C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Some Random Thoughts (like Really Random) on Nutritional Concepts That May, or May Not, Work       C.S.’s note: As I wrote above, what follows is very random.  I had read about Suzanne Somers’ recent death, and it made me think about something I don’t typically write about: nutrition.  Take what follows with a slight grain of salt…      Suzanne Somers died this past week just short of her 77th birthday.  If you were a kid in the ‘70s and early ‘80s (like me), then you remember well her character Chrissy from the tv sitcom “Three’s Company.”  In fact, if you were a young boy in the ‘70s and early ‘80s (once again, like me), then there’s a good chance that your love of all things female boiled down to the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, any one of Charlie’s Angels , Linda Carter as Wonder Woman , and, finally, Somers as Chrissy Snow.  But don’t worry, this isn’t an essay where I go on and on about the first “loves” of my young male life.  No, Somers' death got me thinking about somet

 For this week's "Thursday Throwback" I have selected an article that I originally wrote for Planet Muscle Magazine  around 15 years ago.  What is interesting is that the article as I wrote it for PM was essentially a "redux" of an article I wrote in the late '90s for MuscleMag International  when I competed regularly in powerlifting - and bench press-only - competitions.  Jeff Everson - the publisher and editor of Planet Muscle  - actually sent me a "clipping" of my original MuscleMag  article, and asked me if I could re-write it, and make enough changes that it was different from my original (and therefore wouldn't violate any copyright laws).  And the funny thing - for me, at least - is that I could hardly even remember writing that original article.  Anyway, the article itself as it appeared in PM is still great, I think (I am a little prejudice since I did write the thing), for anyone that is looking to build his/her bench press but doesn&

Some "Mass-from-the-Past" Training Ideas of Classical Bodybuilders Arnold looking massive in his "Pumping Iron" days from the mid '70s.      When I began training in the late ‘80s, I was enamored with “old-school” bodybuilders, particularly - as with most young men my age at the time - that of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his other cohorts in the “documentary” Pumping Iron.  The funny thing is that I thought of Arnold, and other bodybuilders from the ‘70s (and even bodybuilders from the ‘80s), as “old-school” even though it had only been a decade, or less, since the time of their heyday competing, not to mention training at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California.  And I still love old-school “classical” bodybuilding, both the bodybuilders themselves, and their assorted training methods.  It’s the reason I still write about them to this day, such as what you’re currently reading on your computer (or mobile device or whatever).      What follows here are some of the best

   The following is an article of mine that first appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Planet Muscle  magazine .  I thought this would be a good "Thursday Throwback" piece since I just mentioned Bulgarian-style training in my recent essay "4 Tips for Serious Lifters" where I presented some ideas of strength coach Nick Horton - a proponent of the "Bulgarian method" - who said "overtraining doesn't exist."  Whether you agree with that statement or not, you shouldn't really argue against it, or for it, unless you have at least attempted the sort of training that Horton was discussing.      (With regards to the defunct Planet Muscle , in the future I would also like to do a piece on its founder and editor, Jeff Everson, who died suddenly in 2019 at the age of 68.  Everson and I became friends over the course of me working for him.  And I miss my friend.)      On with our Throwback: Iconic picture of the iconic weightlifter Anatoly Pisare