timing/combining, and how this is a possible route to building muscle, burning body fat, and just staying in all-around good shape.  This is essentially just more of the same, with some of the thoughts flowing through my incessant mind stream—sometimes it seems more like a river—of different ideas and views on the subject, or similar subjects, as that post a month ago, most of it precipitated by a clip I saw from a Joe Rogan podcast.  (That’s one of the problems with being a writer.  Some people might think that being a writer is “nice” or something that they might want to ...