C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

I have a new article out in the latest issue of Planet Muscle magazine (March/April '10) entitled "Build a Big Bench and Get a Big Body: Training Methods for Bench Press Power and Upper Body Size." If you're into powerlifting—or just increasing your bench press—then you should find it interesting. It covers most of the current methods for increasing bench press strength—Westside, traditional powerlifting cycles, eastern bloc methods, plus a few more.

This afternoon, I came home from work, sat down to do some loving-kindness meditation, then decided to open up the book “Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life” by the modern day Zen master Ezra Bayda. Since I had just finished some loving-kindness meditation, I thought I would turn to the chapter entitled—simply enough—“Loving Kindness” and see what Bayda had to say. I was glad I did. As a Christian, the chapter touched me when Bayda discussed prayer, and so I thought I would share with you some of what he had to say: “We can also access and touch loving-kindness directly. The “Way of the Pilgrim” is the story of a simple pilgrim who walked across nineteenth-century Russia. He carried only dried bread and two books—the Bible, and an early Orthodox Christian text, the Philokalia—to sustain his body and his practice. With a genuine homesickness for God, his only aim was to learn to pray without ceasing. “Although we’re unlikely to ever be pilgrims in ...

I have a new article out in the March, '10 issue of Iron Man magazine. The article is entitled "Mass Insanity: Crazy Training for Insane Muscle Gaining." Catchy title if I do say so myself. Now, to be honest, the real reason to buy the magazine—besides my article—is because of Bill Starr's piece entitled "Make it Harder: There Are No Shortcuts on the Road to Building Strength." I love Starr, but this particular article—which tackles the health problem in America and how no one wants to train hard anymore—is the best training article I've read in I-can't-remember-when. Starr is at his curmudgeonly best, and the article is long, rambling (but in a good way), and pulls no punches. Bottom line: Go out and buy the March issue of Iron Man . Starr's article alone is worth the price of admission.