C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Power Rack Training for Physical Development   Part Two: The Ultimate Mass-Gaining, Bulk-Building Power Rack Training Program  (Inspired by Joseph Curtis “J.C.” Hise and the writings of Peary Rader) J.C. Hise, the inspiration for this article, in a picture from the 1930s. About two weeks ago, I released Part One of (what I expect to be) a semi-regular, but perhaps sporadic series on training in the power rack.  As I mentioned in that first part, the rack is so much more than a good training area to do partials—which, unfortunately, I think that is about the only thing it’s used for these days.  I recommend that you read Part One first, though it’s not necessary but it would be helpful, since I don’t plan on rehashing all of the goodies the power rack has to offer.  In Part One, I created a “new” program, but one heavily influenced by Charles A. Smith, who in turn was quite influenced by J.C. Hise, and Hise’s mentor Mark Berry.  It’s a basic, full-body, 3-...

The Upper Arm Training of "The Myth" Sergio Oliva's massive upper arm development Sergio Oliva is, I believe, the greatest outright bodybuilder of all time. Here at Integral Strength, he gets the distinction of being the only bodybuilder (I think, at least😏) that I've featured now for a second time in a "Classic Bodybuilding" piece. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Oliva—for most, he really needs no introduction, but I would still recommend that you read this—then check out my previous post/essay on his mass-gaining methods entitled, "The Legendary Mass-Building Method and Workouts of 'The Myth' - and the Story Behind Them." And there's no reason to rehash the same stuff I wrote there, but, just for an introduction to this article, here is what I wrote on "The Myth": Early Career Sergio was born and raised in Cuba, and he got his start in Olympic weightlifting where he totaled almost 1,000 pounds in the Middle Hea...

The following was written spontaneously, that is, without planning or "thinking" about what I was going to write about, I sat down at my computer, and had a few musings at the back of my mind. The following is the result. Ramblings on Budo: More Budo "Minds" Not long ago, I wrote an essay on the different “minds” of budo, such as mushin , often called “no mind”, and shoshin , often referred to as “beginner’s mind.”  (I wrote a couple of essays on shoshin.)  But here, in this minor essay, I have in mind (pun intended) some other “minds” that, although they aren’t discussed outright in budo, they are encountered during practice.  And sometimes they are discussed outright in other Ways (such as the Way of Zen).   These include monkey mind, wild mind, centered mind, and big mind, to name just a smattering few. Monkey mind is a mind you’re, unfortunately, all-too-familiar with if you have ever tried to focus, even for just a brief period of time, on one solitary thing...

C.S. pulls over 500 in his powerlifting days.  Power Volume Training was one of the programs he—and his lifters—used at the time. For this week's "Thursday Throwback"—and since I didn't do one last week—I thought I would post an article/program of mine that you MIGHT be more familiar with.  Of all  of my many programs, Power Volume Training is one of my favorites—my program was the first time I can remember seeing a combination of high-frequency training  with Westside training  in one program.  And if you need to boost one, or all three, of your powerlifts, I promise: there's not a better program out there. Power Volume Training Redux      Power Volume Training is a system that I came up with a few years ago, and wrote an article about it in the November, 2004 issue of  Ironman.   Since that time, this is the one program that I have used more than any other when training someone who is solely interested in maximal strength—pow...