C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The Other Kind of Hardgainer [1]      I think a majority of lifters—even ones who have been training a long time and should know better—mistakenly believe that there are two kinds of training in the lifting world today.  First off, you have your “high volume” training.  It’s not necessarily that there’s anything wrong with this kind of training, or so the train of thought goes, but this kind of training—multiple sets per bodypart, multiple days per week of training, fairly high reps, and going for “the pump”—is for those lifters and bodybuilders who respond well to this kind of thing, usually thought to be “genetically elite” men.  The majority of lifters, or so the line of thought continues, would do well with more infrequent training, but an infrequent training that is combined with minimalist training performed all-out!   In the bodybuilding world, the second line of thought was most espoused by Mike Mentzer and the rest of his ill-beg...

To fail or not to fail... that is the question. We're talking training to failure, of course. On one side of the spectrum, you have strength coaches such as Chad Waterbury and Charles Staley (and I suppose myself in recent years) who seem to never recommend training to failure. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the great strength coach Charles Poliquin, and bodybuilding writers/trainers such as Steve Holman, Eric Broser (and whoever the hell invented that Doggcrapp—yes, that's the actual name of the training system for those of you who don't know— crap) who seem to always recommend training to failure. The million dollar question: Who's right? I think the answer is both—as long as certain criteria are adhered to for the most part. I haven't always felt that way. If you read my early writing for Iron Man magazine and MuscleMag International —I used to write quite a bit for those magazines 10 to 15 years ago—then you would have assumed I was a training...

High-Set Singles for Massive Strength and Size Gains      Probably the most popular form of low-rep training among many "old-time" bodybuilders, high-set singles are highly effective at making a muscle neurally stronger.      I believe that one of the best ways to incorporate high-set singles is with a method made popular by the great Doug Hepburn.  It works something like this:   On your lift of the day, start off with a weight in which you absolutely know that you can get at least three singles.   ( Remember, it's better to start off too light than too heavy.)   Make sure you warm up sufficiently for the lift using very low reps.   After about a five minute rest after warm-ups, go directly into the singles.   Perform a single, rest five minutes, and then perform another single.   If you manage to get eight singles, then stop the lift and add two and a half to five pounds at your next workout and s...