C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Learn the Training Methods and Workout Programs of the Silver Age Bodybuilders      What follows is, in many ways, nothing more than an extension of some of the subjects I have been discussing in recent articles, such as Part 3 of my ongoing Tailoring Your Workouts series, and my other essays on The Old-School Way , Effective Full-Body Training , and How to Train Through the Soreness . Enter Old-School      Old-school bodybuilders knew how to build muscle.  In many ways, I think the training methods and workout programs they utilized were a lot better than the routines of the modern bodybuilder.  I also realize that modern bodybuilders—many of whom have larger, sometimes much larger, muscles than their old-school counterparts—might scoff at such an idea.  After all, hasn’t training evolved in the last few decades?  Don’t modern bodybuilders know more about the “science” of hypertrophy than bodybuilders whose heyday...

  Winter is the Time for Bulk Building      A couple of occurrences precipitated this essay.  First, my last article on the legendary powerlifter Hugh Cassidy.  His training is just the kind of program anyone seeking bulk should follow.  And not just his style of training, but most certainly his “method” of eating.  You know, if you can call scarfing down every calorie-laden, protein-packed, carb-loaded thing in sight a method.  Second, and most obvious, the cold.  Much of our country, as I type these words on my laptop, snug against the warmth of my fireplace, is in the grip of a bone-chilling freeze.  Even in the Deep South of Alabama where I live, work, and train (outdoors), we have been told by the wintry weather prognosticators that it will only get slightly above freezing as the high for the week.      I have long believed that we should do “seasonal” training.  Too many lifters, train a...