Classic Bodybuilding Articles and Essays

Classic Bodybuilding: The Natural Power-Bodybuilding Methods of Chuck Sipes

Chuck Sipes as he appeared in the pages of the original Ironman Magazine. For a while now, I have wanted to write a piece on one of my favorite bodybuilders of all time: Chuck Sipes. I had relented in doing so until now only because there are so many good pieces that you can find on the internet just from doing a cursory search. But I finally figured, you know, what the hell, you can never have too much Chuck Sipes. Also, in addition to my own memories and thoughts on Sipes' totally bad-a training, I've tried to find some of the best information from various sites, and include a lot of that here. For those of you that don't know much about Sipes, he was one of a kind. I know that's a bit cliché, and I've used such terms before when it comes to other "classic bodybuilders", but there was nothing cliché about Sipes, so it's completely true in this instance. Don't believe me? Then read on. First off, he was natural. In fact, he was one of the l

Classic Bodybuilding: Don Howorth's Massive Delt Training

Don Howorth's Formula for Wide, Massive Shoulders Vintage picture of Don Howorth in competition shape. I can't remember the first time I laid eyes on Howorth's massive physique with those absolutely friggin' awesomely shaped "cannonball" shoulders of his, but it was probably sometime in the late '80s and early '90s, when I read about him in either IronMan Magazine or MuscleMag International . IronMan had regular "Mass from the Past" articles written by Gene Mozee that had a couple of articles about Howorth's training*, and he was also mentioned fairly regularly in Vince Gironda's column for MuscleMag not to mention in some of the articles of Greg Zulak for the same publication. There is no doubt that genetics played a big role in just how fantastic Howorth's delts looked, but to claim Howorth's results were just because of genetics or anabolic steroids - as I've read claimed on some internet forums - is a l

The 8x5/6 Program

Slow and Steady Wins the Hypertrophy Race An “Easy” One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart Muscle-Building Program Part of effective programming—whether you’re trying to build muscle, gain strength, or a combination of both—is learning how to balance volume, frequency, and intensity. I often write that you must have two of the factors high —or one high and the other moderate—and the remaining factor must be low. If you’re going to train with a lot of volume and intensity, then your frequency must be low (the standard method of training these days). If you’re going to train using a high-frequency program—of which I am admittedly and unabashedly a fan—then you need to keep either your volume or your intensity low. And so on and so forth. But you can also do a program where all of the factors are moderate . The program I want to present here takes this latter approach. I have actually wanted to write about this program before, but I’ve been a little hesitant to do so because it seems s

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog