C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  The Two Keys to Mass-Building, Strength-Training Success      The other day, in my essay on the “ 2 principles of strength training ,” I outlined what I believe are the two most important principles for continued results in strength training or muscle-building (or a combination of the two).   In many ways, those two principles revolve around staying consistent and injecting variety into your programs.   So, here, I want to present some thoughts on much the same concept but frame it in a slightly different manner to touch upon varied aspects of proper programming.   I’m going to call these the “two keys to success” and they are: 1.       You must be consistent. 2.       You must inject variety into your program.      Consistency is the key for continued success, make no bones about it.   This is true no matter your goal.   You must train consistently to impro...

  Whether You’re After Strength, Size, or Looking to Get Shredded, You MUST Follow These 6 Keys to Progress      Many lifters become frustrated because they can’t seem to make consistent progress.  It doesn’t matter what their goals may be, either, whether they want to get massive, build incredible strength, or just lose some bodyfat.  In this essay, we will look at what I believe are some of the major keys to ensuring you progress consistently, regardless of your specific goal.      Before we get around to these keys, let me say one thing that sometimes gets missed when pursuing a lifting/bodybuilding goal: gains are rarely, if ever, linear.  The truth is that gains are almost always non-linear.  There do seem to be a small segment of trainees who achieve linearity in their progress, but they are always the exception rather than the rule.  You see this misunderstanding most notably among the general populat...

Stillness, Rest, and Relaxation The Forgotten Keys to Muscle Growth Epictetus, the founder of Stoicism, one of the inspirations for this article. “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit alone with himself in a room.” ~Blaise Pascal I begin our essay with this quote from the great French writer, philosopher, and Catholic theologian, not just because 2023 is the 400th anniversary of his birth, and not just because I believe in the utter, complete truth of the statement, but because it can easily apply to all of man’s problems—including, whether you believe it or not, your goal of getting bigger, stronger, or the combination of both. That’s correct, man’s inability to rest in stillness (and woman’s, too, although women actually tend to be naturally better at this than men) often prevents one from achieving his/her muscle-building, strength-gaining, physique-enhancing goals. Now, as I mentioned, you may not believe this, and if you don’t, then I only ask that you sus...