C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The Mass-Building, Split Training Ultimate! Creating the Ultimate “Split” Workout Program Within the last few weeks I’ve been receiving e-mails that go something like this: “Okay, Sloan, I get it! Full-body workouts are perfectly capable of building muscle mass—hell, they might even be the best muscle building workouts!—but the problem is this: I don’t enjoy full-body workouts . So... if you were to design a split workout program for someone, what would it look like?” Before we go any further, let me say this: I am not “opposed” to split training programs. I just think for the average lifter/bodybuilder who has limited time to lift weights—and also doesn’t mind a little something called effort —full-body workouts are the best way to go. However, I also understand that there are a lot of serious lifters who love following split workout programs. And—since you’re not going to stick with a workout program that you don’t enjoy doing (not for long, at

What follows is the unedited version of my last article that was in Planet Muscle magazine. I love PM —it looks great, Everson includes plenty of articles with varying opinions—but when my "Alien Mass" article appeared in it, I was a little disappointed (and not just because Josh Bryant's name was attached it to). PM had changed some of the content to make it more "bodybuilding magazine friendly." What follows is the original draft that I wrote. Enjoy. Alien Mass 9 Keys for Out-of-this-World Muscle Growth The movie “Plan 9 From Outer Space” is generally considered the worst movie of all time. That’s saying something when you consider just how many bad movies have come out even in the past year. Well, while “Plan 9” might be a disaster of epic proportions, in this article I’m prepared to unleash my own “Plan 9” alien mass attack—to allow you to grow epic proportions of muscle mass. Here are 9 keys for outrageous, out-of-th

Every so often I come across an article that I wholeheartedly agree with. The following article, from T-Nation , is one such piece. This one's written by a guy named Jackson Yee—who I've never heard of—but if this article is any indication of his training philosophy, then I'm sure I will enjoy other stuff that he writes. What he says about full-body workouts is especially true. Although it's been many years ago—as in back in the mid '90s for me—I went through something similar when I switched from one-bodypart-per-week training to full body sessions. Check it out: Morphing From Blobby Bodybuilder to Bad Ass by Jackson Yee For 20 years I was obsessed with getting big. I was a bag of bones when I graduated from high school and didn't even break 100 pounds. I was tired of looking like a skeleton, so I put all my effort into developing as much muscle mass as possible. I was fully dedicated to transferring my skinny five-foot-four frame into a meathead. With hard

First off, the good news: I have an article in the latest issue of Planet Muscle magazine entitled "9 Keys for Alien Mass." The bad news: Josh Bryant is listed as the author, and not me. Oh, well; it was an honest mistake by Everson and crew. Anyway, check out the article; it's more "bodybuilding" than some of my other articles, which means that you will probably enjoy it either more or less than the others.

First off —for those of you who enjoy reading my blog—forgive me for my lack of posts. I have been inundated as of late with work (I have a regular job, and have had to rotate shifts recently—which really blows!) and with family obligations (both of my sons play football, so I have multiple practices—and games—to attend). So, when I have had time to write, I have been working on articles. On top of that, add in the fact that I try to fit in 3 to 4 workouts per week, and, well, this blog just kind of took a back seat. Hopefully, however, I can fit in at least 3 or 4 posts per month from now. So—with that out of the way—on with this latest post... High Frequency Training That Works Most of you know that I have long been a proponent of high-frequency training. While I don't think that it has to be performed all the time—and there are certainly other ways to train—I do think that it's one of the more effective forms of training. For instance, I would say that a prop

Only recently—as in the past six months or so—have I started paying attention to the bodybuilding coach Scott Abel. He's been around for a long time—I first became familiar with his name some 15 years ago when he had some articles about him (probably articles written by Greg Zulak) in MuscleMag International. And although I was somewhat familiar with his training concepts—I seem to recall that his "innervation training" was the first thing I heard about—I never really thought that he had anything revolutionary. As with a lot of things in life, it turns out that I was dead wrong about him. Abel might just be the best bodybuilding coach out there. Now, when you first read his training programs, you probably won't think that—not until you understand all of the nuances and details that his programs entail; nuances and details that I am really just starting to grasp. So, by all means, I would encourage anyone interested in bodybuilding to immerse yourself in studying—a