C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     When I was younger, I always enjoyed writing fiction.      The following post—perhaps the first in a series—combines my love of storytelling and power training articles.  The characters—Puddin' and myself—are real people (okay, you knew that I was real, but you might not have been so sure about Puddin') and the following is—more or less—a true story. Train the Rear A Size/Strength Program for   Massive Lats, Traps, Lower Back and Hamstrings   (A.K.A: The Puddin’ Power Chronicles, Volume One )           Just for the hell of it, my workout partner Puddin’ and I decided to go to the local bodybuilding show.   Puddin’ wanted to check out all the girls—the “hoes” in his vocabulary—whose boyfriends would be on stage posing.   “Easier for the pickins,” is what he said.   I wanted to see if there would be any physiques that had been built with some serious power training instead of all the light, high-rep pumping crap that’s so popular among bodybuilders.      Puddin

Rut Busters Tips and Techniques for Bustin’ Your Sorry Lifts Out of a Plateau        This article is going to be broken into 3 parts—the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift.   Let’s get right to most everyone’s favorite lift: the bench press. Bench Bustin’ Tip #1— Do something other than flat bench presses.   I had to include this tip first, because too much bench pressing has to be one of the worst weightlifting sins under America’s sun.   If you’ve been bench pressing at every upper-body workout, and your bench press isn’t going anywhere, then give it a break and switch over to something else.   Don’t switch over to just dumbbells or varying degrees of inclines or declines, either.   Try some bottom-position benches, floor presses, board presses, carpet presses, or rack-lockouts to get that damn lift moving again. Tip #2—Speed it up.   Of all the innovations to come to the surface over the last couple decades, I would say that none of them are as important as speed

Power Rack Training for Beginning and Intermediate Lifters      Recently, I have received quite a few e-mails from folks wanting specialized routines for training.   Most of these e-mails are from lifters that are specifically after strength and power, but also want the muscle mass to go with it.   In addition, a lot of these lifters train in their garage or at home and only have access to a power rack, a bench, and a few hundred pounds of Olympic weights.      I happen to train in my garage—where I have a power rack, a Forza bench, and a deadlifting platform (not to mention 1200 pounds of free weights)—so I’m well aware of the fact that you can build plenty of strength, power, and muscle by training at home.   (In fact, I’ve made better gains at home than I ever made when going to the gym.)      What follows is a program that’s perfect for home training in a power rack.   It allows the lifter to train at home by him/herself without needing a spotter—although a spotter can defi

     The other day I got an e-mail from someone who was having problems downloading the articles on my website.  (Which I really don't use any more, to be honest.  If you want updates you'll find them here on my blog.)  So, I thought I would start transferring some of those articles over to this blog.      Since (almost) every gym rat's favorite exercise is the bench press, I thought the first of those articles that I would add is my "Breaking Down the Bench Press Barrier" article.  A lot of the tips offered in the article don't just work for the bench press, however.  They work for other lifts and for just making you one big, strong mo-fo. Breaking Down The Bench Barrier Tips For Gaining As Much As Fifty Pounds On Your Bench Press        The bench press.   It's the lift that everyone loves to train.   It's also the lift that most people plateau on the fastest.   Why's that?   Despite the fact that the majority of American lifters are obses