C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

       Vince Gironda—the famed "Iron Guru"—had some of the wildest tips and techniques for building muscle than any bodybuilding trainer who ever lived.  Not only that, but he was solely responsible for some of the best training programs ever invented.      A little lesson from the past: Sometime in the late '90s (I can't remember the exact year), Charles Poliquin published his "German Volume Training" in the pages of the now defunct, but on the whole outstanding publication Muscle Media 2000 .  (This was before MM2K became just plain ol'  Muscle Media , and from then on just plain ol' sucked!)  German Volume training was decidedly effective, true, but Poliquin marketed it as some kind of new, "revolutionary" program, which it, sorry to say, clearly wasn't.  It was the old standby "10 sets of 10" regimen that I had written about in IronMan magazine  as early as '94, and the very program that Vince Gironda created  at

Gene Mozee's Advice and Tips for Building a Massive, Deep, Chiseled Chest! Gene Mozee in his younger days, and in more recent years      When I was much younger—14 or 15—and just starting on my career in bodybuilding, strength training, and physique transformation, there were several writers who made a deep impression on my young, impressionable mind.  When it came to basic, barbell training, it was the likes of Mike Mentzer, Steve Holman, Bradley Steiner, and a few other "briefer and harder is better" writers who made the largest impression on me.  But when it came to volume training—which I eventually succumbed to—there were really only two writers who influenced me the most: Greg Zulak and Gene Mozee.  Zulak had the longer, more lasting influence.  But it was Mozee who influenced me first.  And, I must admit, he still holds a very special place in my bodybuilding heart.      Gene wrote many articles for many years in Iron Man magazine  throughout the late '

The Total Annihilation Program Classic Training Meets Modern Bodybuilding Tactics By Jared Smith Old School Influence          I can remember sitting in the living room as a kid watching Conan the Barbarian, and watching Arnold being transformed into a behemoth-of-a-man through suffering. Once he became huge then he became deadly as he was forged in the fires of combat, along with being trained by warriors from the East.   In addition to this, my father was a very large man who spoke very little and—to this day—is the very essence of the strong silent type. I grew up with a clear vision of what a man should be: big and strong!          When I was about eighteen, I decided that I needed to “live up” to the vision that I had grown up with. In my high school library, I was lucky enough to find Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. This was my first education in terms of training. This inspired me to go to the local Books-A-Million and raid the magazine rack fo

The Squat Nemesis Training Journal, Part 3 by Jared Smith                   I am in day two of week three, and my body is definitely feeling it. I’ve never felt such an insane amount of delayed onset muscle soreness in all my days on this scorched earth!   (Okay, that may be stretching it just slightly, but you get the point.)   My numbers have gone up but not a tremendous amount. The most remarkable thing is my confidence level as it pertains to max effort lifts. The level of fear and anxiety over maximum poundage seems to have diminished for the most part.          There are some things that don’t happen often, and one of those things is me being distracted or so flustered by life that my training suffers. This week, however, my mettle was tested a little. Life will put obstacles in our way sometimes, and it is up to us to overcome them. It is difficult to put problems aside and do what needs to be done, but the work has to be done!   ( Sloan’s note: As my other

     When training with full-body workouts, a couple of options are best when designing your workout program.  First, you can use a "heavy-light-medium" system of training—a lot of the full-body workouts here at Integral Strength reflect this option.  Or, second, you can use a system of training where none of the workouts are "all-out"—rather, each workout is more of a "practice session" for the various exercises.  In this second option, the workout sessions aren't necessarily not  hard, but they are not "intense" either.  You stop each set a couple reps shy of failure, and you never do so much work that you can't  train the muscle group—or the lift—48 hours later. Bradley Steiner's Tips      Years ago in IronMan magazine , sandwiched between all of the glossy pictures of steroid-bloated bodybuilders and the various pics of semi-nude (though admittedly beautiful) women, there was real  training advice.  Bill Starr had monthly column

One of the Greatest There Ever Was... and Ever Will Be May His Memory be Eternal (a.k.a. "Bill Starr-style Advanced Squat Training")      I've been away from the internet, and lifting in general, for too long over the last couple of months.  Generally, of course, lack of internet-perusing is, decidedly, not a bad thing.  But in this case, I failed to read the news that Bill Starr died about two months ago.      If you haven't read much of my material, then you may not know that one of my greatest influences in lifting has always been Bill Starr.      There was no one like him.  No one.  Period.      This is what I had to say in a post a few years ago:       For those of you who don't know—and most of you who have read my training articles  do  know—my primary inspiration in training and writing has always been Bill Starr.  Perhaps nowadays people—powerlifters, strength athletes, readers of the major bodybuilding magazines—think that Starr is too &quo

a.k.a.: The Squat Nemesis Training Journal: Part Two by Jared Smith       It is week two, and to say that my legs feel like they have gone through the meat grinder would be a huge understatement. I must say that there is something almost enjoyable about feeling this way. Perhaps it is the fact that I am testing myself, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. I know what some of you are probably thinking (and you are correct): You don’t have to be sore to know you’ve trained hard, but sometimes we need that painful little reminder that we killed it!          I must say that I am pretty happy with the gains I have made thus far. Going from hardly being able grind out a triple just to parallel with 315, to taking such a weight ass to grass with a pause in that position, before attempting to send it through the roof, makes me happier than a witch in a broom factory. I know that number is not impressive, but being able to do that after comin