C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Build the Ultimate Combination of Mass and Strength with this Unique High-Set, Low-rep Method of Training The late, great Anthony Ditillo utilized programs very similar to what is written here.  If he were with us today, he'd probably give this one a thumbs up and say, "Ditillo approved!" Some of my favorite programs for building muscle mass involve the use of high-sets and low-reps.  In fact, when I first started this blog 14 years ago, one of the very FIRST questions I was asked by a reader was whether or not I had a “favorite” method of training.  At first, I think I was going to “cop out” and tell him some crap such as, “the best workout is the one you’re not doing” kind of thing.  But then I decided that, hell, honesty is always the best policy, and so I told him the truth: my FAVORITE approach to training was the high-set, low-rep method, specifically using anywhere between 10 to 20 sets of 1 to 5 reps. Fourteen years later is that still the case?  ...

Anthony Ditillo’s Leg and Back Specialization Program for Bulk and Power Ditillo as cool as ever. “The quickest way to a massive upper body is to specialize on lower back and thighs. Believe me, there is no other way.” ~Anthony Ditillo* If you’ve read my blog, or any of my writings elsewhere, for any length of time, then the chances are that you’re familiar with Anthony Ditillo. Even if you don’t know it. He was one of my early inspirations, as both a lifter and a writer, that inspired a lot of the programs that I would go on to write about in the pages of Ironman or MuscleMag International early in my writing career. Ditillo himself was inspired by lifters that had been around before him, namely the strongman Doug Hepburn, and the bodybuilders Reg Park and Marvin Eder. You can see their “inspiration” almost everywhere in his programs, along with other great—but not as well-known—lifters and bodybuilders from the ‘50s. One of the things that Ditillo believed in was “specializatio...

 Matthew Sloan's Program for Packing on Winter Bulk A few months ago - it was the week of Thanksgiving - my oldest son Matthew (who used to post here on and off several years back) decided he wanted to go on a "winter bulk" and find out just how much muscle he could pack on over the course of a few months.  Prior to the bulk, he had been training in a sort of haphazard fashion, and wasn't "out of shape" but wasn't exactly svelte, either.  He started his bulk-building regimen weighing between 205 and 210, depending on daily weight fluctuation.  His goal for his winter bulk and power program was to reach a weight of 250. This past week, he weighed over 250 - 251 to be precise - when he weighed himself first thing upon waking, sans clothes. Here are some pics of what he looked like before his bulk (these were taken a few years ago, but he wasn't too much heavier than this when he began the bulking regimen - I hate I didn't take some legit "befo...

High Frequency Training for Strength and Power, Part Three Building the Squat      A few months ago, I began to write a series of articles on high-frequency training specifically aimed at building strength and power.  It really began even before that, with a post I did on Anthony Ditillo-inspired training, and then before that a post written by Ditillo himself (from an old issue of the once great Iron Man magazine from the ‘70s).  Before you continue reading this article, it would probably behoove you to read the first two posts on HFT for strength and power, and the posts on Ditillo training.      And, now, on with this post:      Squat training lends itself specifically well to high-frequency training.  Or, as the Russians would say (or, perhaps, this is just a quote from someone who was fond of Russian-style training): “If you want to squat more, you have to squat more!”  Unlike some of the...

High Frequency Training for Strength and Power Part One: The Basics      This is the first of what will be a multi-part series on “high frequency training” geared specifically for building strength and power.   High frequency training – training not just multiple times per week, but training each muscle group multiple times per week – has become more popular in recent years.   I’ve been touting its benefits for almost a decade, but so have other strength trainers/writers such as Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John.      High frequency training (henceforth just “HFT”), however, is nothing recent nor is it particularly innovative.   If you read my last couple articles on the training of Anthony Ditillo you should know that.   Before Ditillo there was “Big” Jim Williams.   (My first post on this blog a few years ago was related to Jim Williams training.   If you haven’t done so, please read it.)   And before...

     After yesterday’s post – Anthony Ditillo on Adaptability – I received an email from a reader.  The reader – new to this idea of frequent, intense [1] training – wanted to know what a program would actually look like if he were to follow Ditillo’s advice.  At first, I thought, “Well, I would rather not give a more detailed plan.  Part of what makes someone a successful lifter is actually learning how to lift.”  But then I thought better of it, and decided to write this post.      What follows is some advice and a week of sample training.  Keep in mind that this is just an example program.  If you are going to become a skilled lifter – and lifting, bulk-building, power training are skills – then you need to practice, you need to experiment, and you don’t need everything laid out for you in complete detail – hence, my initial reluctance at wring this piece.      First off, I recommend...