C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

A High-Frequency, Mass-from-the-Past Training Program for Stupendous Size and Peak Conditioning Ross as he appeared in a Weider publication in the '50s      Clarence “Clancy” Ross was one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time yet has been almost forgotten in our day-and-age.  You hear or read more about some of his fellow “Silver Age” bodybuilders, such as Bill Pearl , Steve Reeves, or Marvin Eder, than you do Ross—heck, I’ve written more about his fellow world-renowned lifters.  But back in the early-1950s, Muscle Power and Your Physique magazines, a couple of early Weider publications, dubbed him “King of the Bodybuilders.”  That’s right.  King.  He ruled over those other guys.  He received the moniker because he had won the Mr. America, Mr. USA, Mr. North America, and Pro Mr. America, along with virtually any other title in existence.  Keep in mind that the Mr. Olympia didn’t come along until 1965, and at that time it ...

  It never fails. It's an utter truth. And no matter how many times we remind ourselves NOT to do it, we do it anyway. So what is "it"?  IT  is our natural tendency to want to make things more complex; it's our natural tendency to slide away  from the simple, and to look for things of more complexity; it is our urge - no matter how many times we tell ourselves that it's going to be different - to NOT  do the basic training that we should  be doing! The "original" power-builder  Pat Casey built his mass and strength using the basics! Why do we do this?  The primary reason is probably nothing more than human nature.  We convince ourselves that we will get better results if only  we do more - more exercises, more sets and reps, more days of training, multiple exercises-per-bodypart, endless variations of different exercises... the list seems to go on and on. I suppose before going much further, I should add a caveat: variation  and vol...

  I thought, for the sake of a few e-mails that I have received recently, that I would do a "back-to-the-basics" series of posts covering most of what you need to know if you're just getting started in a serious weight training program.  Now, this could also be for you if you have been training for a considerable amount of time (6 months or longer),and haven't made any real gains. Let us begin with workout frequency. If you're just beginning - or if you don't have much muscle or strength as of now - then almost always begin your muscle-building career with a 3-days-per-week, full-body program.  In fact, you could spend your training lifetime using a 3-days-per-week program and do just fine. Clancy Ross spent his career using a 3-days-per-week, full-body program!* Most lifters enjoy using a Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine, just so they can take weekends off, but any three non-consecutive days are fine.  The one complaint I sometimes hear about that is that a ...