C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Use the Power Rack for Massive Gains in Size and Strength      In my last essay on “The Big 4,” one of the programs that I outlined was a power rack program inspired by Brooks Kubik’s “Dinosaur Training.”  I read that book sometime (I think) in ‘96, although it could have been ‘97.  The book was instrumental in my switch from training like a bodybuilder to training like a lifter.  In ‘98, I bought a power rack, an Olympic barbell set, and started training in my garage.  I have rarely stepped foot in a commercial gym since.      Although I found that some of the programs in that book didn’t work well for me, I wholeheartedly embraced the ideas Kubik espoused regarding power rack training.  And though I eventually went on to experiment, and often utilize, the training methods of Westside Barbell, and then the much more voluminous methods of lifting that came out of the countries of the former Soviet republic, it was old-school power rack training that first allowed me to make a lot of

      Three Power Programs for Building Muscular Might       “You can train long or you can train hard, but you can’t do both.” ~Arthur Jones, inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines      Arthur Jones was correct.  But what he incorrectly assumed is that you should choose hard over long.  I know that there are lifters who would disagree with me—and perhaps a whole cult of “HIT” enthusiasts who would want to crucify me over that statement—but I stand by it.  Twenty years ago, I wrote an article for T-Nation , in fact, that was called “Train Long,” partly to counter the belief that briefer is always better.      In addition, in an article for IronMan some years ago, I wrote this: “Everyone seems to immediately assume that the answer is to train hard.  Not many consider that training long might be the better option.  Bodybuilders from the past, however, understood this well.  It's the reason Bill Pearl always advised taking sets about two reps short of failure.  This allows one t