C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Hybrid Methods and Programs Utilizing Bodyweight Training AND Weighted Workouts       For Part 2 of our series, we turn to the hybrid method of training where you combine bodyweight training with weighted workouts.  There are several different ways that this can be done, and the methods that apply to one also apply to the other.  You can combine bodyweight training with weights in the same session or you can keep the two separate, doing weighted workouts on one training day and bodyweight only on the other.          A great benefit of the 2nd approach is that you can still use high-frequency training without the need to go to the gym 5 to 6 days per week.  Even if you prefer lower-frequency routines, you can go to the gym just once or twice per week and then do bodyweight training at home another one or two days.  If the reason that you have for not training more, or not sticking to a training r...

AKA: The 90% Rule for Mass and Power Some Thoughts and Programs on “Skill Training” as a Method for Gaining Size and Strength      In my recent essay “Heavy and High,” I suggested that the key to gaining mass for the natural bodybuilder lies in the ability to do programs that utilize both heavy weights and a high workload.  When a lot of modern bodybuilders think about training for hypertrophy, they largely think along the lines of training hard and then coupling this with plenty of rest and recovery.  Almost every program you encounter—whether you read about them, watch a YouTube video discussing it, or have a casual conversation about them with a fellow gym-goer—revolves around the balance of “intensity” with rest days after workouts.  The harder, or more , you train then the more you should rest.  I’m not denying here that workouts do, and should , involve those considerations, but I prefer lifters to think in terms of workload and work ...