C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

       I read a lot.  And I re-read a lot of books that I like, especially in the fields that I’m particularly interested in, such as strength training, budo, and philosophy (of all types, Christian and pagan, western and eastern).  Today I was reading Pavel and Dan John’s book “Easy Strength.”  I’ve read this book a couple of times, but thought I’d return to it today, thinking it might give me some quotes I could include in my ongoing HFT series, when I came upon, well, this quote of Pavel’s: “There is nothing wrong with a split if you’re not using it as an excuse to have a bis and tris day.  Ben Johnson lifted six times a week: three for the upper body and three for the lower body.  He cut down to four days when felt the need to back off.  I like Charles Poliquin’s weekly strength plan for fighters: 5 days of lifting a week, only two exercises per workout.”      First, I don’t think it’s necessarily ...

  On Programming, Variety, and Making Gains!      The other day, Jason, a lifting friend of mine, called me on the phone.  He needed some advice for breaking out of the rut he was in.  Jason’s one of those guys that’s always into “powerbuilding.”  He wants to look like a bodybuilder, but also wants to have impressive strength.  He said that several months ago he had started on one of those “briefer-is-better” programs—the kind of program that would have made Ken Leistner proud—and got some of the best results he’s ever had in just a matter of a few weeks, but then it all ground to a sudden halt.  After explaining to me what he had been doing, and some of the adjustments he’d made but to no avail, he was almost at his wit’s end.  “I just don’t know what I’m doin’ wrong,” he said.  To which I replied, “It ain’t what you’re doin’.  It’s what you’ve done.”      “Huh?” he replied in turn, bemusing...

Occasional All-Day Training Challenges for New Gains in Size and Strength      In his book The Education of a Bodybuilder , Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed the fact that, on occasion, he and a training partner would take some weights into the woods and do endless sets of squats or other exercises.  He said the first time they did this bit of insanity, he did something like 55 sets of high-rep squats with 250 pounds, and couldn’t walk correctly for over a week.  He said it became a regular part of his training at the time.  Eventually, it turned into several workout partners, women who would come along for some lovemaking, grilled meats for an all-night barbecue, and an endless amount of beer and/or wine-drinking.  If I remember correctly, they would even swim naked in lakes and carry on as if they were gladiators or Vikings from centuries ago.  When I read that as a teenager, crazy as I might have thought it to be, it also sounded like ...