C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     It’s important to program your workouts.   For many lifters, this can seem daunting—though it shouldn’t be—because they’re accustomed to just “working out.”   Programming your workouts, however, doesn’t have to be complicated.   In fact, it can be quite simple.      I like to recommend easy-to-follow routines where the title of the program pretty much explains the workouts contained within.   My 30-Rep Program is an example.   With it, you do 30 reps total for the entire session.   Sure, you must still understand the program’s parameters—as you ought to with all good routines—but once you do, it’s easy to follow and easy to program.      Another good example is the 3-to-5 workout .   The title of program basically gives away the whole thing.   You train 3 to 5 days each week.   You utilize 3 to 5 exercises at each session.   You do 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps on eac...

  The Two Keys to Mass-Building, Strength-Training Success      The other day, in my essay on the “ 2 principles of strength training ,” I outlined what I believe are the two most important principles for continued results in strength training or muscle-building (or a combination of the two).   In many ways, those two principles revolve around staying consistent and injecting variety into your programs.   So, here, I want to present some thoughts on much the same concept but frame it in a slightly different manner to touch upon varied aspects of proper programming.   I’m going to call these the “two keys to success” and they are: 1.       You must be consistent. 2.       You must inject variety into your program.      Consistency is the key for continued success, make no bones about it.   This is true no matter your goal.   You must train consistently to impro...

       There are, I suppose, a few different “principles” involved in strength training.   You need to train with heavy weights to get strong.   You need to eat enough protein on a regular basis to gain muscle.   You need to follow a program instead of just “working out.”   I could go on and on.   So, what could possibly be the two most important principles of strength training?   Perhaps if you ask me again next week or next month or next year, I might give a different answer.   But I doubt it.   Anyway, the two principles of strength training are (drumroll, please): 1.       Everything works. 2.       Everything works… for about 6 to 8 weeks.      I am not the first trainer (or bodybuilder or powerlifter) to write this.   I won’t be the last.   Most lifters who take seriously their training discover it on their own without anyone tellin...

  The Arm Training Secrets of an Old-School Bodybuilding Legend   Columbu in his heyday      “The average person who wants to see how well built or strong you are will inevitably say, ‘Make a muscle.’   Such folks aren’t interested in your lat spread, huge pecs, or rippling abdominals.   They want to see you roll up your sleeve and display a bulging biceps.   It’s the main attribute that sets you apart from the average man or athlete and identifies you as a muscle man!” ~Franco Columbu [1]        As I was searching for an article of mine in an old Iron Man magazine, rummaging through my many issues, I happen to come across the article “Franco Columbu’s Mighty, Massive Arms” by Gene Mozee.   It was in his regular feature “Mass from the Past” from the ‘90s that always outlined the training regimens of many of the “old-school” bodybuilders from the ‘70s or before.   Truth is, they were invariably just...

Extra Workouts for Improving Recovery, Enhancing Performance, and Maximizing Gains      When lifters think about workouts, it’s usually either lifting or bust.   It’s either hard and heavy barbell and dumbbell sessions or nothing.   But it shouldn’t be this way.   No matter how “hardcore” of a lifter or bodybuilder you are—perhaps you’re one of those guys that thinks anything over 5 reps is “cardio,” as I once certainly did—you need to do some stuff other than just heavy weight training.   The truth is that the more serious you are about lifting, even more do you need to take advantage of non-lifting workouts.   These extra sessions might very well be the difference between gaining another 10 pounds of muscle or not, or between winning your powerlifting meet or just coming in 2 nd place.   When it comes to being your very best, it is the little things that matter.      I first started lifting as a teenager, more...