C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

On Striving to do Fewer Things Better      In my recent Go Heavy or Go Home essay, I discussed Pavel Tsatsouline’s “7 rules of Russian training.”  The last of the rules is “You must strive to do fewer things better.”  In this essay, we will look at the importance of this rule and some various training strategies to accomplish it.      I often write about the different reasons that lifters don’t get the results out of their training that they’re looking for.  Not using the right movements, following so-called bro-split routines that are also coupled with too many machine and cable exercises, along with jumping from program-to-program are just a few of the workout ideas that I’m apt to rail against.  For these reasons and some others, there are a lot of average gym-goers—even ones who have been “training” for years on end—who don’t look like they lift.      The best programs often involve doing...

Develop Mass and Power with This Unique Wave Loading Method      In my recent article “ Skill Training as Size Building ,” I introduced the concept (on the blog, at least) of the “90% rule.”  I believe it’s one of the most effective ways to make consistent gains in the gym, whether you’re after strength, strength with a size side-effect, or hypertrophy alone.  Basically, the method involves doing the majority of your sets in a workout with 90% of a certain rep range.  This doesn’t mean 90%, necessarily, of your 1-rep max, though it most certainly would if you were to do multiple sets of singles—as we will be doing in this program.      In our previous article, the workout programs I suggested utilized 90% of one’s 5-rep max and 90% of a 10-rep maximum using “cluster sets.”  If you want to know more about what those programs look like, then, please, read that article.  Also, it wouldn’t hurt, if you haven’t done s...