C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

High-Volume, Low-Frequency Training for the Ultimate in Mass-Building Part Two More of Dennis Du Breuil’s “Ultimate Bulk and Power” Rules      After my brief interlude into the world of high-fat “anabolic” muscle-building diets, it’s time to continue with some more of Du Breuil’s old-school wisdom on building bulk and power, with some more than occasional comments from Greg Zulak, along with my wisdom—for what it’s worth—on the matter.   (If you haven’t done so by this point, read Part One first.) Rule 4: Use plenty of isolation movements in your routine.   Of all of Du Breuil’s “rules”, this one is going to be the most controversial for many of you reading this.   It goes against a lot of the stuff you’ve read in other places—heck, it goes against a lot of what I’ve said (or seems to) over the years.      But I think it has plenty of merit—for the advanced lifter, at least.      First off, Du Breuil believed that beginner and intermediate lifters did need to f

It Came from the ‘90s: The Anabolic Diet      Today, I sat down at my computer to write the second-part in my Denis Du Breuil “rules of bulk-building” when something I was writing (about the benefits of carbohydrates) made me think—for some odd reason—about Mauro Di Pasquale’s “anabolic diet”, a diet I had great success with in the mid ‘90s.   One of my training partners had even better success with it—I remember it vividly because it was the first time that I witnessed someone get bigger while staying very lean.   (These days, bodybuilders tend to know better.   But back then, the over-riding philosophy was that you bulked up as big as possible in the off-season—gaining a combination of fat, water, and muscle—and then got really lean starting 12 to 16 weeks out from a competition—or the summer, if you didn’t compete.   Of course, “over-riding philosophy” didn’t mean that everyone did it—there were some bodybuilders sounding the trumpet against such bulking strategies,

     For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, forgive my long delay in posts.  I have been going through some personal stuff the last couple of months—some of which I may write about at some point—and have found it difficult to write things for this blog.  Hopefully this post will be the first in many to come over the next month or two. High-Volume, Low-Frequency Training for the Ultimate in Mass-Building Part One Dennis Du Breuil’s “Ultimate Bulk and Power” Rules      Most of what I write on this blog deals with more of my recent training tactics—and the stuff I’ve written about the most recently revolves around my recent training strategies.   One problem I’ve always had as a writer on strength-training and muscle-building is that I’ve always—or almost always—been the kind of writer that has trouble writing about training other than what I was currently doing at the time.      When I first started writing for Iron Man magazine over 20 ye

Journal of Strength Monday, November 17, 2014      Today I did something that—to some lifters, at least—might seem rather odd.   I performed a full-body workout of whatever I felt like doing, for relatively moderate to high reps.   I had no idea what I was going to do, with the lone exception of the first exercise, until I actually started training.      This might seem even more odd for those of you who read this blog regularly, which includes me often praising—rather highly, I might add—the benefits of high-frequency training for multiple sets of low reps.      And here’s the thing: I actually think the kind of workout I did today can be highly effective, for a certain segment of the lifting population, at least.      First, a little backtracking is in order.      Last week I mentioned that I have been training using a regular program of high-set singles for the past few weeks.   I also mentioned in a previous post that I have been having some pain and numbnes

     While reading Nick Horton’s good blog “The Iron Samurai” the other day [1] , I came across this quote by the samurai Yamaoku Tesshu: “ In order to learn about the Way, forget about self and awaken to the truth… Exerting self is a mistake… We should not say “myself” — in truth there is no such thing… When there is no thought of self, true Bushido develops.” the samurai, and Zen master, Yamaoku Tesshu      The essence of Bushido is summed up in the last sentence.      When there is no thought of self, true Bushido develops .      Bushido—for those of you who are unaware—is often translated as “the way of the warrior” or, a more literal definition, “the samurai’s way.”   It is the way of one who practices Budo.   (Budo means “martial path”.)      I have often thought of lifting as a form of Budo, and my gym as the dojo.   (This is one reason that I enjoy lifting at home, in my garage dungeon gym.   It is not commercial, and, therefore, becomes more of a dojo tha

Journal of Strength Wednesday, November 12, 2014      My current workout program is a bit haphazard.   But it’s also enjoyable and effective for my current goals.      It’s haphazard in the fact that I pretty much do whatever I feel like on whatever days I feel like training.   Of course, to be honest, that’s not entirely the case, but it’s close to it.   There is some structure—I always begin each workout with high-set singles of one exercise.   I rotate between a few different exercises.   Deadlifts, power cleans, power snatches, full snatches, clean and presses, or one-arm dumbbell presses are the typical exercises, although occasionally I will do flat bench presses or squats.   Also, I sometimes do two exercises for high-set singles instead of just one, and I always finish the workout with two or three additional exercises of whatever I feel as if I should do, for two or three sets each of whatever rep range I feel like doing.      There is structure, t