C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

For this week's "Thursday Throwback" I've selected an article of mine that I wrote around  20 years ago—maybe a little less—for IronMan , and I put a version of it on my blog back in 2009.  This one's entitled "Tailor-Made Strength", and it deals with customizing your workout program to fit your goals, your genetics, your "level" of strength, and your chosen strength sport.  If you're not taking all of those elements into account, and training accordingly based on these elements, then you're NOT getting the most you can out of your training.  Hopefully, this article can help... Bill Starr, pictured here doing a clean, is the inspiration for this article, and the methods employed. Tailor-Made Strength Customizing Your Strength Training Program        There's a truism in strength training that will never change: "The best program is the one that works best for you."    Nonetheless, there are some ground rules that I believe

and Other S**t I Learned from a Lifetime of Training in Zen, Martial Arts, and Powerlifting Tom Platz's thighs were built through some of the most extreme, non-moderate training one can imagine!  And the results speak for theselves. Okay, so the title of this post is a little over-the-top.  It’s supposed to be.  But that also doesn’t make it any less true.  Whether you want to get in the best shape of your life, or win a powerlifting competition, or become a martial arts “expert,” or any dream that you have in life.  If you want to achieve any of those things, or anything else for that matter , then you must be determined to work extremely hard, moderation be damned. Modern “self-help” books recommend moderation as one of the ways to achieve your goals - especially in the West, where we think there is something “Eastern” to moderation, a balance of yin/yang or a balance of mind/body/Spirit.  But moderation is really NOT an Eastern “thing,” not any more at least than it is a Wester

If you are starting out in strength training, and interested in some sort of competitive strength sports, how do you know what strength sport?  Have you ever wondered why you're stronger than other guys your size?  Or why you can gain muscle, but have a very hard time building strength?  Then read on... this is YOUR article. Embrace Your Genetics...  And Gain Like Never Before! Part One   Many athletes, fighters, lifters, and bodybuilders don't succeed because they don't learn to embrace their genetics.  For a long time, I didn't embrace my genetics, and it cost me.  When I was a young man, for instance, I was very skilled at martial arts, but always small.  At some point, I decided that I wanted to look more like Arnold and less like Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee was always the look I had "went" for when training, and this was actually smart if I would have been mature enough (I was only a teenager) to pay attention to my skills, and internal clues that would have hel