C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Use This Training Concept for Better Athletic Performance and/or New Gains in Size and Strength      In my article The Fighter’s Physique , I mentioned the benefit of “weaving” together one’s strength training with one’s fighting art in the same session.  While proper strength training improves athletic performance, martial arts or otherwise, it will have even more benefits when both the strength training and the sport one competes in are performed simultaneously.      This concept is nothing new.  The idea was originally “created” by German strength coach Peter Tschiene in the 1980s, though I have a feeling that other athletes going back decades—or perhaps even centuries—were already using the method, even if Tschiene coined the term “mixed training” and was the first to widely promote it.  Monks at the Shaolin Temple were combining resistance training—bodyweight calisthenics, isometric holds, and lifting stone locks (ca...

Some Thoughts on Programming Design and Proper Technique for Learning the Major Lifts Advice for Beginners or Those New to Full-Body Workouts or Serious Strength Training       Although I have covered the material below in various articles and essays, I wrote the following based on a couple of emails from new lifters that I have received the last few weeks.  If you’re new to full-body workouts or need to get “back to the basics” then pay attention!      When it comes to utilizing full-body workouts, I generally suggest using around 5 “big” compound lifts.  If you’re trying to pack on a lot of muscle—yes, this goes for any aspiring young bodybuilders who might actually be reading this instead of scrolling through mindlessly stupid Tik Tok shorts or YouTube videos that spit out the same information ad nauseam—then this is the route you want to take.  Whole body training isn’t just for strength training or for athletes, tho...