C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The Magic of High-Volume but Minimalistic Training      As I have pointed out more often than I can count, there are many ways and multiple paths to achieve your physical goals, whether it’s strength, power, more muscle mass, less bodyfat, or a combination of several of those goals all at once.  The key to achieving your goals, whatever they may be, lies in the proper balance of volume, frequency, and intensity, but some training plans are decidedly better than others, depending on your genetics, training history, and whatnot.  In my last essay on balance, I briefly mentioned that if I absolutely had to select one training methodology over anything else, it would be the “sub-maximal effort” method.  With strength and power roots in Eastern European countries, mostly countries from the former Soviet-bloc, this method basically involves doing multiple sets of low reps with weights that are not quite maximal—hence the name.  Almost completely ...

The Need for Variation and Opposing Strategies      When I write about topics like the need for balance in your training or the importance of “reasonable” workouts or anything of a similar bent, they don’t get a whole lot of views.  Of course, if I write something like “The Greatest Mass Building Workout of All Time” or anything with a degree of hyperbole in the title, I get thousands of views.  Nonetheless, certain subjects need to be written about, this one included.  Besides, here is where you actually learn the information needed—assuming you apply it—to achieve your goals.       Balance isn’t a “sexy” topic.  Most lifters probably understand it’s true.  You’ve no doubt been told since you were a little kid, assuming you had responsible parenting, to eat a “balanced diet” or to live a “balanced lifestyle.”  The problem, or at least one of the problems, is that there are different opinions on what exac...

  A.K.A: Kenji in the Twilight My dogs Kiko and Kenji (left to right).  The reason for their picture at the start of this essay will make sense shortly. Conversations on Integral Bodybuilding Part One: A Somewhat Rambling Introduction to Integral Hypertrophy Training      I was tired.  I had spent the last hour cutting grass, running my weed eater, planting Asian lilies, and watering my gardens.  I was hot and sweaty, too.  If I still drank, I would have popped open a cold beer—porters and stouts were always my favorite—but I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in over a year.  I have a disease that robbed me of that particular joy, so I settled on a bottle of refrigerated mineral water.  It was refreshing, and what my body needed, anyway.      The sun was setting.  Twilight was upon the land.  The last vestiges of orange sunlight slipped through the canopy of trees at the edge of the rolling hi...