C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Some Thoughts and Ideas on Layoffs (Hint: It’s More Than Just Taking it Easy)      We all need layoffs from time to time.  They allow us to rejuvenate, recover, and “refill” our energy reserves.  Our muscles need them in order to recover sufficiently after many weeks of hard training.  Our nervous systems need them.  It is, in fact, often our nervous systems that require them the most.  But layoffs are good for more than just the body.  Our minds need them just as much as our bodies.  A mental break from training, and even thinking about training, helps us to return to the gym “fired up” for another few weeks or months of hard and heavy barbell sessions.      You may wonder why I’m writing an essay on layoffs.  Isn’t it just about lying around and taking it easy?  Well, sometimes that’s the case.  There are decidedly times, depending on what “intensity” of lifting you’ve been training wi...

Training Design for the “All-Around” Lifter      The popularity—or lack thereof—of many of my articles often surprises me.  Sometimes I will write an essay that I think will be a real hit—I spend several days crafting and honing it, giving it plenty of thought and time—only to find that it never really “takes off” or gets many reads.  On the flip side of that, I will occasionally write a piece in a flash of inspiration, giving hardly any thought to it but just allow my writing muse to take me where it will.  I also, quite often, don’t think that those works will be very popular, only to find that they get way more reads than many of my others.  My last article “ High-Frequency Grease-the-Groove Training - The Intuitive Approach ,” is a case in point.  I wrote it very quickly, in only a few hours, shortly after I came up with the idea while on a morning hike with my dogs Kenji and Kiko.  I was unsure if it would garner interest, but...

     In my essay “ Basic Lifting, Instinctive Training ,” I mentioned the approach to training that—in the words of the great Bradley Steiner—the “mature muscle man” should take.  Steiner recommended that the seasoned lifter should know beforehand what exercises he would do in a workout, and what days he would train, but not use a pre-determined number of sets and reps for the workout.  Rather, you should let how you feel once you begin your workout decide what you do in the training session.      And, in my recent article “ Skill Training as Size Building ,” I wrote about the training perspective of approaching your lifting sessions as a skill to be developed rather than a “war” to be waged against your muscles—or a “battle” or an “onslaught” or whatever pseudo-military campaign term that modern bodybuilders like to use when discussing muscle-group training.  I also suggested that one of the best ways to do this is to uti...