C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Some Tips for Helping You to Get in Shape QUICK for the New Year      The New Year is upon us.  For no telling how many folks throughout the world, that means one thing.  With the New Year comes the resolutions.  There are, I suppose, a whole lot of different resolutions that people make.  But, if I had to guess, there is one resolution that more folks make than any other, the resolution to get in shape.  Too many times, these resolutions are vague.  Eat healthier.  Lose weight.  Those are probably the two most common.  But what most people want, no matter how vague, is to get in shape .  That’s what they really mean by “eating better” or “losing weight.”  With that in mind, here are 4 tips that can help you get in shape quick.      I think one reason that most trainees don’t stick with their resolutions—I have a feeling that most quit their resolution(s) sometime around the end of ...

A Strong-as-You-Look Bill Starr-Influenced, Old-School Strongman-Inspired Program for the Natural Bodybuilder/Lifter      Modern bodybuilding is certainly capable of producing hypertrophy.  The problem with it is that it often doesn’t produce the kind of muscle size that is as strong as it looks.  This program takes care of that problem.  If you want to build muscle that is also strong and powerful, then look no further.  This one is as good as they come.      This program combines, in one routine, many of my favorite methods. It utilizes heavy/light/medium training a la Bill Starr.  It uses load-cycling, where several training weeks move from lighter to heavier, then back off again.  And it also utilizes an old-school weight ladder method inspired by the legendary strongman Hermann Goerner that I have grown more fond of the more I use it.  Goerner called them “chains” where—unlike “rep ladders” in whi...

  The Focus Strikes Back!      One of my more popular training programs—I wrote it over a decade and a half ago for IronMan magazine—is “ High-Frequency Focus Training ,” or HFFT for short.  It involves combining two of the most popular, and result-producing, programs that you can do.  It’s a high-frequency training program—you train your entire body at each session—but one that also uses a “focus” at each training session, as well.  For the “focus” aspect, you train a muscle group(s) with more sets for a pump.  My original "beginner" program (I also wrote an advanced one—click on the link above for details), as an example, looked like this: Monday: High Frequency Portion Squats – 5 sets of 3 reps. Perform two warm-up sets of 5 reps, followed by 3 work sets of 3 reps, using approximately 70-75% of your one-rep maximum. Deadlifts– 5 sets of 3 reps. Use the same set/rep format as the squats. Barbell Bench Presses or Incline Bench Presses ...