C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     If you don't know already, I'm really not a fan of what is commonly called "H.I.T." training, and I'm REALLY not a fan of Mike Mentzer.  However, this doesn't mean that I have a problem with H.I.T. training as it was initially conceived.  What follows is a post I did around ten years ago that I thought would be good to re-post as a Thursday Throwback, especially since I have noticed a small resurgence of interest in Mentzer. REAL H.I.T.   Make  Real  Gains with Brief, Intense Workout Programs The back of Dorian Yates, probably the best-built  ALL TIME of any H.I.T. proponent.       For years now, high intensity training (commonly referred to as H.I.T.) has been one of the most controversial training methods in the bodybuilding world.    The proponents of H.I.T. seem to think that it’s the only method capable of truly transforming the “average”, drug-free bodybuilder.    On the other side you have proponents of  volume  workouts (one such proponent has bee

  Insights from Napoleon Hill for Building Muscle, Gaining Strength, or Getting in the Best Shape of Your Life       “I don’t know why it is that when a man decides what he wants, the whole universe seems to come to his aid to see that he gets it.” ~Napoleon Hill Napoleon Hill, the inspiration for this post.      Whatever you may think of the man personally—his Wikipedia page, for instance is, let’s just say, less than flattering—Napoleon Hill had some great insights.  But of all his “lessons” that should be learned, one of them is more important than any other.  And based on the title of this post, I am, of course, talking about having a Definite Chief Aim .      In his book “Secrets of Self-Mastery,” popular New Thought author Mitch Horowitz has this to say about the importance of this one thing:  “I often say that if you take only one message from Hill and the larger body of work that developed around his ideas, make it the cultivation of an impassioned, concrete, and actionable ai

  Learning from the Legendary Eugen Sandow The 1897 (or 1899) cover of Strength and How to Obtain It.  (courtesy Wikimedia)      For some reason, over the last few days I have thought a lot about some of the old-time, turn-of-the-century strongmen.  I have written about some of them more than a time or two on this blog, men such as—in addition to Sandow—George Hackenschmidt, Louis Cyr, Arthur Saxon, and Hermann Goerner, to name a few.  If I’m honest, Hackenschmidt is probably my favorite.  He was not only one of the greatest strongmen and wrestlers this world has seen, but he was a prolific writer, could speak seven different languages, and developed a systematic philosophy of mind.  He was, in a word, a very cultured man.  (I will save Hackenschmidt for a much longer essay.)  But so was Sandow, and most of the other strongmen of that era, for that matter, as you may notice if you continue to read.      I thought it would be good to do a semi-regular series on the above men (and, prob

  A.K.A.: The Pork Chop Diet vs the Steak and Beer Diet! Or How to Eat What You Want and STILL Build Muscle and Stay Lean (or Get Lean) and Some Other (Possibly) Slightly More Nonsensical Stuff Mariusz Pudzianowski was a strongman that ate TONS of highly processed food, and was still jacked. (photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)      Last month, I wrote a piece on nutrient timing/combining, and how this is a possible route to building muscle, burning body fat, and just staying in all-around good shape.  This is essentially just more of the same, with some of the thoughts flowing through my incessant mind stream—sometimes it seems more like a river—of different ideas and views on the subject, or similar subjects, as that post a month ago, most of it precipitated by a clip I saw from a Joe Rogan podcast.  (That’s one of the problems with being a writer.  Some people might think that being a writer is “nice” or something that they might want to do, but if you’re really a writer one of th