C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Minimalistic Programs for Strength and Power, Added Size, or an Aesthetic Physique      The other day I was at the grocery store stocking up on meat, veggies, and my other pantry mainstay, dog food and treats.  If you have a couple of Labradors who you consider part of the family, then you understand.  I’d actually go to the grocery store less but one of my dogs’ favorite pastimes is riding there, so we go a few times a week.  Anyway, on this particular day, I decided to look over the magazine rack—I’m glad that enough people read so that the magazine section still exists, despite the preponderance of fluff that most of them are filled with.  Obviously, I decided to peruse the “fitness” magazines, just to see what-the-heck are the current fads in training and to see what crap is currently being hawked in the advertisements.  But then I opened a pop-psychology rag and came across an interesting study that claimed that depression is direct...

Re-Thinking “Light” Day Training and the Need for “Play” in Your Workouts      In my last essay on Spring Training , I mentioned briefly that summertime is, from a training perspective, the time for “play.”  This is not the essay for summer training—we’ll save that, you know, come summertime—but I do want to discuss the need for lifting sessions that are play no matter the season or how it is that you train.  That’s right.  All year-long, you should do at least some “play” workouts where you experiment with new things, try out some “odd” lifts or set/rep sequences, and, perhaps above all, just have some fun .      One of the best times for play is during your “light” day sessions, whether you follow a structured program such as Bill Starr’s heavy-light-medium system or if you are just more intuitive about it and throw in a light workout when you feel as if your body could need or use it.  Play is essential for cont...